--- sourceDocument: Australia Strategic Portfolio Management sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/it-business-management Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia Strategic Portfolio Management ft:clusterId : - itbm bundleId : - itbm workflow : - Technology --- # Portfolio plans in Strategic Planning # Portfolio plans in Strategic Planning {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Portfolio plans in Strategic Planning Portfolio plans in Strategic Planning enable planning managers to create personalized plans that align work with company objectives and roadmap initiatives at the right time. These plans use various lenses to visualize and manage work from multiple perspectives, such as initiatives, departments, or programs. This approach helps improve enterprise planning by driving shared strategy and prioritizing the right work aligned with business goals. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Custom Plans with Lenses:** Create multiple portfolio plans using different lenses to focus on specific perspectives like Strategic Investment or Organization. * **Goal Definition and Target Setting:** Define goals and set targets to ensure work aligns with strategic priorities. * **High-Level Planning:** Roadmap strategic items like Initiatives, Strategic Programs, Programs, and Product Enhancements that span across departments or business units. * **Hierarchy View:** Drill down from high-level strategic items to lower-level work such as epics, projects, and demands to track alignment and progress. * **Lens Configuration:** Customize lenses with the help of ServiceNow administrators to enable high-level planning for additional item types beyond default options. * **Programs Enhanced Experience:** Access dedicated program-scoped views including Prioritization, Roadmap, Kanban, and Financials without additional setup for streamlined program management. ## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * Align work effectively with corporate strategy by visualizing and managing plans through tailored lenses. * Improve prioritization and coordination across multiple business units, reducing misalignment and wasted effort. * Gain a comprehensive view of strategic initiatives and their supporting work items for better decision-making. * Leverage built-in program views for focused management of programs without navigating complex portfolio interfaces. * Collaborate with administrators to extend portfolio planning capabilities as organizational needs evolve. Personalized portfolio plans help you align work with your company's objectives and roadmap the right work for the right time. Drive shared strategy using planning insights from portfolio plans and improve enterprise planning. ## Portfolio plans overview {#portfolio-plans-in-strategic-planning__section_qsy_2nf_fvb} Portfolio plans are custom plans per planning manager that are built using a lens. They enable planning managers to define goals, set targets for these goals, and then roadmap the work to ensure alignment between goals and the planned work. A strategy leader using the Strategic Investment lens plans in the perspective of initiatives, and a department head using the Organization lens plans in the perspective of a department. As a planning manager, you can create multiple portfolio plans using different lenses. Visualize the plans and progress of work from different perspectives and share them with stakeholders. Using portfolio plans, you can: * Enable focused planning of work in the desired perspective (lens). * Prioritize the right work and improve alignment with business strategy. * Reduce the time spent on aligning execution teams to the right work. {#portfolio-plans-in-strategic-planning__ul_l4y_cmx_dvb} ## High-level planning using portfolio plans {#portfolio-plans-in-strategic-planning__section_ppl_zjh_5wb} In Strategic Planning, you can roadmap work for your organization at a high level by building portfolio plans for strategic items such as initiatives. High-level planning items usually span across multiple business units, departments, or portfolios of a company. These strategic work items help you further breakdown a company's priorities. * Initiative: Used to achieve long-term goals. Initiatives are designed to create a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization. They often involve large-scale effort that requires coordination and collaboration across multiple departments or business units. * Strategic Program: Used to achieve specific milestones and outcomes of an Initiative. * Program (pm_program): Used to achieve milestones and outcomes of a program. * Product Enhancement: Used to plan and achieve feature enhancements for digital products. {#portfolio-plans-in-strategic-planning__ul_kmb_fql_hxb} Using the Hierarchy view, review the work pipeline and drill down to the low level planning items that are associated to your strategic item. For example, as an EPMO, you can view the epics associated to each initiative. Also, you can view and manage the goals that these initiatives are aligned to. By default, you can use Initiatives or Strategic Programs from the Strategic Investments lens or Programs (pm_program) from the Project Program lens to create high-level portfolio plans. See [Create a high-level portfolio plan](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/EIgUbmw~aS~ggPH6ddIU3w "Build a portfolio plan for high-level strategic items in the Strategic Planning Workspace so that you can prioritize, roadmap, and manage work aligned to these strategic items."). If you need high-level planning enabled for items other than Initiatives, Strategic Programs, Programs (pm_program), work with your ServiceNow admin to complete the additional configuration. See [High-level planning configuration in Strategic Planning](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/sfwRxBAs9woiOTpi32ydJQ "If your planning managers need high-level planning enabled for items other than the default ones, you need to update the configuration for lens entities and portfolio plans."). Here's a sample portfolio plan that shows a few strategic programs of the company and the low-level work (projects and demands) that are aligned with them. Work with your administrator to ensure the required lens setup. See [Lens configuration in Strategic Planning](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/ILCkRUZ_W9Yzmr6uz7bNhw "Learn how to configure settings for planning items and add additional configuration for a lens in Strategic Planning so that you can set up lenses for your planning manager."). Start creating portfolio plans to align work with strategy. See [Managing portfolio plans in Strategic Planning Workspace](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/mpvguG88fvQ1LW_Sb2wPuA "Create personalized portfolio plans in Strategic Planning Workspace and enable focused planning of work in the desired perspective (lens) to drive alignment."). * **[Programs enhanced experience with portfolio plan view](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/Ktx3LoCG73G6hCnNT71QFw)** Programs enhanced experience provides dedicated program planning views with zero setup. Access program-scoped planning data including Prioritization, Roadmap, Kanban, and Financials views for focused program management without navigating portfolio-wide interfaces.