The Formation of Clusters for the Assignment of Multiple Project Managers Problem

An effective way of managing a portfolio is to assign multiple projects to one project manager. A major step that helps in such an assignment is to form clusters of projects, an issue that is scarcely addressed in the literature. This study attempts to bridge that gap by proposing the use of a modified form of factor analysis for the formation of clusters of projects. The input for this method is a matrix representing the dependency levels among the projects, which is implemented in three major steps: measuring the level of dependencies among the projects; assessing the clusterability of the projects; and forming the clusters. The last step is complemented with a binary integer programing model for imposing constraints, such as maximum number of projects to be assigned to each project manager. The method is demonstrated using a real portfolio project adapted from the literature.