The missing layer between project and portfolio. Group related projects into programmes with shared sponsors, budgets, and outcomes. Align every workstream to an OKR. Map and resolve cross-project dependencies. Track capacity, spend, scope, and benefits realisation in one rolled-up view. Export executive roadmaps that stand up to a steering committee.
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- Self-Hosted
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Key Features
Programme Hierarchy
Group projects into programmes, programmes into portfolios. Shared sponsors, budgets, milestones, and outcomes flow down; status and risk roll up.
OKR Alignment
Tie programmes to Objectives and Key Results. Weighted contribution shows how much each programme moves each KR — every sprint answers 'which strategy does this serve?'
Cross-Project Dependencies
Map dependencies that span project boundaries. The plugin surfaces the critical path automatically and flags slipping handoffs before they cascade.
Strategic Milestones & Gates
Programme-level milestones and stage gates (Initiate, Plan, Execute, Close) aggregate progress from underlying project tasks. Gate reviews route through approval.
Capacity Planning
Forecast required capacity across the programme and compare against allocated resource. Spot under- and over-allocation by skill, team, or quarter.
Investment Dashboards
Track effort, spend, and scope across the entire programme. Plan vs actual on a single screen — reallocation decisions on data, not opinion.
Benefits Realisation
Define quantifiable benefits per programme (revenue uplift, cost saved, NPS delta) with target dates. Track realised vs forecast benefit after delivery.
Programme Roadmap
Quarterly Gantt + swimlane roadmap with milestones, releases, and dependencies — drag-and-drop scheduling, conflict detection.
Risk Rollup
Risks aggregate from project to programme to portfolio. The heat map highlights the programmes most exposed across the entire organisation.
Programme Status Reports
Auto-generated programme status (RAG, key dates, risks, decisions, asks) on a cadence — distributed to sponsors via email or Slack.
Stage-Gate Reviews
Configurable stage gates with reviewer chains, mandatory deliverables, and approval routing. Programmes can't progress without sign-off.
Executive Roadmap Export
Branded roadmap export as PDF, PNG, or editable PPTX. Pre-built templates for board decks, steering committees, and investor updates.
Decision Log
Capture programme-level decisions with rationale, owner, date, and impacted projects. Every steering committee gets a real audit trail.
Granular RBAC
Programme Owner / Sponsor / Manager / Contributor / Viewer roles. Programme-level, project-level, and dashboard-level access controls.
Cross-Plugin Integration
Pulls Risks (Risk Management), Documents (Document Management), and Reports (Advanced Reporting) into a single programme view.
Cadence Scheduling
Schedule programme rituals (steering, sponsor review, stage-gate, retro) with attendees, agendas, and decision-log integration.
About this plugin
Why Program Management for Orangescrum?
Single projects miss the bigger story. Strategic outcomes — a product launch, a regulatory rollout, a market entry, a digital transformation — span many projects, many teams, and many quarters. Programme Management gives you the layer that ties them together so leadership can steer outcomes, not just tasks.
Programmes that mirror how strategy actually works
Define a programme with sponsors, budget, target benefits, and stage gates. Attach the projects that contribute. Set programme-level milestones that aggregate underlying task progress. Configure stage-gate reviews so the programme can't progress past Plan / Execute / Close without sign-off and mandatory deliverables.
OKRs that actually align
Tie programmes to Objectives and Key Results with weighted contribution. A single programme can serve multiple OKRs; a single OKR can be served by multiple programmes. The contribution view shows weighted progress across both axes — every quarter you can answer 'which strategic bets are paying off?' in one screen.
Dependencies that don't surprise you
Map dependencies that span project boundaries. The plugin computes the critical path automatically, surfaces slipping handoffs before they cascade into missed quarters, and lets you simulate what-if scenarios when a project changes its date.
Capacity, investment, and benefits — in one view
Forecast required capacity across the programme by skill, team, or quarter and compare against allocated resource. Track effort, spend, and scope on a single dashboard — plan vs actual. Define quantifiable benefits (revenue uplift, cost saved, NPS delta) with target dates and track realised vs forecast benefit after delivery. Reallocation decisions sit on data, not opinion.
Built for PMOs and transformation offices
PMOs, transformation offices, and product-portfolio managers use this plugin to run quarterly steering committees and continuous prioritisation cycles without the usual spreadsheet sprawl. Decision log, status reports, executive roadmap export — all on cadence, all on the same data the delivery teams are using.
What's included
- Programme hierarchy with multiple linked projects
- Portfolio layer above programme for multi-programme aggregation
- Programme-level milestones aggregating from underlying project tasks
- Configurable stage-gate model (Initiate / Plan / Execute / Close + custom)
- Stage-gate review with reviewer chains and mandatory deliverables
- OKR module with objective ⇄ programme alignment + weighted contribution
- Cross-project dependency mapping with automatic critical path
- What-if scenario simulation for date and scope changes
- Capacity planning by skill, team, and quarter
- Resource forecast vs allocated comparison
- Investment dashboards: effort, spend, scope (plan vs actual)
- Benefits realisation tracking (target vs realised)
- Programme roadmap with Gantt + swimlane view
- Risk rollup from project to programme to portfolio
- Auto-generated programme status reports (RAG, dates, risks, decisions, asks)
- Decision log with rationale, owner, and impacted-project links
- Cadence scheduling for steering, sponsor reviews, and retros
- Executive roadmap export in PDF, PNG, and editable PPTX
- Steering committee report templates
- Programme Owner / Sponsor / Manager / Contributor / Viewer RBAC roles
- Cross-plugin integration with Risk Management, Document Management, Advanced Reporting
- Multi-tenant company-scoped data isolation
Compatibility
Compatible with Orangescrum Self-Hosted Core, Business, and Enterprise editions running PHP 8.2+, CakePHP 4.6+, and PostgreSQL 13+. Pairs with the Document Management, Risk Management, and Advanced Reporting plugins for end-to-end programme governance. Multi-tenant aware — every programme, OKR, dependency, and benefit is company-scoped.
Installation
A self-hosted install takes a few minutes. Buy the add-on, drop the plugin into your plugins/ directory, run the migrations, and you're live.
- 1
Buy the add-on
Purchase the Program Management add-on from /self-hosted/pricing — $499/year per company, payable annually.
- 2
Drop the plugin into your install
Copy the ProgramManagement/ folder into plugins/ on your self-hosted Orangescrum server.
- 3
Register the plugin
Register `ProgramManagement` in src/Application.php with `routes => true, bootstrap => true`.
- 4
Run the database migrations
Run `bin/cake migrations migrate --plugin ProgramManagement` to create programme, OKR, dependency, gate, capacity, benefits, and decision-log tables.
- 5
Configure stage gates and OKRs
Define your stage-gate model (Initiate / Plan / Execute / Close + custom), set up the current quarter's Objectives and Key Results, and define benefits taxonomies.
- 6
Create your first programme
Group existing projects into a programme, assign sponsor and owner, attach OKR contributions with weights, define benefits with target dates, and map cross-project dependencies.
- 7
Run the first steering committee
Schedule the cadence, distribute the auto-generated programme status report, log decisions in the decision log, and export a roadmap PDF for sponsors.
Reviews
Cross-project dependencies were our biggest blind spot. Now we see them in time to actually do something about them.
OKR alignment changed our quarterly review. Sponsors finally see how project work moves the strategic needle.
Replaced a Smartsheet + PowerPoint workflow we'd been suffering with for years. Programme dashboards just work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a project and a programme?
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A project ships a defined scope on a defined schedule. A programme is a collection of related projects pursuing a shared strategic outcome — often spanning multiple quarters or years. Portfolios sit a layer above programmes and aggregate them by business unit, theme, or strategic horizon.
Can OKRs span multiple programmes?
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Yes. An OKR can be linked to one or more programmes, and a programme can serve multiple OKRs. The contribution view shows weighted progress across both axes so you can answer 'which strategic bets are paying off' at any moment.
How does cross-project dependency tracking work?
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Map dependencies between tasks, milestones, or releases that live in different projects. The plugin builds a directed graph, computes the critical path automatically, and surfaces slipping handoffs before they cascade. What-if scenario simulation lets you preview the schedule impact of a date or scope change.
What's stage-gate management?
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Programmes progress through configurable stages (Initiate / Plan / Execute / Close, or any custom set you define). Each gate has a reviewer chain and a list of mandatory deliverables. The programme can't move past a gate until reviewers approve and deliverables are attached.
How is benefits realisation tracked?
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Define quantifiable benefits per programme — revenue uplift, cost saved, customer NPS delta, cycle-time reduction, anything you measure — with target values and target dates. Post-delivery, capture realised values and the dashboard shows realised vs forecast benefit per programme and across the portfolio.
How does it work with Risk Management and Advanced Reporting?
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Risks roll up from project to programme to portfolio automatically — the programme heat map shows you which programmes are most exposed. Advanced Reporting can build dashboards on programme-level data the same way it does on project data: weighted OKR contribution, benefits realisation by quarter, capacity utilisation, etc.
Is there a roadmap export for board decks?
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Yes. Roadmap export ships as PDF, PNG, and editable PPTX with branded templates for steering committee, sponsor review, and investor updates. The same data drives auto-generated programme status reports distributed on cadence via email or Slack.
How granular are the permissions?
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Programme Owner / Sponsor / Manager / Contributor / Viewer roles, with programme-level, project-level, and dashboard-level access controls. A sponsor sees status and benefits but not task-level detail; a manager sees everything in their programme; a contributor sees only the projects they're on.
Ready to deploy Program Management on your own infrastructure?
Talk to our team about Orangescrum Self-Hosted Enterprise — your data, your servers, full control.