Project Tracker.Net

Implementing a PMO

Implementing a PMO (Project Management Office) is an important, strategic decision for any organization.

By establishing a Project Management Office, an organization forms a business unit dedicated solely to improving the success rate of projects and lowering costs.

The Project Management Office accomplishes these objectives by defining and maintain the organizations standards for project management, providing needed resources and tools to active projects, monitoring the performance of the portfolio and providing actionable business intelligence and metrics for decision makers.

5 Steps for a Successful Project Management Office

In implementing a PMO, an organization should be able to answer the following questions:

Implementing a PMO with Project Tracker.Net

Project Tracker.Net can be leveraged by different types of Project Management Offices seeking a software solution for tracking and controlling their project and resource portfolios at the organization and program level. It supports and enforces the practices established by the PMO, offers the user base friendly, easy to use applications they can access within their own email, and provides highly flexible, scalable applications that can grow with the organization.

  1. Establish the Goals and Deliverables of the PMO. While the overall objectives of the PMO (lowered costs, increased success rates) are clear, the scope and expected results of the implementation should be clarified. Is the PMO responsible for all projects within the organization, or is it restricted by business unit or program? What is the existing success rate for projects, and how much will the PMO increase it? How will the PMO achieve these goals. Answering these questions greatly facilitates the following step.
  2. Determine Your PMO Type. Project Management Offices vary in type, depending on how they set about accomplishing their goals, ranging from "weather station" PMOs that gather and report portfolio data to guide and support strategic executive decisions to "control towers" that actively manage the project portfolio. Review the goals and deliverables identified in the first step, and determine the methods the PMO will use to accomplish them.
  3. Define the PMO Practices. How will these methods be actualized? For example, if a "weather station" PMO intends to reduce organizational costs by delivering timely, detailed reports to drive strategic decisions, how will this information be gathered and from which sources will it come? How will the data be analyzed and presented, and on what schedule?
  4. Befriend the Natives. While the purpose of the PMO is clear to the upper hierarchy of the organization, for some departments and personnel it may be perceived as yet another arm of management to be satisfied. These concerns can be alleviated by communicating with the workgroups. Provide clear instructions on what is required from them, how the PMO will support them in their work, and how business intelligence generated the PMO can validate their work and provide justifications for slippage (such as when projects do not have an adequate amount of resources).
  5. Review, Update, Maintain and Grow the PMO. The Project Management Office should be a dynamic, adaptable unit that grows with the organization and is flexible to its changing needs, particularly in these times of economic stress. On an annual basis, the PMO should be reviewed both in terms of its performance as well as how it supports the organization at that point in time, and what changes could be made so that it better complements organizational initiatives.