Organizations and programs

An organization record identifies the group running the work or a partner associated with donors and programs. Keep its name, code, country, currency and active setting clear before adding a program. A program then groups related projects around a focus area and a start date. Program Lead uses that structure to see which work belongs together; Admin maintains the underlying organization identity.

The currency belongs to the organization record. Before planning a project budget or comparing funding amounts, agree how the team will interpret currency across the records involved. Use the organization currency as the agreed scope for comparing project budgets, requests and fund events.

• Organization identity. Admin confirms the operating name, country and selected currency that programs will use.
• Program ownership. Program Lead names the focus area and start date, then links the program to its organization.
• Project context. Each project refers to a program, so portfolio review can move from organization to program to the actual delivery work.

A program can be planned, active or closed. Those states describe the program’s own lifecycle. They do not automatically change a linked project’s status. For example, an active health program can contain a planned project that has not started field work. Keep the two decisions distinct when reviewing the portfolio.

Decide which organization record represents each operating entity and how partner organizations should be represented. Agree who may change its active setting or currency once projects and donor records refer to it. Set a naming convention for programs so that related projects can be recognized without relying on a free-text focus area alone.

Program Lead should also decide when a program moves from planned to active and who may close it after its projects finish. Record those rules with the team before the first operating cycle. If historical programs are imported, preserve their original start dates and current statuses so the portfolio does not appear to have started all work on the import day.

Take a program that covers work in one focus area and create two projects under it. Confirm that Program Portfolio shows the planned or active program and that Project Schedule shows each project’s own dates. Change one project to active while the other remains planned. A reviewer should be able to explain both states without assuming the program status has advanced either project for them.

Then add a donor under the correct organization and confirm the donor’s organization reference. This matters when the same team works across partners: the donor relationship and the project plan need their own source records before a funding case connects them.

• Program Portfolio — Planned and active programs with their focus area, start date and organization.
• Project Schedule — Project timing and status underneath the program portfolio.

Continue to project planning and funding preparation. Review the reference links in the data model before importing a portfolio.