Setting Up a Project Management Office (PMO)
A three-day course for those asked to create or revive a project management office.
About this course
A three-day course for those asked to create or revive a project management office. You will compare PMO models, define a clear mandate and set of services, and design the governance, roles and standards that help projects deliver consistently.
Working through a staged set-up plan, you will learn how to build the business case, win early support, assess maturity and measure the PMO's own value, so that it becomes a trusted partner rather than an extra layer of reporting.
What you'll learn
- Explain the purpose and value of a project management office
- Compare supportive, controlling and directive PMO models and choose one that fits
- Define the PMO's mandate, services, roles and governance
- Plan the set-up of a PMO in clear, staged steps
- Design standard methods, templates and reporting for projects
- Assess project management maturity and plan its growth
- Measure the PMO's own performance and demonstrate its value
Curriculum
- What a PMO is and why organisations create one
- Project, programme and portfolio offices
- Common reasons PMOs succeed or fail
- Stakeholder expectations of a PMO
- Supportive, controlling and directive models
- Departmental and enterprise PMOs
- Temporary and permanent PMOs
- Choosing the right model for your context
- Writing the PMO charter
- Defining the service catalogue
- Scope boundaries and decision rights
- Agreeing success criteria with sponsors
- Governance boards and escalation paths
- PMO roles and responsibilities
- Staffing and competence
- Relationships with finance, HR and operations
- Selecting a project life cycle and method
- Templates and document standards
- Stage gates and approvals
- Choosing supporting tools
- Project intake and prioritisation
- Status reporting and dashboards
- Resource capacity planning
- Risk and issue escalation
- Assessing the current situation
- Building the business case
- Implementation roadmap and quick wins
- Communication and change management
- Project management maturity models
- Running a maturity assessment
- Planning maturity growth
- Measuring PMO performance and value
Who it's for
Experienced project managers, PMO staff and managers who are setting up, running or improving a project management office.
Before you start
- Practical experience of managing or coordinating projects
- A good grasp of core project management concepts
Part of these Alalamia diplomas
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