Office project management

What is a Project Management Office?A project management office (PMO) is a group that establishes, maintains, and governs project management standards across the organization. By centralizing best practices and providing the proper tools that ensure project transparency and strategy alignment, the PMO delivers value to not only the business but the project and program stakeholders as well. Your Project Management Office can help accelerate strategic delivery with PPM best practices. Roles and Responsibilities of a PMO Projects or work, if left to each business unit or team member, can quickly go off track, consuming resources and missing delivery dates due to inefficiencies, poor direction, and strategic misalignment. The project management office provides governance, supporting project managers in ensuring teams follow standard company procedures, best practices, and processes when planning and executing projects and programs. PMI found that companies that align their PMO with corporate strategy experience a 38 percent increase in the number of projects that meet their goals, with 48 percent fewer project failures. The project management office plays a key role in setting the company up for more consistent program and project success. Gartner’s The PMO Leader’s First 100 Days says there is no “right” model for a PMO, but the most effective ones “set achievable expectations, demonstrate ‘real’ value, and are a good match with their organizational culture.”Measurement and reporting are critical responsibilities of the project management office. These shareable reports provide granular and high-level insights into the status of projects and teams all in one place. Executives have access to real-time project, program and portfolio progress updates and roadmaps, as well as potential capacity and budget issues. With reliable data in hand, leaders can make more informed decisions sooner and with greater confidence, reducing risk and optimizing resources. They are also able to more rapidly and appropriately pivot strategy based on market changes, realigning work as needed to continue to innovate and stay competitive. Project Management Office Types There are multiple types of project management offices, including IT PMOs and EPMOs. An IT PMO is a departmental or organizational PMO; that is, a project management office that resides within the IT department.While an IT PMO ensures consistency and builds best practices within the IT department, it is siloed and limited in its capacity and influence. According to PMI, the departmental PMO may be able to successfully deliver the projects within their department, but “struggles to integrate

Here's Microsoft's explanation:Office Project Standard 2007 is the latest version of thedesktop project management program. As a stand-alone product,Office Project Standard 2007 helps project managers, businessmanagers, and planners to manage and plan projects independentlywith familiar, easy-to-use tools. Office Project Standard 2007 isnot designed to exchange data with Office Project Server 2007.Office Project Professional 2007 is the desktop client that isalso used to connect with Office Project Server 2007 as part of theOffice EPM Solution. Office Project Professional 2007 offers allthe tools found in Office Project Standard 2007, and when used withOffice Project Server 2007, it also provides powerful EPMcapabilities such as collaboration, management of shared resources,portfolio management, and reporting across projects and programsrun by different project managers.So what does that mean? Standard and Professional are the sameunless you are going to use Project Server. Professional isrequired for Project Server and will cost nearly double. Otherwise,save your organization money and get Standard (retail $599/$349upgrade vs. $999/599 upgrade).Of course, please bear in mind that you may have future needsfor Project Server so if that's the case, Project Professionalshould also be considered for your organization's growth, even ifyou don't need it today.

With the rest of the organization.” Departmental PMOs have a place, but they should be careful to ensure their work contributes to the greater business strategy, seizing opportunities to remove barriers that hinder business efficiency. Digital transformation presents an opportunity for organizations to think more broadly. Organizations are less fixated on projects and more focused on enterprise planning, delivery, and performance to respond to increased digital business demands. To achieve cross-functional alignment and provide visibility across the delivery and performance of all portfolio investments, many program and portfolio management leaders are establishing an Enterprise PMO (EPMO). Gartner predicts that by 2023, 80 percent of organizations will have an EPMO focused on integrating digital products and programs, saying the EPMO is responsible for “bridging strategies and delivering value across business units.” Project Management Office Benefits Standardizing project and program planning and execution has advantages. According to CIO Magazine, a good project management office offers many business benefits, including: Providing tangible, repeatable, long-term benefits to the business Aligning with corporate strategy and culture Agility to adapt as strategy shifts Integrating data and information from corporate strategic projects Enabling the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques for project success across the enterpriseAdditional benefits of standardization include lower costs, greater efficiencies, and reduced risk. When teams follow the same workflows and proven processes, there is less chance for overspend and wasted time on the wrong projects. Teams share lessons learned to sustain continuous improvement and faster execution with greater confidence.The project management office empowers project managers and their teams with tools and methods, acting as a strategic business partner focused on serving the needs of the organization. With a steadfast presence and commitment to supporting the business, the PMO equips the organization to reach its goals faster, more efficiently, and with a greater return on investment. Project Management Office Tools Specific tools support the project management office and provide the necessary transparency and automation to deliver insights, management capabilities, collaboration, governance, and scalability. There are many tools on the market, but IT Central Station offers a good starting point by naming top performers in its “Best Project Portfolio Management Solutions.” Cloud-Based, Real-Time Software Software for centralized project and portfolio management is critical for any project management office. Static spreadsheets and disjointed systems provide little clarity on what is happening at any given moment. Team members must be able to leverage real-time data to

Real impact on the business by delivering efficient and effective project portfolio management (PPM). Project management office PPM best practices help define how to transition from a governing body to a guiding force that drives value across the entire organization.There are many PPM best practices to consider when evolving the PMO. It is beneficial to remember that the key function of a modern project management office is to continually provide executives and stakeholders clear visibility into business performance. What these leaders need most isn’t governance or endless reports, but to be equipped with the right data at the right time to make decisions that will shape the trajectory of the business. Common Project Management Office Challenges Changing PerceptionNo matter the intention of the project management office, perception is reality. The business often has its own view of the PMO, none of which are as a value center. Much of the disconnect is due to the fact that the PMO frequently falls into the trap of concentrating on the wrong things, inadvertently supporting the reputation they would prefer to change. Three common impressions of the Project Management Office include:“Process Cop”The process cop is the perception that the PMO is focused on processes, procedures, and conformance above all. The importance of following the stated checklist outweighs the benefits of measuring success by outcomes, value, and speed of delivery. There is a one-size-fits-all approach that is highly structured and rigid, lending to the corporate notion that the project management office is not there to support the business as a valued partner, but to be avoided or simply tolerated as a process enforcer. The PMO ends up hindering innovation and value delivery because it is bogged down in the rules. Out-of-touch project management offices create complexity by enforcing strict governance and rigid processes that slow delivery and value realization. “Demand Wrangler”A project management office that is focused on execution is frequently considered a Demand Wrangler by the rest of the business. All ideas are believed to be good ones; therefore, all are greenlighted without prioritization. This clogs the project funnel and tips the scales of capacity and demand.While this type of PMO may at first appear to be friends of the business by never saying no or killing projects that aren’t bringing value, its reluctance to establish a standardized process to prioritize work and measure outcomes means resources are often overutilized and projects quickly