Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Hi Fellow PMs,
Can you please elaborate on the different roles and responsibilities played by PMO in your organization.
For example in my organization they don't perform any duties mentioned in the PMBOK like sharing best practices,managing projects other than calculating the revenue generated by each project.
Role of PMO as it is being practiced by several organizations is not what it is meant for. People establish PMOs generally as a fashion without knowing what it means to do. PMBOK Guide explains these roles very well and very few organizations implement them in the true spirit. First role of PMO is to be a centralised body to establish project management guidelines, methodologies, procedures and select appropriate standards at organizational level to be implemented by all projects and programs of that organization. Next, enforcing the established standards and procedures with due authority delegated by top level management, and ensuring all project and program managers understand these guidelines. Thirdly to mentor, counsel and provide guidance to all projects and programs to work under these guidelines, while providing them requisite training in concepts, tools, techniques and even software. Only after PMO has done all that can we entrust it to monitor various projects and programs by collecting their progress reports and summarizing it for top level management. It also provides help to projects ad programs in sharing various resources used across projects and programs. The very last role a PMO can have, obviously after it has done all the previously mentioned roles, a PMO can be optionally made responsible for managing all the projects and programs in the organization. This is not advisable as each project and program with have project/program manager/sponsor already working on that, but in case, we have a highly automated system, like a robot, we can have all projects and programs managed by a single centralised entity, a Super PMO. Saving Changes...
Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Thanks Suhail for a detailed explanation.
As you said many organizations are not practising PMO as they are supposed to be. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Bala,
I used to work for an international company called: Consolidated Contractors Company. We had our PMO in Athens regulating and reinforcing all what Suhail has mentioned.
However, we had sub-PMO's of which I was in charge of one of them. It was located in Shanghai China. We were acting as a supportive office to all our overseas projects performing the following:
1- Value Engineering
2- Estimation
3- Procurement
All the above mentioned points were done based on Chinese Material we used to source out from the market (Maintaining the quality standards and specifications required). It was a must for every project to have two estimates, one from China and the other from elsewhere worldwide and then compare prices, specs, and if there was a decent room for savings we as PMO Supportive Office used to meet with the clients, present our proposals to them with all facts and guess what: We were able to save millions of dollar just on procurement.
What I am trying to say here is that PMO can take different shapes and can have branches and the main duty is to support or direct or controlling. We were a sub-PMO who is Supportive.
Hope this helps. Saving Changes...
Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Rami,
From your description I understand that your PMO is not directly involved in the execution of the project or helping project manager for the execution of the project?Is that right?
i was under the impression that only role played by PMO is in the execution of projects but with your explanation i understood that they can play a different role and bigger role also.
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1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Jan 11, 2016 3:45 AM
Rami Kaibni
...
Bala,
Our main PMO does exactly what it should be doing on the projects as per PMI - It usually is a supportive PMO.
However, we have sub-PMO's who handle certain specific tasks, this is what I meant.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Jan 11, 2016 3:38 AM
Replying to Bala S Duvvuri
...
Rami,
From your description I understand that your PMO is not directly involved in the execution of the project or helping project manager for the execution of the project?Is that right?
i was under the impression that only role played by PMO is in the execution of projects but with your explanation i understood that they can play a different role and bigger role also.
Bala,
Our main PMO does exactly what it should be doing on the projects as per PMI - It usually is a supportive PMO.
However, we have sub-PMO's who handle certain specific tasks, this is what I meant.
Did this clarify your concern ?
...
1 reply by Bala S Duvvuri
Jan 11, 2016 4:08 AM
Bala S Duvvuri
...
Rami,
Is your sub PMOs handling certain tasks which are part of actual project(helping the project manager) and they are outside the project execution?
Bala
Saving Changes...
Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Jan 11, 2016 3:45 AM
Replying to Rami Kaibni
...
Bala,
Our main PMO does exactly what it should be doing on the projects as per PMI - It usually is a supportive PMO.
However, we have sub-PMO's who handle certain specific tasks, this is what I meant.
Did this clarify your concern ?
Rami,
Is your sub PMOs handling certain tasks which are part of actual project(helping the project manager) and they are outside the project execution?
Bala
...
1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Jan 11, 2016 4:47 AM
Rami Kaibni
...
Yes Bala - As I explained earlier above, it assist in material cost estimates and value engineering.
Bala, the points raised by Suhail and Rami are valid for PMO and to add on that, PMO's can be different based on where they are placed. Wherever it is placed within the organization, the key is to understand what role they will play, whether it will be strategic, transactional or just being operational.
Also the PMBOK provides you with a frame on how one should operate, for that matter you could also combine PfMP (portfolio management) into the PMO, which would then act as a strategic PMO. Next breakup would be where is this PMO placed. Having a strategic PMO does not mean you are reporting to the CXO and could be placed lower within the org hierarchy. You could also setup PMO's at program level, provided this is a large program spanning years, especially the ones where a organization is undergoing substantial change. In this example the PMO will be handling topics related to programs and could report into a organizational PMO
Then there could be just operational PMO's which are just in place to do something like cost center management or project support (as example), there are PMO's where the PM's are placed.
So in short it is essential to clearly define what the PMO will do and perform the activities. In the long run the PMO can start doing more activities. As an example in one of the organization I worked with the PMO was purely operational and there was a department (Investment controlling) which was responsible to manage the portfolio aspect. After about 2 years showcasing what it was doing and where it should go, the management decided to combine the PMO and Investment controlling into one PMO, with a new mandate and a new charter.
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1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Jan 11, 2016 4:49 AM
Rami Kaibni
...
Can't agree with you more Kiran - This is 100% how it is, you got that right to the point.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Jan 11, 2016 4:30 AM
Replying to Kiran Kumar
...
Bala, the points raised by Suhail and Rami are valid for PMO and to add on that, PMO's can be different based on where they are placed. Wherever it is placed within the organization, the key is to understand what role they will play, whether it will be strategic, transactional or just being operational.
Also the PMBOK provides you with a frame on how one should operate, for that matter you could also combine PfMP (portfolio management) into the PMO, which would then act as a strategic PMO. Next breakup would be where is this PMO placed. Having a strategic PMO does not mean you are reporting to the CXO and could be placed lower within the org hierarchy. You could also setup PMO's at program level, provided this is a large program spanning years, especially the ones where a organization is undergoing substantial change. In this example the PMO will be handling topics related to programs and could report into a organizational PMO
Then there could be just operational PMO's which are just in place to do something like cost center management or project support (as example), there are PMO's where the PM's are placed.
So in short it is essential to clearly define what the PMO will do and perform the activities. In the long run the PMO can start doing more activities. As an example in one of the organization I worked with the PMO was purely operational and there was a department (Investment controlling) which was responsible to manage the portfolio aspect. After about 2 years showcasing what it was doing and where it should go, the management decided to combine the PMO and Investment controlling into one PMO, with a new mandate and a new charter.
Can't agree with you more Kiran - This is 100% how it is, you got that right to the point. Saving Changes...
Philippe SchulerSenior Instructor/Lecturer in Project/Program/Account PMO Management| Independant ConsultantLes Choux, France
I used to work for a large IT International Company and I was in charge of the implementation and management of Account PMO. This means we delivered enterprise-wide standard services within 4 areas to the Customer Outsourcing programs:
1- Portfolio Management: to manage the portfolio of the account projects and programs, making sure they come in on time, on budget and within scope
2- Account Governance: to provide a way for both the client and the account team to mutually manage expectations, relationships and services.
3- Account Risk management:deals with risks across the entire account, enabling the account and the client to prevent and/or react to events that threaten the project portfolio
4- Program/Project Management: to provide client programs with project management best practices, tools and processes (PMBOK based)
The structure of each Program PMO was designed from a thorough needs analysis of the Key Stakeholders requirements for the program. Several people with PMI project management backgrounds fulfilled the various roles required to deliver the PMO services. Among these roles there are: PMO Manager, PMO Scheduler, PMO Administrator, PMO Financial Manager, PMO Risk Manager, PMO Communication Manager, PMO Specialists, Project Portfolio Manager ....
With these roles we were able to run PMO operating in a range from Project/Program management practices support to direct management and responsibility for account portfolio of projects. Saving Changes...
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