Validation of a Novel Tri-Fold Approach for Modeling and Analyzing Interdependencies in Project Portfolios

Despite academics and practitioners’ increasing focus on project portfolio management over the past three decades, few methods have been proposed for modeling and analyzing interdependencies among projects within a portfolio. This paper summarizes the work done to validate one of these methods, the tri-fold approach developed by Al Zaabi and Bashir [1], which integrates three techniques: social network analysis, the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification. Three methods were used to determine validity: internal validity, face validity, and external validity. Based on semi-structured interviews with experts from different industries, the results of assessing the validity of the approach in terms of a number of criteria confirm its usefulness and generalizability as a viable and practical means of capturing and analyzing interdependencies among projects within a portfolio.