http://www.manageprojectsonsharepoint.com/blog/2015/04/01/key-activities-setting-up-pmo/?utm_source=Nurture+-+Key+Activities+for+Setting+up+a+Successful+PMO&utm_campaign=Nurture+April+5th+2015&utm_medium=email
BrightWork offers many benefits for facilitating the project set up process for a successful PMO. An obvious benefit is that you can use BrightWork for the actual project management and reporting for setting up a PMO.
Creating a project for an implementation of a PMO is considered a best practice as well as maximising a positive outcome for a successful outcome.
All the key tasks and status of setting up a PMO can be tracked and reported in BrightWork ensuring maximum visibility and buy-in from the relevant stakeholders.
With the different templates that come with BrightWork, you can also create a PMO office with underlying projects reporting rolling up to the PMO office thus creating a single source of truth, a significant benefit of having a PMO within an organisation. In addition, the different BrightWork templates allows the project management maturity of the organisation to grow the establishment of the PMO.
The Project Management Office (PMO) set up process can be divided into five phases to make sure a controlled implementation of a PMO takes place with least change impact and maximum engagement with key stakeholders.
The duration of the phases and tasks have been omitted as every Project Management Office (PMO) set up is specific to an organisation and task durations will depend on scope of PMO role and the readiness of an organisation to use the services of a PMO.
Here is an outline of the project phases and tasks to set up a PMO.
There are 5 phases for the set up process:
The first goal of this activity is assess the current status of project management and the current project portfolio within the organisation.
The next steps in this phase is to develop a desired future state for project management within the organisation and then perform a gap analysis between the current and future states.
1a) Assessment
The goal of this activity is to find the issues, gaps, challenges and key decisions to be made.
1b) Current Project Portfolio
This includes carrying out a review of any existing project-based structures and a high level assessment of the current portfolio of projects.
1c) Organisational Culture
Also include in the scope of the review, of how projects are done today, the perception of project management and what things are valued.
Establish what existing project management methodology and governance reporting is In place.
In addition, name the stakeholders who will be a key for the PMO project success.
1d) Desired Future State
Outline a desired future state for Project Management = based on the assessment findings.
1e) Gap Analysis
Perform a gap analysis between the desired future state and the current state. This analysis will form the basis of the initial PMO Strategy and an Outline Business Case.
1f) Approval to Proceed to Next Phase
The PMO strategy and the Outline Business Case will be submitted the PMO Steering Committee for approval to do to the next phase.
Based on approval from the earlier phase, the set up of a PMO will be formalised in this phase as it will be planned and managed as a project.
2a) Business Case and PMO Charter
As part of this phase, a Business Case for the PMO will be completed as well as a Charter for the PMO.
2b) PMO Services
A successful PMO will offer a range of services which business units can rely on time after time. From the outset, the capability to deliver and support such services will not be in place.
The aim of the PMO Charter is to outline what is in scope for the PMO and what services it will initially offer.
2c) PMO Roadmap
This means that services have to be introduced gradually and the PMO road map should clearly highlight this, as well as, all the associated dependencies when certain key deliverables will be achieved.
The PMO Roadmap will be ready with input from all stakeholders.
The roadmap will include the rollout scope document that describes the goals, approach, risks and constraints.
Also it will have linkages to the training and change resistance strategies.
2d)Approval to Proceed to Next Phase
Subsequent approval of the Business Case and the PMO Charter by the PMO Steering Committee secure funding for the next phase – the PMO Set Up and Development Phase.
As part of the approval from the previous stage, the PMO secures funding to set up the PMO and develop the processes and tools.
3a) PMO Office Establishment
The physical place for the PMO is established, roles are defined and staff are appointed to those roles to set up the PMO office.
3b) Approval to Proceed to Next Stage
On completion of the design of PMO key artefacts, training of the project managers and completion of the PMO pilots, approval will be sought from the PMO Steering Committee to do to the next phase.
Having fully defined how the PMO will run, projects will be transitioned into the PMO, the planning of which will largely be driven by the outcome of a project review, carried out as part of the current situation analysis.
The PMO improves its own operations by measuring its effectiveness, implementing changes to existing services and adding new services.
The PMO may also need to update its Charter.
The PMO can assess the overall capability of the organisation to reliably deliver acceptable project results on time and within budget.
It can then develop and carry out a long-term plan to improve that capability.
Ken Martin
Enterprise PMO Consultant
Author background:
Ken’s long career in business, IT and PMO’s has spanned many dynamic and demanding blue chip organisations in the UK & USA including HP, Apple, Microsoft, Coopers & Lybrand, American Express, Symantec and numerous financial services companies.
He specialises in the setting up of “fit for purpose” Enterprise PMO’s that result in an outcome that increases an organisation’s adaptability to execute with the following benefits:
He has found BrightWork a very effective enabler for achieving these organisational benefits.