The most important responsibility of the PMO is to provide dedicated resources to ensure that project delivery teams

are in complete alignment with the organization‟s strategic objectives. They also ensure a consistent level of reporting on
progress and how resources are utilized. Depending on your specific model of PMO, it will be responsible for monitoring the on-
time and on-budget project execution with the primary goal of achieving business benefits.

Best Practices in PMO

 Select the most appropriate PMO model to your maturity

 Make sure your PMO efforts are in synch with corporatepriorities
 Do not over engineer processes
 Gain executive sponsorship
 Establish clear and meaningful metrics
 Tailor your focus based on complexity and urgency

PMO – How to Improve Efficiency, ROI, and Overall

One of the keys to make sure your organization doesn‟t face such financial peril is to make sure your PMO strategies
are all in alignment and that you consistently follow the best practices outlined here. While there are a myriad of smaller
challenges faced by PPM initiatives, here are five of the major issues we often see:
How to Optimize your Project Portfolio Management Team We will begin our discussion on best practices with what is
perhaps the most important element of the PPM strategy – the correct utilization of your human assets. Unless you get this aspect
right, even the best processes and technology won‟t be effective.
COMMON PPM INITIATIVE CHALLENGES:
1. Maintaining visibility at all levels – from the individual projects to the entire portfolio. 2. Ensuring governance – with
consistent and predictable methods, processes, and reporting. 3. Effective resource management – some organizations have issues
with who is the right person(s) for particular projects/tasks as well as how the total personnel capacity and utilization is balanced
across the enterprise. 4. Real-time status – of all project deliverables. 5. Reasonable time to “go live” – companies that are in
dynamic markets don’t have the luxury of long PMO implementation schedules.
Constructing the PMO
 Stage 1 – Orientation and Exploring Client’s Facilities and Projects
 Stage 2 – Data Collection
 Stage 3 – Organization Project Management Capabilities Assessment
 Stage 4 – Developing the PMO
 How To Improve Problem Solving Through Project Risk, Issue and Change Management Processes
 Stage 5 – Mapping Project Management Processes into the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) System
 Project Control System Modules
 How The PPM Will Be Used In Mapping All Project Management Processes
 How Can PPM Helps To Visualize a “Single Version of the Truth” Of All Project Management Processes
Across all Projects
 Stage 6 – Implementing Project Management Training for Staff
 Business Case for Constructing and Operating a PMO Solution for a Private Real Estate Developer
 1: PMO Assessment for a Project Management Firm & Real Estate Developer
 2: Technical Audit Assignment for a Project Management Firm & Real Estate Developer
 3: Building Information Modeling (BIM) Deliverables for Project Management Firm & Real Estate Developer
 4: Project Life Cycle Deliverables for a Project Management Firm & Real Estate Developer
 5: Managing the Client Project Gateway Review Process at Project Management Firm & Real Estate Developer
 6: Project Management Processes for a Project Management Firm & Real Estate Developer
 7: Building the Project Portfolio Management Information System (PPMIS) for a Project Management Firm & Real
Estate Developer
 8: Automating the Risk Management Identification, Assessment and Mitigation Processes for an EPC Contractor
 9: Establishing the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for a Project Management Firm & Real Estate Developer

Monitoring & control: tools required

• Project sizing spreadsheet

• Idea brief
• Project board terms of reference
• Project initiation document • Schedule
• Stakeholder engagement plan • Change management plan
• Benefits realisation plan
• Stage plan
• Workbook ‐Risk and issue/change management ‐Dependency register ‐Decision register ‐ Lessons learned register • Project
status report
• Post implementation review

Possible PMO Metrics

Below you will find some possible metrics. You still need to tweak them to make them fit to your project portfolio and to
your organisation. But it is a good starting point and it will give you an idea on what to measure:
Topic Area Possible Metric

Strategic Strategic Project Increase the success rate of % of strategic projects

Contribution Delivery delivered / the total number of strategic projects

Improve Time to Market Delivery = Elapsed Time from

Strategic Improve Time to
Idea Conception to Project Start
Contribution Market
(How long do we need to start a project)

Improve Time to Market Delivery = Elapsed Time from

Strategic Improve Time to
Idea Conception to Project Delivery
Contribution Market
(How long do we need to deliver a project)

The improvement of estimated time versus actual time

Strategic Improved Time to of project delivery = (comparison between the
Contribution Market estimated and the actual time of projects delivered)
(How good are we in estimating our project delivery)

Governance Improved Governance Methodology compliance (required deliverables vs.

Process Process actual deliverables)

Overall Project
Portfolio % of projects in portfolio delivered / the total number
Portfolio successful
Management of projects in portfolio
delivered

Portfolio % of projects remain at same status for x reporting

Dealing with Change
Management periods

Increase the success rates of the projects = (within a

Project Improved Project
certain time period, the number of success projects/the
Management Management Process
total of projects)

Project Improved Project

Improve training rate of project staff members
Management Management Process

The improvement of estimated cost versus actual cost

Project Improved Project
for the projects = (comparison between the estimated
Management Forecasting & Costing
and the actual cost of the projects)

Resource Increased Resource Increased productive resource utilization on project

Management Utilization on Projects time (ie: Business Analyst >31.5 hrs p/week = Exceeds)

Resource Increased Resource Increased resource utilization on projects = Billable

Management Utilization on Projects Hours/Total Hours

Stakeholder Improved Customer or Customer or user satisfaction survey averages (aim for
Management User Satisfaction a % above previous quarter or year average)

Stakeholder Improved Customer

Over-delivered items within budget
Management Satisfaction

Business Benefits Post-project ROI review to determine if project ROI is

ROI
achieved being realised

Business Benefits
ROI Benefits realised against Benefit forecast for year
achieved
Topic Area Possible Metric

Simple Return on Investment (ROI) for all of the

ROI ROI for the year
projects the PMO has oversight for

Improve Staff Improve project member satisfaction survey averages

Staff Members
Retention (aim for a % above previous quarter or year average)

Improve Staff
Staff Members Improve career path for project members
Retention

Setting up your PMO for success: Your PMO KPI’s

Review the above metrics and work out which metric(s) might be meaningful for your PMO. The next steps would be to
discuss and to agree with your stakeholders (typically this would be your manager and the Business) on the selected metrics.
This should also include how often you would report on them. This step is important as it will help clarify the purpose of
your PMO.
Once you’ve agreed on these metrics, document the ‘as it is’ state, which will act as your baseline. You would need to have a
baseline, in order to demonstrate your improvements later on. Historical data might be able to help you to get a baseline.
The next step will be to design a report or a dashboard, where you can track and report your success on a regular basis.
Collect, validate and assess the data you need in order to compile your report. Monitor your performance. If the performance
drops in comparison to your previous reporting time-frame, take corrective action early onwards to get back on track.
Finally, make sure you promote your success. You can use your Intranet, your companies newsletter, or you can compile a
case study to promote Project, Program and PMO success. All these activities will help you to promote the value and the
success of your PMO.