Concept of a Project Office (PO) or Project Management Office (PMO)Scribd Upload

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The Project Office 269 8.0 INTRODUCTION As companies begin to recognize the
favorable effect that project management has on profitability, em- phasis is
placed upon achieving professionalism in project management using the project
office concept. The concept of a project office (PO) or project management
office (PMO) could very well be the most im- portant project management activity
in this decade. With this recognition of importance comes strategic planning for
both project management and the project office. Maturity and excellence in
project manage- ment doesnot occur simply by using project management over a
prolonged period of time. Rather, it comes through strategic planning for both
project management and the project office. General strategic planning involves
the determination of where you wish to be in the future and then how you plan to
get there. For project office strategic planning, it is often easier to decide
which activities should be under the control of the project office than
determining how or when to do it. For each activity placed under the auspices of
the project office, there may appear pockets of resistance that initially view
removing this activity from their functional area as a threat to their power and
authority. 8.1 THE PROJECT OFFICE: 1950–1990 For almost 40 years, the project
office (or program office) functioned as a customer group project office and was
compromised of a group of project management personnel assigned to a specific
project, usually a large project. Aerospace and defense contractors created
three project offices for grouping Army, Navy, and Air Force customers. Some
companies created project offices exclusively to service either large projects
or small projects. 8 1154.ch08 9/29/03 9:07 AM Page 269 The concept behind this
project office approach was to get closer to the customer by setting up an
organization dedicated to that customer. The project office became an orga-
nization within an organization and could function as a “real” or “virtual”
organization to service a particular customer. The majority of these “projects”
were actually programs that were very large in dollar value and with multiyear
government funding. It was not un- common for people to spend 10 or 15 years
working on just one project. The members of the project office had unique roles
and responsibilities, but essen- tially worked together as a project management
team. Each person in the project office may have been required to have both
primary and secondary responsibilities. The sec- ondary responsibilities
included functioning as a backup for other project office personnel in case some
project office personnel were reassigned to other projects, left the company, or
were out sick. Head count in the project office was not considered extremely
important because the customer often paid the added costs. Technology and
schedules were viewed as signifi- cantly more important than cost. Customers
preferred to have more people than necessary assigned to project offices. The
cost of having someone assigned full-time to the project office was viewed as an
insignificant overmanagement cost compared to the risks of un- dermanagement,
where individuals were assigned part-time but may be needed full-time. The only
people who were trained in project management, and truly understood it, were the
project office personnel. Project offices functioned horizontally throughout the
organi- zation and were viewed as profit centers, whereas the traditional
functional hierarchies were treated as cost centers. During the 1980s, military
and government agencies became more cost-conscious. Project offices were pared
down as personnel other than those assigned to the project of- fice underwent
training in project management. Line managers also underwent training and were
asked to better understand project management and to share accountability with
project managers for project success. 8.2 THE PROJECT OFFICE: 1990–2000 The
1990s began with a recession that took a heavy toll on white-collar ranks.
Management’s desire for efficiency and effectiveness led them to take a hard
look at non- traditional management techniques such as project management.
Project management be- gan to expand to non–project-driven industries. The
benefits of using project management, which were once seen as applicable only to
the aerospace, defense, and heavy construction industries, were now recognized
as being applicable for other industries. As the benefits of project management
became apparent, management understood that there might be a significant,
favorable impact on the corporate bottom line. This led man- agement to two
important conclusions: GProject management had to be integrated and compatible
with the corporate re- ward systems for sustained project management growth.
GCorporate recognition of project management as a profession was essential in
or- der to maximize performance. 270 THE PROJECT OFFICE 1154.ch08 9/29/03 9:07
AM Page 270 The recognition of project management professionalism led companies
to accept PMI’s Certification Program as the standard and to recognize the
importance of the project office concept. Consideration was being given to all
critical activities related to project manage- ment to be placed under the
supervision of the project office. This included such topics as:
GStandardization in estimating
GStandardization in planning
GStandardization in scheduling
GStandardization in control
GStandardization in reporting
GClarification of project management roles and responsibilities
GPreparation of job descriptions for project managers
GPreparation of archive data on lessons learned
GBenchmarking continuously
GDeveloping project management templates
GDeveloping a project management methodology
GRecommending and implementing changes and improvements to the existing
methodology GIdentifying project standards
GIdentifying best practices
GPerforming strategic planning for project management
GEstablishing a project management problem-solving hotline
GCoordinating and/or conducting project management training programs
GTransferring knowledge through coaching and mentorship
GDeveloping a corporate resource capacity/utilization plan
GAssessing risks
GPlanning for disaster recovery
With these changes taking place, organizations began changing the name of the
proj- ect office to the center of excellence (COE) in project management. The
COE was mainly responsible for providing information to stakeholders rather than
actually executing proj- ects or making midcourse corrections to a plan. Each of
these activities brought with it both advantages and disadvantages. The ma-
jority of the disadvantages were attributed to the increased levels of
resistance to the new responsibilities given to the project office. For
simplicity sake, the resistance levels can be classified as low risk, moderate
risk, and high risk according to the following definitions: GLow Risk:Easily
accepted by the organization with very little shift in the balance of power.
Virtually no impact on the corporate culture. GModerate Risk:Some resistance by
the corporate culture and possibly a shift in the balance of power and
authority. Resistance levels can be overcome in the near term and with minimal
effort. GHigh Risk:Heavy pockets of resistance exist and a definite shift in
some power and authority relationships. Strong executive leadership may be
necessary to over- come the resistance. The Project Office: 1990–2000 271
1154.ch08 9/29/03 9:07 AM Page 271 Concept of a Project Office (PO) or Project
Management Office (PMO)Download this Document for
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Uploaded:03/05/2009Category:Business/LawRated:(2 Ratings)As companies begin to
recognize the favorable effect that project management has on profitability,
emphasis
is placed upon achieving professionali... (More) As companies begin to recognize
the favorable effect that project management has on profitability, emphasis
is placed upon achieving professionalism in project management using the project
office concept.
The concept of a project office (PO) or project management office (PMO) could
very well be the most important
project management activity in this decade. With this recognition of importance
comes strategic
planning for both project management and the project office. Maturity and
excellence in project management
does not occur simply by using project management over a prolonged period of
time. Rather, it comes
through strategic planning for both project management and the project office.
General strategic planning involves the determination of where you wish to be in
the future and then
how you plan to get there. For project office strategic planning, it is often
easier to decide which activities
should be under the control of the project office than determining how or when
to do it. For each activity
placed under the auspices of the project office, there may appear pockets of
resistance that initially view
removing this activity from their functional area as a threat to their power and
authority. (Less)
BusinessresearchsManagementmethodologyofficeConceptMscienceresearchPMIPMPSridhar
knowledge
management(more
tags)BusinessresearchsManagementmethodologyofficeConceptMscienceresearchPMIPMPSr
idharknowledge
managementbusinessmanagementscienceengineeringuncategorizableuncategorizableof a
project(po)or projectmanagement office (pmo)Science & EngineeringPresentations &
Spreadsheetscenterestablishmentoffice poglobal pmooverviewvs poconceptgeneralpmo
vsurl(fewer)Turki Al-Rashidi
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01 / 14 / 2010 Reply Report sohailaslam149063 left a comment
please mention the name and details of the book from which this chapter is
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