A few years ago, when IT portfolio management software and techniques first came into vogue, many IT executives were trumpeting how the tools would remove politics from IT project prioritization debates. They envisioned IT steering committees that would objectively rank the value of proposals by calculating their expected return on investment, strategic impact and other quantifiable criteria.

But according to IT managers at the IT Financial & Asset Management Summit West in Las Vegas Tuesday, that vision hasn"t come true.

"IT portfolio management techniques don"t help you get past politics," said Becky Hamilton, an information management director at Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a commercial seed producer in Johnston, Iowa, that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Du Pont Co.

"I can"t imagine any tool would remove organizational dynamics" from discussions on IT project prioritization, said Sam Coursen, CIO at Freescale Semiconductor Inc. in Austin. Coursen, who like Hamilton was a speaker at the conference, said Freescale"s executive committee has a dollar cap that "forces the group to focus on the top 20 percent of projects that are expected to deliver the most value." The New York-based International Quality & Productivity Center organized the event.

IT portfolio management tools "won"t depoliticize anything," agreed Bernie Donnelly, vice president of quality assurance at Philadelphia Stock Exchange Inc. Instead, "it"s about having a rigorous process around" prioritizing IT projects, he said. "That"s what works."