The role and functions of PMO in project companies
Project managers are always striving to grasp new knowledge and master a large number of useful skills, to be successful and to “keep up” with innovations. In project management, there are must-have disciplines and areas that are necessary for managers to ensure successful life of projects and releases. Today in companies of different levels and orientation, a special structure is often responsible for the quality and success of projects - the Project Management Office or PMO.
There are enough abbreviations in project management, they are easy to get confused: WBS, CPM , PMBOK, SDLC, PMO, XP and many others. If you want to dive deeper into the world of project management, then a glossary of the main abbreviations and abbreviations from the world of project management will be helpful .
Project Management Office (PMO) is a project portfolio management office (PMO), a division in a company that is responsible for coordinating projects, collecting and moving information on projects, monitoring, budgets, schedules, communication issues in a team, coordinating the work of all project stakeholders. as well as standardization of quality.
Managers and specialists who make up the office, accumulate best practices and strategies to optimize the status of the current project. Sometimes PMO is one single project manager. It depends on the size of the company. We can safely say that having a quality project management office is an integral part of the success of a modern company and its projects.
The main goal of PMO is to achieve quality results and competitive advantages of all processes, methods and policies in project management. PMO must fully comply with the culture and global strategy of the company .
Today, the popularity of such an office or division is only growing, since many of their examples have shown what results can be obtained from investing in a PMO.
Companies that have a PMO in place can also be confident that all risks and conflict situations associated with projects are under control.
The need for project management increases depending on the size of the company, its scope and industry demand.
The most likely industries where you will find a portfolio of project management offices today are healthcare, IT, financial institutions, industrial and professional services, and logistics.
In business, the need for PMO is growing steadily among companies of all sizes.
The specific functionality and areas of application of office power can vary greatly in different companies. There are no perfect examples. But the most common include:
Company employees representing a portfolio management office need to be competent in key areas of management. Such professional PM areas are clearly described in the PMBOK manual . Here are the most important ones:
For the PMO, it is important to combine all the resources and correctly build the processes.
The scale of the project is part of the project planning. This includes defining and documenting project goals, objectives, costs, deliverables and deadlines. Scale management is to make sure that everyone clearly knows what the project is for.
Cost management includes all project financing issues. In fact, we are talking about the preparation of the project budget, which includes how much each individual task will cost and protect the overall budget forecasts for the project.
The concept of time management in project management is related to how managers manage time, and team members spend their resources on project tasks.
Any project manager should be an excellent communicator, everyone knows that. Therefore, competent communication management in a team also goes to the main positions in the PMO functionality. This also includes monitoring all incoming and outgoing communications, working with customer feedback.
Proper work with quality indicators helps project managers to create project quality control. Keeping under control the quality issues of execution of all processes, they can be confident that the end result will meet the expectations of customers.
The larger the company, the more important is risk management. The company's portfolio management office must always “keep abreast of” and timely diagnose the danger to projects. It is important to pay attention to the details and constantly engage in qualitative analysis of the state of affairs and processes.
Human resource management shows how project managers work in their project teams and can maintain a healthy work environment.
These are only the most basic competences for which the project management office in the company can be responsible. Even the most successful and powerful PMO will still periodically encounter various problems, because the life of a project is like the life of a living organism, where something unpredictable can happen every day.
However, when everything is done correctly and the activity of the office brings the results of the company, it adds value to projects and ensures the balance and balance of business, improves productivity.
Briefly summarizing, we can highlight the main advantages of working PMO in companies:
A quality choice of project personnel will ensure a balance in the quantity and quality of projects, increase marketing figures and ensure sales growth.
There are enough abbreviations in project management, they are easy to get confused: WBS, CPM , PMBOK, SDLC, PMO, XP and many others. If you want to dive deeper into the world of project management, then a glossary of the main abbreviations and abbreviations from the world of project management will be helpful .
What is PMO in project management?
Project Management Office (PMO) is a project portfolio management office (PMO), a division in a company that is responsible for coordinating projects, collecting and moving information on projects, monitoring, budgets, schedules, communication issues in a team, coordinating the work of all project stakeholders. as well as standardization of quality.
Managers and specialists who make up the office, accumulate best practices and strategies to optimize the status of the current project. Sometimes PMO is one single project manager. It depends on the size of the company. We can safely say that having a quality project management office is an integral part of the success of a modern company and its projects.
The main goal of PMO is to achieve quality results and competitive advantages of all processes, methods and policies in project management. PMO must fully comply with the culture and global strategy of the company .
Today, the popularity of such an office or division is only growing, since many of their examples have shown what results can be obtained from investing in a PMO.
Companies that have a PMO in place can also be confident that all risks and conflict situations associated with projects are under control.
What industries are interested in creating a PMO?
The need for project management increases depending on the size of the company, its scope and industry demand.
The most likely industries where you will find a portfolio of project management offices today are healthcare, IT, financial institutions, industrial and professional services, and logistics.
In business, the need for PMO is growing steadily among companies of all sizes.
What are the areas of responsibility of the PMO in the company?
The specific functionality and areas of application of office power can vary greatly in different companies. There are no perfect examples. But the most common include:
- compilation and justification of the project portfolio. PMO classifies, chooses and deals with project prioritization based on the company's strategy and available resources.
- standardization of processes and selection of methodologies and techniques for project management .
- project appraisal, shorter project cycle times.
- maintaining current employee information, staffing.
- resource planning and optimization.
- conflict resolution and risk prevention.
- project progress tracking and dependency management.
- implementation of suitable project management tools , employee training, mentoring.
- ensuring the reliability of project data and increasing the transparency of information.
- creating a knowledge base (including past projects to avoid possible mistakes).
- optimization of communication within the team.
- administrative support for project managers.
- reporting to management.
- archive management of all projects of the organization.
Company employees representing a portfolio management office need to be competent in key areas of management. Such professional PM areas are clearly described in the PMBOK manual . Here are the most important ones:
PMO Competency Area
Integration Management
For the PMO, it is important to combine all the resources and correctly build the processes.
Scale control
The scale of the project is part of the project planning. This includes defining and documenting project goals, objectives, costs, deliverables and deadlines. Scale management is to make sure that everyone clearly knows what the project is for.
Cost management
Cost management includes all project financing issues. In fact, we are talking about the preparation of the project budget, which includes how much each individual task will cost and protect the overall budget forecasts for the project.
Time management
The concept of time management in project management is related to how managers manage time, and team members spend their resources on project tasks.
Communication management
Any project manager should be an excellent communicator, everyone knows that. Therefore, competent communication management in a team also goes to the main positions in the PMO functionality. This also includes monitoring all incoming and outgoing communications, working with customer feedback.
Quality control
Proper work with quality indicators helps project managers to create project quality control. Keeping under control the quality issues of execution of all processes, they can be confident that the end result will meet the expectations of customers.
Management of risks
The larger the company, the more important is risk management. The company's portfolio management office must always “keep abreast of” and timely diagnose the danger to projects. It is important to pay attention to the details and constantly engage in qualitative analysis of the state of affairs and processes.
Personnel Management
Human resource management shows how project managers work in their project teams and can maintain a healthy work environment.
These are only the most basic competences for which the project management office in the company can be responsible. Even the most successful and powerful PMO will still periodically encounter various problems, because the life of a project is like the life of a living organism, where something unpredictable can happen every day.
However, when everything is done correctly and the activity of the office brings the results of the company, it adds value to projects and ensures the balance and balance of business, improves productivity.
Briefly summarizing, we can highlight the main advantages of working PMO in companies:
- PMO is responsible for the company's project portfolio.
- Accumulation of experience and minimization of risks associated with projects.
- Optimize the time of project managers and teams.
- Improving communication between projects.
- Improving the quality of project implementation.
- Reducing project risks.
A quality choice of project personnel will ensure a balance in the quantity and quality of projects, increase marketing figures and ensure sales growth.