Creating PMO Dashboards for Reporting Projects, Portfolios and Programs

  Estimating   PMO   Portfolio Management   Knowledge Shelf  

1. Overview of Dashboard Reporting
While project management involves all aspects of managing and controlling a project as outlined in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Fifth Edition (PMI, 2103), consolidating and reporting everything that matters in a concise way is a challenge. As we gather experience with managing projects, we start to understand the importance of emphasizing relevant reporting versus following a prescribed format—what needs to be tailored to an organization or a department based on various parameters and audience.

A PMO dashboard might be an overkill for a small or mid-size project level; it is more useful at a large project or at the portfolio or program level. Nevertheless, it’s a great reporting tool that can be used for any project/program size for the following reasons:

1. Puts the entire project status in one concise format (generally one page)
2. Most senior management officials prefer to not go into too much detail, and are more interested in a high-level snapshot of how a project is doing so they can intervene or get more information if required

A dashboard can be created as part of a PMO (or can be customized based on needs) for status reporting of active mid-size to large projects or programs.

Below are some of the factors to keep in mind while considering a dashboard report.

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