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The cooperation culture of the Häme region is refined in the Häme portfolio
The Häme-Portfolio has been realized together with Thinking Portfolio to monitor regional development. In the Regional Council of Häme, the portfolio is an essential tool for keeping the whole thing together. Previously, project monitoring was done in Excel, but in addition to being difficult, it did not allow for sharing information more widely outside the Regional Council, says Minna Takala, explaining the background for the Regional Council to acquire Thinking Portfolio.
-Thinking Portfolio is not just about gathering and monitoring information for our own needs, it is open to all actors in the region, and as well as serving as a platform for gathering information for our projects, it also serves as an information channel and a bank of ideas for others. The portfolio can also be used to find partners for your own projects. In addition to helping you plan and prepare your own projects with the excellent search features of the Thinking Portfolio, it is also an excellent tool for creating a culture of collaboration.
The Häme portfolio is an excellent way of linking projects, highlighting broader themes and sets of projects, coming from a range of different funding sources.
Thinking Portfolio’s categorization features help to highlight new themes
Minna Takala says that during the implementation phase of Thinking Portfolio, their aim was to make the portfolio as easy to use as possible; the final output was thought through mainly by means of the different reports and functionalities. The priority was to make the portfolio easy to use for the project manager.
-We had great success in the design and parameterizing phase, Thinking Portfolio is very self-directed and as an information channel the Häme Portfolio is so superior that actors in the region have wanted to use the portfolio to manage projects other than those receiving funding through the Regional Council. We have welcomed this, as it will allow us to follow the development of the themes also through projects outside the Regional Council’s funding channels.
It is also possible that a project in the portfolio that fits the theme will be included in the Regional Council’s new programming period. The possibility to reclassify old projects is a popular feature, as it is perceived to make it easier to link to new themes.
The climate theme will be followed with interest in the future, and we found that the Häme portfolio is also very successful in monitoring this theme. The portfolio contents form a unified picture, and it’s fun to see already how we can also make a cross-section of this theme, says Minna. This is especially relevant now that a climate watchdog service is being introduced in the Häme region. The Thinking Portfolio’s classification features allow you to make classifications that are better suited to the needs of the climate watchdog.
Thinking Portfolio develops collaboration and helps implement good management practice
When discussing with other regional councils about the monitoring of the regional programmes or the EU’s Smart Specialization Strategy, Minna is happy to present the Häme portfolio.
-If we use public financing to do this kind of development work, it’s worth sharing, so we’re happy to tell you about these things. In addition, the user groups of Thinking Portfolio will benefit us all in the long run; we will be able to take things forward together in the regional teams, bringing monitoring of regional development and regional cooperation to a whole new level.
At last summer’s conference, Minna noted how the Joint Research Centre, the EU’s research and knowledge support organization, emphasized the use of portfolio tools in monitoring development projects and the smart specialization strategy, and Sitra also mentions portfolio management as an important part of its model for good management practices in development. Minna and a colleague are writing a presentation for the seminar “International Conference of Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics” in New York next summer on regional development, in which she will also present her own experiences of good practice in portfolio management.
Minna Takala
Senior Advisor, Regional Development
Regional Council of Häme
