Portfolio Planning Guide & Prioritization Framework

Introduction

Fentress Incorporated assists organizations in assessing facility needs across campuses, geographic regions, states, and national portfolios. We have developed proven processes and analytical tools to evaluate facilities, manage portfolio-wide data, identify space and operational needs, and prioritize projects in a way that maximizes the impact of available funding. By addressing facilities as an interconnected portfolio rather than as individual projects, this approach supports more strategic, defensible, and cost-effective capital planning decisions.

Key Takeaways

Portfolios require a systematic approach that goes well beyond assessing individual facilities.

Steps in the process include:

Gather portfolio data
Tailor assessment criteria and tools to the portfolio
Engage stakeholders at all levels
Perform the portfolio assessments
Develop Programs of Requirements and Improvement Strategies
Compile assessment results
Prioritize facilities using objective scoring
Develop the five-year capital improvement plan

Deliverables

Deliverables include summary assessment reports, structured datasets generated through the planning effort, and a business case to support capital improvement planning.

Why Perform Portfolio Planning?

Without a coordinated planning effort, portfolio funding is often allocated on a crisis-driven or “squeaky wheel” basis. Portfolio planning introduces discipline, transparency, and consistency into capital decision-making.

Facility Assessments

Assessing all facilities using a consistent methodology ensures the inventory is evaluated fairly and comparably, reducing subjectivity and bias.

Objectively Identify Needs

Prioritize Based on Urgency

Funding Justification

Eight-Step Portfolio Planning Framework

1. Gather Portfolio Data

At the outset of the planning effort, a comprehensive and consistent data foundation is established for all facilities. Existing documentation is compiled, baseline information is validated, and data gaps are addressed through targeted collection to ensure each facility is evaluated using the same factual framework.

Key data points include:

Reliable data anchors the entire planning process, ensuring assessments, prioritization, and funding recommendations are transparent, defensible, and evidence-based

2. Tailor Assessment Criteria and Tools to the Portfolio

Using the baseline data, assessment criteria and analytical tools are refined to reflect the portfolio’s goals, risks, and operational characteristics. Rather than applying a generic methodology, tools are calibrated to ensure consistent evaluation while remaining responsive to functional differences among facilities.

Representative tools include:

Tailored criteria ensure results are both comparable and meaningful, supporting clearer insights and more credible capital planning decisions.

3. Engage with Stakeholders at All Levels

Engagement begins with portfolio-level leadership to establish goals, priorities, and standards that guide the assessment process. Executive, administrative, and operations leadership responsible for policy, oversight, and long-range planning are engaged first. Facility-level stakeholders are then engaged during assessments to provide localized operational insight.

Representative stakeholder groups include:

This sequencing ensures individual facility input is evaluated within a clear, consistent, portfolio-wide framework.

4. Perform the Portfolio Assessments

After forecasting future personnel needs, the next step is to develop a Program of Requirements (POR) that defines the courthouse’s space needs. The POR translates staffing and operational projections into a detailed listing of required spaces by applying established court design standards and best practices. We also identify key adjacencies—showing how departments and functions should be organized to enhance workflow, efficiency, and collaboration within the courthouse.

Program Components

The POR provides requirements for individual space types, such as courtroom sets, chambers, courthouse security and prisoner holding, office space, and shared spaced. It also includes a detailed list of spaces within each component, the usable square footage of each, and any comments or assumptions that support the effort. During the stakeholder interviews, space-saving methodologies that have proven successful in other courthouses should be considered, including multipurpose spaces and flexible courtroom arrangements.

5. Develop Programs of Requirements and Improvement Strategies

Programs of requirements are developed for each facility to define current and future space needs. These programs translate workload, staffing, operational requirements, and standards into quantifiable space needs and are compared to existing conditions to identify gaps and opportunities.

Key elements include:

This comparison distinguishes true space deficiencies from issues that can be addressed through reconfiguration or operational changes.

6. Compile Assessment Results

Assessment findings are consolidated into a unified, portfolio-wide dataset. Results are organized in a consistent format that enables side-by-side comparisons and highlights patterns and relative levels of need.

Compiled outputs typically include:

This step transforms individual assessments into actionable portfolio intelligence.

7. Prioritize Facilities Using Objective Scoring

Facilities are ranked using an objective scoring methodology that reflects portfolio goals, risk tolerance, and operational impact. Weighted criteria translate complex conditions into clear priorities.

Typical scoring factors include:

Objective prioritization provides a transparent and defensible basis for investment decisions.

8. Develop the Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan

Prioritized needs are translated into an actionable five-year plan that identifies top projects, establishes sequencing, and frames each recommendation within a clear business case.

Plan components typically include:

The five-year plan connects planning analysis to funding decisions by clearly articulating costs, benefits, and consequences of inaction.

Portfolio Planning Methodology

Portfolio planning models are applied to ensure consistency across assessments, establish priorities, and support informed decision-making throughout the process.

Space Calculator

Automated tool translating personnel and operations into space requirements

Assessment Model

Factors and performance measures used to objectively evaluate each facility

Prioritization Model

Applies urgency metrics to rank projects from most to least critical

Data Dashboard

Visualizes workload, personnel, space, and priority data for decision support

Space Utilization Model

Evaluates traditional versus agile workplace settings and calculates the associated return on investment

Explore Further

Asset Management Planning Program Wins Merit Award

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts received a merit award for Outstanding Federal Planning Program from the.

Courthouse Planning

Cost Analysis for Howard County, MD Circuit Court

Courthouse Planning in Southern Texas

Fentress recently visited the Southern District of Texas to evaluate existing facilities and develop future housing.

Fentress Works in San Francisco

Fentress assessed space needs for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The largest of 12 regional federal.

Courthouse Planning Featured Projects

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Service Provided

Lubbock Municipal Court Facility

As a court consultant to Randall Scott Architects, Fentress conducted space programming interviews, developed a Program of Requirements (POR), and assisted in the schematic design solut...

Service Provided

Stafford County School Security Assessments

Conducted assessments of 14 Stafford County, VA public schools and the central office campus. Provided recommendations for improving security across the district. The final report inclu...

Service Provided

HHS Organizational Assessment and Support

Fentress worked with the Office of Inspector General, US Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate its real property capabilities and to develop more effective business proces...

Portfolio Planning Guide

Introduction

Key Takeaways

Steps in the process include:

Deliverables

Why Perform Portfolio Planning?

Facility Assessments

Objectively Identify Needs

Prioritize Based on Urgency

Funding Justification

Eight-Step Portfolio Planning Framework

1. Gather Portfolio Data

Key data points include:

2. Tailor Assessment Criteria and Tools to the Portfolio

Representative tools include:

3. Engage with Stakeholders at All Levels

Representative stakeholder groups include:

4. Perform the Portfolio Assessments

Program Components

5. Develop Programs of Requirements and Improvement Strategies

Key elements include:

6. Compile Assessment Results

Compiled outputs typically include:

7. Prioritize Facilities Using Objective Scoring

Typical scoring factors include:

8. Develop the Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan

Plan components typically include:

Portfolio Planning Methodology

Space Calculator

Assessment Model

Prioritization Model

Data Dashboard

Space Utilization Model

Explore Further

Asset Management Planning Program Wins Merit Award

Cost Analysis for Howard County, MD Circuit Court

Courthouse Planning in Southern Texas

Fentress Works in San Francisco

Courthouse Planning Featured Projects

Lubbock Municipal Court Facility

Stafford County School Security Assessments

HHS Organizational Assessment and Support

Let's Talk About Your Courthouse Goals