Need for a Corporate Project Management Office

The typical corporate enterprise has a tremendous amount of experience and talent. enterprise PMO is needed to support all the projects and track all the project resources. An

Improving Efficiencies
There is a memorandum1, to implement continuous process improvement throughout the corporation that will require all divisions to increase efficiency, optimize cost, and deliver projects on time and in full. Establishing a PMO team is not a short term strategy for simply lowering costs. Numerous studies of private corporations have indicated that the longer companies have been operating PMO, the better the results in terms of accomplishing project goals.

Standardization
For corporations, many projects happen at the same time and it is just too hard for any one person to keep track of all projects. This is where a PMO will provide its biggest contribution. A PMO introduces economies of repetition in the execution of projects and makes it easier for to track progress and results. It is the job of the project management office to make sure that the projects follow the established corporate project management standards. The PMO group is responsible for defining and maintaining the standards of processes related to project management. It is the source of documentation, guidance and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.

Memorandum regarding continuous process improvement.

IT Portfolio Management2
The implementation of a PMO group is a stepping stone to IT portfolio management. It is important to note that progression from project management to portfolio management is intertwined with the maturity of the IT organization. If the organization doesnt have a strong project management discipline and Project Management Office, it is difficult to even imagine how IT portfolio management can be achieved. PMO should have a staff of program managers who can manage multiple projects that are related such as infrastructure technologies, desktop applications, processes, business model implementation and so on and allocate investments and resources accordingly. IT Portfolio Management is focused on investments and business results as compared to the focal point of Project Management which is project deliverables. This will bring IT (and the business) double bang for its buck! IT Portfolio Management is at the core of leveraging IT services for corporates business value. corporate can demonstrate its values by managing IT investments as a portfolio. IT Portfolio Management at corporate is a way to:
1. Define corporates investment strategy for IT including needs for risk/return,

innovation, common enterprise-wide capability.

2. Make that strategy visible and understandable to all corporate leaders to allow dialog and

debate to reach agreement with key business stakeholders. 3. Monitor performance of the IT portfolio. 4. Adjust the portfolio based upon actual performance of IT investments. 5. Adjust the portfolio based upon changing business conditions.

Remoreras, G. (2010). three reasons why you need a project management office. CEMEX.

There is no uniform plan to successfully create a Project Management Office. A PMO is not a quick-fix solution only created to deliver immediate savings. It will be an important component of the organizational maturity of corporate. It is important that the PMO structure is closely aligned to corporates culture.

Simple PMO Charter

PMO Purpose & Goals Concise statement of purpose and goals

PMO Scope and Focus Definition of the scope and focus of the PMO and target maturity

level if applicable

Service Offering & Metrics Definition of service offerings (aligned with PMO scope and target

maturity) Service success criteria and metrics Highlevel timeline of key service delivery milestones

PMO Processes Description of how the PMO processes will be managed and

delivered

PMO Organization Structure

Description of organization structure and communications flow List of key personnel including PMO Sponsor(s) and stakeholders

PMO Authority Statement of PMO authority List of sponsor and key stakeholder signatories and/or charter

approvers