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As per the Project Management Institute, a Project Management Office can fall into a number of categories. Each varies according to the level of control and influence they have on projects within the organisation.
The following is a breakdown of the types of project management offices (PMOs) serving organisations today.
The Supportive PMO
Supportive PMOs offer no direct intervention or control. Besides serving as a repository of project best practices, readily available to PMs on an as-needed basis, their role is consultative. From supplying templates, training, and access to information to best practices and lessons learned from other projects.
The Controlling PMO
Controlling PMOs provide moderate support and are dependent on compliance, including but not limited to project management frameworks or methodologies, using specific templates, forms, and tools, or conformance to governance.
The Directive PMO
Directive PMOs offer a high degree of control. As indicated by its name, the directive PMO is responsible for directing projects. It uses its high degree of oversight to provide resources and support to an organisation’s projects. This type of PMO assigns project managers to specific endeavours, and they report back on their progress.
A directive PMO helps to bring out a high degree of consistency across an organisation. Its single reporting and authority structure best suits strong matrix or projected business structures.
The Activist PMO
When organisations flounder under passivity, waste and unfocused vision, an activist PMO can be crucial in driving strategic success through project quality and efficiency. An activist PMO is risk-alert and continuously improving. It acts as the nexus of excellence in project and program management and uses its flexible structure to support change.
Individual PMO
The individual PMO is responsible for supporting a specific complex project or program. It provides the required infrastructure, standards, support and supervision to ensure that projects are planned and executed to the highest standard.
Departmental PMO
As the name suggests, a departmental PMO is responsible for projects within their assigned department—finance, IT etc. All reports are directed toward the department manager. Here the PMO is responsible for balancing and managing the needs of different projects within the same department.
Compliance PMO
Organisations that lack consistent documentation, processes, methodologies and procedures find great value in establishing compliance PMOs. The project management office sets standard practices for gauging project performance and then monitoring the status of critical initiatives and deliverables.
Centralised PMO
When organisations already have high project management levels, they typically work to reduce dependency on PMOs and focus more on project tracking and reporting. But when PPM maturity levels are still fledgeling, a centralised PMO provides essential support.
A centralised PMO can quickly bring new hires up to speed and mentor them through their journey toward proficiency and independence. In this model, representatives from various project support teams meet regularly to share best practices and counsel about issues, achievements and lessons learned.
Project Support Office (PSO)
A project support office is an administrative support department of a business that offers daily development and supervision services to project teams and their managers.
The PSO’s primary responsibility is to fill the gaps in your project teams. Because those gaps change frequently, project support officers don’t have specific roles; their duties depend on the project teams’ needs on any given day.
Project support officers act as coordinators and assistants to your project managers, facilitating communication and providing help and resources. They might perform some or all of these tasks:
- Providing support for written project management materials
- Creating documents for research, learning, and legal purposes
- Monitoring and controlling all processes involved in a project
- Developing communication methods for project teams
- Assisting team members
- Ensuring the alignment of projects and overall strategy
- Identifying links between similar projects
- Managing and controlling risks
- Coaching project managers and sponsors on best practices and software.
With the support of a PSO, project teams will thrive and have a much better chance of reaching success.
Program Management Office (PgMO)
A program management office has similar responsibilities to a PMO, but its role extends from simple projects to complete programs.
PMOs usually report to a PgMO, which has greater decisional authority within the business. While their duties might be similar, their focus is different. A PMO works toward the success of individual projects, and a PgMO centres its efforts around attaining broader goals. In short, PgMOs are more strategic, and PMOs are more specific.
PgMOs are critical for ensuring the compliance of programs with industry and international standards. They do this by overseeing the management of several projects that make up a single, more extensive program. The PgMO manages collaboration and information distribution between related projects to improve efficiency. It also establishes processes and tools to help the business achieve its objectives and subsequently monitor a program’s benefits according to expectations and proposed outcomes.
Portfolio Management Office
A portfolio management office advises senior management on whether the right projects and programs are being pursued. As the organisation’s priorities evolve, the portfolio office provides data about conflicting priorities, current issues and potential risks. It must also challenge portfolio decisions as industry forces morph and change, and it provides information and recommendations so executives can make informed decisions. In sum, a portfolio office provides value by focusing decision-making on the organisation’s strategic priorities.
Enterprise PMO (EPMO)
An enterprise project management office contrasts with a traditional PMO in that it functions strategically in collaboration with executives to ensure that projects benefit the entire organisation.
An EPMO aims to provide business-wide direction, governance, standardised processes, project portfolio approaches, tools, and best practices. A frequent reason for project failure is a lack of alignment between the project and the organisation’s overall business objectives.
Businesses often upgrade from a traditional PMO to an EPMO when addressing ambiguous PMO direction, underutilised resources, low company performance or misalignment between projects and organisation-wide strategy.
Transformation Management Office (TMO)
A transformation management office is typically an enterprise framework responsible for actuating complex initiatives that align with a business’s strategy.
A TMO provides a crucial link between the executives’ vision and the work of the business. Sometimes a TMO is referred to as a “strategy realisation office.” No matter what it’s called, the TMO’s mandate is to transform the business into the organisation envisioned by C-suite leadership.
A TMO should assume some or all of the traditional PMO roles and responsibilities. However, a transformation management office handles more than just projects. While a PMO knows how to support a project by delivering a new machine part, a TMO helps to transform an organisation’s culture.
Therefore, a TMO must play some specific roles that PMOs don’t. For example, a business may have several needs that appear to be unrelated, such as cutting costs and updating its technology. These initiatives may appear to be misaligned with the business’s strategy. By bringing all of the initiatives together under the TMO’s umbrella, executives can oversee the transitions and ensure that each project fits within its set parameters.
Project Management Centre of Excellence (PMCoE)
A project management centre of excellence has organisation-wide authority to create vision and strategies, identify and develop competencies, develop project management processes and create quality standards. Essentially, the PMCoE reshapes the organisational culture to rally around high, consistent project management standards.
Agile Project Management Office (AMO)
The agile approach to project management requires minimal planning and maximum collaboration. Instead of focusing on centralised authority and top-down control, an agile project management office analyses processes while working in parallel with project managers. The AMO treads lightly, moving one step at a time, and it helps provide a smooth transition when projects have to change directions mid-stream.
Value Management Office
A value management office works well when a business is less concerned about delivering products and more committed to providing value.
Value management is a systematic approach to:
- Determining what value means to a client
- Establishing and agreeing on project objectives
- Developing achievable objectives.
The function of a Project Management Office is to establish structures for project selection, ensure alignment with strategic goals, allocate resources to programmes and projects, resolve conflicts over resources and identify dependencies within organisations.
The best type of PMO for your organisation is the one that suits your business and meets your unique needs.
