Paul Naybour
Feel I’m a sentence or two short on both of these questions on the PMO, is that a fair assumption?
- Relieve some of the administrative burden from the project manager. This can allow the project manager to concentrate on the tasks at hand than become entrenched in paperwork. For example writing up issue reports, collating data and maintaining logs can be time consuming and is probably best performed by project support.
- To provide continuity should the project manager need replacing. For example, a project manager may have to take a month off of work due to sickness. The Project Office will possibly provide an interim project manager to deputise. As the project office will have all of the absent project manager’s paperwork, this should allow for a relatively smooth transition to the deputy.
- It is a vehicle of which lessons can be learned across the organisation. For example a project to roll out a new payroll system has encountered a compatibility issue with another piece of software that requires a patch. Rather than wait for the other sites to also discover this, the issue can be proactively communicated to the heads of IT departments across the organisation.
- It can ensure that a standard method is used across the organisation’s projects. For example that all management strategies such as Risk, Configuration and Communication are in a standard format throughout. This will ensure that the project manager confirms to the standards set by governance than simply coming up with his own.
- It can provide assurance to the project manager that plans are being followed in the correct manner by checking with the teams. They can also provide reports to stakeholders to assure them that everything is progressing as planned. For example project assurance may report back to the project manager that a particular team are not communicating issues effectively. The project manager will have to intervene and remind the team leaders of their responsibilities to ensure that this happens.