What is the role of the PMO? What is its relationship with the Project Portfolio Management Process and Project Portfolio Management Team (PPMT) as well as the project management process? How can the true potential of the PMO be realised?

A project manager is a very different animal to the programme manager. However, the relationship within the business is designed to be mutually complementary. This is also true of the relationship between the PMO and the PPMT. Delivering complex programmes on time and on budget is a major challenge for any organisation. With diverse but interrelated projects, resources, and processes, conflicts are inevitable and success is often elusive. The biggest challenges facing most organisations today are
having the ability to know which of their projects are in trouble at any given time, and how they will get them back on track. With information and people so widely distributed, the critical ability to check project status and proactively identify problems can be next to non-existent. Moreover this is also compounded by disparate levels of project management knowledge, skills, abilities, techniques and methodologies from one business unit and department to another.

Disparate information and poor communication about project interdependencies typically result in:

• project delays: projects run late and do not deliver the desired results
• no standardised method: typically, many organisations have no centralised or enterprise-wide project management method, resulting in fragmented and ad-hoc compliance to project governance standards and procedures
• resource bottlenecks: key resources are chronically overscheduled and there is no clear method for project managers to get the right people for their projects
• out-of-control costs: redundant projects are occurring in different business lines and are costing the organisation more than estimated
• insufficient information: management has little or no insight into what projects are being undertaken, or how well they are being carried out
• no decision framework: projects are undertaken with little or no analysis, with projects having a strong champion or determined evangelist driving other possible investments out of consideration

Therefore businesses that want to improve project outcomes as well as provide critical project information for executives, or institute an analytical project decision process, are turning to the creation of a PMO – a means of managing projects within an enterprise environment.