Program Management Offices are commonly established in publicly funded organisations to improve visibility for executives and to coordinate programs that are outside business as usual. In practice, the term PMO can be used to describe very different things, designed for very different purposes. The H4 Consulting Program Management Office – Visibility for Executives (PMOVE) framework helps find the PMO most appropriate for your organisation.
Common reasons to establish a PMO are to improve:
- visibility for Executives – “We need to know what’s going on”
- ownership by Executives – “We really need to drive this”
- organisational capability – “We need someone who knows how to do this”
- consistency and efficiency – “We need to stop reinventing the wheel”.
PMOs may also be established to drive temporary or transformational changes that are so far outside of business as usual that the organisation’s normal structures are not suitable.
One PMO may track the work of individuals across the organisation. Alternatively, an Enterprise PMO (EPMO) may aggregate and report on programs coordinated by specialist PMOs that sit between the EPMO and the individual. In a Federated PMO model, each local PMO is closely connected with, and may operate as an outpost of, a central PMO.
PMOs also vary along a continuum from a minimalist mechanism for centrally monitoring programs that are managed within business-as-usual teams, to an active delivery unit that directly implements major reforms.
Before you start setting up a team and investing in tools, it is important to be clear about your goals.
The key dimensions for choosing the right type of PMO are the degree to which direction of the program is centralised and the organisation’s ability to deliver the program. This is represented as a 2 by 2 matrix. Each quadrant suggests a type of PMO.
Monitor and report – where the organisation has the ability to implement programs well, and program decision making is decentralised, the PMO may be needed only to monitor and report on progress.
Standards – where ability to implement is high, but program decision making is centralised, the PMO may need to establish standards that encourage greater consistency and efficiency as well as monitoring.
Centre of excellence – where the ability to implement is low and program decision making is decentralised, adding a PMO centre of excellence can support local program managers to plan and execute effectively.
Delivery – where ability to implement is low and program decision making is centralised, as it often is for urgent or highly interdependent programs, a delivery PMO may be heavily involved in planning, prioritising, and implementing programs.
To choose the right PMO, you need to know where you want it to take you. Choosing wisely can move your whole organisation in the right direction.