Managing a large project portfolio is rarely simple. Budgets change. Forecasts move. Resources become constrained. Priorities shift. Reporting requirements grow. And critical information can sit across multiple disconnected systems. For large organizations, particularly those operating in highly regulated industries, these challenges can make strategic decision-making difficult. 

Cora Systems helps address them by bringing portfolio, program, financial and resource management together. Its approach has now received independent recognition from Forrester. 

In The Forrester Wave™: Strategic Portfolio Management Tools, Q2 2026, Cora was named a Strong Performer among 13 evaluated SPM providers. The evaluation assessed vendors against 22 criteria across current offering and strategy. Read the full announcement about Cora’s Forrester recognition. 

Cora’s vendor profile in the report states that their differentiating capability is forecasting, budgeting and investment management.  

For customers, the benefits go beyond individual features. They are about having better information, stronger control and greater confidence when making decisions. 

Tackling the challenge of fragmented information 

One of the biggest challenges facing enterprise project organizations is fragmentation. Financial data may sit in one system. Project schedules may sit somewhere else. Resource information may be maintained separately. Portfolio reporting can then depend on spreadsheets, manual consolidation and repeated data entry. This creates a basic problem. Leaders cannot always see the full picture. 

Cora addresses this by unifying portfolio, program, financial and resource management within a single platform. The Forrester report specifically recognized this approach, stating:

”[Cora's] significant investments in AI and unification of its platform to connect portfolio, program, financial, and resource management result in lower cost of ownership than a fragmented tech stack.” 

Single source of truth 

A single source of truth also supports better decision-making. Forrester identified single source of truth and decision support as two of the positives that stand out for customers. value most. That matters when organizations are managing hundreds or thousands of projects. 

Leaders need to know which initiatives are progressing. They need to understand where money is being spent. They need to see which resources are available. And they need to identify risks before they become larger problems. A connected view makes those decisions easier. 

Improving forecasting and financial control 

Forecasting is another major challenge for project-driven organizations. A budget tells you what was planned. A forecast tells you where things are heading. That distinction is critical. Projects can change quickly. Costs can increase. Delivery dates can move. Resource requirements can shift. New priorities can emerge. 

Without reliable forecasting, organizations can struggle to understand the likely financial outcome of their portfolios. This is an area Forrester particularly noted as a differentiating capability for Cora. This gives organizations greater visibility into financial performance and future requirements. It also helps connect financial decisions with project execution. 

Instead of treating budgets as a separate financial exercise, organizations can connect financial information to the projects, programs and portfolios driving that spend. The result is a stronger link between investment decisions and business outcomes. 

Making better investment decisions 

Large organizations constantly make choices about where to invest. Which projects should move forward? Which should be delayed? Where should additional funding go? Which initiatives are delivering the greatest value? These decisions become harder when leaders lack consistent information. 

Cora's investment management capabilities help organizations assess their portfolios using connected financial and project information. That supports a more informed approach to prioritization. It also helps organizations move beyond simply tracking projects. 

The goal is to understand whether investment is supporting strategic priorities and whether projects are delivering as expected. This is particularly important in regulated industries, where investment decisions can involve significant financial commitments, governance requirements and reporting obligations. 

Connecting strategy with execution 

Strategic planning only creates value when it translates into action. Organizations can have clear strategic priorities but still struggle to connect them to the projects actually being delivered. This creates another common enterprise challenge. 

Strategy sits at the top of the organization. Execution happens across programs, projects and teams. Without strong connections between the two, priorities can become disconnected from day-to-day delivery. Cora's strategy is designed to address this gap. 

Forrester said Cora's on-par vision extends from enterprise PPM into strategic planning and decision-making. It also cited the company's solid roadmap that reflects an integrated approach to enterprise portfolio needs. That supports a fundamental objective of strategic portfolio management. 

As Conor O'Sullivan, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Cora Systems, explains: 

“We highly value Forrester’s recognition of our product roadmap. It’s rewarding to see our investments in AI, forecasting, financial management, and capacity management acknowledged. For us, it reinforces that our innovation strategy is on the right path. We remain committed to equipping customers with the tools they need to align strategy with execution so they can successfully manage their project portfolios.”

Managing capacity and resource constraints 

Money is not the only constraint facing project organizations. People are too. Organizations need the right skills and capacity available at the right time. Yet resource information can often be disconnected from project planning. This makes it difficult to answer straightforward questions. Do we have enough people to deliver this portfolio? Where are teams overloaded? Which projects are competing for the same skills? What happens if priorities change? 

Forrester identified capacity management as another area that stands out positively for Cora customers. Connecting resource information with portfolio and project data gives organizations a stronger basis for planning. 

It also helps leaders understand the consequences of portfolio decisions before committing resources. That can be especially valuable in complex organizations where multiple projects and programs compete for specialist skills. 

Supporting complex, regulated organizations 

Not every project environment has the same requirements. For organizations operating in heavily regulated industries, project management often involves significant reporting, governance and risk requirements. Projects may also span multiple workstreams, teams, locations and business functions. 

Forrester stated that Cora best suits large organizations in heavily regulated environments that have significant reporting and risk management requirements. This is an important distinction.  

Cora's capabilities are designed around the needs of complex project portfolios. Its delivery capabilities support multiple workstreams across projects, products and programs. Its strategy is centered on delivering successful project outcomes in highly regulated industries.  

Clear product roadmap 

Technology fragmentation can create more than data problems. It can increase costs, add complexity and make portfolio management harder to scale. Cora's integrated approach is designed to tackle that challenge at its source. By bringing key portfolio management capabilities together, organizations can reduce their reliance on disconnected systems and processes. 

Supporting customers beyond implementation 

Technology alone does not solve a business problem. Organizations also need help implementing, configuring and using the platform effectively. Forrester's customer feedback was particularly positive in this area. Customers highlighted ongoing implementation and support as outstanding. 

Cora also received the highest possible score in the supporting services and offerings criterion. That support can be important for large organizations undertaking significant transformation.  

Changing portfolio management processes involves more than deploying software. It requires new ways of working, better data and stronger adoption across teams. Ongoing support can help organizations turn technology investment into lasting business value. 

Building towards AI-enabled decision support 

Artificial intelligence is also changing expectations around portfolio management. Organizations want more than historical reporting. They want faster insights, better predictions and greater support for complex decisions. Cora is investing in this direction. 

The Forrester report also noted that

“Cora's on-par vision extends from enterprise PPM to strategic planning and decision-making, with AI investments shifting the platform from passive data collection to active decision support.”

This is significant because AI depends on connected, trusted data. 

When portfolio, program, financial and resource information is fragmented, AI-driven insights can be difficult to generate reliably. Cora's unified platform approach provides the foundation for more advanced analytics and AI capabilities. 

Philip Martin, CEO of Cora Systems, sees this as an important part of the company's direction: 

“It is hugely gratifying to be positioned as a strong performer in this  Forrester Wave™ strategic portfolio management report. We believe it offers valuable independent perspective on Cora’s strengths and future direction. Our continued investment in R&D makes this recognition especially important. We remain focused on evolving our platform to deliver the end-to-end visibility, predictive insights, and AI capabilities our customers need to manage project portfolios with confidence and control.” 

Turning portfolio data into better decisions 

For Cora, the Forrester Wave recognition highlights a clear strength in Cora's approach. It is not simply about managing projects. It is about helping organizations make better decisions about their portfolios. That means understanding where money is going. Forecasting where projects are heading. Managing budgets and investments. Matching capacity to demand. Connecting strategy with execution. And bringing the information needed for those decisions into one place.  

For large, complex and highly regulated organizations, these capabilities can address some of the most persistent challenges in portfolio management. 

Cora believes the Forrester Wave assessment of Cora reinforces its position as a strategic portfolio management platform built for organizations where complexity, governance and risk matter. And as Cora continues to invest in forecasting, financial management, capacity management, AI and platform unification, its focus remains clear: 

Give organizations the visibility and control they need to turn strategy into successful execution. 

A complimentary copy of the Forrester Wave™ SPM Tools report is available to access. 

Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. This report is part of a broader collection of Forrester resources, including interactive models, frameworks, tools, data, and access to analyst guidance. For more information, read about Forrester’s objectivity here.