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How do I implement a program management office? How is this different from a project management office?

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Takesha McClane-Tsamis Project Manager| Illinois Tollway South Bend, In, United States
How do I implement a program management office? How is this different from a project management office?
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Eric Simms Senior Program Manager Baltimore, Maryland, United States
A Project Management Office deals primarily with individual projects, while a Program Management Office deals with programs, or interrelated projects. Therefore, a Program Management Office generally requires a greater level of organization than a Project Management Office. For example, risk is a greater concern with interrelated projects than individual projects, so a Program Management Office might need a Risk Officer, or even an entire Risk team.
Here’s a high-level explanation of how to get started implementing a Program Management Office:
1. Identify the current projects the organization is conducting
2. Organize these projects into related programs
3. Decide what type of PMO you’re creating (directing, controlling or supportive). This will require consultation with executives and other stakeholders
4. Based on the above inputs, decide how many resources and of what type your PMO requires (How many PMs, Project Schedulers, Risk Managers, Business Analysts, etc.)
5. Create a PMO governance structure; in particular you’ll need a project intake process and a document retention process
6. Advertise the PMO throughout the organiation. Let people know the ways it can make their lives better.
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1 reply by Takesha McClane-Tsamis
Mar 02, 2018 8:53 PM
Takesha McClane-Tsamis
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Thank you guys very much this is very helpful
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Takesha -

PMOs go by many names so without seeing the mandate or business case for the entity, I'd hate to assume at its functions.

However, what I have seen in the past is whereas Project Management Offices are setup as long-term entities, Program Management Offices are usually specific to a single program and would disband once the program ends.

Kiron
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Anish Abraham Privacy Program Manager| University of Washington Auburn, Wa, United States
I concur with Eric on this.

Besides what Eric mentioned above, I think you need to:
1. Conduct gap analysis of various processes, technology, data and create a solution for PMO optimization
2. Identify barriers and ensure that the new PMO solution is constructed to overcome them.
3.Identify your stakeholder needs and how this will be fulfilled in the new solution.
I think this will help to facilitate organizational buy-in.
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Said as you want the physical place where program/portfolio/project management functions or procedures will be located. The only thing that matters is to perform a strategic analysis, define if those functions will be part of the strategy and then decide if those funtions deserve to be located into a new physical business unit or not.
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Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD Senior Project Manager| Infosys Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Pretty much the same thing. It's not really about the title of the office but the responsibility and accountability outlined its charter or business case. But Kiron did point out an important distinction in their length of operation.
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Takesha McClane-Tsamis Project Manager| Illinois Tollway South Bend, In, United States
Mar 02, 2018 3:12 PM
Replying to Eric Simms
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A Project Management Office deals primarily with individual projects, while a Program Management Office deals with programs, or interrelated projects. Therefore, a Program Management Office generally requires a greater level of organization than a Project Management Office. For example, risk is a greater concern with interrelated projects than individual projects, so a Program Management Office might need a Risk Officer, or even an entire Risk team.
Here’s a high-level explanation of how to get started implementing a Program Management Office:
1. Identify the current projects the organization is conducting
2. Organize these projects into related programs
3. Decide what type of PMO you’re creating (directing, controlling or supportive). This will require consultation with executives and other stakeholders
4. Based on the above inputs, decide how many resources and of what type your PMO requires (How many PMs, Project Schedulers, Risk Managers, Business Analysts, etc.)
5. Create a PMO governance structure; in particular you’ll need a project intake process and a document retention process
6. Advertise the PMO throughout the organiation. Let people know the ways it can make their lives better.
Thank you guys very much this is very helpful

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