A Framework for Achieving Project Management Excellence across the Organization

By Lawrence Pang* and Timothy J Briscoe, PMP

Abstract
Business leaders recognize that enabling project success is not just about using established project
management (PM) methods and tools or calibrating competency levels. Project success is about achieving
planned benefits and business goals.
This article is for business leaders seeking a pragmatic approach to enhance and attain PM capability across
the organization. The Framework identifies what is required and the Methodology outlines how to plan and
execute initiatives to improve and achieve organization-wide PM excellence.
This approach complements and extends current ISO/IEEE/CMM approaches through its emphasis on
achieving business results, and not just compliance to processes to indirectly influence performance.

Keywords
Success and Strategy, Implementing Strategy, Systems Approach
Competence - Developing Organizational Capability
Strategy - Project Management Organizational Capability (PMOC)

It is common for organizations to react to project management (PM) challenges as they occur. Emphasis on
short-term priorities often guides this behavior. Typical reactions include hiring experienced project managers
or PM consultants to train and mentor staff, deploying PM methods and tools, and increasing project
methodology assurance and project control services. Implementing such quick fixes may solve immediate
project problems but they rarely generate lasting improvements in an organization. Nor are they effective to
reduce future project failures or improve project delivery performance over the longer term.
Many companies remain trapped in this "quick- fix" reactionary mode of operations. Consequently, their
executives continue to deal with project challenges, tolerate project delays, cost overruns and rework, and live
with product/solution deficiencies and unplanned activities. Sadly, precious earnings are squandered on short-
term "spot" fixes and "patched" solutions that rarely improve performance or results.
Poor project performances are visible and costly drags on corporate earnings. Project failures can even be
detrimental to organizations that have to rely on project successes to maintain market leadership, to survive
and to thrive. Business leaders get their wake-up calls when they recognize that their expenditures on short-
term solutions rarely result in improving organizational performance. Only then are they willing to seek a
longer-term solution to enhance and sustain their project management and delivery capabilities.
A more pragmatic perspective has emerged
Project success has to mean much more than completing project deliverables on time and within budget.
Project success should be aligned directly to business metrics that are defined to measure the achievement of
intended and planned business goals and benefits. Within this context, the key to achieving project success
consistently is recognizing that it will take more than just instituting methods and tools and assuring their use,
or developing PM competency and gauging capability maturity level.
The key to achieving project success consistently is instilling a mature PM organizational capability as a core
competency for the enterprise. This recipe extends working behaviors and project processes beyond the usual
project focused activities. It emphasizes paying close attention to achieving business benefits as the project
progresses.
Project success has to be acknowledged as a critical competitive edge for an organization before its business
leaders can be motivated to invest in it. The corollary is that effective PM capabilities must be pervasive
1
throughout the organization, i.e. the organization must attain Project Management Organizational Capability
(PMOC).
PMOC is highly developed in an organization when that organization has the demonstrable capability,
competency and capacity to execute its portfolio of projects successfully and consistently, and do so
efficiently and effectively to produce planned and desired business results without fail.
Attaining PMOC is about enhancing current PM capabilities and capacity. It is about enabling all functional
areas to leverage project methods, tools, techniques and resources to plan and manage all business endeavors
effectively, to deliver successfully more projects better, faster and at lower costs. It is ultimately about being
able to achieve business goals consistently. In this perspective, making PM a core competency in an
organization is a strategic initiative to assure the consistent achievement of its business goals.
PM disciplines are applicable in many areas of an organization
There is nothing mystical about extending and enabling the use of proven methods, processes and controls to
plan, execute and manage various activities in different functional areas of an organization. ISO, IEEE and
CMM standards and quality management guides (e.g., [1]-[9]) are all about putting them in place and
improving the process. TQM, Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement initiatives (e.g., [10]-[22]) also
measure the effectiveness of their deployment.
But leveraging PM disciplines can and must go beyond the use of PM processes, checklists and tools.
Leveraging PM disciplines has to more than just deploying PM disciplines and methodologies. Beyond
instituting a project-oriented approach in the operating culture, an organization must endow and embody the
spirit of PM disciplines as a core competency and a critical success factor for its survival, for thriving and
sustaining its market leadership.
Most organizations already have some project management capability in place. Many companies have even
taken PM disciplines beyond an individual project level. They have established corporate guidelines for all
projects within a functional group (e.g. Information Technology) to use common methods and tools. Some
organizations even have processes to report on and control its entire portfolio of projects as a business
management discipline.
These initial forays into PMOC can be extended beyond the enabling and leveraging of PM disciplines to all
projects and across all department/division levels. Attaining PMOC is about applying and adapting
competency development, organizational transformation and change management princip les across the entire
organization. This is done to make project management and delivery capability a core competency and a
critical competitive edge for the whole organization. It is about focusing on achieving planned benefits and
business goals, and not just relying on the compliance to established guidelines and processes to influence
project success.
What is required to effect this extension ? Executive leadership is essential to cultivate and promote PMOC
initiatives to establish an environment for making PM competency an integral part of the core business
process. Executive sponsorship is needed to develop and deploy PM disciplines across the enterprise. Firm
corporate commitment is required to establish the stable project-oriented operating structure and processes (a
PM infrastructure) that will in turn enhance, enable and sustain PM capability across the enterprise.
Corporate level recognition and valuing of PM capability as a profession will validate its importance and
significance in providing a visible contribution to an organization's bottom line.

The PMOC Framework has been developed as the reference model

The authors have led a number of initiatives to develop and enhance PM capabilities at global Fortune 100
companies. They have worked with corporate leadership teams to address various PM deficiencies, to resolve
PM crises, to turn around troubled projects and improve project performance. They have led efforts to

2
develop and manage enterprise-wide initiatives to enhance and sustain PM capabilities at the profession and
organization levels. From the knowledge gained and lessons learned from these experiences, they have
formulated a framework and methodology for attaining PMOC, to enable highly effective PM and delivery
capabilities across the enterprise.
The PMOC Framework and Methodology1 is a holistic, pragmatic, result-oriented approach for:
- assessing the current state of PM capabilities,
- defining remedies and interventions to address PM challenges over the short and longer term, and,
- defining strategic initiatives to deploy the necessary components of the PM infrastructure.
The PMOC Framework serves as a reference model for what is needed in an organization's PM infrastructure.
The PMOC Methodology offers a guide to plan and drive initiatives to enhance and sustain project
management and delivery excellence. PMOC initiatives are defined and undertaken to improve an
organization's PM, business and operating infrastructure and, to integrate a project-oriented work culture into
its operations.
In this way, PM disciplines and tools can be leveraged throughout the entire organization to improve business
results. Through efforts to attain PMOC, the organization is transformed into a highly effective project
delivery organization that can sustain high levels of project performance to deliver all work successfully.
The PMOC Framework provides the disciplinary foundation for PM excellence
The PMOC Framework comprise business, organizational and project management disciplines that are
necessary to establish, enhance, maintain and sustain PM competency and capacity throughout an
organization. When deployed, these disciplines make up the PM infrastructure, which is melded into the
business, management and operations infrastructure to transform the enterprise into a highly effective project-
oriented delivery organization.
PMOC is not an end-state nor is PMOC exhibited in only one form in all organizations. This means that an
organization's physical PM infrastructure will be unique to its operations, functional structure and its business
culture. These factors in turn affect the approach, dependencies and time frame needed to establish an
organization's PM infrastructure.
The components of the PMOC Framework
The PMOC Framework identifies the disciplinary components that an organization needs to have in place in
order to have robust and demonstrable PM capabilities. Generally, PMOC is established and elevated through
the deployment of specific business, organization and PM disciplines within the business and operating
infrastructure. These disciplines are illustrated in Figure 1 as logical components of the PMOC Framework.
The PMOC Framework serves as a logical architecture to guide the design of the physical PM infrastructure.
The components of the PMOC Framework represent the underpinnings for a stable PM infrastructure. Each
component refers to a collection of associated PM disciplines, methods, tools, techniques, intellectual capital,
assets, and programs that a business function or entity needs in order to establish, maintain and sustain
PMOC. These logical components, when transformed into their physical forms in the PM infrastructure, (i.e.
the methods, tools, processes, etc.), usually take different physical forms depending on the organization's
needs, structure and culture. 2
The dynamic interactions between the components in the PMOC Framework are not trivial. The components
influence, interact and depend on each other in highly complex and synergistic ways that cannot be illustrated

1
Refer to the White Paper [23] for more information on what is required and how to improve and achieve PM delivery
excellence throughout the organization and maintain an organization's Project Management "muscles".
2
This notion is not unlike how a business function, e.g. procurement, can be physically structured and performed
differently in different organizations even though the function itself can be depicted logically in a generic process model.
3
easily in a diagram. For instance, an initiative to deploy PM methods and tools would rely upon the success of
PM training, because doing either one of them alone will not bring about the desired results.

Figure 1: A Framework for Project Management Organizational Capability (PMOC)

Disciplines, methods, tools, techniques, intellectual capital assets and programs for these functions/entities form the
foundation of the PM infrastructure.

PMOC
PMOC Executive
Executive Leadership
Leadership
Enabling Disciplines

Best
Best Practice
Practice Leadership
Leadership
Organization

Knowledge
Knowledge Management
Management
Community
Community of
of Practice
Practice

Matter Expertise

& Process Mgmt

PMOC Planning

PMOC Program
OC Continuous

PM Knowledge
Improvement
Management

Management
and Delivery

OC Change

OC Quality

OC Subject

Network
Profession Methods, Tools & Systems &
Management Instrumentation Process Integration
Foundation
Disciplines

Resource Acquisition
Performance Metric

Planning, Selection
Subject Matter Expertise

Project Control
& Instrumentation
Risk Management
Education & Training

& Compliance
Ref Templates &

QA & Control

& Management
Work Products

& Governance
Community Service

Methodology
Field Experience

Methods &
Accreditation &
Certification

Portfolio Quality
Project Repository
Management

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The PMOC Methodology outlines the process to establish the PM infrastructure
The PMOC Methodology recommends the use of a consultative approach for defining and deploying the
unique physical instances of the various components of the Framework into each organization and integrating
them into the organization's business and operating infrastructure.
This approach to establishing the PM infrastructure is much more involved and sophisticated than simply
implementing each component as isolated "stove piped" initiatives. Each component has to be rendered into an
appropriate physical form in accordance with each enterprise's unique business and operating environment,
organization structure and work culture. Then, each component has to be integrated into the organization's
unique business management system.
This effort to set up the PM infrastructure eventually results in transforming the organization into one that
supports PM capability as a core competency, and advances its operating culture into one that is project
delivery oriented.
The PMOC Framework identifies two groups of disciplines
The PMOC Framework diagram shows the various disciplines necessary to enable and sustain PMOC in an
organization. The disciplines are categorized under two groups: (1) the Foundation disciplines and, (2) the
Organization Enabling disciplines.
Components of the Foundation disciplines represent project-oriented disciplines that enable project planning,
management and delivery activities to be performed effectively in each project. They are applicable for the
entire portfolio of projects and for all project-oriented work in the organization. Many of these Foundation
disciplines are self-developing and self- managing. 3
Components of the Organization Enabling disciplines include functional methods and organization-wide
programs and practices deployed to enable and improve PMOC throughout the organization. They include
disciplines to promote project delivery competency and performance on an organization-wide basis, to manage
PM knowledge and intellectual assets for the entire community, and to transform the operating culture to
become highly project effective. Once deployed, these interwoven disciplines influence and impact strategic,
tactical and operation level functions and processes from the executive levels down to the working
community.
PMOC Framework - Foundation Disciplines
The deployment of Foundation disciplines will enable highly effective and efficient planning, management
and delivery of individual projects and project structured work. Foundation disciplines are applicable at the
individual contributor, the project and the organizational levels for planning, executing and controlling the
organization's portfolio of projects.
Foundation components can be grouped into three main bodies of disciplines as follows:
♦ Profession Management
♦ Education and Training
♦ Experiential Field Learning
♦ Subject Matter Expertise
♦ Accreditation and Certification
♦ Community Service
♦ Methods, Tools and Instrumentation
♦ Methods and Methodology
♦ Reference Templates and Work Products

3
That is, each PM individual learns and accumulates the skills for as many of these disciplines as they can, to apply as
and where they see fit.
5
 ♦ Project Repository
♦ Performance Metrics and Instrumentation
♦ Risk Management
♦ Quality Assurance and Control
♦ Project Systems and Process Integration to Business Operations
♦ Project Planning, Selection and Governance
♦ Project Portfolio Quality Management
♦ Resource Acquisition and Management
♦ Project Control and Compliance

More information about the Foundation components is provided in the White Paper [23].
PMOC Framework - Organization Enabling Disciplines
Organization Enabling disciplines provide the wherewithal and faculty for the organization to build, enhance
and sustain PMOC throughout the organization and to improve its capacity to manage and deliver its portfolio
of projects successfully. Organization Enabling disciplines enable and drive PMOC improvement initiatives,
change and continuous improvements to PM capability and capacity throughout the organization.
The primary drivers of the Organization Enabling disciplines are:
♦ PMOC Executive Leadership, to provide the order, energy, creativity and drive for PMOC initiatives;
♦ Best Practice Le adership, to define and promote appropriate standards, methods, processes, tools,
techniques, etc. for use on all project-oriented efforts;
♦ Knowledge Management, to identify, harvest, manage and promote the re-use of institutional and
practice knowledge and assets by the PM community;
♦ Community of Practice, to organize and channel the exchange of knowledge, efforts, insights and
intellectual capital for the purpose of improving the PM communities' efficiency, effectiveness,
performance and capacity.
Strategic level executive leadership and commitment is an essential driver and a critical success factor for
attaining PMOC. It provides the impetus and influence from the top of the organization for deploying the
Organization Enabling disciplines in order to achieve meaningful and lasting change.
A corporate mandate for attaining PMOC helps to shape and drive enterprise-wide PMOC initiatives. These
initiatives all strive to achieve PM excellence, leverage PM disciplines, make PM a core competency,
transform the operating culture to become project delivery oriented, and elevate PM capacity throughout the
organization. Such a mandate is instrumental to make PM a critical and indispensable competitive edge for
the organization.
Typically, executive sponsorship for PMOC brings about the formation of a strategic level team with a
mission to enable and sustain PMOC across the organization. Such a team provides strategic alignment,
guidance and oversight of PMOC initiatives.
Some of the Organization Enabling disciplines are specifically designed to improve the organization's
capability and capacity (OC) for successful project delivery. These components need to be deployed and
utilized as instruments to effect and enable positive changes:

♦ PMOC Planning and Delivery disciplines and techniques to conceive, plan, execute and control
enterprise PMOC initiatives;
♦ OC Change Management disciplines and techniques that support and foster lasting adoption of improved
ways to operate;
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♦ OC Quality Management performance and standards disciplines to promote, appraise, maintain and
sustain quality project delivery with high values;
♦ OC Continuous Improvement process and performance disciplines and techniques to promote on- going
efforts to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and capacity;
♦ OC Subject Matter Expertise disciplines, insights and skills to coach, guide, lead, oversee and serve as
change agent during OC improvement initiatives;
♦ PM Knowledge Network disciplines and techniques to promote and enable forums and channels of
horizontal and vertical communications, focused on enhancing PM knowledge, capabilities and capacity;
♦ PMOC Program and Process Management disciplines and techniques for providing the leadership,
governance, oversight, and administrative, operations and logistics services support structures for planning
and executing enterprise-wide PMOC initiatives.

Working in synergy, Organization Enabling disciplines create a powerful and effective engine for positive
change to improve and attain PMOC.
More information about the Organization Enabling disciplines is provided in the White Paper [23].
A Methodology for Attaining PMOC

In general, the PMOC Framework is referenced in each step of the PMOC Methodology to assess current
capabilities, identify deficient areas, and define and implement initiatives to enhance an organization's PM
infrastructure. Like many enterprise-wide strategic undertakings, PMOC initiatives are replete with
organizational, political and technical challenges.
The Methodology prescribes the use of a structured and pragmatic approach to translate the logical
Framework components to their physical manifestations in the PM infrastructure that is unique for an
organization. A systematic approach is used to assess symptoms and problems, and to map them to root
causes. Then, deficient components of the PMOC Framework are identified, and strategies are defined to
address them. Remedial efforts are defined, aggregated, integrated and executed as PMOC initiatives.
The use of the PMOC Methodology facilitates an organization's efforts to identify and establish the needed
components of the PMOC Framework, and integrate them into the business processes and operating systems.
The following discussions provide some insights on the key premises of the Methodology for improving and
attaining PMOC, i.e.,
• using a holistic approach,
• deploying necessary components of the PMOC Framework,
• measuring performance to achieve desired results, and,
• leveraging a PMOC Coach to maximize values and success.
Using a holistic approach
Business leaders are acknowledging that a just- in-time spot- fix approach does little to improve and sustain
overall PM and delivery capability and capacity over the longer term. These executives have concluded that
there are higher returns on their investments to establish and sustain effective PM capability as a core
competency. So, they seek a more holistic and systematic approach to establish the necessary disciplinary
and competency foundations for project planning, management and delivery at the profession and organization
levels.
A holistic approach adds robustness and spawns wide-ranging and pervasive enablers that enhance and attain
PMOC. A systematic approach leverages the PMOC Framework as a reference model, and rigorously
addresses PM deficiencies to achieve organization-wide, long-term and lasting changes.
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A consultative process is used to assess existing capabilities and to plan and execute PMOC initiatives, taking
into consideration the synergies and dependencies between components of the PMOC Framework. These
PMOC initiatives are the key enablers of PMOC. They include well-planned executive sponsored programs,
executed as enterprise-wide initiatives to enhance and sustain professional competency and capacity.
Deploying necessary components of the PMOC Framework
The PMOC Framework is referenced during the process of assessing the current state and planning for
improvements to an organization's project planning and delivery capability and capacity. Each of the
components - disciplinary areas, needs to be addressed. Their inter-dependencies must be acknowledged and
dealt with accordingly.
Current capabilities and deficiencies corresponding to each component of the PMOC Framework are
identified and appraised. The desired state for deficient components is defined. Remedial initiatives are
planned and executed at the professional and organization levels, to deploy and/or rehabilitate those
compromised components of the PMOC Framework.
While all components of the PMOC Framework need to be addressed, not all have to be deployed fully or at
the same time. As the organization's needs and functional goals evolve, the adequacy and importance of
various components can change. Hence, initiatives to re-stabilize or upgrade them can be undertaken over
time.
Similarly, the use of diagnostic and planning tools for PMOC and continuous improvement programs can vary
depending on the disciplinary and functional areas for which initiatives are executed in order to improve and
sustain organization-wide PMOC capabilities.
Measuring performance to achieve desired results
Business leaders expect projects and their outcomes to impact their bottom line. It takes more than just
assuring that the PM methods and tools are in place and used in accordance to prescribed guidelines, to
achieve project success and the desired results.
Improved project performance is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for achieving the desired business
results and benefits. Hence, project performance metrics at the individual, project and organizational levels
related to efficiency, effectiveness, quality, cost and time have to be defined, measured and tracked. These
metrics, improvement indicators and milestones have to be defined for each PMOC initiative. They are
measured and tracked to validate progress and improvements made to enhance and sustain PMOC.
This approach to enhance and attain PMOC is distinct in that the PMOC Methodology goes beyond the
deployment of methods and tools and assuring usage compliance. On a continuous basis, potential and actual
performance hurdles and barriers need to be identified, project management and delivery performance results
are tracked, and PMOC initiatives are undertaken to refocus and fine tune selected components and areas to
achieve efficiency, effectiveness and increased capacity.
An iterative process is used in the design and fine tuning of the PM infrastructure to enhance and attain
PMOC. The measuring, monitoring and response cycle in the continuous improvement program is key to
achieving the desired PM infrastructure, and making PM a core competency.
Leveraging a PMOC Coach to maximize values and success
An organization needs to mobilize a task force with the necessary skills, knowledge and expertise to plan,
execute and manage an enterprise-wide initiative to enhance and attain PMOC.
It is one thing to know what disciplines are required, i.e. the components in the PMOC Framework. It is quite
another thing to know how to deploy each component of the PMOC Framework, e.g. the disciplines, methods,
tools, etc.

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It is yet a third thing, albeit again non-trivial, to know how to go about defining and managing the execution of
PMOC initiatives. Analytical skills, expertise with proven tools, techniques and instrumentation are necessary
to execute the PMOC Methodology, to quickly and accurately correlate symptoms to the Foundation and
Organization Enabling disciplines, and define PMOC initiatives.
As well, an entirely different set of skills, expertise and disciplines are required to plan, lead and manage the
execution of an enterprise-wide PMOC program. Included would PM leadership, Project Management Office
(PMO) related skills, change advocates and change agents skills and expertise to drive business process
transformations throughout various parts of the organization.
Last but not least, executive leadership is essential for establishing the mandate, and to sponsor, champion and
oversee the enterprise-wide initiatives.
Such leadership skills and experience are embodied in the role of a "PMOC Coach". As a minimum, the
PMOC Coach provides the big-picture perspective to lead and guide corporate level executives and the PM
leadership team to plan and execute a PMOC mandate.
Ideally, the PMOC Coach should have the experience to plan, organize, direct and keep a task force focused to
accomplish the mission of such an organization-wide competency enhancement and business transformation
initiative for improving and sustaining the organization's long term PM capabilities.
The use of a PMOC Coach to guide the planning, implementation and continuous improvement initiatives will
significantly increase the chances of success.
Enhancing PM Capability throughout the Organization is a Cultural Transformation
A cook book with step by step instructio ns on the process and techniques for an organization to develop and
integrate the PMOC Framework into their operating infrastructure would contain substantially much more
details than what can be included in this article.
Enhancing and attaining PMOC is really an enterprise-wide drive to establish a stable PM infrastructure for
planning, managing and delivering all projects successfully. This objective puts a different perspective to how
it should be done. It is no longer a short-term endeavor to address immediate concerns related to the success
of a single project(s) or the competency of PM and delivery resources. PMOC can seldom be achieved solely
through the altruistic efforts of PM practitioners volunteering their spare time to lead and drive such effo rts, as
activities to earn or renew their PM professional certification status.
A strategic corporate commitment is essential to enable PMOC. Organizations who equate success in projects
to success in business will sponsor this effort:
♦ as a strategic initiative - to transform the entire organization into one that can respond quickly and
effectively to meet business demands and challenges, and not at a departmental, project or individual level;
♦ with the necessary long term commitment and investment, and not as short term fixes;
♦ through a concerted team effort - sponsored and aggressively driven by a corporate level executive, using a
systematic process to organize and execute PMOC initiatives, and not as reactions to pending PM
problems and challenges;
♦ to embed a project-driven culture into its business operations, and not just for a specific project(s), team(s)
and/or functional area(s);
♦ with explicit expectations to achieve performance results and realize business benefits, and not just to
complete a project(s) using prescribed methods, processes and tools.
Lessons Learned and Best Practices
A few key lessons have been learned from the authors' experiences with PMOC-related initiatives:

9
• Responding to symptomatic defects often leads to partial or unsatisfactory fixes, and result in
unsustainable longer term effects;
• Failure to gain wide-spread management support and executive sponsorship correlates with high incidents
of failures in PM capability improvement initiatives;
• Initiatives that were defined without adequately addressing all related PMOC components often fail to
achieve their business goals or were abandoned.
A number of best practices have also been realized and modeled. For instance:
• Invest heavily in early implementations to achieve “show case” examples of successes;
• Emphasize communications, including championing, influencing leaders, feedback loops, end-user
enthusiasm, and broadcasting successes and bottom line business results;
• Provide mentoring and “hands on” help to those implementing the “new/improved” disciplines,
capabilities and changes;
• Provide for, accept and act promptly on field-based feedback and evaluations.
Summary
While many companies continue to react to PM challenges as and when they occur, others are beginning to
recognize that having PM as a core competency is a strategic way to assure the achievement of business goals.
They have come to realize that enabling project success is not just about using standard PM methods and tools
or calibrating competency levels. They have come to understand that project success should really be about
achieving the planned benefits and the intended business goals.
This article presents a framework and methodology for enhancing and enabling PM capability throughout the
organization, i.e. attaining Project Management Organizational Capability (PMOC). Attaining PMOC is about
having demonstrable capability, competency and capacity to execute the entire portfolio of projects
successfully and consistently, and do it efficiently and effectively to produce planned and desired business
results without fail.
The PMOC Framework identifies the essential Foundation and Organization Enabling disciplines to enhance
and attain PMOC. Since PMOC is not an end-state in itself, an organization must have a corporate le vel
mandate to undertake strategic initiatives to continually enhance their PM infrastructure.
The PMOC Methodology outlines the approach and process to enhance and attain PM capability at an
organization level. This Methodology has been developed from experience, insights and expertise gained by
the authors. They have led and participated in enterprise-wide initiatives at large global organizations to
develop and sustain strong and consistent PM capabilities, both at the profession and organizational levels.
The PMOC Framework can be a basis for further development and research
In some industries, Program Management is viewed as a compound extension of Project Management; i.e.
when Program Management refers to managing a collection of projects, concurrent ly or serially, for a major
business or technology initiative(s), to achieve a specific goal(s). Where this is the case, the concepts,
framework and methodology outlined in this paper are also applicable for enhancing and sustaining
organization-wide Program Management capability.
The discussions on the PMOC Framework and Methodology in this article mainly focus on the PM profession.
It is recognized that project delivery requires skills and competencies, in addition to those of PM, to complete
a work product, such as a concept or design (in architecture), a piece of software or hardware (in information
technology) or a physical structure (in engineering).

10
The principles and concepts presented in this article for enabling organization capability can also be adapted
and applied for attaining organizational capabilities in other professions, and for addressing initiatives to
enhance the skills and competencies needed for successful project delivery.

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