On the Road to Excellence

  ProjectsAtWork  

Four critical functions form the foundation of a Project Management Center of Excellence.

The most effective Centers of Excellence support four key areas that directly influence project management best practices: project authorization, standards, education and readiness. To develop and instill each of these areas, organizations should create task force teams that follow scope statements, according to Dennis Bolles, PMP, author of Building Project Management Centers of Excellence (2002; AMACOM).

Here he offers a basic idea of how each of those scope statements might read:

1. Authorization: Establish a project authorization process so resources are in alignment with corporate strategic goals. This includes project identification, categorization, prioritization, portfolio management, request review and master planning and capital budget.

2. Standards: Establish project management standards and methods to be applied to all projects. Create a task force to assist in development, maintenance and changes to procedures, policies, processes and tools and templates.

3. Education: Develop a comprehensive education and training program to enable the organization to embrace and apply the project management standards consistently, and improve on a continuous basis. Establish education and training goals, requirements and curriculum.

4. Readiness: Establish a project readiness check …

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