The PMO

Project Management Office (PMO)

The project management office is a centralized department that manages projects. The PMO is the Central location and authority for providing policies, methodologies and templates for managing projects within the organization. Trains individuals in project management within the organization.

Provide project managers for different projects, these project managers and the PMO are responsible for the results of those projects. The project management office is a department of many individuals.

The PMO has responsibilities such as:

• Provide resources

• Participate in project review meetings

• Monitor compliance with organizational processes

• Provide templates

• Provide centralized communication about projects

• Be a part of change control board

• Help prioritize projects

Business Value:

Business value is defined as the total sum of tangible and intangible elements of a business i.e. the total value of the business. Monetary assets, fixtures, stockholders, equity, utility are some of the examples of tangible elements and intangible elements include goodwill, reputation, brand recognition, public benefit, trademarks, etc.

Effective management of ongoing operations help in creating value for the business. All organizations, profit driven or non-profit organizations are focused on attaining business value for their activities.

Objectives:

The project objectives are defined in project charter

• A project is considered as complete when the objectives of the project are met

• A project is terminated if the project objectives are not met

Objectives may be defined at a high-level initially, however, will be defined in detail as the project progresses. Project manager is responsible to achieve project objectives. Quality management, risk management, stakeholder management, scope management all have an impact on project objectives.

If these knowledge areas are managed well, they can help in successfully achieving the project objectives.

Management by Objectives (MBO)

MBO is a management philosophy with three steps:

1. Establish clear, concise, well-articulated and realistic objectives

2. Periodic reviews required to check if objectives are met

3. Implement corrective actions wherever deviations are observed

Constraints:

Constraints can be in the area of time, cost, risk, scope, quality, resources, customer satisfaction and others. Can help evaluate competing demands. The priority of each constraint is set by the management.

A change to one constrain can have an impact to other constraints of the project. Project inevitably goes through many changes due to the competing demands we were talking about earlier. Each change request goes through a change request process. A project manager has to evaluate these changes and identify the impact on all the constraints of the project through integrated change control process.

OPM3:

PMI’s organizational project management maturity model is termed as OPM3. This model is designed to help organizations determine their level of maturity in project management.

Stakeholder Management:

Stakeholders can be Project managers, Sponsors, Team members, Project management office, Portfolio managers, Program managers, Functional managers, and Sellers.

Basically, stakeholders are those individuals, groups or organizations that are positively or negatively impacted by the product or the projects. The project may fail if stakeholders are not informed, their inputs are not solicited or their needs and expectations are not satisfied.

A project manager is required to analyze and manage stakeholder’s needs and levels of influence throughout the lifecycle of the project.