Publication

Investments in business development can be both highly volatile and uncertain, typically spanning a long period of time, and dependent on the development and leveraging of internal and external “know-how”. As a result, traditional valuation methods are often inadequate and must be enhanced to account for the uncertainties and opportunities offered by a portfolio of R&D investments. The work outlined in this research extends previous research regarding value-based R&D portfolio management [A] – [D], and the process of characterizing, assessing, and managing R&D portfolio value [E] – [K].

The principal focus of this research is to better understand the process of characterizing, assessing, and managing R&D portfolio value; as well as leveraging associated process artifacts for better evidence-based decision making and enhanced business efficiency and effectiveness across the enterprise [L] – [O].

This effort involved the following phases and associated activities:

• In the Discovery Phase activities concentrated on identifying and evaluating artifacts associated with the ARDEC R&D portfolio and strategic business development processes.
• The Analysis Phase focused on mining and analyzing the identified artifacts with specific attention to how each artifact is created, managed, and used as part of the portfolio planning and business development processes.
• In the Synthesis Phase efforts were directed at developing a framework for business opportunity identification with specific attention to highlighting opportunity characteristics, prioritization, and focus.
• In the Proof of Concept Phase, examples were drawn from existing portfolio/project research and best practices [P] – [T] as a means of illustrating how the framework could be used to enhance the evidence-based decision making process within the enterprise.

Finally, the results of this effort have been used to develop a research roadmap, which outlines by phase the research activities associated with the development of an evidencebased decision making process, its underlying analytical framework, and its use.