We are considering an enterprise PMO and are wondering where in the organisation is should sit.
Given that this PMO will be looking at all projects business and IT, I don't see it reporting to the CIO.
Any thoughts on this? Saving Changes...
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Elyse NielsenSenior Project Manager| Ascension Health Information ServicesHaines City, Fl, United States
Hi Julie,
I would definitely agree on the CIO, most projects are business projects with IT components now a days anyway. For enterprise PMO's, I could see the role reporting to the Chief Operating Officer. The goal for the enterprise PMO should be to help achieve the strategy through execution, so organizationally it needs to be under the individual accountable for the strategy and operations.
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Julie
In my opinion it should be a staff function to the executve board of each of the programmes runnign. A programme contains the business and the IT projects and a senior executive normally participates in the board. SInce there could be more than one programme running in the company the PMO can be wide spread.
Home base needs to be rather independent and close to senior management. Reporting is towardsa the executive boards of the programme and its members. Normally the CIO is one of the participants
If the program(s) of work go across the organization, they had better be about implementing the company's strategy. On that basis, the PMO should report to the individual (COO?) directly responsible for implementing the strategy.
If they are not about implementing the strategy, you'd better ask yourself why you are doing them in the first place, not where they should sit. Saving Changes...
John ZacharProduct Dev Manager| Association for Project Management (APM)Brackley,, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Julie,
There is absolutely no question in my own mind where the PMO (in this case the "P" is for portfolio) should sit. You can look at my profile here on Gantthead, as well as Google me (include UK) if you want. I've been working / consulting / implementing PSOs / PMOs for well over ten years.
A recent publication here in the UK is P3O, work resulting from OGC (Office of Government Commerce) and published by the TSO (The Stationery Office). It finally puts into print what I've been saying for years. I know the author (Sue Vowler) quite well.
As all the change intitatives in the organisation will be invovled, the PMO should be a function reporting directly to the CEO (or equivalent). I accept that in some organisations the CEO is a very busy person, so reporting to one of the board members is good, though only second best. As has been mentioned, the intitative (projects and programmes) should all be focused on implementing the strategy of the organisation. The CEO should be interested. If he or she isn't, then you have a real problem.
A great deal of work has been done here in thte UK by the Project and Programme Support Office Special Interest Group (www.ppsosig.co.uk) and you can peruse the web site for free for past conference presentations. You can also get a copy of P3O. It costs about 50 Pounds Sterling.
Hope this helps. I'm happy to get more specific should there be a need. My e-mail addess is part of my profile.
Cheers,
John Zach
Product Development Manager
Association of Project Management (UK)
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Ngozi Nwosu PMPDirector Project Management Office| DDNMarina Del Rey, Ca, United States
In my organization, we have a Chief Performance Officer (CPO) that is responsible for the overall performance of the entire enterprise, including subsidiaries.
The PMO is a service bureau for the entire enterprise managing projects for IT as well as various business units (depending on size, scope, cost and risk). As a result, the Enterprise PMO reports to the enterprise CPO, who reports to the enterprise CEO. Saving Changes...
Martyn PrettyDirector| Bowler Hat ConsultingFranklin, Act, Australia
Hi Julie,
My experience say that you are right, it should not sit with the CIO, or it will develop an IT focus to everyhting and it will not have the right sponsorship to succeed.
As a general rule of thumb I would say the PMO always needs C-Level sponsorship, so I would say the Chief Operating Officer or someone at that level on behalf of the Business as PMO's should always be set up to serve the Business not IT. Saving Changes...
