Project Management

Please login or join to subscribe to this thread

Connecting with PMO Leaders in Higher Education

linkedin twitter facebook   Education   Organizational Project Management   PMO   Portfolio Management  
avatar
Leanne Downs EPMO Director| Boise State University Boise, Id, United States

I’m the Director of the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) at Boise State University. Our university currently has three project management groups: an IT PMO, a Continuous Improvement office, and the newly established EPMO. We’re exploring how other universities organize and coordinate similar teams — including governance approaches, methodologies, and toolsets.

If you work in or lead a PMO in higher education, I’d value your perspective:

  • How does your institution balance enterprise and departmental project management functions?
  • How do you approach portfolio management or common tool adoption?
Sort By:
avatar
Lissette Indhira Pimentel Sosa
Community Champion
Program Manager| HARPER SRL Santo Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic

I’m not in higher education, but I really liked your question, Leanne. From what I’ve seen in corporate PMOs, one thing that helps a lot is keeping governance and execution clearly defined. The central PMO focuses on alignment and visibility, while the departmental ones adapt the approach to their own reality.

I’ve also seen good stuff in creating a governance council where the different PMOs share standards, lessons learned, and tool practices, it keeps everyone connected without forcing the same methodology across the board.

I’m curious how your EPMO is coordinating with the IT and Continuous Improvement teams, sounds like an exciting challenge!
avatar
Abolfazl Yousefi Darestani Manager, Quality and Continuous Improvement| Hörmann-TNR Industrial Doors Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
From a career standpoint and its future, I think this is a very good question. I’m curious to see the responses.
avatar
Fabian Crosa
Community Champion
PMO Leader | Speaker & Mentor | Content Leader – PMOGA Latin America Hub| Catholic University of Uruguay Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
Thank you for opening this space for exchange. From my experience collaborating with project management communities in higher education, the balance between business and departmental functions is usually achieved through clear governance, based on shared purpose and contextual autonomy.
The EPMO can act as a strategic integrator, aligning institutional priorities and facilitating synergies between specialised PMOs. In terms of tools, I have found that the adoption of common platforms works best when accompanied by training, flexibility, and co-creation with teams. Portfolio management, meanwhile, gains strength when connected to academic and organisational value, not just operational metrics.
avatar
Mohammad Junaid Khan
At my organization, we’ve approached this by establishing clear governance at the enterprise level while empowering departmental PMOs to maintain agility. The EPMO sets standards, ensures alignment with strategic priorities, and provides a unified portfolio view, while departments retain flexibility in execution.

For portfolio management and tool adoption, we focus on common frameworks and integrated platforms to avoid silos. A phased rollout with strong stakeholder engagement has been critical for success.

Please login or join to reply

Content ID:
ADVERTISEMENTS

"The amount of money one needs is terrifying..."

- Ludwig Van Beethoven

ADVERTISEMENT

Sponsors







Vendor Events

See all Vendor Events

Newsletters

Jun 3: The Career Problem Facing New PMs
May 20: Your PM Career as a Project Life Cycle
May 13: The Big Lie After Layoffs

See all newsletters