The Project Management Office (PMO)

Determining the Best Type of PMO for an Organization

Oct 25, 2009

The decision to establish a PMO is only the first step in bringing chaos to order. How much order is expected, depends on the PMO's roles and responsibilities.

In most organizations today, projects are the building blocks of strategy. The desire to improve the organization’s ability to effectively manage project portfolios, as well as to ensure that the organization invests in the right projects to solve the right problems, often leads to the need for an effective Project Management Office (PMO).

The PMO is not new concept. It is a traditional way to execute large construction projects owned by a company or government. However, in recent years, it has received attention from organization in a many different industries.

There are many different motives for creating a PMO. Sometimes it is due to the organization’s desire to excel; sometimes it is due to too many failed projects or attempts to recover an important project. At other times, the organization has recognized the inefficiency from duplication of effort, which can become a financial loss.

Non-project based organizations often lack management systems designed to support project needs efficiently and effectively. The absence of project oriented systems makes project management more difficult. The PMO, therefore, serves as the organization’s center for project management success. PMOs can be physically or virtually staffed to provide project support. They provide services and organizational focus in project management.

PMOs vary widely in their design, intent, makeup and development. On one hand, its function may be to provide support for project managers in the form of training, software and even designing templates. On the other hand, its function may actually be to manage the project itself and produce desirable project results.

PMOs can range anywhere from providing administrative support, to being a competency center that develops guidelines, to ultimately being responsible for the success of the project. The different types of PMOs are those that:

The PMO’s power can range anywhere from making recommendations, to providing guidance, to setting organizational policies and rigidly enforcing them. Which one is right for an organization depends on the justification of the cost of the PMO versus return on investment, as well as the organization’s short and long-term goals.

There are many benefits if the PMO is implemented properly. Projects are more likely to succeed within an organization, especially if the organization’s culture fosters a project management mentality. Consistent delivery of projects translates into predictability, reliability, higher productivity and, ultimately, higher profits.

The copyright of the article The Project Management Office (PMO) in Business Project Management is owned by Carla Crepin-Swift. Permission to republish The Project Management Office (PMO) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.