What is a project management office?

Project management office is a functional organization name set up by the enterprise, also known as project management department, project office or project management center, etc., English: Porject Management Office, abbreviation: PMO.

pmo is within the organization to formalize and standardize the practice, process, operation, is the core department to improve the maturity of organizational management, it is based on industry best practices and recognized project management knowledge system, and combined with the company's own business and industry characteristics, in order to ensure the improvement of project success rate and the effective implementation of organizational strategies.

is an organizational unit that standardizes governance processes related to projects and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and technologies.

 

PMO CLASSIFICATION

the pmo's areas of responsibility can be broad, from providing project management support services to directly managing one or more projects. there are several different types of pmos, which vary in their degree of control and influence over the project, and are mainly divided into the following three categories:

• Supportive takes
• on a consultant role. Provide projects with templates, best practices, training, and information and lessons learned from other projects. This type of PMO is actually a project repository with very little control over the project.
• the control type
• not only supports the project, but also requires the project to comply through various means. examples include a project management framework or methodology, the use of specific templates, formats, and tools, or compliance with governance. this type has a moderate degree of control over the project.
• command-based
• direct management and control of projects. this type is highly controlled.

"pmo is within the organization of the practice, process, operation formalization and standardization of the department, is to improve the maturity of organizational management of the core department, it according to the industry best practices and recognized project management knowledge system, and combined with the company's own business and industry characteristics, tailor-made project management process for the organization, training project manager team, the establishment of project management information system, to provide consultative guidance for the project, carry out multi-project management, etc., in order to ensure the improvement of project success rate and the effective implementation of organizational strategy.

pmo has the responsibility of establishing standardized project management standards, summarizing best practices, resolving resource conflicts, cultivating project manager teams, project review, and building organizational project management systems in enterprises.

pmo reorganizes strategic projects to obtain data and information, conduct comprehensive analysis, and assess the extent of strategic objectives of the project services sector. pmo establishes links between portfolios, project sets, projects and the organizational appraisal system. to ensure alignment with the organization's business objectives, pmo may have the authority to act as an important stakeholder and key decision maker throughout the life cycle of each project, to make recommendations, and to terminate the project or take other actions as needed. in addition, pmo may also be involved in the selection, management, and provisioning of shared or dedicated resources.

pmo typically has the following responsibilities and functions:"

1． provide administrative support to project managers and project teams, such as the generation of various project reports;
2． maximize the concentration of project management experts, providing project management consulting and consulting services;
3． organize the project management practices and expert knowledge of the enterprise into a set of methodologies suitable for the enterprise, and provide dissemination and reuse within the enterprise;
4． training in project management related skills within the enterprise;
5． pmo can configure some project managers, when necessary, can directly participate in specific projects, to give key projects to key support.

"pmo supports project managers in the following ways:
manage shared resources for all projects under the pmo's jurisdiction;"

• identify and develop project management methods, best practices and standards;
• mentoring, coaching, training and supervision
• monitoring compliance with project management standards, policies, procedures and templates through project audits;
• develop and manage project policies, procedures, templates, and other shared files
• coordinate cross-project communications

pmo can be a temporary or permanent institution. temporary institutions are often used to manage specific projects, such as corporate mergers and acquisitions. permanent pmos are suitable for managing a set of projects with a fixed time period or to support the ongoing progression of an organization's projects.

THE PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING THE PMO

specifically, the project management office was established to meet two needs:
 

first, to meet the needs of commercial competition

"an important reason for establishing pmo early on was the painful feelings that failed projects brought to businesses. the cruelty of competition in modern business society makes it possible for any company to fall into trouble because of the failure of individual projects. the success or failure of projects in today's society is inseparable from the success or failure of enterprises, which has led to an urgent need for pmo.a successful medium and large enterprise is bound to have many projects in progress, and whether there are excellent project management technical personnel has become the key to whether it can complete customer needs in limited time and cost conditions. however, even the best talents inevitably have various limitations, and the excellent talents that an enterprise can have are limited. in the process of implementing a large number of projects, it is inevitable that enterprises must have a strong support for project work to assist project managers and project teams to overcome various difficulties in a timely and effective manner and complete projects with high quality and high performance.

 

 in order for project management technology and experience to become the organizational wealth of the enterprise, and ultimately improve the overall productivity of the project team and improve the profitability of the enterprise, the establishment of a pmo within the enterprise has its inevitability and urgency.

once a project has started, the pmo continuously monitors changes to each project and provides the support and services required by various project managers and project teams. one of the keys i would like to emphasize here is that as the corporate strategy changes, the situation of any project must also change. by correcting, accelerating, terminating or prioritizing projects, pmo realizes the adjustment of projects to adapt to changes in corporate strategy to meet the needs of business competition."

second, meet the needs of rational allocation of resources

"in order to reap the benefits of pmo, the size of the enterprise must first reach a certain level. if a business has only one project a year, don't waste limited resources on pmo. for a business with a multitude of projects, you will find a considerable number of project managers, each with different skills and experience. these project managers often don't realize the success of other projects or even know what others are doing. if something like this happens, the pmo should be established. the operation of any pmo requires the investment of funds and personnel. but the time and money invested in the pmo will be worth the money, allowing project managers to execute project work better, faster, and more economically in the enterprise. because pmo is the height of the operation of the entire enterprise rather than the height of a single project, the limited resources of the enterprise are rationally allocated, while providing various supports for the project manager and the project team to ensure the successful implementation of the project in line with the corporate strategy.

a centralized pmo ensures that all project managers have core project management skills, use common methods, processes and templates, and are supported by the highest levels of the enterprise. the simplicity of pmo organization makes it possible for everyone to set up such an office. but pmo staffing is a very important and complex job. in order to have the ability to provide support and allocate resources in all aspects, the pmo should include the company's senior executives, project managers, various specialized experts, project coordinators and other roles.

differences between project managers and pmo project managers focus on specific project objectives, while pmo manages major portfolio scope changes that are sadly seen as potential opportunities to facilitate the achievement of business objectives;"


the project manager controls the resources allocated to the project to better achieve the project objectives, while the pmo is responsible for optimizing the use of organizational resources shared by all projects;


project managers manage constraints for individual projects, while pmo manages methodologies, standards, overall risk/opportunity, metrics, and project dependencies from an organizational standpoint.