The projects an organization delivers have to generate a return on investment (ROI). That may be a direct return (reducing costs through automation or streamlining), or it may be an indirect return (increasing customer retention and market penetration with a new product that in turn increases revenue). Of course, it’s not always possible to quantify the specific return on every individual project, but to remain successful, an organization must ensure the overall enterprise portfolio is generating a return on investment—and that return must be measured

The cornerstone of why projects are undertaken - financial performance - is badly managed in many organizations. The focus on time-based project tracking and forecasting has become so prevalent that many organizations don’t even attempt to capture a cost baseline, which creates a severe handicap when trying to make business-focused decisions during project execution. That is simply not a sustainable model in today’s business-agility-driven world, and organizations must immediately ensure that this is being addressed.