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Infiintare / Dezvoltare PMO
Project Management Office
What is a Project Management Office (PMO)? Do you need one?
Companies seeking greater efficiency and tighter project direction are opening project management offices (PMOs). Here's what a PMO should do, what types to consider, and who really needs one.
A project management office (PMO) is a group or department—internal or external to a company, organization, or enterprise—that establishes, maintains, and ensures standards for project management within that organization. A PMO assists in the use of best practices, strives to standardize and introduce savings through repetition in project execution, improving the status and direction of projects - all in one place. The PMO is the source of documentation, guidance, and metrics on project management and execution practice.
Roles and Responsibilities of a PMO
A PMO ensures that your company's procedures, practices, and operations are running smoothly—on time, on budget, and on track. PMOs are there to ensure the success of projects and programs and this is essential because organizations deliver value through projects and programs.
EUROPROIECT ESTATE offers services for the establishment and development of PMOs and helps companies to create their own internal PMOs, which:
It provides organizational, repeatable and long-term benefits
Align strategy and organizational culture
To be agile enough to adapt to changes in strategy
To be a key factor for performing organizations
To integrate data and information from the organization's projects, to provide support for a balanced balance sheet
To allow the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools and techniques for the success of projects within the organization
To identify and develop project management methodology, best practices and standards
Provide training, mentoring, training and supervision of project managers and staff.
Different types of PMO
The degree of control and influence that PMOs have over projects depends on the type of PMO structure within the organization. The three general types of PMOs are: Supportive, Controlling, and Directing.
Support PMO is the type of PMO that provides help if needed, having an advisory role.
The controlling PMO puts a certain degree of control over the projects. It provides templates, procedures and reports to the company. It is the point that enforces standards by requiring compliance, providing all the support, but the PMO does not handle everything - this being the most common type of PMO.
The directive PMO is the one who directs the management of project work, supports and controls staff, and ensures compliance with the templates, procedures, and reporting requirements provided by the PMO by taking control and managing projects. These are most common in highly procedural, high-risk environments.
PMOs can be internal or external.
Internal PMOs are common in organizations undertaking large business process transformation programs.
External PMOs have many of the qualities of internal PMOs, while also being very good at communicating with customers, stakeholders, and the project teams that do the development of the work you manage.
Do you need a PMO?
The best place to start when considering whether or not you need a PMO is to look at how your company operates and see if different parts of it are already working together, with harmony between systems and groups or if they operate as silos, with different systems and don't communicate much between them. If your company is lagging behind, then a PMO can help. Also, if you plan to implement or realize any significant strategic projects or changes - or the strategy you already have is not being met, a PMO might be right for your organization.
If you are running projects that have a significant level of cost or have a significant level of impact or difficulty, then you can really benefit from a PMO. Certainly, the bigger the projects, the bigger the budget, the more projects there are, the more you can benefit from having a PMO.
Strategic PMOs enable strategic change in organizations. PMOs vary widely. Some are a means of standardizing project-related governance processes and facilitating the sharing of resources and tools, others serve as centers of excellence, and others align project and program activity with organizational strategy within an enterprise.
PMOs can take other functions beyond standards and methodology and participate in strategic project management either as a facilitator or actively as an owner of the portfolio management process. Duties may include monitoring and reporting on active projects and portfolios (tracking the project to completion) and reporting progress to senior management for strategic decisions on which projects to continue or cancel.
For additional information about PMO, if you want to implement a PMO in your organization or if you want us to provide you with external PMO services, do not hesitate to contact us.