The Project Management Office (PMO)

An Effective Solution to Managing Multiple Projects  in an Organized and Efficient Manner

Introduction

The introduction of best practices in project management has substantial impact on the time, cost, and quality effectiveness of projects as they are implemented. By embracing and promoting best practices, Project Management Offices (PMOs) add momentum to the quest to improve performance, mitigate risk, and manage cost through the application of project management. And in the case of process-related Value Improvement Practices (VIPs), those improvements also extend the potential benefits into the operational stage. Therefore, best practices, whether focused at project management improvement, or towards subsequent process-related benefits, are a noble and worthy cause for PMOs to promote.

How does a Project Management Office ensure best practices?

The Project Management Office (PMO) provides an effective solution to managing multiple projects in an organized and effective manner utilizing proven industry best practices. The PMO provides the framework to ensure that projects are given the oversight and attention to realize a successful development, implementation, and deployment.  

PMOs are concerned with incorporating improved practices into the fabric of a company’s principles and methodologies.  In fact, a good mission statement for a PMO might be, “Identify, stimulate, and support the utilization of best project management practice so that the organization can effectively implement its strategies and achieve its objectives.” The creation of a PMO ensures that there is a logical, functional place in an organization to take on this critical role. 

The PMO promotes identification of organizational priorities for projects and mandates– for example, mandatory projects, political projects, operations and maintenance, and governance.  This identification of priorities allows a strategically aligned PMO to respond with increased efficiency and agility to new opportunities and tasks.

“Good governance is very valuable. Organizations that have good governance practices in place are able to realize a premium of more than 20 percent from their investors” (McKinsey’s Investors Opinion survey, June 2000).

According to the Standish Group’s 1995 Chaos Report, in the United States, more than $250 billion is spent each year on IT application development of approximately 175,000 projects.  The average cost of a development project for a large company is $2,322,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a small company, it is $434,000.  Success is low, as estimates project 1,995.American companies and government agencies will spend $81 billion for canceled software projects. These organizations will pay an additional $59 billion for software projects that will be completed, but will exceed original schedule estimates.

While success on the average is only 16.2 percent for software projects that are completed on time and on –budget, projects completed by large American companies have approximately only 42 percent of the originally identified requirements. Smaller companies fare better with a total of 78.4 percent of their projects getting deployed, with approximately 74.2 percent of their original requirements met.

CTi Remote Office Concept

Agencies that find themselves planning and managing multiple connected projects involving numerous parts of the Agency frequently become overwhelmed by countless components and tasks competing to be completed.  CTi is committed to promoting the Remote Office concept to help support the effective implementation of a PMO.  Remote Offices provide flexibility to a PMO by utilizing teams located elsewhere besides the contract site.  Remote teams are able to work unencumbered and to focus their efforts on the projects at hand.  Due to the competitive and costly market in the D.C. Metro Area, CTi Remote Offices provide needed [or “necessary” or “sufficient”]flexibility to an organization to facilitate successful project development and implementation.   The remote office approach provides a solution to many organizations’ relevant issues and concerns.  CTi also has teams that work under the CTi PMO Framework that can work on-site as needed.

CTi Remote Office Features and Benefits

The CTi Remote Office provides significant features and benefits to our clients.  These features demonstrate the value that is brought to our clients while utilizing the PMO Framework.

Features	Benefits
Formalized Project Development Teams	Ability to have complete life cycle development teams focus on their specified deliverables.
Efficient Response to Requests	Rapid response to specific work requests by having established communications protocols and clear delineation of responsibility.  This permits a project team to respond more quickly to project requests and helps to ensure meeting cost and schedule requirements.
Organizational Flexibility	Ability to respond to a multitude of projects with increased speed and efficiency. With a project-focused environment, PMO management assigns projects to those teams using resource allocation.
Project Delivery	The PMO structure promotes project delivery that is on schedule, within budget, and meets all defined requirements.
Demonstrated CTi Framework	The CTi PMO Framework has proven successful with a reusable and modular framework for development projects.  This framework greatly reduces redundant development efforts and promotes greater efficiency.
Effective Human Capital  Management	Improved resource management of identified resources. The Project Manager assigns tasks to team members who are most skilled in those areas of expertise and have the necessary resources available.
Identification and Integration of Organizational Business Priorities	Project Managers work collaboratively with clients to determine organizational business priorities.  The PMO can respond effectively by addressing prioritized projects within the organization.
Recruitment	It is increasingly difficult to recruit IT professionals in the Washington DC/Metro area currently.  The Remote Office provides another avenue for recruiting skilled workers for the PMO.  Remote Office allows CTi to establish a presence in an area that has skilled and educated workers.
Office Space	Office space is often scarce within Federal agencies; thus, the Remote Office alleviates the need for contractor space and additional hardware, software, etc.

PMO Success Factors

Finally, successful implementation of the CTi PMO framework within an organization requires clients and PMO management to identify a strategy for success.  More often than not, success relies on the following factors:

Effective Communication – Development of a Communications Plan to identify communications protocols within the PMO. This includes development of a comprehensive plan to facilitate communication between on-site and off-site development teams and clients.

Organizational Change – Establishment of a culture that embraces change and success.  While change is difficult for both individuals and organizations, the PMO can promote an environment that regards change as a challenge for success. This process is challenging, but the PMO will develop a strategic plan to help develop and grow an attainable “belief structure” within the organization.

Resource Driven – Ensuring the PMO structure is cognizant of resources and makes strategic decisions regarding available resources and skill sets. Too often, projects are undertaken with insufficient resources to fulfill the obligation. This under-planning will result in cost overruns very often, project failure.  Identifying those project resources and ensuring that they are not overloaded will produce happier and more effective workers.

Defined Boundaries – Development of a methodology that recognizes assigned responsibilities.

Documentation Control – Adherence to the System Development Life Cycle Methodology (SDLCM) during the entire lifecycle. This ensures appropriate deliverables are produced to support the threshold initiation of the investment.