Try the following questions and I will give you feedback on how you are progressing
1) List and describe five duties of a project management office (PMO)?
2) Explain five items you would consider as part of an end of project review?
3) List and describe five benefits of project governance?
4) Explain five advantage of a project (task force) project organisation?
Remember each answer needs to consist of five paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each.
Paul Naybour
LinkedIn ProfilePaul Naybour is a seasoned project management consultant with over 15 years of experience in the industry. As the co-founder and managing director of Parallel, Paul has been instrumental in shaping the company's vision and delivering exceptional project management training and consultancy services. With a robust background in power generation and extensive senior-level experience, Paul specializes in the development and implementation of change programs, risk management, earned value management, and bespoke project management training.
1.List and describe five duties of a project management office (PMO)?
Project Administration
Supporting the Project Manager
Project Assurance
Project Reporting
Providing specialist input
Project Administration – one of the duties of the PMO is to provide administration on a project. This could include the uploading of documents and drawings onto the project document management system (configuration management). They will also support this by setting up the project filing structure and the start of the archiving procedures.
Supporting the Project Manager – The PMO can also act as the deputy to the Project Manager, assisting in the management of the project during absences etc. This means they will generally be knowledgeable on project delivery and familiar with the key project contacts and will often be responsible for organising and maintaining the project meeting cycle.
Project Assurance – An important duty of the PMO is to provide project assurance to the sponsor. This will generally mean ‘policing’ the procedures that are in place on the project, carrying out QA audits to ensure compliance. It is important to note that they also provide QA support to the project rather than simply auditing them. They also carry out review of the project objectives at the various phase gates to ensure that the project is on track to realise its benefits.
Project Reporting – The PMO will also help in the reporting of project information, often to be included in project reviews. This information can include the collation of reports from suppliers / contractors as well as statistical data such as environmental (waste) figures and safety stats. Any information gathered that should be shared will be on the project portal or intranet.
Providing specialist / expert advice – The PMO will often have ‘central’ specialist departments who will support the organisations portfolio of projects. This could be an established procurement and purchasing department who will provide support on that specialist area but also estimating, quality assurance, environmental, surveying, temporary works engineering and so on.
2.Explain five items you would consider as part of an end of project review?
The project schedule – One of the common success criteria for a project is that the project was completed on time as stipulated in the Project Management Plan. This may be more crucial on some projects where time is critical such as the construction and opening of the Olympic park in time for the Olympics. In this case, if the project wasn’t delivered to the programme then it will be perceived as unsuccessful. One of the items I would consider would be a review of the programme. Did we achieve the various phases by the target dates? If not then why and how can we improve on this for next time?
The project budget – At the beginning of a project the sponsoring organisation would have set a project budget for delivery. One of the items I would consider at the end of project review is a review of the project costs and whether we achieved the budget which was set at the outset. Project scope often evolves over the course of a project and as a consequence, the costs often increase. This exercise will help to review the cause of these changes and allow you to provide more accurate budgetary parameters for next time.
KPI’s – At the start of the project and throughout the project lifecycle, a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) will have been set. KPI’s enable the Project Manager to ensure that the activities are progressing as planned. An obvious agenda on the end of project review will sum up the achievement of KPI’s at all stages of the project. Any areas for improvement can be established during this review and put into lessons learnt.
Safety and environmental statistics – Safety and environment is on the top of organisations agenda when it comes to project delivery. Accidents that happen as a result of bad safety performance is damaging on a business reputation. There will be procedures and processes set up throughout the project lifecycle to ensure safety is carefully considered. At the end of project review it will be possible to review the performance of the whole project, assess trends and put into an improvement action plan for future projects. I.e. at the end of the project it may be that you had 4 minor accidents, 3 of which occurred during the commissioning of the product. This review would allow you to assess these in detail and put in additional measures to prevent this happening in the future.
Project Management Methods, tools and processes – A review of the basis of project delivery is important at the end of the project review. Were the PM methods as documented in the PMP successful and if not why not? This can also be said for the PM tools such as the document management / project reporting system used or the snagging system (for handover) as examples. The QA audits will help identify shortfalls in project processes but often processes that are successful from an auditing perspective are deemed unsuccessful for delivery (i.e. heavily bureaucratic, hinders progress). At this review these processes can be identified and improved upon for next time.
3.List and describe five benefits of project governance?
Would like to run through the best answer for this question please.
4.Explain five advantages of a project (task force) project organisation?
Clear Focus on the project objectives. The scope is clearly defined and each individual team member knows what the project objectives are. When objectives are clear there is less room for error.
Many different skills and specialist professionals who can be relied onto assist in the delivery of the project. An example would be the construction of a multimillion pound stadium in London – the project team may consist of a number of industry professionals which will assist in the overall success of the project (i.e. cost consultants, stadia experts, planning experts who are aware of common conditions associated with such developments etc.)
Clear management structure – all the staff know who to report to, removing any room for confusion when it comes to knowing who is in charge. This absence of confusion can have a positive effect on performance because any issues get reported to the right people in good time.
Clear roles and responsibilities – everyone knows what bit they need to do and their involvement in achieving the benefits of the project. These clearly defined roles and responsibilities encourage a more collaborative project team.
Experience – Many of the project team members would have been involved in various other projects throughout their career in various environments and countries rather than fixed in one organisation (such as in a functional organisation). This experience / knowledge can be called upon to better identify project risks and mitigation methods as an example.
List and describe 5 benefits of project governance:
1. Defined roles and responsibilities: The project governance sets out clearly the roles and responsibilities of all team members. This definition avoids any ambiguity or gaps in responsibilities and every team member knows what is expected of them and what they are required to deliver.
2. Realistic business case: It is expected that the business case will be realistic and that its benefits will be deliverable. This provides certainty to the project delivery team.
3. Identified review points(Gateways): By setting out specific review/approval points or gateways and their respective criteria, project governance clearly identifies points at which stage outputs can be reviewed, declared delivered and approval to proceed to the next stage granted. These also provide the procuring organisation an opportunity to stall or stop the project should they need to.
4. Defined Reporting: The project governance sets out a clear reporting requirements and timetables. It also provides an escalation route for issues or concerns if necessary.
5. Appropriate Decision Makers: The project needs competent representatives from the organisation to have the necessary authorisation, skills and expertise to take timely decisions. The project governance will provide that the necessary delegated authority is awarded to the necessary personal so as to allow the project to proceed without delay.
I have no idea what a “project (task force) project organisation” is!
Jessie a project based (or task force organisation) is one organised into project teams unlike a functional or matrix organisation. Have a look at page 61 in the book. However I can understand that cold the project question makes little sense, which is why I added it here.
@ Jessie List and describe 5 benefits of project governance: Good answer, don’t forget to list first and then describe. Makes sure you actually like to a benefit for example
4. Defined Reporting: The project governance sets out a clear reporting requirements and timetables. It also provides an escalation route for issues or concerns if necessary. In this way the senior managers or the organisation can be confident that they have a clear picture of the status of every project in the organisations portfolio.