March 27, 2025

Financials: The SPM Boogeyman (and How to Slay It)

SPM Mythbusters Series

3 min read

Key Takeaways

See why financials don’t have to be seen as the scary part of strategic portfolio management (SPM).
Leverage tools like Clarity to simplify financial processes and translate execution details into understandable financial insights.
Embrace financials from the start to understand investment impact and steer your portfolio towards success.

"We'll get to the financials eventually…"

Sound familiar? Too often, teams shy away from incorporating financial data into their strategic portfolio management (SPM) processes. They start with tasks, milestones, and resources—anything but the money. But this is like building a house without a foundation!

Why the fear?

Financials make people nervous. Suddenly, everything means something. Every task, every resource allocation is tied to a dollar amount, and that brings scrutiny. People are afraid they will be held accountable! But here's the thing: If nobody’s looking at your investments, why bother doing SPM at all?

The myth of complexity

The biggest misconception is that financial management within SPM is inherently complicated. It can be, but it doesn't have to be.
The core value proposition of a robust SPM tool like Clarity is that it takes the work you're already doing—defining tasks, allocating resources, tracking progress—and translates it into financial terms.

Unlocking financial insights

Understanding the basics of fiscal processes is key:

Fiscal calendars: Recognize that your January isn’t necessarily calendar January!
Internal rates: A person’s chargeback rate might not be the same as their actual salary.

These details are crucial for accurate cost accounting. Ignoring them is like trying to navigate a maze with a blindfold on.

Stop burying your head in the sand

Thinking of putting off financial planning for SPM? Think again.

If you're not looking at the financials, what's the point? It's investment money! Where's your money going? Isn't that the whole point of all this?

Getting started

Embrace the fundamentals: Learn the basics of fiscal calendars, chargeback rates, and cost accounting.
Leverage your tools: Use SPM tools, such as Clarity, that integrate financial data seamlessly.
Start now: Don't wait until you've "mastered" the other aspects of SPM. Financials are the foundation.

Financials aren’t the SPM boogeyman. They're the key to understanding the true impact of your investments. Embrace them, and watch your portfolio thrive.

Tag(s): ValueOps , Clarity , Strategic Portfolio Management , SPM

Jason Kotlinski

Jason Kotlinski serves as Product Manager for Clarity with clients all across the globe. He is responsible for customer-facing aspects of product management, leading development of key marketable features, and assisting senior management with backlog prioritization and new feature definition.

Other resources you might be interested in

Blog September 12, 2025

What's Really Happening in Your Branch Office Network?

Fragmented monitoring tools create critical visibility gaps in branch networks. Find out why you need network observability to pinpoint the cause of issues.

Read Blog

Office Hours September 12, 2025

Rally Office Hours: August 28, 2025

Learn about the general availability of the AI writing assistant in Rally, then follow the weekly Q&A session with Rally product experts.

View Recording

Blog September 12, 2025

AI as Talent: Navigating the New Landscape of Artificial Intelligence Management

Adopt a strategic talent management approach to AI, so you can ensure investments generate sustainable value, improve competitive edge, and mitigate risks.

Read Blog

Video September 12, 2025

Automic Automation Cloud Integration: Google Dataproc Agent Integration

Broadcom's Google Dataproc Automation Agent lets you easily execute Dataproc jobs, monitor and manage them with your existing enterprise workload automation, as well as other cloud-native activities.

Watch Video

Blog September 9, 2025

Observability and Monitoring Governance (Part 1 of 4)

Find out how strong monitoring governance can help IT teams cut through the noise, see what truly matters, and act with precision.

Read Blog

Blog September 9, 2025

Observability and Monitoring Governance (Part 2 of 4)

Read this post and discover some of the top downstream benefits of establishing strong monitoring governance. Gain best practices on how and where to start.

Read Blog

Blog September 9, 2025

DX UIM Hub Interconnectivity and the Benefits of Static Hubs

Find out how using static hubs is a powerful way to enhance observability. Discover when and how to use static hubs, and the benefits they can provide.

Read Blog

Blog September 8, 2025

Broadcom Recognized as a Leader: Engineering the Future of Service Orchestration

Read this post and see why Broadcom was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms.

Read Blog

Video September 8, 2025

Customer Spotlight: Global Bank MUFG Saves Millions of Dollars

MUFG’s Bruce Frank discusses how the global bank invokes Broadcom's Automated Analytics & Intelligence (AAI) to manage SLAs and ensure regulatory compliance, saving millions of dollars annually.

View Webinar