Strategic Alignment
Strategic Alignment
This domain tests whether you can tie every portfolio component to organizational strategy and keep that link alive as strategy changes. The exam emphasizes the portfolio strategic plan, portfolio charter, roadmap, and strategic change management, not project-level planning.
Core rules
- The portfolio strategic plan is derived from the organization's strategy and states how the portfolio will deliver it.
- The portfolio charter defines the portfolio's scope, authority, and boundaries; the roadmap sequences components and capability delivery.
- Prioritization uses agreed, weighted criteria tied to strategy-not intuition or sunk cost.
- Strategic change (merger, regulatory shift, funding cut) triggers re-evaluation of the portfolio, not just a schedule update.
Worked example A retailer's strategy is to raise subscription revenue from 30% to 50% in three years. Candidates: A, new billing platform ($2M); B, store hardware refresh ($3M); C, customer analytics ($1M). Criteria weights: strategic fit 40%, value 30%, risk 20%, resource 10%. Scores: A 4.5, B 2.1, C 3.8. Fund A and C; defer B unless a compliance driver appears. Reasoning: B may have a positive business case, but it does not advance the stated strategic objective, so it loses in a portfolio comparison.
Traps
- Choosing the highest-NPV component when it is strategically misaligned.
- Treating the roadmap as a fixed schedule rather than a sequence of strategic capabilities.
- Avoiding termination decisions because a component is politically sponsored.
- Forgetting that strategic alignment is continuous, not an annual exercise.