This toolkit provide guidance for higher education institutions,. and any other organisations, considering establishing a Project Management Office (PMO) function. It includes advice on designing your PMO and on implementation as well as providing a set of example artefacts.
This guide was published by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group in October 2015. This guide forms part of a set of UCISA Project and Change Management publications including the Major Project Governance Assessment Toolkit and the guide to Effective Risk Management for IT and Business Change Projects.
UCISA Major Projects Governance Assessment ToolkitMark Ritchie
This document provides guidance on assessing and ensuring effective governance for major projects at universities and colleges. It defines major projects and outlines key roles and responsibilities in project governance. The document also describes tools for assessing project governance, including elements to evaluate and a process for visualization of assessment results. Regular assessment is recommended to help projects maintain effective governance over time.
UCISA Toolkit - Effective Risk Management for Business Change and IT Projects Mark Ritchie
Risk Management is one of the most important tools available to the Project Manager to help successfully deliver complex projects. Yet, at the same time, Risk Management can be difficult to understand and, if used without insight and expertise, costly and ineffective.
This guidance has been developed to assist staff who are managing or participating in IT and business change projects. It has been developed by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group and is based on best practice guidance provided by PRINCE2 and experience of delivering major IT and business change projects at the University of Sheffield, University of Edinburgh, Lancaster University and Edinburgh Napier University.
The guidance is relevant for projects being managed and delivered using any methodology and is complementary to the UCISA Major Project Governance Assessment Toolkit.
This toolkit was published by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group in December 2015.
UCISA Toolkit - Establishing Process Improvement Capability in an HE EnvironmentMark Ritchie
Process improvement activity is increasing in UK universities, partly in response to calls for increased effectiveness and efficiency but also as a response to today’s rapidly changing political and economic environment.
This guide seeks to evidence what higher educational organisations are currently doing to embed process improvement capability and to support those considering undertaking such activity or those already doing so.
This guide was published by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group in November 2016
UCISA Toolkit - Effective Benefits Management for Business Change and IT Proj...Mark Ritchie
This toolkit provides an overview of the principles behind benefits realisation and some basic tools for use in projects. The toolkit also provide signposts to more sophisticated techniques that are available should a project require them.
Benefits management aims to ensure that benefits that have been identified at the start of a project are realised and that any benefits that emerge as the project progresses are properly exploited. As many project benefits are not realised until after the project is closed it is important that appropriate structures are put in place to monitor benefits realisation post project.
This toolkit was developed based on best practice at the University of Sheffield. The toolkit was published by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group in September 2016.
The document outlines the key roles and responsibilities of an Infrastructure Project Manager. It discusses managing projects through their definition, planning, execution and closure. Specifically, it covers responsibilities like securing resources, managing timelines and budgets, defining and communicating scope, ensuring quality, reporting on progress, managing risks, and leading project teams. The overall aim of an Infrastructure Project Manager is to successfully deliver projects by meeting requirements and exceeding expectations through teamwork and effective communication.
Project management IT Project Management Amanda Haddad
This document provides an overview of information technology project management. It defines IT project management as the process of planning, organizing, and assigning responsibility for completing an organization's specific IT goals. These goals can include software development, hardware installation, network upgrades, and other IT services. The document then discusses key aspects of project management including the project life cycle, managing project knowledge areas, and factors that can affect IT project success such as technology advances. It provides details on the five process groups that make up the project management life cycle: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring/controlling, and closing. Finally, it outlines the ten knowledge areas that project managers use to segment different project management actions.
The document discusses various topics related to project management including scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, and other areas. It provides information on objectives and challenges of project selection, justification and charters. Methods and steps are outlined for writing project charters, scope statements, scope management plans, work breakdown structures, schedules and controlling changes.
Describe the systems view of project management and how it applies to information technology (IT) projects
http://sif.uin-suska.ac.id/
http://fst.uin-suska.ac.id/
http://www.uin-suska.ac.id/
UCISA Major Projects Governance Assessment ToolkitMark Ritchie
This document provides guidance on assessing and ensuring effective governance for major projects at universities and colleges. It defines major projects and outlines key roles and responsibilities in project governance. The document also describes tools for assessing project governance, including elements to evaluate and a process for visualization of assessment results. Regular assessment is recommended to help projects maintain effective governance over time.
UCISA Toolkit - Effective Risk Management for Business Change and IT Projects Mark Ritchie
Risk Management is one of the most important tools available to the Project Manager to help successfully deliver complex projects. Yet, at the same time, Risk Management can be difficult to understand and, if used without insight and expertise, costly and ineffective.
This guidance has been developed to assist staff who are managing or participating in IT and business change projects. It has been developed by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group and is based on best practice guidance provided by PRINCE2 and experience of delivering major IT and business change projects at the University of Sheffield, University of Edinburgh, Lancaster University and Edinburgh Napier University.
The guidance is relevant for projects being managed and delivered using any methodology and is complementary to the UCISA Major Project Governance Assessment Toolkit.
This toolkit was published by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group in December 2015.
UCISA Toolkit - Establishing Process Improvement Capability in an HE EnvironmentMark Ritchie
Process improvement activity is increasing in UK universities, partly in response to calls for increased effectiveness and efficiency but also as a response to today’s rapidly changing political and economic environment.
This guide seeks to evidence what higher educational organisations are currently doing to embed process improvement capability and to support those considering undertaking such activity or those already doing so.
This guide was published by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group in November 2016
UCISA Toolkit - Effective Benefits Management for Business Change and IT Proj...Mark Ritchie
This toolkit provides an overview of the principles behind benefits realisation and some basic tools for use in projects. The toolkit also provide signposts to more sophisticated techniques that are available should a project require them.
Benefits management aims to ensure that benefits that have been identified at the start of a project are realised and that any benefits that emerge as the project progresses are properly exploited. As many project benefits are not realised until after the project is closed it is important that appropriate structures are put in place to monitor benefits realisation post project.
This toolkit was developed based on best practice at the University of Sheffield. The toolkit was published by the UCISA Project and Change Management Group in September 2016.
The document outlines the key roles and responsibilities of an Infrastructure Project Manager. It discusses managing projects through their definition, planning, execution and closure. Specifically, it covers responsibilities like securing resources, managing timelines and budgets, defining and communicating scope, ensuring quality, reporting on progress, managing risks, and leading project teams. The overall aim of an Infrastructure Project Manager is to successfully deliver projects by meeting requirements and exceeding expectations through teamwork and effective communication.
Project management IT Project Management Amanda Haddad
This document provides an overview of information technology project management. It defines IT project management as the process of planning, organizing, and assigning responsibility for completing an organization's specific IT goals. These goals can include software development, hardware installation, network upgrades, and other IT services. The document then discusses key aspects of project management including the project life cycle, managing project knowledge areas, and factors that can affect IT project success such as technology advances. It provides details on the five process groups that make up the project management life cycle: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring/controlling, and closing. Finally, it outlines the ten knowledge areas that project managers use to segment different project management actions.
The document discusses various topics related to project management including scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, and other areas. It provides information on objectives and challenges of project selection, justification and charters. Methods and steps are outlined for writing project charters, scope statements, scope management plans, work breakdown structures, schedules and controlling changes.
Describe the systems view of project management and how it applies to information technology (IT) projects
http://sif.uin-suska.ac.id/
http://fst.uin-suska.ac.id/
http://www.uin-suska.ac.id/
Gain valuable insight into project management with a focus on managing IT projects. Acquire an understanding of how creating strategies and designing plans to deliver IT projects can provide consistent value and increased profits; if you are preparing to take on IT project management responsibilities.
Project management and information technology contextDhani Ahmad
This chapter discusses the context in which IT projects operate, including:
- A systems view of project management that considers organizational, technological, and business factors.
- Organizational structures like functional, project, and matrix that influence how projects are run.
- The importance of organizational culture and stakeholder management for a project's success.
- The concept of project phases and life cycles, and how development projects differ from product development.
- How standards, governance, and senior management commitment are critical to supporting IT projects.
This document introduces key concepts in project management. It defines a project, provides examples of IT projects, and describes the triple constraint of scope, time and cost that projects aim to balance. It outlines the project management framework including knowledge areas, tools/techniques, and success factors. The role of the project manager is discussed, along with important skills. A brief history is given of the field and how the profession continues to grow through organizations, certification, and software tools.
This document discusses the importance of project management knowledge and education, especially when implementing development projects created by the government. It notes that while India has seen significant growth in infrastructure projects in recent decades, many projects still face delays and cost overruns due to a lack of proper project management practices. The study aims to understand how project management education can help improve implementation of government development projects in terms of communication, execution, and completing projects on time and on budget. It discusses the benefits of project management training, facilitation, and mentoring for government employees working on projects. While some project management topics are taught in Indian universities, the curriculum does not provide comprehensive coverage of modern project management frameworks. This could hinder collaboration with international organizations that use
Training Slides of Coaching and Counseling for Modern Project Management, discussing the importance of Project Management.
For further information regarding the course, please contact:
info@asia-masters.com
www.asia-masters.com
This document discusses different organizational models for project management: functional, pure project, and matrix.
The functional model involves projects being managed within existing functional departments, allowing flexibility in staffing but risking that projects are not the primary focus.
The pure project model makes projects independent from the main organization, giving full responsibility and authority to project managers but risking duplication of resources across multiple projects.
The matrix model aims to combine advantages of the functional and pure project models by drawing on existing departments' expertise while also giving projects dedicated resources and leadership. It represents a middle ground between the two extremes.
Information Technology Project Management - part 01Rizwan Khurram
This document provides an overview of the 7th edition of the textbook "Information Technology Project Management". It discusses key topics covered in the textbook such as the history and growth of project management as a profession, the role of the project manager, challenges in IT project management, and best practices for project success. The textbook aims to explain fundamental concepts in project management and discuss their application to information technology projects.
A Beginner's Guide to IT Project ManagementWorkfront
“What is IT project management?” The simple answer is those efforts involved with managing the processes and activities associated with ensuring the success of IT projects or systems management-related responsibilities. But to more fully understand what is at the heart of IT project management, it helps to consider a few more questions…
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. It has established objectives, a defined life span with a beginning and end, involves several departments and professionals, and is usually doing something that has never been done before with specific time, cost, and performance requirements. A project manager is responsible for planning, scheduling, motivating and controlling the temporary and non-repetitive activities of a project to meet its objectives and ensure its successful completion. Effective modern project management takes an integrative approach to select, prioritize, and implement projects that support organizational strategy and mission.
The document introduces project management concepts. It defines a project as a complex, non-routine effort with defined time, budget and performance requirements to meet customer needs. It contrasts projects with routine work and programs. Key stakeholders in projects are identified as the project sponsor, project manager, project team and organization. Common causes of project failure include lack of executive support, unclear objectives and inexperienced team members. The project life cycle and importance of project management are discussed.
Agile methodologies in_project_managementPravin Asar
In today's unpredictable markets, companies are feeling the squeeze to achieve more with fewer resources in shorter periods of time. In addition to controlling operational costs, IT is looking to increase the value of information to make the business more profitable. So, necessity to complete and develop projects with changeable requirement ,short period of time ,easily to manage risk , adaptability to changing market requirements has become undeniable main principles for each organization ‘s approach .While traditional methodologies or heavy weight with huge bulk of documentation and long term for planning and designing significantly affects the speed of developing process and customer satisfaction. Hence, using innovative methods for building project are important matter which has introduced in the recent years. Light weight methodologies evolve to meet changing technologies and new demands from users in dynamic business environment.
As a result, agile methodologies and practices emerged as an explicit attempt to more formally embrace higher rates of requirements change.
Agile development methodologies claim to go a step further in overcoming the limitations of traditional one and coping with high speed and high changes on relationships with customers and responsiveness to changes of business processes.
This paper is an evaluation of the agile development methodologies. Furthermore, it includes a discussion about the critical success factors of the agile methodologies, reasons for its failure. A case-study gives a real-world success story.
1. Governance plays a role in gaining strategic focus by requiring organizations to make hard trade-off decisions to focus on a narrow mission.
2. Governance can help manage complexity by understanding the different types of complexity projects may face and selecting project managers best suited to address each type.
3. Governance encourages intelligent client behaviors by recognizing highly complex aspects of projects, understanding potential paradoxes in decision-making for those areas, and operationalizing strategies that embrace intelligent approaches to risks, contracts, costs, integration, relationships, processes and learning.
This document discusses various aspects of project management including defining a project, characteristics of projects, project life cycles, and estimating project time and costs. It defines a project as a complex, non-routine effort with established objectives, a defined life span, and cross-organizational participation. Successful project management requires understanding an organization's strategy and culture. Estimating project time and costs involves both top-down and bottom-up approaches.
IT projects often fail to meet goals for scope, time and cost. A 1995 study found that only 16.2% of projects met all goals, while over 31% were cancelled. More recent studies show improvements, with the number of successful projects doubling to 35% and cancelled projects decreasing. This is due to factors like better tools, more skilled project managers using improved processes, and projects with smaller scopes. Project success requires meeting scope, time and cost goals, satisfying stakeholders, and achieving intended benefits.
Section 1a d lessons learned_guliford as of 21_apr15Crystal Guliford
Hypothetical Risk Management Plan for a fictitious cleaning company: "The purpose of this risk management plan is to allow Coco Maids® to identify and record potential risks. The
plan also outlines mitigation strategies to be developed and tracked. The document should be updated quarterly, or whenever is necessary, e.g. following an incident of significant impact on Coco Maid’s® day to day operations."
The document discusses project management and introduces key concepts. It defines a project as a temporary endeavor with a unique purpose that requires resources. Project management is applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet requirements. The triple constraint of scope, time and cost often compete on projects. Formal project management improves control, relations, development times, costs, quality and productivity. Tools like the work breakdown structure (WBS) and Gantt charts help manage projects. Stakeholders include sponsors, teams, customers and more. Project management draws from general management and application areas.
This document discusses tools and techniques for managing projects that encounter problems and become "red" or off-track. It provides two case studies of implementing Oracle ERP projects and discusses lessons learned. The objectives are to familiarize audiences with readily available tools to get projects back on schedule, such as enhanced communication, examining the "triple constraints," breaking projects into smaller phases, and reanalyzing and mitigating risks. Keywords include risk identification/mitigation and early warning signs of project issues.
Project Management Msc. 7Pjmn009W Project Management Project.Renee Jones
Project success can be defined in different ways and depends on meeting objectives. Key factors that contribute to project success include having clear objectives, managing scope, schedule and budget, effective communication and stakeholder management, competent project team, and support from senior management. A project manager can help ensure success by focusing on these critical success factors throughout the project life cycle from planning to execution to closure.
The document discusses the initiating process for projects, including pre-initiating tasks, breaking large projects into smaller phases, and key initiating tasks like creating a project charter and holding a kick-off meeting. It provides an example of initiating the Just-In-Time Training project at Global Construction, which was divided into two phases with defined scope, time, and cost goals for phase one. The importance of top management support and developing an organizational project management methodology are also covered.
BPP Training on Project Management - Day 1Imoh Etuk
This training was about exposing the employees of the Lagos State Public Service to the Contemporary Project Management Practices they can adopt to Enhance Project Delivery in the Pandemic Era for the Lagos State Public Service.
Upon successful completion of the training, participants s were to apply the generally recognized practices of project management acknowledged by the Project Management Institute (PMI) to successfully manage projects by:
• Getting started with project management fundamentals.
• Identifying organizational influences and project life cycle.
• Working with project management processes.
• Initiating a project.
• Planning a project.
• Planning for project time management.
• Planning project budget, quality, and communications.
• Planning for risk, procurements, and stakeholder management.
• Executing a project.
• Managing project work, scope, schedules, and cost.
• Controlling a project.
• Closing a project.
The proposal is for implementing a Project Management Office (PMO) at Federal Signal Technologies to improve project management capabilities. The PMO will operate independently to provide standardized processes, tools, and reporting across projects. It will be implemented in phases over 12 months to establish governance, assess maturity, deploy standards and tools, and ensure portfolio and project alignment with business goals. Key activities include socializing the PMO charter, conducting training, and measuring returns through improved costs, schedules, and stakeholder satisfaction. Initial costs are estimated at $136,417 over six months.
IS.IT. Project Office set-up in complex environment. A post-merger case ( PRA...Manuel Lacarte
Project management Office, PMO.
This presentation is a consulting report to set-up a IS/IT Project Office for a world steel industry player just the day after post-merger.
It shows an interesting case and helps to face challenges in big companies and complex cases.
Gain valuable insight into project management with a focus on managing IT projects. Acquire an understanding of how creating strategies and designing plans to deliver IT projects can provide consistent value and increased profits; if you are preparing to take on IT project management responsibilities.
Project management and information technology contextDhani Ahmad
This chapter discusses the context in which IT projects operate, including:
- A systems view of project management that considers organizational, technological, and business factors.
- Organizational structures like functional, project, and matrix that influence how projects are run.
- The importance of organizational culture and stakeholder management for a project's success.
- The concept of project phases and life cycles, and how development projects differ from product development.
- How standards, governance, and senior management commitment are critical to supporting IT projects.
This document introduces key concepts in project management. It defines a project, provides examples of IT projects, and describes the triple constraint of scope, time and cost that projects aim to balance. It outlines the project management framework including knowledge areas, tools/techniques, and success factors. The role of the project manager is discussed, along with important skills. A brief history is given of the field and how the profession continues to grow through organizations, certification, and software tools.
This document discusses the importance of project management knowledge and education, especially when implementing development projects created by the government. It notes that while India has seen significant growth in infrastructure projects in recent decades, many projects still face delays and cost overruns due to a lack of proper project management practices. The study aims to understand how project management education can help improve implementation of government development projects in terms of communication, execution, and completing projects on time and on budget. It discusses the benefits of project management training, facilitation, and mentoring for government employees working on projects. While some project management topics are taught in Indian universities, the curriculum does not provide comprehensive coverage of modern project management frameworks. This could hinder collaboration with international organizations that use
Training Slides of Coaching and Counseling for Modern Project Management, discussing the importance of Project Management.
For further information regarding the course, please contact:
info@asia-masters.com
www.asia-masters.com
This document discusses different organizational models for project management: functional, pure project, and matrix.
The functional model involves projects being managed within existing functional departments, allowing flexibility in staffing but risking that projects are not the primary focus.
The pure project model makes projects independent from the main organization, giving full responsibility and authority to project managers but risking duplication of resources across multiple projects.
The matrix model aims to combine advantages of the functional and pure project models by drawing on existing departments' expertise while also giving projects dedicated resources and leadership. It represents a middle ground between the two extremes.
Information Technology Project Management - part 01Rizwan Khurram
This document provides an overview of the 7th edition of the textbook "Information Technology Project Management". It discusses key topics covered in the textbook such as the history and growth of project management as a profession, the role of the project manager, challenges in IT project management, and best practices for project success. The textbook aims to explain fundamental concepts in project management and discuss their application to information technology projects.
A Beginner's Guide to IT Project ManagementWorkfront
“What is IT project management?” The simple answer is those efforts involved with managing the processes and activities associated with ensuring the success of IT projects or systems management-related responsibilities. But to more fully understand what is at the heart of IT project management, it helps to consider a few more questions…
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. It has established objectives, a defined life span with a beginning and end, involves several departments and professionals, and is usually doing something that has never been done before with specific time, cost, and performance requirements. A project manager is responsible for planning, scheduling, motivating and controlling the temporary and non-repetitive activities of a project to meet its objectives and ensure its successful completion. Effective modern project management takes an integrative approach to select, prioritize, and implement projects that support organizational strategy and mission.
The document introduces project management concepts. It defines a project as a complex, non-routine effort with defined time, budget and performance requirements to meet customer needs. It contrasts projects with routine work and programs. Key stakeholders in projects are identified as the project sponsor, project manager, project team and organization. Common causes of project failure include lack of executive support, unclear objectives and inexperienced team members. The project life cycle and importance of project management are discussed.
Agile methodologies in_project_managementPravin Asar
In today's unpredictable markets, companies are feeling the squeeze to achieve more with fewer resources in shorter periods of time. In addition to controlling operational costs, IT is looking to increase the value of information to make the business more profitable. So, necessity to complete and develop projects with changeable requirement ,short period of time ,easily to manage risk , adaptability to changing market requirements has become undeniable main principles for each organization ‘s approach .While traditional methodologies or heavy weight with huge bulk of documentation and long term for planning and designing significantly affects the speed of developing process and customer satisfaction. Hence, using innovative methods for building project are important matter which has introduced in the recent years. Light weight methodologies evolve to meet changing technologies and new demands from users in dynamic business environment.
As a result, agile methodologies and practices emerged as an explicit attempt to more formally embrace higher rates of requirements change.
Agile development methodologies claim to go a step further in overcoming the limitations of traditional one and coping with high speed and high changes on relationships with customers and responsiveness to changes of business processes.
This paper is an evaluation of the agile development methodologies. Furthermore, it includes a discussion about the critical success factors of the agile methodologies, reasons for its failure. A case-study gives a real-world success story.
1. Governance plays a role in gaining strategic focus by requiring organizations to make hard trade-off decisions to focus on a narrow mission.
2. Governance can help manage complexity by understanding the different types of complexity projects may face and selecting project managers best suited to address each type.
3. Governance encourages intelligent client behaviors by recognizing highly complex aspects of projects, understanding potential paradoxes in decision-making for those areas, and operationalizing strategies that embrace intelligent approaches to risks, contracts, costs, integration, relationships, processes and learning.
This document discusses various aspects of project management including defining a project, characteristics of projects, project life cycles, and estimating project time and costs. It defines a project as a complex, non-routine effort with established objectives, a defined life span, and cross-organizational participation. Successful project management requires understanding an organization's strategy and culture. Estimating project time and costs involves both top-down and bottom-up approaches.
IT projects often fail to meet goals for scope, time and cost. A 1995 study found that only 16.2% of projects met all goals, while over 31% were cancelled. More recent studies show improvements, with the number of successful projects doubling to 35% and cancelled projects decreasing. This is due to factors like better tools, more skilled project managers using improved processes, and projects with smaller scopes. Project success requires meeting scope, time and cost goals, satisfying stakeholders, and achieving intended benefits.
Section 1a d lessons learned_guliford as of 21_apr15Crystal Guliford
Hypothetical Risk Management Plan for a fictitious cleaning company: "The purpose of this risk management plan is to allow Coco Maids® to identify and record potential risks. The
plan also outlines mitigation strategies to be developed and tracked. The document should be updated quarterly, or whenever is necessary, e.g. following an incident of significant impact on Coco Maid’s® day to day operations."
The document discusses project management and introduces key concepts. It defines a project as a temporary endeavor with a unique purpose that requires resources. Project management is applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet requirements. The triple constraint of scope, time and cost often compete on projects. Formal project management improves control, relations, development times, costs, quality and productivity. Tools like the work breakdown structure (WBS) and Gantt charts help manage projects. Stakeholders include sponsors, teams, customers and more. Project management draws from general management and application areas.
This document discusses tools and techniques for managing projects that encounter problems and become "red" or off-track. It provides two case studies of implementing Oracle ERP projects and discusses lessons learned. The objectives are to familiarize audiences with readily available tools to get projects back on schedule, such as enhanced communication, examining the "triple constraints," breaking projects into smaller phases, and reanalyzing and mitigating risks. Keywords include risk identification/mitigation and early warning signs of project issues.
Project Management Msc. 7Pjmn009W Project Management Project.Renee Jones
Project success can be defined in different ways and depends on meeting objectives. Key factors that contribute to project success include having clear objectives, managing scope, schedule and budget, effective communication and stakeholder management, competent project team, and support from senior management. A project manager can help ensure success by focusing on these critical success factors throughout the project life cycle from planning to execution to closure.
The document discusses the initiating process for projects, including pre-initiating tasks, breaking large projects into smaller phases, and key initiating tasks like creating a project charter and holding a kick-off meeting. It provides an example of initiating the Just-In-Time Training project at Global Construction, which was divided into two phases with defined scope, time, and cost goals for phase one. The importance of top management support and developing an organizational project management methodology are also covered.
BPP Training on Project Management - Day 1Imoh Etuk
This training was about exposing the employees of the Lagos State Public Service to the Contemporary Project Management Practices they can adopt to Enhance Project Delivery in the Pandemic Era for the Lagos State Public Service.
Upon successful completion of the training, participants s were to apply the generally recognized practices of project management acknowledged by the Project Management Institute (PMI) to successfully manage projects by:
• Getting started with project management fundamentals.
• Identifying organizational influences and project life cycle.
• Working with project management processes.
• Initiating a project.
• Planning a project.
• Planning for project time management.
• Planning project budget, quality, and communications.
• Planning for risk, procurements, and stakeholder management.
• Executing a project.
• Managing project work, scope, schedules, and cost.
• Controlling a project.
• Closing a project.
The proposal is for implementing a Project Management Office (PMO) at Federal Signal Technologies to improve project management capabilities. The PMO will operate independently to provide standardized processes, tools, and reporting across projects. It will be implemented in phases over 12 months to establish governance, assess maturity, deploy standards and tools, and ensure portfolio and project alignment with business goals. Key activities include socializing the PMO charter, conducting training, and measuring returns through improved costs, schedules, and stakeholder satisfaction. Initial costs are estimated at $136,417 over six months.
IS.IT. Project Office set-up in complex environment. A post-merger case ( PRA...Manuel Lacarte
Project management Office, PMO.
This presentation is a consulting report to set-up a IS/IT Project Office for a world steel industry player just the day after post-merger.
It shows an interesting case and helps to face challenges in big companies and complex cases.
The document discusses modern project management. It defines a project as a temporary endeavor with a defined start and end, involving multiple teams to create a unique product or service. Projects have established objectives, timelines, budgets and performance requirements. The document outlines the typical project life cycle of planning, execution, and delivery. It emphasizes that project management is important for organizations to improve communication, manage risks, and align projects with strategic goals.
This document discusses the importance of monitoring and evaluation in ensuring successful project completion. It defines monitoring as assessing progress against plans and evaluation as analyzing project effects and impact. The document outlines key roles of monitoring and evaluation such as identifying issues, facilitating decision making, and assessing goals. It also discusses challenges like overreliance on external consultants and not incorporating lessons learned. The document emphasizes that monitoring and evaluation are important project management tools that should be applied appropriately to improve outcomes.
Project management methodologies change over time but one element of all projects always remains important - Project Charter. Here I am sharing a template for a medium to large implementation project type of project, for example SAP system implementation.
Benchmarking of Project Management Office EstablishmentExtr.docxjasoninnes20
Benchmarking of Project Management Office Establishment:
Extracting Best Practices
Bjørn Andersen1; Bjørnar Henriksen2; and Wenche Aarseth3
Abstract: This paper deals with best practices in establishing, developing, and implementing project management offices �PMOs�. First,
a brief overview of the theoretical background for PMOs is presented. The research approach is described, along with an overview of the
benchmarking partners used. In the main part of this paper, various aspects of a PMO’s life cycle are discussed based on observations from
the benchmarking partners. Through the benchmarking study, we have discovered that although the PMO design differs greatly, certain
key characteristics, responsibilities, and tasks are very similar. Successful PMOs take on responsibility for different project-related
functions and core tasks related to development of shared methodology and processes for handling of projects, training and competence
development within project management, proposing of new projects, and quality assurance of projects. The success of the PMO is related
to ensuring the necessary authority of the PMO, real organizational authority as well as academic and social credibility, top management
support, and that the PMO covers true needs in the organization.
DOI: 10.1061/�ASCE�0742-597X�2007�23:2�97�
CE Database subject headings: Project management; Bench marks; Best management practice; Change management; Life cycles.
Introduction
Many organizations, especially above a certain size and with an
extensive degree of project work, have taken the step to establish
centralized project management offices �PMOs� to take on
responsibility for project-related functions and coordinate project-
related activities. There are large variations in terms of organiza-
tional location of such PMOs and the responsibilities/tasks they
hold.
This gap in perceptions of PMOs and their impact led several
companies we continuously work with to ask the question “what
seems to be best practice in this area?” These companies were all
in the process of establishing a PMO or redefining/formalizing
existing project support functions in a PMO, and thus saw the
need for some kind of roadmap for designing and implementing a
project management office. As a result, a comparative bench-
marking study was undertaken, using a sample of companies who
had accumulated experiences in this field as data sources. The
purpose was to identify any common factors, positive and nega-
tive, that seemed to dictate the success rate of a PMO.
Theoretical Background
Historical Background and Development
Project offices have for quite some time been used as a means for
administrating large projects, based on the need for an overall,
coherent approach. Project offices were established to coordinate
portfolios of projects, and these offices facilitated experience
transfer and benchmarking among the projects. In addition, such
project offices often functioned as a “project monitor ...
This document discusses project planning, execution, and closure for an ERP implementation project. It explains that decision making can impact a project's budget, schedule, and resources. The memorandum also discusses factors to consider when accepting or rejecting vendor proposals, such as background, finances, relationships, and technology. Parties involved in decision making and factors that need agreement are also addressed.
This document provides an overview of IT project management. It describes the scope of project management and defines it as applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet requirements. It discusses why IT projects often fail, citing factors like changing technology and markets. The document also outlines the project life cycle, systems development life cycle, PMBOK knowledge areas and process groups, and trends in software project management like agile methods.
The document discusses building effective project management offices (PMOs). It provides examples of different PMO structures that were successful on various projects. These include a "hub and spoke" model for a global IT rollout with central and local PMO teams, a "physical and virtual" team model combining core and specialist resources, and an "internal consultancy" model using peer reviews. The document also outlines Maven's approach to defining current support levels, understanding requirements, devising a new PMO model, and implementing it in a way that builds on existing structures and meets the specific needs of each organization.
This document provides an overview of project management fundamentals and how VCU has established a Project Management Office (PMO) and methodology to meet requirements under the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act Tier 3. Key points covered include:
- The phases of project management including initiation, planning, execution, control, and closeout.
- VCU's PMO was created to ensure best practices are followed and provide governance over project submission, selection, and prioritization.
- A task force developed VCU's project management methodology by researching best practices and requirements for managing projects and IT.
- Projects are classified based on complexity, budget, time, and resources to determine management approach.
This module discusses various aspects of project planning and management, including tracking project progress, time tracking, risk management, and project evaluation. Effective project tracking through tasks, resources, meetings, and reporting allows project managers to monitor progress and address any issues. Time delays should be managed by offering help for initial delays, taking immediate action after a second delay, and considering replanning after a third delay. Project metrics can provide status, identify improvement areas, and demonstrate results. Regular risk monitoring ensures assumptions remain valid and risks are accurately assessed. Project closure activities include releasing resources, transition planning, and documentation.
Chapter 3:The Project Management Process Groups: A Case StudyShahid Riaz
The document discusses the five project management process groups - initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. It provides examples of key outputs and activities for each process group using a case study about developing a project management intranet site. Overall, the document outlines the typical processes, documentation, and flow of activities involved in managing a project according to the PMBOK framework.
The document discusses building a project management office (PMO) from scratch. It begins by defining what a PMO is and listing common PMO functions like portfolio management, strategic planning, and knowledge management. It then discusses how Cisco built its PMO by first identifying organizational needs like standardized processes, project prioritization, and communication. Goals and functions for the PMO were then defined to increase productivity through coordinated project management. The concept was a overseeing body that develops processes to support project managers. Finally, the document outlines keys to a vital PMO like having executive support, clarity of role, project alignment, supporting project managers, and continuous improvement.
Ken Martin has extensive experience in business, IT, and project management across several large companies. He discusses the benefits of project portfolio management (PPM), which include improved alignment with business strategy, visibility and control, collaboration, pipeline and resource management, financial management, and risk management. Without effective PPM, organizations can experience issues like approving projects that don't meet strategic needs, not having clear priorities, and overallocating resources. Key actions for implementing PPM include gaining stakeholder alignment, obtaining management support, developing a framework, and deciding on tools and reporting. The PPM process involves gathering all project data, prioritizing projects, assigning resources, and ongoing monitoring.
The document discusses 7 keys to sustaining project excellence: 1) Establishing project management processes; 2) Defining an organizational structure with roles and responsibilities; 3) Selecting project management tools to support processes; 4) Ensuring capable people are in key roles; 5) Establishing involvement and communication guidelines; 6) Implementing project performance management; and 7) Leadership commitment to a high-performing project organization. The article provides examples of how organizations have implemented these keys to improve project success rates and better achieve business results. Sustaining excellence requires a long-term, comprehensive approach rather than a single quick fix.
Similar to UCISA Toolkit - Establishing a PMO in an HE Environment (20)
Information Services Project Management Change Theme Update May 2017Mark Ritchie
An update on how Information Services at the University of Edinburgh are improving project management capability as part of the Change Programme introduced by the CIO.
Digital Transformation at the University of EdinburghMark Ritchie
This slide set provides an overview of the Digital Transformation portfolio of projects being led by Information Services at the University of Edinburgh. The slide set provides the current position on 30th April 2017. We'll update the slideset as work progresses.
Digital Transformation is about more than just technology. Our goal is to adopt new "digital first" ways of working which leverage technology, further our mission and provide a world class experience for our students and staff. Digital Transformation is a major, multi-year portfolio of programmes and projects. The current programmes are:
- Enterprise APIs - to develop a flexible and secure API framework to support development and deployment of user focused solutions more quickly and at lower cost
- Enterprise Data Warehouse - to provide a standards based, flexible and integrated platform for business intelligence and management information
- User Experience Services - to improve the digital experience by focusing on user-centred design through consistent standards, user experience services and training
- User Centred Portal and Notifications - to develop a new user-centred interface for the University Enterprise Portal (MyEd)
- Engagement - to drive engagement with Digital Transformation across the University and provide a governance framework for projects that are not part of other programmes
A further tranche of programmes and projects will come on stream later in 2017 with a the portfolio of work to be completed by Summer 2020.
Overview of Project Services at University of EdinburghMark Ritchie
Project Services are part of Information Services at the University of Edinburgh. This slide set provides an overview of what we do. If you have any questions about Project Services contact mark.ritchie@ed.ac.uk
Managing Project Dependencies on the University of Edinburgh Projects Web SiteMark Ritchie
This slide set describes how project dependencies are recorded and managed using the University of Edinburgh Projects Web Site. The slide set is generally useful but links may only be available to staff and students at the University.
Compliance IT projects we have to do them but no one is happy with the cost. The first step in managing the cost of IT compliance is to understand the drives. Within Information Services at the University of Edinburgh we've found using the following categories for analysing IT compliance.
This single slide identifes and defines our three main compliance categories - LEGISLATIVE, TECHNOLOGY and SECURITY. The slide also suggests who will be involved in making the decision as whether the project genuinely is needed for compliance within each category.
UCISA Project and Change Management Group Toolkits Mark Ritchie
The UCISA Project and Change Management Group (PCMG) is dedicated to improving project and change management practice across HE and FE. Effective project and change management will improve outcomes and increase benefits to students, staff and the wider community. In our first three years we have developed a range of toolkits to support project and change management professionals. These are public resources that can be used by anyone.
This presentation describes PCMG and provides an overview, with links, to our toolkits.
Overview of Project Services in Information Services at the University of Edi...Mark Ritchie
This slide set provides an overview of the work of Project Services who are part of Applications Division at the University of Edinburgh. The slide set includes links to a number of our recent projects our project web site and best practice resources we have developed or contributed to.
The slide set was presented to the Scottish Programme and Project Management Group in June 2016.
Piloting Major Business Change: Worktribe Research Management at the Universi...Mark Ritchie
The University of Edinburgh is leading the UK HE sector in providing a world class IT solution to support research management from project idea through costing, bid, award, post-award management and closure.
The new Worktribe Research Management system, which was procured and developed jointly with Heriot-Watt University, was launched on 18th April 2016. Worktribe was successfully piloted from November 2015 with a School or Research Institute from each College. The three Pilots Schools combined to provide over 1,000 active bids and projects to be managed in the new system. The “real world” testing provided by the pilot highlighted that that the solution worked. The Pilot increased confidence in the solution within the project team, Pilot Schools and User Groups. The Pilot also identified some business challenges and technical problems enabling these to be investigated and resolved ahead of the roll-out across the University.
This presentation provides a high level overview of the project and the lessons learned.
Programme or project plan on a single slide (with RAG status)Mark Ritchie
This is a simple one slide presentation of the projects or tasks in a plan in Gantt Chart format. Each task or project includes a RAG based on current delivery status. This slide is useful for inclusion in a high level presentation of a project or programme e.g. to senior management or for a Project or Programme Board. The slide has been used for projects delivered by the author at the University of Edinburgh
EDUCAUSE 2015 - Partnership Powered IT and Business Change Presentation and S...Mark Ritchie
Presentation given by Rhian Davies, Craig Henderson and Mark Ritchie from University of Edinburgh at EDUCAUSE 2015. Slides discuss the importance of partnership in effectively delivering IT and business change and review the work done by the University between 2005 and 2015 to build more effective partnerships. Slides include speakers notes.
EDUCAUSE 2015 - Partnership Powered IT Change Mark Ritchie
Presentation given by Rhian Davies, Craig Henderson and Mark Ritchie from University of Edinburgh at EDUCAUSE 2015. Slides discuss the importance of partnership in effectively delivering IT and business change and review the work done by the University between 2005 and 2015 to build more effective partnerships.
Simple Programme Gantt Chart with RAG StatusMark Ritchie
The document outlines an implementation plan for a project from December 2018 to January 2021. It includes milestones for various work streams like programme delivery, data migration, testing, and training. Key dates are identified for the end of development sprints, sign offs, testing periods, data migration activities, and the go-live launch date of October 26, 2020. A status is provided for each work stream as on schedule, at risk, needing intervention or delivered.
The document discusses effective stakeholder engagement for projects. It defines stakeholders as individuals or groups impacted by or critical to a project's success. The stakeholder engagement process involves identifying stakeholders, assessing them, planning communication, and engaging them. Effective engagement maximizes project success by winning support and cooperation. The document provides examples of identifying stakeholders for a university email migration project and assessing their concerns and communication needs. It also discusses challenges experienced with stakeholders and the successful outcome of applying engagement practices.
UCISA Major Project Governance Assessment ToolkitMark Ritchie
Universities and colleges are constantly undertaking significant change activities. These activities will typically be managed using existing institutional project and change management processes. Often, however, there is a lack of consistency and rigour in the governance approach. This can lead to significant cost overruns and project failure when confronted with the challenges of a major change project. Major projects require a more rigorous approach to governance and project management to deliver success.
The UCISA Major Project Governance Assessment Toolkit has been developed to assist staff who are managing or participating in major change projects.
The toolkit provides:
a) guidance on assessing which projects should be classed as Major
b) the key governance elements that must be managed for Major projects
c) an assessment tool for project governance to help ensure that the required governance actions are established and work effectively throughout the life of the project
d) a visualisation tool for project governance which gives a view of the project as it currently stands and the changes since the last review
e) case studies on the use of the toolkit at the University of Edinburgh
The toolkit has been designed to be complementary to existing project and change management processes. The toolkit fills an important gap by providing a repeatable assessment process that covers all aspects of governance for Major Projects. The toolkit can be used as a reference point and checklist for any project.
This presentation is from the UCISA15 conference in Ednburgh and may be useful for any organisation wishing to adopt the toolkit.
Employment PracticesRegulation and Multinational CorporationsRoopaTemkar
Employment PracticesRegulation and Multinational Corporations
Strategic decision making within MNCs constrained or determined by the implementation of laws and codes of practice and by pressure from political actors. Managers in MNCs have to make choices that are shaped by gvmt. intervention and the local economy.
Ganpati Kumar Choudhary Indian Ethos PPT.pptx, The Dilemma of Green Energy Corporation
Green Energy Corporation, a leading renewable energy company, faces a dilemma: balancing profitability and sustainability. Pressure to scale rapidly has led to ethical concerns, as the company's commitment to sustainable practices is tested by the need to satisfy shareholders and maintain a competitive edge.
Enriching engagement with ethical review processesstrikingabalance
New ethics review processes at the University of Bath. Presented at the 8th World Conference on Research Integrity by Filipa Vance, Head of Research Governance and Compliance at the University of Bath. June 2024, Athens
Sethurathnam Ravi: A Legacy in Finance and LeadershipAnjana Josie
Sethurathnam Ravi, also known as S Ravi, is a distinguished Chartered Accountant and former Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). As the Founder and Managing Partner of Ravi Rajan & Co. LLP, he has made significant contributions to the fields of finance, banking, and corporate governance. His extensive career includes directorships in over 45 major organizations, including LIC, BHEL, and ONGC. With a passion for financial consulting and social issues, S Ravi continues to influence the industry and inspire future leaders.
Originally presented at XP2024 Bolzano
While agile has entered the post-mainstream age, possibly losing its mojo along the way, the rise of remote working is dealing a more severe blow than its industrialization.
In this talk we'll have a look to the cumulative effect of the constraints of a remote working environment and of the common countermeasures.
12 steps to transform your organization into the agile org you deservePierre E. NEIS
During an organizational transformation, the shift is from the previous state to an improved one. In the realm of agility, I emphasize the significance of identifying polarities. This approach helps establish a clear understanding of your objectives. I have outlined 12 incremental actions to delineate your organizational strategy.
Impact of Effective Performance Appraisal Systems on Employee Motivation and ...Dr. Nazrul Islam
Healthy economic development requires properly managing the banking industry of any
country. Along with state-owned banks, private banks play a critical role in the country's economy.
Managers in all types of banks now confront the same challenge: how to get the utmost output from
their employees. Therefore, Performance appraisal appears to be inevitable since it set the
standard for comparing actual performance to established objectives and recommending practical
solutions that help the organization achieve sustainable growth. Therefore, the purpose of this
research is to determine the effect of performance appraisal on employee motivation and retention.
A presentation on mastering key management concepts across projects, products, programs, and portfolios. Whether you're an aspiring manager or looking to enhance your skills, this session will provide you with the knowledge and tools to succeed in various management roles. Learn about the distinct lifecycles, methodologies, and essential skillsets needed to thrive in today's dynamic business environment.
Comparing Stability and Sustainability in Agile SystemsRob Healy
Copy of the presentation given at XP2024 based on a research paper.
In this paper we explain wat overwork is and the physical and mental health risks associated with it.
We then explore how overwork relates to system stability and inventory.
Finally there is a call to action for Team Leads / Scrum Masters / Managers to measure and monitor excess work for individual teams.
2. Universities and Colleges
Information Systems Association
University of Oxford
13 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 6NN
Tel: +44 (0)1865 283425
Fax: +44 (0)1865 283426
Email: admin@ucisa.ac.uk
www.ucisa.ac.uk
Contents
1. Purpose of document 1
2. Why set up a PMO? 1
2.1 What problems are we trying to solve? 1
2.2 How will a PMO help to address these problems? 1
2.3 The benefits of a PMO 2
3. Designing your PMO 3
3.1 What do you want the PMO to do? 3
3.2 Resourcing 5
3.3 Thorny questions 6
4. Implementing the PMO 7
4.1 Stage One – the embryonic PMO (the early months) 7
4.2 Stage Two – the evolving PMO (over the following year) 8
4.3 Stage Three – the established PMO (18 months plus) 9
Appendix A: Business case for a PMO 10
Appendix B: Case studies 13
Case Study 1 – Implementing a small scale PMO (University of Warwick) 13
Case Study 2 – Re-purposing an existing PMO (University of Oxford) 13
Case Study 3 – Establishing a Portfolio Office (University of Derby) 14
Appendix C: Risk assessment 16
Appendix D: PMO Charter 18
Appendix E: Example Projects Dashboard 23
Appendix F: Maturity assessment 24
Acknowledgements 25
3. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 1
1 Purpose of document
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance for higher education institutions considering establishing a PMO
function. It includes advice on designing your PMO, and on implementation, as well as providing a set of example
artefacts. This guide particularly addresses the situation where the PMO is looking after business change and IT
projects only, rather than a joint Estates/IT PMO, although much of the following will be applicable in both cases.
This guide forms part of a set of UCISA Project and Change Management publications including the Major Project
Governance Assessment Toolkit and the guide to Effective Risk Management for IT and Business Change Projects and
is intended to be used in conjunction with them.
2 Why set up a PMO?
2.1 What problems are we trying to solve?
IT projects in all environments have the reputation of failing all too often. Projects in HE institutions either fail or run
into difficulties for the same reasons as in other environments but also because of the particular challenges inherent
within an organisation where the power base is distributed. Causes of IT project failure within an HE environment
include the following:
„„ Undertaking too many projects at once, through lack of effective prioritisation mechanisms
„„ Failure to allocate sufficient resources or resources with the right skills to a project
„„ Failing to follow good practice in project management and a general lack of rigour around project governance
„„ Using inexperienced project managers, often owing to a culture which does not regard project management as
a discipline in its own right
„„ The need to seek consensus on requirements and solutions from largely autonomous user communities
„„ Diversity of approaches around fundamental business processes within the same institutions
„„ Limited availability of funding
All of this is set against a background of increasing demand by students and both academic and administrative staff
for better services and higher quality outputs.
The annual investment in capital and IT projects in HE institutions is significant, hence the current drive to be more
discriminating as to the projects undertaken and to improve the success rates of those which are selected. There is
a need to bring IT projects under control and implement a consistent approach for funding approvals bodies and key
stakeholders.
All of these points have led to many HE institutions (or the IT departments within HEIs) deciding that they need a
team or individual focused on improving project management outcomes. However, in many cases the view as to what
this team will do, and the benefits which can actually be achieved, is unclear; this paper attempts to help to clarify
these points.
2.2 How will a PMO help to address these problems?
The PMO provides a single source of information about all projects. This means that the overall demand of the projects
portfolio can easily be seen by governance groups, allowing them to take decisions around the number and priority of
projects.
Having a central resource allocation process managed by the PMO will allow any resource contention to be highlighted
and managed, and areas where new skills need to be developed. It should be noted, however, that this is a challenging
area and it will take time and persistence to fully establish resource management.
The PMO, over time, builds up expert knowledge of what constitutes a successful business case within the institution,
and can use this to guide sponsors and project managers and help to streamline the initiation of new projects.
Similarly, PMO staff will build up expertise in how to engage with the different units around the university and the
preferred approaches for each of these.
4. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 2
Improvement in standards of project management, along with guidance for project boards, will help to maximise
benefits from projects and programmes, ensuring that the best value is obtained from the funding available.
An effective PMO will provide the following:
For a PMO to be effective, however, it is essential that it has a champion at the senior management level.
2.3 The benefits of a PMO
The successful implementation of a PMO is expected to achieve the following benefits:
Better project outcomes and reduced likelihood of failure, as a result of improved project practice, achieved through
the provision of:
„„ a centre of expertise for projects
„„ a central library of projects
„„ sharing knowledge among project managers
„„ project assurance service
„„ better communication and information about projects
„„ single point of contact for project management matters/advice
„„ standardised and regular reporting on all projects
„„ improved project visibility
„„ improved portfolio management resulting in
„„ more effective use of resources, both people and money and
„„ better prioritisation of projects
„„ improved alignment of projects to strategy, leading to better planning in general
See Appendix A for an example of a Business Case for setting up a PMO.
Processes to ensure all new project requests are logged centrally and assessed against agreed criteria
Assurance that projects have appropriate business justification throughout their lifetime
Process for post-project reviews to assess whether expected benefits hve been achieved
Assurance that projects are run effectively and will deliver the planned benefits
Inculcation of excellent project practice – leading to improved project outcomes
Timely and accurate management information to support decision making and prioritisation
Template documentation and shared information repositories to support the running of projects
Mechanisms for measuring and reporting on project success
Central collation, filtering and sharing of lessons learned
5. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 3
3 Designing your PMO
Your PMO needs to be designed to meet your own organisation’s needs. It is important to be clear about the scope and
a plan to meet the agreed priorities based on realistic estimates given the available resources. The steps are illustrated
below:
3.1 What do you want the PMO to do?
The term PMO is a generic term which may mean Project Management Office, Programme Management Office
or Portfolio Management Office: what each of these does differs widely. The model which is most appropriate
for an institution will depend to some extent on the degree of maturity of project management processes and
understanding within the organisation, as well as the nature of its projects portfolio. Rather than trying to fit into a
predefined model, the HE institution should decide on its requirements and develop a function to meet these, and call
the PMO whatever makes sense for its purposes. However, typical differences are as follows:
PMO Type Purpose
Project Management Office a local function to set project management standards, produce reports on progress, risks,
and finances and carry out support activities (such as managing the risk register and
maintaining the project plan) for a specific project
Programme Management Office a function local to a specific programme to set project and programme management
standards, maintain programme level plans, risks, lessons and benefits registers, and
collate reports on progress, risks, finances and benefits achievement across the programme
Portfolio Management Office a central function which collates information from across the different programmes1
and carries out analysis to support decisions around which projects and programmes to
progress or stop, the priorities to be accorded to each and how resources and funding
should be shared out
As a first step, requirements should be sought from key stakeholders. This should include agreed priorities, as a
PMO will take time to establish and mature. It will be necessary to identify those activities that will bring benefits
immediately, and will be quick and easy to implement, as well as to plan activities to meet the longer term vision.
Quick wins might include:
„„ the compilation of a definitive list of projects with a few items of key information (sponsor, project manager,
budget, timescale) with links to the main documents where they exist and are easily accessible
„„ the regular production of a dashboard report for management showing a RAG status for each project against
time, cost and scope
1 Note that the term portfolio is often used to include operational activities as well as projects and programmes but for the purposes of this
document, it is limited to projects and programmes.
Establish the
scope – what it is
you want the
PMO to do?
Identity resources
– what work is
involved and
what resourcing
will you need to
achieve this?
Be creative –
consider
alternative ways
to cover PMO
activities
Set realistic
timeframe – within
what timescales
will each element
of the scope need
to be delivered?
Document
agreement in an
annually updated
charter
6. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 4
Typical types of activity different PMOs may carry out include:
Activity Project Mgt
Office
Programme
Mgt Office
Portfolio Mgt
Office
Setting project management standards, including processes, methodologies, and
templates
X X X
Providing guidance around the standards and in general project and programme
management practice
X X X
Maintaining a register of current and proposed projects. X X X
Maintaining a library of key project documents X X X
Reporting progress and finances across projects and programmes X X
Collecting and reporting on metrics across the portfolio of projects and
programmes
X X
Identifying and managing dependencies, benefits and risks across projects and
programmes, and between programmes and their component projects
X X
Carrying out a range of project support activities, for example, maintaining
project plans and risk registers, and organising and facilitating workshops
X
Assisting with financial management on projects. X
Allocating resources to projects, maintaining a pipeline of resource skills and
requirements and arbitrating on resource conflicts in line with priorities set by
senior management
X X X
Managing Project Management as a professional discipline, keeping up to date
with new approaches and techniques, and arranging forums and discussion
groups
X X X
Providing training and induction for new PMs, teams and project boards X X X
Carrying out reviews of lessons learned and feeding these back into project
management processes
X X X
Acting as a knowledge centre, making available project and programme
management related information, such as how projects progress through the
approvals process
X X X
Supporting the initiation of new projects, helping to identify priorities and
ensuring that project proposals are aligned with strategy, and that this process is
transparent and communicated effectively
X X
Ensuring that there is a focus on benefits realisation, including advice on, and
scrutiny of, business cases, and ensuring that benefits reviews are carried out
following project closure
X X X
Providing overall project assurance as well as quality assurance of project
documents
X X
Continually evaluating the portfolio and recommending that projects are halted,
deferred or further progressed, according to their criticality and impact on the
organization, and in order to ensure a balanced portfolio
X
Planning the future portfolio and contributing to long term financial plans,
helping to prioritise those which are more strategically aligned
X
This is not an exhaustive list and a real world PMO may deliver a mix of project, programme and portfolio activities.
Case studies illustrating different real life PMOs can be found in Appendix B.
It may also be that project managers and other project delivery staff are line managed by the PMO. In other cases, the
PMO is completely independent of the project delivery staff.
7. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 5
The advantages of the project managers being part of the PMO are:
„„ the PMO can tap into their experience for reviewing documentation and informing new processes
„„ they can assist in developing standards, guidance documents and templates and will be particularly motivated
to ensure that these are usable and effective
„„ they are more likely to buy in to the standard approaches and to follow the PMO processes because they have
some opportunity for influencing these
„„ they have links with those involved in projects across the university and so can help to spread (and gather) good
practice beyond the department
„„ they are less likely to regard the PMO as a policing function and so are more likely to be open about project
issues
The disadvantages of the project managers being part of the PMO are:
„„ it can be difficult to scrutinise and provide feedback on documents and progress where the relationship is too
close
„„ project managers will have more of a say about the standards which are implemented and it can be difficult to
get a consensus view (whereas a separate PMO is in a stronger position to impose a standard)
„„ the PMO may be stretched too thin and struggle to balance its PMO and project delivery responsibilities
It is essential that everyone understands what exactly the PMO is there to do. The PMO is not an audit function – the
focus should be on supporting the successful delivery of projects and helping to improve the project process, rather
than reporting on failure.
3.2 Resourcing
A PMO will ideally be staffed by a dedicated team. More frequently, however, within HE environments, PMO activities
have to be carried out by those who are involved in project delivery or other roles. Therefore, it is necessary to be
realistic about the amount of time which can be allocated to PMO activities and to ringfence a proportion of time for
those staff involved.
One of the biggest challenges is in identifying the number of staff needed for a PMO, as there seems to be a dearth
of benchmarking data around sizing. The size of the PMO is, therefore, often driven by what is acceptable to the
organisation and the functionality of the PMO is scoped to match the available resourcing. One option which has been
successfully used to allow the PMO to subsequently expand as needed involves adding a small levy to each project
which then ties the scale of the PMO into the scale of the portfolio. Other institutions have clearly defined their PMO
as a service and can demonstrate a history of the costs of the service against the benefits, allowing them to make the
case for increasing the staff in the PMO. Generally, it is necessary to start with a skeleton staff and prove the value
before the staffing requirements become clear and before a case can successfully be made for the optimum team size.
PMOs in HE institutions are a relatively new concept; as a result, experienced PMO staff with HE experience are in
very short supply. Bringing in those from a commercial background presents its own problems in that it takes time
to understand the HE culture and the practicalities of working in an environment where decisions are not imposed
from the centre but are the result of extensive consultation. On the other hand, these non-HE staff should bring a
professional approach and experience of excellent project management practice.
Whoever is heading the PMO will need to not only have extensive experience of project management but also
resilience, determination and the ability to influence. Generally, they will not be in a position to dictate project
management practices but will need to rely on personal influence and good relationships in order to encourage
adoption of practices which may be seen as unnecessarily bureaucratic by many in the HE world.
What if there is no resource available?
While the ideal is to have a dedicated PMO team, if funding for this is not available, organisations can still obtain
some of the benefits. Project managers themselves, whether within or outside of the PMO can often be used as an
additional resource for developing project management materials or assuring projects. Examples of good project
documents can be used to form the basis for templates. Implementing a peer review process can achieve quality
assurance in the situations where PMO resource is constrained. An administrator with the occasional hour to spare
might be persuaded to maintain a rudimentary project register or to compile a simple dashboard report.
8. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 6
3.3 Thorny questions
There are a number of questions which need to be answered before the PMO is designed and, although these are
simple questions, arriving at a consensus view can be difficult.
1. What is to be considered a project for the purposes of PMO processes? Often the answer is based on the project
cost (e.g. if it is over £30k, then we will treat it as a project; otherwise it is a work request). One of the issues
with this is that the costs are not always obvious right at the start so an initiative may need to become a formal
project later on, once the true costs are understood, and a process is needed to accommodate this. Also, one
project may be costly but straightforward (e.g. the replacement of hardware) while another involves little cost
but its success might impact on the reputation of the organisation or may involve a change to meet legislation
with a risk of a penalty for the organisation. A better approach might be to base the decision on the level of risk,
taking into account such factors as the number of users, potential reputational damage, likely cost. An example
of a risk evaluation table can be found in Appendix C.
2. What will happen to those initiatives which fall outside of this definition and are deemed not to be projects?
While these may not be the concern of the PMO, it is important that the organisation puts in place a process to
take these forward.
3. What information will the PMO need to gather and report? Typically, PMOs report on projects assessed as
either red, amber or green – a RAG status. It is essential that rules are agreed around the meaning of these and
the action which each status should trigger. Will there be any consequences, e.g. reference to a more senior
committee, for those projects which repeatedly report a red status, for example?
4. Are there Key Performance Indicators which the PMO needs to gather? An example would be the number of
projects which do or do not deliver to budget. It is far easier to develop a process to collect this information at
the outset than to have to trawl through dozens of closure reports at the end of the year to produce the metrics
required.
9. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 7
4 Implementing the PMO
4.1 Stage One – the embryonic PMO (the early months)
There are a few fundamentals that a PMO will need to establish and getting these right will provide a firm foundation
for the more visible outcomes. Some organisations will be able to implement these more quickly than others.
4.1.1 Deliverables:
Aim to achieve the following:
„„ A clear definition of what constitutes a project which falls within the remit of the PMO – Appendix D provides
an example of a PMO Charter.
„„ An accurate list of all current and proposed projects, and a process to ensure that this remains up to date.
„„ The establishment of a basic reporting cycle and a standard reporting format – see example dashboard in
Appendix E.
„„ A documented process for the initiation of projects.
„„ An understanding of the project funding model and the ability to explain this.
„„ A repository for PMO documentation and naming conventions.
„„ A means of publishing information (e.g. a website), at least, and/or, ideally, a collaborative site (e.g Wiki or
Sharepoint).
„„ A view as to whether to adopt an off the shelf methodology (and which one) or create your own, plus a basic set
of templates for mandatory documents (e.g. Project Brief, PID or Project Charter, End Project Report, Risk and
Issues Log etc).
4.1.2 Tools and technologies:
„„ Manual processes and the use of spreadsheets rather than sophisticated PPM tools are fine as the processes will
inevitably have to be tweaked.
„„ If time is internally charged and staff are already used to recording their time, it may be worth investing in a
simple timesheet tools which can provide useful reporting.
4.1.3 Stakeholder engagement:
„„ Establish connections and ongoing communications with other groups such as Strategy, Finance, Senior
Management, governance bodies.
„„ Get to know the project managers and their problems. What can you do help address these issues?
„„ Secure a senior management champion – someone who will support the PMO’s aims and will promote its use
amongst their peers.
4.1.4 Risks:
„„ There are insufficient resources to complete Stage 1.
„„ Lack of buy-in from those running projects means that information gathered is incomplete or reporting
inaccurate.
4.1.5 Key Points:
„„ Keep documentation to a minimum set and concentrate on the quality.
„„ Accuracy of reporting is essential to the credibility of the PMO.
10. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 8
4.2 Stage Two – the evolving PMO (over the following year)
4.2.1 Deliverables
Aim to achieve the following:
„„ Cross project reporting on finances and a number of metrics showing project performance.
„„ A methodology, which includes guidelines, processes and a comprehensive set of templates.
„„ Processes for learning lessons from projects and a means of feeding these back into the methodology.
„„ Benefits definition and measurement processes.
„„ Training in project processes for project managers, project teams and project boards.
„„ A means of project managers sharing information and support (e.g. monthly forums, discussion boards, peer
reviews).
„„ Resource allocation processes and reporting.
„„ Basic assurance activities.
4.2.2 Tools and technologies:
„„ Start to consider PPM tools once processes are firmly established.
„„ If time is internally charged and staff are already used to recording their time, it may be worth investing in a
simple timesheet tool which can provide useful reporting.
4.2.3 Stakeholder engagement:
„„ Begin to work with Project Boards. What can you do to help them? They may want help with assurance,
identifying risks and lessons learned, or may have some specific reporting needs. At a minimum, the PMO
should be able to explain to Project Board members their role and responsibilities, and provide an overview of
the project management and approval processes to be followed.
4.2.4 Risks:
„„ Senior management reporting requirements escalate beyond the capacity of the PMO to provide.
„„ The PMO seen as interfering rather than as supportive and useful.
„„ The information revealed by open reporting causes consternation.
4.2.5 Key points:
„„ Maintain hard won buy-in from stakeholders by regular engagement.
„„ The cost of PPM tools may be a shock to senior management – you will need to work hard on the business case.
11. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 9
4.3 Stage Three – the established PMO (18 months plus)
„„ By this stage, the PMO should be established to the extent that it is seen as the primary point of information
about projects, project managers are used to working with the support and standards it provides and
management value the insights provided. From this stage, some of those activities which provide increased
benefits to the University but which require a greater maturity of project management practice can gradually
be introduced. This may include activities commonly associated with portfolio management, such as providing
decision support to develop a balanced portfolio, and greater responsibility for resource management.
Better information will be available and the demands for providing data in different ways to support senior
management and governing board decisions will increase.
4.3.1 Tools and technologies:
„„ Maximise use of PPM toolset so that PMO time is concentrated on high value activities.
4.3.2 Stakeholder engagement:
„„ Look for ways to keep the engagement fresh.
4.3.3 Risks:
„„ The PMO is too remote from the project managers and is no longer seen as a critical friend.
„„ With higher end activities (more portfolio management than project support) comes the need for staff in the
PMO with more specialist skills.
4.3.4 Key points:
„„ The PMO needs to be seen as being of high value by both senior management and project managers by this
stage, and should be able to demonstrate measurable improvements in project delivery.
It is worth carrying out a maturity assessment annually to evaluate the progression of the PMO and inform the
following year’s goals. More information is available at Appendix F.
12. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 10
Appendix A: Business case for a PMO
Business case
1. Background
IT Services is involved in the delivery of approximately projects to the value of £15m each year in order to maintain
its services and respond to the rapidly changing requirements of the University. This portfolio of projects represents
a major investment and there is a need to to ensure that there is a sound basis for the investment in each case, that
risks are being managed effectively and that adequate resources and processes are be in place to support and assure
delivery.
2. Objectives
The objective of this proposal is to establish a Project Management Office, reporting to the Head of Information
Systems, which will provide the information needed for an effective approvals process and an overall framework,
assurance and support for the implementation of business change and IT projects. The Project Management Office
will be led by an experienced project practitioner, supported by two project analysts and an administrator. The Project
Management Office will work closely with the Information Security team, project managers, IT senior managers,
governance groups and senior stakeholders from across the University to ensure that the portfolio of business change
and IT projects is aligned to University strategic objectives and that projects follow best practice processes.
The proposal also covers investment required to provide software tools and systems to support the activity of the
office.
The Project Management Office will provide:
„„ A portfolio management process such that all new requests can be logged centrally and filtered against agreed
criteria.
„„ Assurance that projects undertaken throughout IT Services have appropriate business justification, that this
justification is questioned and reassessed throughout the lifetime of the project and that post-project reviews
are carried out to ensure expected benefits have been achieved.
„„ Assurance that projects are run effectively and deliver the planned benefits.
„„ The inculcation of excellent project practice in key people both within and outside of the PMO.
„„ A system that all IT Services staff will use to record time spent on various activities to enable improved financial
accounting, project planning and estimating.
„„ Timely and accurate management information to support decision making and prioritisation.
„„ Dissemination of project management best practice to the rest of IT Services and other parts of the University as
appropriate.
„„ Provision of a standard methodology including templates, guides and other documentation along with shared
information repositories to support the running of projects.
13. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 11
3. Outline Business case
3.1 Benefits
The successful implementation of a Project Management Office is expected to achieve the following benefits:
Benefit Target Current metric Value2
All projects aligned with the University strategy 100% None
Improved rates of project delivery to time and budget 50% of projects
delivered within time
and budget
% of projects meeting
both time and budget
= 35%
£
Cost savings through reduced overrun due to better estimating,
planning and risk management, and avoidance of resource
conflicts through better planning across the portfolio
Average overrun <5% Average overrun is 10% £
More projects meet their objectives with deliverables meeting
user acceptance criteria, resulting in a cost saving
Percentage of
projects signed off as
satisfactory, without
follow-on work, exceeds
95%
10% of projects require
additional work in order
to secure sign off by
sponsors
£
More optimised resource allocation, leading to improved
productivity, a reduction in overtime payment requests and
reduced reliability on external resources
Project staff fully
allocated to projects >
175 days per year
None but project staff
complain of peaks and
troughs
£
Projects which are non-viable are identified and withdrawn at
an earlier stage through regular and thorough reappraisal of
business case
95% projects shown to
have delivered benefits
No projects withdrawn
but 10% do not deliver
sufficient benefits
Improved stakeholder perception of projects Stakeholder survey
shows 90% satisfaction
Anecdotal and several
complaints to Director
3.2 Costs
Cost elements Initial setup Ongoing p.a.
Staff costs – PMO staff £ £
Training – professional qualifications for PMO staff and maintenance of
qualifications
£ £
Initial software purchase and implementation £
Software licences and hosting charges £
Totals £ £
3.3 Risks
The risks around setting up a Project Management Office are mainly concerned with the level of acceptance from
project managers and project sponsors. Stakeholder management and consultation will be essential to the successful
implementation, and a senior level champion is key to addressing these risks.
Risk Severity Mitigation
Initial lack of acceptance by project managers – PMO seen as policing
rather than supporting
Medium Involvement of project
managers in the setup of
the PMO
Requirements gathering
to include the needs of
project managers
Ongoing feedback to be
sought
2 Wherever possible a financial value should be calculated against benefits
14. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 12
Risk Severity Mitigation
Processes seen as bureaucratic by stakeholders Medium Frequent consultation
and a communications
plan which addresses the
needs of this group and
sells the benefits to them
and the organisation
Senior management
support is visible
PMO does not meet the expectations of senior management High Realistic benefits and
timescales set out and
regular reporting against
these
The concept of a PMO does not fit well with the University’s culture
making it difficult to achieve benefits
High PMO is designed to work
with the University and
is aiming for incremental
improvements in project
delivery
Sponsors and project
boards to be trained
and given ongoing
coaching. Reporting
designed to meet senior
management priorities
Unable to attract or retain suitable PMO staff Medium Job design needs to
ensure that work is
varied and that clear
development paths are
identified
15. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 13
Appendix B: Case studies
The following three case studies illustrate different types of PMO implemented in HE and different approaches to
establishing them. Case Study 1 illustrates what can be achieved even where PMO resource is very limited, Case Study
2 demonstrates that an established PMO may need to alter its purpose to meet a changing context, and Case Study 3
shows an evolutionary approach to establishing a PMO, beginning with the needs of a particular project.
Case Study 1 – Implementing a small scale PMO (University of Warwick)
A University IT services department employed one experienced and qualified project manager, who followed PRINCE2
as his preferred methodology. He took on responsibility for managing the major IT projects and was extremely
successful at delivering projects to the satisfaction of users across the university; many smaller projects were carried
out by other members of the IT department typically without training or following an established methodology.
This worked fairly well until the growth in IT usage and demand for new functionality and new services led to an
increased need to initiate large change projects, leading the IT department to employ additional project managers,
each of whom was experienced and qualified but followed very different processes and methodologies for delivery.
Governance groups and stakeholders became confused when confronted with a range of different styles and
documents for project delivery and their confidence in the delivery process reduced. In addition, with the larger
number of projects ongoing at any time, the senior managers within the IT department found that they had little
management information about the department’s total commitment (in terms of both resources and budgets) to
projects and that projects reported in different ways and to different timetables so it was difficult to pull together a
view of progress.
One of the senior managers identified the need for a project management office which would determine standards,
support the project managers and provide the reporting needed by the department’s managers. One of the current
project managers was appointed as PMO Manager with the remit of establishing a PMO and line managing the
project managers, as well as continuing to manage projects herself. A PMO administrator was also appointed to
maintain project information, templates, finance reports and organise the governance meetings with the senior
management team. Hence the PMO consisted of 35% of the PMO Manager’s time and one full-time administrator.
Owing to the lack of specific PMO resource, the existing project managers were engaged in the development of an
agreed set of templates and processes. This had the beneficial effect that they were already bought in to the processes
they subsequently were required to follow, and made good use of the extensive experience of these individuals.
As a result of their strong professional experience and their previous training and qualifications, it was possible to
introduce a relatively sophisticated set of templates and processes.
The main focus of the PMO was on reporting across the projects, introducing a consistent approach and ensuring that
projects adhered to the agreed approvals process. The size of the PMO (1.35 FTE) meant that there was little scope
to offer project support, produce adhoc reports or analysis of statistics but the main aims for that department were
achieved (standard approach, basic management reporting, proper governance for projects) and a professional project
management service was introduced.
A small scale PMO needs to be very focused – rather than carry out an extensive range of activities, it is preferable to
excel in delivering a more limited range of services and build on this over time.
Case Study 2 – Re-purposing an existing PMO (University of Oxford)
The University merged three IT departments, each having very different cultures and processes, to produce a
single central IT Services department. One of the component departments had a well-established Programme
Management Office offering a standard methodology and project support to its project managers and producing
a weekly dashboard for senior management, and projects were run by experienced project managers. The other
two departments did not have any formal PMO function although some PMO functions were carried out by various
individuals as part of their roles and projects were managed by subject matter experts with differing levels of project
management experience. The approach to project approvals was different across the three departments with funding
obtained from different bodies.
Until this time, the current PMO had been heavily focussed on providing project and administrative support to
projects, ensuring compliance with its complex methodology and adminstering the PPM tool, MS Project Server. It
was resourced by two administrators, one analyst and a manager. While the project managers did not report in to the
PMO, the PMO and project managers reported to the same director.
The existing PMO would now support projects across the new department but needed to do this without increasing
its headcount. The PMO team therefore found themselves facing a significantly increased number of projects,
of a wider variety which would be managed by people with varying levels of project management expertise. It
16. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 14
was, therefore, necessary to change the objectives of the PMO, withdrawing administrative and hands on project
support to the project managers and focusing on the broader portfolio. The PMO from that point became a Portfolio
Management Office and its reporting line was moved to the CIO’s Office to ensure that it was independent of the
project managers.
Its primary focus initially was on producing an accurate project register which included all projects from across the
three component departments. The first challenge was to define what would be considered a project and gather a list
of all activities within the new department that met that definition. It was clear that there were many different views
as to what constituted a project and this activity took several months and some negotiation. A number of activities
that might be considered projects were at this stage still below the radar but many of these surfaced once they
needed to seek funding.
Alongside this, the PMO set up a reporting cycle with all projects sending in monthly highlight reports from which
key information was collated into a portfolio dashboard and issued to senior management. As this practice was new
to some of those managing projects, the PMO took a pragmatic attitude towards the quality of the reports until the
practice of monthly reporting was fully inculcated.
During the first year of the new department, project funding was still being provided from two separate funding
groups with very different financial reporting. The PMO worked closely with the Finance Team to monitor approvals
and spend over the year against the two separate envelopes. After the end of that year, finances were simplified by
having a single funding body but recharging resource time to projects was introduced and the PMO worked with
Finance to deal with the many concerns arising from this.
A number of project templates were quickly produced for use across the department but a standard methodology
which would be applicable to a wider range of project types was introduced in the following year. Statistics taken
before and after implementation of the methodology show that project delivery success has increased since
implementation.
Three years on, the PMO has established itself firmly as the source of information for all projects, its reports are relied
upon by senior management and governance groups and the project methodology is helping to improve success rates.
The next challenges are to introduce an assurance framework to improve delivery further and to introduce better
information to support portfolio management.
Case Study 3 – Establishing a Portfolio Office (University of Derby)
The IT department employed project managers whose remit was to deliver IT strategic projects, for example,
installation of infrastructure such as the telephony system. This was sometimes done in a reactive way with little
future planning.
In 2006, the University undertook a large scale project to replace the student records and finance system. This project
required staff from across the University and a third party delivery supplier, releasing University staff from their jobs in
Finance, IT and Student Administration. These staff formed a large project team for 18 months, creating new roles and
specialists to disseminate knowledge about the system to the wider University.
In 2010, the IT Director restructured IT Services and created the Business Analysis and Project Management team,
there was a need for Business Analysts so that the Project Managers could focus on delivering projects, saving time
and streamlining the project management process. In 2012 the team changed its focus to a more strategic one,
looking at projects with IT involvement across the business, and changed its name to IT Portfolio Office (ITPO). This
was as a result of the creation of the Executive-led IT Steering Group comprised of Corporate Management Team
business managers whose role is to oversee the priority list for IT developments across the University in relation to
corporate and local plans and to resolve conflicts of priority. The ITPO changed focus in order to support the IT Steering
Group, to provide management information regarding the status of current and pipeline projects and to deliver the
approved projects. To assist with this, the Project Management Framework was created along with templates for
project documentation and the Portfolio Specialist role was created to track and report on the IT Portfolio and ensure
consistency in running projects across ITS.
The core ITPO team now consists of two Business Analysts, three Project Managers, three Project Officers, a Portfolio
Manager and a Portfolio Specialist. All staff are cross trained, all are now Prince2 Practitioner qualified, the Business
Analysts are IIBA or ISEB trained and the Project Managers and Project Officers are training to be similarly qualified in
Business Analysis.
The ITPO vision was that ‘the University business will come to the IT Portfolio Office when it needs to conceptualise,
deliver and monitor Enterprise or Strategic Projects’. The following activities were prioritised:
Activities were given explicit deadlines and these are proactively chased and closed if necessary. Deadlines are
communicated via project status information, documentation and updated risk and issue registers for a bi-monthly
reports.
17. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 15
The focus of activity moved from tactical to strategic, and internal IT projects are only managed by the ITPO in
exceptional circumstances, such as where there would be a reputational or political impact from the project that
would require an experienced Business Analyst or Project Manager to progress the work. The team is now focussed on
the delivery of strategic projects for the business and internal IT projects are generally delivered by IT staff outside of
the ITPO.
Individual Specialists or Subject Matter Experts have been created within the team, and the Business Analysts have
become domain experts in some of the core systems that the University use.
Benefits measurement and the articulation of Portfolios, Programmes, Projects and Analysis needs are communicated
to the business via bi monthly status reports that are sent to ITS Leadership and a Portfolio Review held with the IT
Director at the end of every month.
The culmination of these activities has meant that ITPO can now provide reports to inform decision making at CMT
and Executive level, ensure that strategic projects and programmes can be prioritised and ITS resource can be better
managed.
18. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 16
Appendix C: Risk Assessment
The purpose of the following matrix is to identify the inherent risk of a project at initiation by evaluating a number of
factors that typically affect complexity and providing an overall score. This moves away from the standard approach
of evaluation based on cost alone, and allows the highest risk projects to be identified so that extra assurance and
oversight can be applied, regardless of scale. Note that this is only evaluating underlying risk factors, not how well
those risks are managed during the project lifecycle. See the UCISA guide to Effective Risk Management for IT and
Business Change Projects for guidance on risk management.
An explanation of each of the factors is as follows:
Business continuity following implementation – an estimate of the degree to which the normal university operations
would be impacted in the event of the new or changed service failing. For those services which are used only at
particular times of the year (e.g. admissions systems), the university’s ability to manage without the system during
the normal period of use should be assessed.
Complexity – the complexity of the solution in terms of the number of interfaces and the degree of business change
to be experienced by the users.
Degree of innovation – where the proposed technical solution has been implemented previously and how well-proven
the technology is.
Business scale – the number of areas within the university which will be impacted by the solution.
Reputational risk – the breadth of reputational damage in the event of either project or programme failure or of the
failure of the implemented solution.
Duration – the length of the project or programme (not the effort). Projects which take longer (regardless of the effort
required) are more likely to fail for a number of reasons including loss of momentum and changes to the business
during the project.
Staffing – where a project is to be delivered entirely by one team, there are likely to be fewer areas of uncertainty
or conflicting priorities or motivation. The greater the number of different teams involved, the more difficult it is to
control the project.
Compliance requirements – risks around implementing a service which needs to comply with particular regulations or
where the data is to be submitted to an external body, for example, for funding purposes.
Cost – includes the cost of developing and implementing the service only (i.e. the project costs, not the ongoing costs.
Although these must have been included in the business case and approved, there is no greater risk to the project if
these are high).
19. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 17
Risk factor Business continuity
following
implementation
Complexity Degree of innovation Business scale Reputational risk Duration Staffing Compliance
requirements
Cost
Weighting 1 1.5 1 1 1.5 1 1 1 1.5
0 University could continue
to operate effectively
with workarounds for
more than a month
No interfaces, very little
business change
Proven technology
currently used in a
university
One section Limited to IT
department
<3 months Team None <£100k
1 University operations
could continue for a
period of up to 2 weeks
<4 interfaces, moderate
amount of business
change (processes only)
Proven technology
currently used in
public sector
One division Local 3–6
months
Multi-team
within IT
department
Internal only £100k–£250k
2 University operations
would be seriously
impacted if the system
were lost for more than
2 days
5 or more interfaces,
significant business
changes (structure, roles
and responsibilities)
Unproven technology
(leading edge), new
to the university and
public sector
Multiple
divisions
National/
international
6–12
months
Beyond IT
department
Regulatory
or reporting
to external
bodies e.g.
HEFCE, REF
£250k+
Score 1 1.5 2 1 1.5 2 2 0 1.5
Total: 12.5
20. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 18
Appendix D: Example PMO Charter
This is an example of a charter for a small project management office staffed by a dedicated team. It includes
examples of the team’s objectives and KPIs.
PMO Charter
1 Purpose and remit
The purpose of the PMO is to enable the successful implementation of business change and IT projects and
programmes through:
„„ setting and embedding standards to ensure a common approach to project delivery
„„ managing cross programme risks and dependencies
„„ regular project reporting to manage costs, resources, timescales, and quality
„„ providing resources, support and guidance to project teams, and
„„ promoting continuous improvement across programmes and projects
Key activities:
„„ Defining standards for managing programmes and projects within IT Services and ensuring adherence to these
„„ Allocation of resources (including business analysts and project managers) for IT programmes and projects
„„ The provision of project support comprising advice and guidance on the methodology, use of information
repositories, timesheets and PMO processes as well as administrative activities
„„ Providing guidance on project related matters and advice on project management training and development
„„ Collation of financial information
„„ Dissemination of best project management practice for IT Services and key stakeholders, including induction for
Project Boards
„„ The provision of templates, process charts, and shared information repositories to support the running of
projects
„„ The provision of timely and accurate management information on projects and resources to support decision-
making and prioritisation
„„ Maintenance of a register of business change and IT projects and management of the pipeline of new project
requests
„„ Internal project health checks and coordination of independent assurance activity
2 Key stakeholders
„„ Project sponsors from university departments
„„ IT Services Management team
„„ IT Services finance administrator
„„ Programme/Project managers for IT programmes and projects
„„ Business Analysts
„„ IT Services Training team
„„ Users of the timesheet system
21. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 19
3 Staffing
The PMO team comprises the following roles:
i. PMO Manager – manages the day to day operation of the PMO, defines PMO strategy and line manages PMO
staff
ii. PMO Analyst(s) – assisting with the definition of, and ensuring compliance with, project management
standards and processes, providing advice to project managers and producing reports for senior management
and governance groups
iii. PMO Administrator – maintaining portfolio registers, producing the monthly dashboard, supporting the
assurance group
iv. Programme Support Officer(s) – working within a specific programme maintaining plans and budgets, collating
monthly reports and providing assistance to the programme manager(s)
22. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 20
4 Key objectives
Objective Rationale Activities
1 Develop the Programme Management
Office as a centre of excellence for
management of all types of IT projects and
programmes
To support programme and project managers by providing tried and
tested ways of working, building on PMs’collective experience of
project delivery
zz Maintain a repository of good practice information, tools,
techniques and templates on project and programme
management topics (such as stakeholder management,
communications planning, estimating)
zz Maintain knowledge of PM practice in other organisations and
across the HE sector
zz Establish and maintain a list of common lessons learned and
update the methodology to ensure that lessons learned are
reviewed before a new project is initiated
2. Review the project approvals process To ensure that investment in projects has a sound basis
To minimise duplication of solutions for different customers and
ensure that solutions fit with technical roadmaps
To provide a basis for prioritising projects when IT Services or
customer resources are limited
zz Review the existing processes for approval both within and beyond
IT Services and update these
zz Make available good examples of Business Case documents
zz Monitor support from the management team and external Boards
zz Brief the appropriate groups and review feedback
3. Improve capability to manage projects
using an agile methodology
To meet the demand from our customers to deliver IT changes more
rapidly and achieve benefits earlier
zz Establish the supporting processes and methodology
zz Ensure that project managers gain experience of managing agile
projects as opportunities arise
zz Incorporate changes indicated by lessons learned reviews and
other feedback
zz Promote the agile approach with sponsors and other key
stakeholders and respond to their feedback
4. Improve the processes for managing
resources
To forecast future needs and ensure that appropriately skilled
resources are available to work on programmes when required
To ensure optimum cost recovery
zz Maintain a project register incorporating current and potential
projects and programmes
zz Select and implement a new resource management tool
zz Redefine processes for planning and review these with the PMs to
ensure that they are workable
zz Define reporting
5. Implement tools and processes for
document management and collaborative
working across IT Services initially
To increase efficiency through easy retrieval of project artefacts and
improved version control
To share best practice and support, encourage scrutiny and challenge,
and increase participation in programme initiatives
zz Implement a document repository and agree the supporting
processes and resources
zz Use the recent pilot to identify the best way to structure content
and gain the buy-in of stakeholders
zz Champion the effective use by making it the default
communication/collaboration method for all PMO activities
23. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 21
Objective Rationale Activities
6. Improve reporting on projects and
programmes
To provide consolidated management information on a highlight and
exception basis, allowing successes to be celebrated and mitigating
actions to be agreed
zz Establish management requirements for dashboard information
and ensure that regular project reporting supports these
zz Work with the project managers to improve the consistency and
standard of project reporting
zz Gather metrics on key performance indicators
zz Set up a process for maintaining project information on the web
7. Establish a programme of project health
checks and coordinate independent
assurance
To identify good practice which can be adopted for other programmes
To identify factors which may lead to project failure and to provide
mentoring and support to PMs so that these can be addressed
zz Publish the project healthcheck process
zz Schedule healthchecks for all small projects
zz Agree reporting on these
8. Maintain effective governance business
change and IT projects and programmes
To measure the success or otherwise of projects and programmes and
use this to improve future performance
zz Maintain the gate review process and use the collated results to
identify areas for development
zz Run the project plan audit and identify reasons for poor results
(below 85%)
9. Maintain and continuously improve the IT
development methodology
To ensure that the methodology is relevant for and incorporates
lessons learned from projects over time thereby increasing the
likelihood of project success
zz Launch an updated variant of the project methodology
incorporating audit recommendations and feedback from PMs
zz Implement programme variant of the methodology
10. Track dependencies, risks and resourcing
conflicts across the portfolio
To identify potential conflicts and impediments so that the
management team can address these
zz Maintain the portfolio risks log and monitor progress against
actions agreed by the management team
zz Map out dependencies between programmes (including key
BAU commitments and business cycles) and highlight any major
concerns
zz Map out resource requirements against all programme plans and
highlight areas of concern
11. Establish a process of focussing on benefits
throughout programmes
To ensure that value is delivered for our customers
To provide the information to support the decision to halt, re-scope or
re-plan a project which is unlikely to deliver value
zz Incorporate business case reviews into key stages of the
methodology and the gate reviews
zz Review benefits realisation plans at the outset of projects.
zz Carry out benefits reviews after projects have closed
zz Collate metrics on achievement of benefits
zz Brief PMs on the process
12. Develop and retain a team which has the
appropriate competencies to deliver and
develop the PMO service
To maintain the credibility and resulting effectiveness of the PMO
To ensure that PMO staff are motivated and are able to effectively
contribute to the development of the PMO
zz Identify and respond to development needs and aspirations where
possible
zz Redefine the PMO roles to meet new ways of working and recruit
or develop to meet these
zz Focus on effective recruitment of both permanent and temporary
staff to engage high calibre individuals
24. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 22
5. PMO metrics
The following information will be gathered for projects and programmes on a monthly basis and collated for an annual report:
Metric Purpose
Number of projects delivered to timescales defined in Project Initiation Document Identifying any issues with estimating time/cost or managing scope and to build up knowledge
over time which will help to improve theseNumber of projects delivered to budget defined in Project Initiation Document
Number of projects raising a change request for budget and/or timescales
Average value of budget change requested
Value of benefits delivered Identifying reasons for, and frequency of, benefits not being achieved - for example, may show
that business cases are insufficiently thought through or problems in identifying requirements,
so improvements can be fed into PMO processes
Number of projects achieving the defined benefits within two years
Number of projects rejected, deferred, re-scoped, or cancelled and at what stage Identifying the overall success of the approvals process – e.g. are non-viable projects weeded
out at an early stage? Are we too inflexible?
Scores for gateway reviews Taken with the other metrics, identifying the correlation between following the methodology
and project success (in terms of time, budget and quality achieved)
Customer satisfaction ratings at end of projects To identify any issues such as unmanaged customer expectations. This qualitative data should
always be reviewed alongside the other metrics
Level of compliance to project methodology To identify whether projects are following the agreed processes. May be used in conjunction
with earlier metrics to identify the correlation between following methodology and project
success
25. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 23
Appendix E: Example Projects Dashboard
IT Programme and Project Summary Dashboard (w/e 30 April 2015)
Timeline Financials RAG status indicators
Project
ID
Project Start Original
end date
Revised
end date
Approved
budget
Spend to
date
Total
expected
spend
Project
stage
Overall
status
this
month
Budget Timeline Scope Risk Issues Summary
PMO001 Examination Marks Jun-14 Apr-15 Jun-15 £193,479 £158,113 £194,984 Early Life
Support
and
Closure
G G G G G G The team is now fully engaged on running th Early
Life Support for the new Examinations system. New
processes have been embedded and all staff trained.
PMO003 Service Desk Tool
Enhancements
Nov-14 Jun-15 £69,483 £52,051 £68,012 Delivery A G A G A G Delays due to resource contentionwith BAU work
mean completion timescales are at risk. Plan is being
re-baselined.
PMO004 Degree Ceremonies Feb-15 Dec-15 £112,526 £5,850 £112,526 Analysis
and
Planning
G G G G G G Initial meetings with college representatives have
been completed. PID under development.
PMO005 Exam Timetables May-14 Dec-15 £172,134 £84,812 £172,134 Delivery G G G G A G Risks around SSO solution design have been identified
but mitigation has been proposed.
PMO006 HR Upgrade Feb-14 Jul-15 Aug-15 £113,600 £109,696 £113,600 Delivery R G R G A R 1 X P1 and 1 X P2 defects still to be resolved before
go live. Delay in implementation is forecast and
alternative dates being agreed with users.
PMO007 Purchasing
Database
Jan-14 Sep-15 £83,042 £44,585 £81,032 Delivery G G G G G G Technical Servicesworking on the provision of the
TEST, TRAIN and UAT environments. UAT is nearing
completion.
PMO009 Alumni Online
Experience
Apr-14 Oct-15 £35,205 £44,585 £35,205 Delivery G G A G G G Release 2 was loaded and tested successfully, but
there is an issue with the availability of the technical
resource responsible for implementing the change
to the live service. This is not expected to affect the
overall timescales significantly.
PMO010 Case Management
System
May-15 Oct-15 £115,032 £12,855 £90,239 Analysis
and
Planning
G U G G G G Project Brief approved on 20th April. Budget changed
to PURPLE since the forecast is now 11% underspend.
The forecast underspend is due to full tendering no
longer needed.
PMO011 Casual Payroll Apr-14 Apr-15 Jun-15 £172,917 £140,325 £166,073 Delivery R A A A G R Implementation of the solution into the various test
environments has been inconsistent and unreliable.
UAT identified a major defect so implementation
could not proceed. Implementation has had to be
delayed until June.
PMO012 CMS Service –
Phase 3
Apr-15 Jan-16 £131,495 £22,638 £133,270 Scoping G G G G G G The project manager is engaging the relevant teams
to agree the project approach in areas such as:
Information Security, Change Management, Service
transition, Training and Testing. The PID for the next
phase is expected to be reviewed by the Project Board
on the 1st June.
26. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 24
Appendix F: Maturity assessment
There are a number of maturity assessments available, of which some are free for anyone to use providing they
register their details with the organisation which owns them. The free options offer a set of questions which you self-
score. However, organisations such as Gartner, can also provide a service whereby an analyst facilitates an assessment
and then provides advice based on the outcome.
The assessments identify key capabilities and behaviours which indicate the degree of maturity of a PMO and can act
as a useful guide to position how effective your PMO is. Of course, moving up the maturity levels generally involves
a significant investment in terms of time and money which is not necessarily easy to justify in a cash strapped
HE environment. It may be that reaching the top level of maturity is not even desirable if other practices in the
organisation are immature.
The concept of PMOs (and even formal project management) is relatively new to many HE institutions, and there is
considerable scepticism to overcome, so a low maturity score is typical.
It is recommended that you carry out an assessment of programme management and project management maturity
alongside the PMO maturity assessment, as these need to be aligned. The same organisations provide models for
these.
A couple of examples of maturity models are:
https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solutions/p3m3/p3m3-maturity-model.aspx
https://www.gartner.com/doc/2837917/itscore-overview-program-portfolio-management
27. U C I S A T O O L K I T – E S T A B L I S H I N G A P M O I N H E 25
Acknowledgements
Philippa Days, Head of Portfolio Management at the University of Oxford, is the lead author for this document. The
author would like to acknowledge and thank the following individuals for their contribution:
Becca de Ville Portfolio Specialist, University of Derby
Mark Ritchie Deputy Director of IS Applications and Head of Project Services, University of Edinburgh
Sinéad Ní Fhaoláin Head of Programme Office, National University of Ireland Galway
Mike Whyment Program Manager, University of Aberdeen
Simon Hogg IT Portfolio Manager, Oxford Brookes University