Building your foundation

Before you start adding Projects, it helps to have the basic building blocks in place: Groups, Programs, and Strategic Themes. These three elements are independent of each other and can be set up in any order, but we recommend starting with Groups.

Groups

Groups represent the departments or divisions within your Organization (e.g., “Talent Acquisition”, “Learning & Development”, “Total Rewards”). Projects and Resources are assigned to Groups, so setting these up first keeps everything organized from the start.

VPMHR automatically creates a “Not Assigned” Group for any Projects or Resources that haven’t been placed yet.

To create a Group:

  1. Open Groups from the navigation menu
  2. Click the add button in the page header
  3. Enter a Group name (required, up to 50 characters) – must be unique within your Organization
  4. Optionally add a description (up to 250 characters)
  5. Click save

Programs

A Program is a grouping of related Projects. For example, you might create an “HR Transformation” Program that brings together Projects for a new system implementation, process redesign, and change management.

To create a Program:

  1. Open Programs from the navigation menu
  2. Click the add button in the page header
  3. Enter a Program name (required, up to 50 characters) – must be unique within your Organization
  4. Optionally add a description (up to 250 characters)
  5. Click save

Strategic Themes

Strategic Themes represent your Organization’s strategic pillars or objectives (e.g., “Digital Transformation”, “Employee Experience”, “Operational Excellence”). Unlike Groups and Programs, Projects can be linked to multiple Strategic Themes, giving you a view of how your portfolio aligns with organizational strategy.

To create a Strategic Theme:

  1. Open Strategic Themes from the navigation menu
  2. Click the add button in the page header
  3. Enter a Theme name (required, up to 50 characters) – must be unique within your Organization
  4. Optionally add a description (up to 250 characters)
  5. Click save

What to do next

With your Groups, Programs, and Strategic Themes in place, you’re ready to start adding Projects and Resources. These are covered in the following sections.