A Project Management Office (PMO) is an office that offers services and organisational concentrate in project management. It really is designed to centralise and co-ordinate and handle the projects below its portfolio. It really is at times referred to as a programme management office, a project office or programme office. Each term might possess a various mission based on the organisation. A PMO may be produced to assistance a specific company unit/department functional purpose or it might have a company-wide concentrate to manage the organisation’s projects and/or programmes. It might also assistance a mixture of each.
Managers get carry out their tasks by means of their organisations whereas project managers carry out their tasks by means of their PMOs. The project managers and PMOs are a subset of the organisation. The exponential modify in technologies has been one of many reasons for the increased demand for PMOs. More and much more organisations are utilising IT solutions in order to obtain competitive advantage. Growing complexities need a much more thorough governance model. For some practitioners, a PMO may be the only answer.
The duty of a PMO can range from providing project management help to straight managing a project. A primary function would be to make certain that the project management methodology is followed. This guarantees consistency and continuity of project documentation. Project management assistance functions include supplying software program, standardising policies and procedures, and offering templates for project reports. PMOs also can offer handle functions like project audits. Some organisations may have more that 1 Agile PMO offering different functions and services. As an example, it’s not uncommon for an organisation to possess a company-wide centralised PMO co-exist using a department PMO.
Despite the fact that they may pursue various objectives, PMOs are aligned with all the strategic goals in the organisation. How the PMO is structured varies from a single organisation towards the next. Management literature describes various ways in which an organisation can be structured, ranging from the most basic functional kind, to the matrix sort, towards the ideally optimised kind. Nevertheless, in genuine life, several organisations are a mix the identified structures. Regardless of the advantages of having a PMO, making a productive PMO can be more difficult than initially anticipated. An unstructured organisational atmosphere exactly where the leadership is in a state of flux and also the organisation itself continues to be maturing is not useful. In reality there is a powerful possibility that the PMO will either fail or not be as effective.
Trying to implement a PMO with out the support from the executive is also not an excellent idea. Projects are the developing blocks of organisational method. Proceeding with any strategic initiative wants the assistance of the organisation’s executive of leader. Because of the need to safeguard their self interest, department managers can be an obstacle for the generation of new ideas. These managers have direct access towards the executive and they may continue to handle the flow of info to maintain the status quo. Consequently, the executive may not be aware of any proposed changes. This is why the leader from the team implementing the PMO needs direct access towards the executive and the executive’s assistance must be clearly visible. This way, the PMO may also have the complete support in the complete organisation.
Those with the responsibility of implementing and growing the PMO has to be completely aware of the organisational and management factors that might negatively impact its good results. These elements influence the projects as well as the executive’s attitudes toward project management.
