Home • Transform the Business • Grow the Business • Run the Business • A PMO Implementation Path • Training Programs • About Us • Contact Us

Effectively Implementing a Project Management Office (PMO)

Objective

Project Management Offices have become increasingly popular in the past few years, as companies are more than ever striving to optimize the execution of internal IT processes and projects and drive out unnecessary cost wherever possible.  Establishing a PMO is viewed by many organizations as a critical success factor for the alignment of IT strategies with business strategies, for effective project management and for project portfolio reporting to key stakeholders.  It is becoming very difficult to gain the required cost efficiencies without a Project Management Office in place.

Who Should Attend?

CIOs, IT Directors, and Project Managers who want to learn more about this important function, as well as those executives who are ready to establish a PMO in their organization.   Existing PMO staff should also attend this course and assess the current effectiveness of their PMO activities.

DAY 1

Introduction

• Participant introductions

• What is the difference in PM and PMO?

• Experience with PMO issues

Problem Statement

• Problem areas that can be addressed by the implementation of a PMO

Assessment of the current organization

• SEI CMM for assessments and process improvement

• Project Management Maturity Models for assessments and improvement

  • Organizational structure (functional or matrix)

  • Internal project Management practices

• Identifying risk areas in establishing a PMO        

  • Funding and resources

  • Adequate skills to support the organization

  • Cultural acceptance (change management)

  • Probability of success

  • Availability of sound PM practices

• Determining initial PMO roles and goals

  • Project Office Models

    • Model 1

    • Model 2

    • Model 3

• PMO reporting structure

  • PMO Steering Committee (business and IT)

• Report assessment findings, conclusions, recommendations and alternatives

  • Benefits of establishing a PMO

Develop PMO Plan and Budget

• Scope Management

  • Identify corporate champion

    • Sponsor’s credibility within the organization

  • Confirm PMO roles and goals

  • Project Office Models

    • Model 1

    • Model 2

    • Model 3

  • PMO Charter

  • Detailed PMO Implementation WBS

• Quality Management Plan

  • Quality Assurance issues

  • Establishing monitoring metrics

• Time Management Plan

  • Refining and sequencing WBS

  • Developing multi-project schedules

• Cost Management Plan

  • Developing the PMO Implementation budget

  • Selling the plan to senior management

DAY 2

Develop PMO Plan and Budget

• Risk Management Plan

  • Identified risks and triggers (risk assessment)

  • Risk response plan

• Human Resource Management Plan

  • Defining specific roles and staff

    • Complete list of PMO responsibilities

    • Required roles to initiate a PMO for different models

      • Establishing the PMO Director

        • Risk, Issue, Change Control resolutions                          

      • Project support  

      • Processes, methods and tools

      • Training issues

      • Role of external consulting and facilitation

        • Scope and Requirements Definition (Business Analysts)              

        • Estimating

        • Knowledge Repository Coordinator

        • Project Managers 

        • Strategic Planners

• Procurement Management Plan

  • PMO facilities

    • Facility issues (office space, telephones, supplies, PCs, copiers, etc.)

    • Soft issues (manuals, books, reference material, software)

• Communication Management Plan

  • Identifying key stakeholders

  • Defining reporting requirements

  • Establishing PMO Steering Committee

• Integration Management Plan

  • PMO Steering Committee (Governance approach)

  • PMO Implementation Change Control Committee       

  • Other Key PMO Interface functions

    • Internal Auditing

    • Quality Assurance

    • Financial Department

Operational Management of the PMO

• Linkage to strategic plans

• Project portfolio management

  • Project selection criteria and risk analysis

    • SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

    • Expected value

    • Net present value

    • Decision tree analysis

    • ROI (Return on Investment)

    • IRR (Internal Rate of Return)

    • Business Case Analysis

    • Alignment with specific business strategy

• Enterprise resource allocation and management

• Project monitoring and control

• Project and Portfolio reporting

  • Accounting and Financial Analysis

• Project closure (Lessons Learned, Knowledge Management)

• PMO Performance measurement

  • Key Performance Indicators

• Managing Project Managers

• Benchmarking

• Issues in managing a PMO in a functional organization

  • Ineffective or no linkage to the strategic plan

  • Conflict between project and functional goals

  • Project Manager’s level of authority

  • Resource contention (project vs. functional activities)

• Issues in managing a PMO in a matrix organization

  • Same issues in absence of strong matrix

Course Wrap-up

• PMO Critical Success Factors

• Lessons learned from past PMO implementations

Copyright © 2007 PMO To Go LLC. All rights reserved.
Questions or comments about the web site? Please email us.

Revised: 05/08/07.