Benefits of having a Project Office:

Each Project Office must adapt to the needs and requirements of each organization. There are different configurations of a PMO, that is, in each case the PMO defines its respective missions, goals and objectives, as well as its structure and way of operating. Embargo sur I hit him, in all cases, the first thing we must do from the PMO is to generate value for the business. The delivery of value implies a PMO designed to ensure compliance with the expected benefits, ensuring compliance with the expectations that justify the investment in the PMO. We will review some possible benefits that a PMO can deliver.

Supervision of projects, programs and portfolio:

The PMO has a very important role in controlling the flow of information and is responsible for informing senior management and interested parties efficiently about the status of the projects and the portfolio. The expectation in most cases regarding a PMO is to provide executive reports on the performance of projects or programs to senior management, to monitor the performance of the portfolio, to monitor and control the performance of the projects and in some that be the entity that manages the projects or programs within the organization.

For an organization this is an indispensable benefit, to be able to monitor and control its projects and initiatives to have observation on times, costs, quality, risks and other variables of the projects or initiatives undertaken by the organization and thus, have visibility of the progress of the projects With reliable information. This will allow for agility in decision-making by the stakeholders of each project, obtain early alerts of the impacts and achieve a greater organizational commitment to the results.

Project / program management practice:

The growing trend in project management is a revitalization of the discipline in the current business context. Project management takes an organizational scope and is increasingly focused on deploying practices and processes at the organizational level. It is expected that the PMO is not only the specialized entity that has specific techniques and frameworks for planning, execution, monitoring and control that are applied to projects, but that the PMO can develop a formal process to mature the current practices of project management and support the execution of specialized tasks for project managers and even in some cases carry out project audits.

Standards, Methodologies and Processes:

One of the great benefits expected of a PMO is that it helps improve adherence to the guidelines, processes and methodology. The PMO is expected to provide standardized project management methodology according to the needs of the organization and with the best international project management practices, to define the metrics and develop and improve the processes around project and program management .

The PMO is expected to generate, collect, monitor and collect the indicators and metrics for the projects, programs and portfolio.

These metrics should be a measure of project performance and indicate the behavior of the results in the form of trends, deviations, discrepancies and achievements against the performance requirements expected by the business.

 Organizational Change Management:

 A benefit of having a PMO is that it offers support or manages the process of organizational changes related to projects, including management of resistance to change, stakeholder management and communications related to organizational changes.

 Government and performance management:

 An efficient governance framework helps to ensure the strategic alignment of the organization with corporate initiatives and their implementation, providing adequate guidance, leadership and supervision. In general, the PMO clearly establishes and focuses on who makes the decisions (decision rights and the authority structure), how decisions are made (processes / procedures) and collaborative facilitators (reliability, flexibility and behavior control) . The PMO establishes around the projects the organizational approach that establishes a decision-making framework at different levels and for all business units.

 Administration and support tools:

 The PMO is expected to rely on technology to make its work more efficient and effective. This includes the provisioning, implementation and support of project management tools and information systems on issues related to projects, programs and portfolios. The benefit expected by the organization is to have a PMO that implements project management with technology adoption, driven by innovation, agility and critical thinking, reinforced with appropriate standards, tools and technologies.

 Knowledge Management:

The expectation is that the PMO can transform the information of the projects into knowledge, and then use that consolidated knowledge in the collective learning around the projects.

The PMO can manage meetings of lessons learned and / or retrospectives, manage the database of lessons learned, manage project documentation, manage content and collaboration between projects, allowing efficiency and time savings.

 Strategic alignment:

It is expected that the PMO will promote planning, development and project allocation to optimize the efficient use of resources in achieving the strategic objectives of the organization. The expectation is that the PMO can confirm strategic priorities, align strategy with initiatives, prioritize strategic alignment and generate portfolio reports regarding the generation of value and realization of benefits. In some cases it is expected that the PMO can participate in strategic planning and provide advice to senior management in decision making.

 Talent management:

Proper management of the resources in the projects, including the development of the capabilities and competencies of resources of a portfolio of projects allow the organization to execute its strategic initiatives with the right resources and in a timely manner. Many times it is expected that the PMO will not only generate the benefit of managing the resources of the project portfolio, but also provide tutoring for project managers, training and development of project management skills

It is a great challenge for the Project Offices to meet all these expectations and that is why the constant validation of compliance with these is vital. Establishing a PMO is not just for the creation of tools, templates, processes and best practices, that is not the purpose of the PMO. These functions are necessary and represent a means to an end, not the end itself. The PMO develops its functions to guarantee a good management of the projects, to facilitate the success of the portfolio, to anticipate and reduce risks, and above all to increase the possibilities of delivering the value generated by the projects for the business. The generation of value and the realization of benefits must be the central component of the PMO management.