In 2020, statistics showed that 89% of companies had at least one Project management office. Most project failures are due to poorly defined objectives and pathways, faulty strategies, poor discipline, and lack of ownership. 

Without a process to check for project lapses, most projects stand a chance of failing. This is where project management offices come in handy. Thus, this brief piece is a broad overview of everything you need to be aware of regarding project management office.

Read on.

What is a project management office?

A project management office is a department or group that defines, maintains, and ensures standard organizational project management practices. Project Management offices are either internal or external. This office keeps tabs on projects and provides direction, metrics, and indices in project execution. 

A project management office aims to create efficiencies between projects by operating a coordinated and centralized management hub for all the projects. Project management office software can derive data and insight into organizational projects. 

Through professional recommendations, the Project Management Office helps organizations add value to their stakeholders through projects and portfolios, increasing the return on their investments.

Functions of a Project Management Office

Project management offices are the backbone of any organization’s successful project management approach. They offer support and ensure the success of the projects executed by the organization. 

The main functions of PMOs include governance, transparency, delivery support, templates, and methodology. Furthermore, they manage documentation, project history, and organizational knowledge. 

They also encourage reusability within the organization. They create a depository that includes templates, lessons learned, and best practices from previous successful projects.

What do project management office consultants do?

Project Management office consultants play a role in managing and executing projects from a strategic level. Project management office consultants usually provide frameworks, templates, and methodologies for managing projects within an organization. 

They help control the project management resources needed to maintain and deploy projects. Project management office consultants play multiple roles in an organization. Some of these roles include

Governance

Project management office consultants help to set the best practices for developing programs across an organization. They focus on procedures by standardizing PMO methodologies that are necessary across multiple departments. 

They also ensure that the right people make the right decisions, always using the right information. Auditing, project development structure, peer review, and ensuring accountability are other ways they carry out this function. 

Coaching

PMO consultants train and mentor team leads as well as project managers. They aid the other project team members in doing their jobs more effectively by streamlining processes and bureaucracy, offering mentoring, training, and sometimes quality assurance. 

This process increases the value of the team’s skill set while also ensuring the best project management practices are adopted. Subsequently, the team has the total capacity to steer the project in the right direction. 

Strategic planning

PMO consultants help the senior management team prioritize projects based on long-term goals. They assist in allocating resources based on priority and their impact on the organization. 

Usually, these consultants have the expertise to estimate the resources needed for a project and optimize the use of the most expensive resources. They use PMO software to run simulations and what-if analyses to make these optimizations as accurate as possible.

Managing Resources

The PMO consultant also manages the interdependencies between multiple projects, helping minimise errors and resource waste. They create teamwork among project managers. Financial resources form a pillar of project execution. 

PMO consultants usually develop and manage project budgets, track expenditures, and ensure transparency. They audit the financial reporting process and assist project managers with invoice and billing challenges. 

A PMO consultant may also be responsible for human resource management. This may include hiring and recruiting project managers and other team members. They may also be responsible for training and development, performance management, and succession planning.

Project Management Office Software

Project management software is used for project planning, resource allocation, and scheduling. It gives project managers and members of the team control over budget, quality management, and documents exchanged throughout a project. This software also enhances collaboration among project stakeholders.

Top project management software share several features in common. Some of these features include file sharing, which involves sharing and organizing key documents relating to the project. 

Smooth and easy communication, task lists, scheduling, and reporting, which are critical in project management, are also provided by top PMO software.

Below are three popular project management software used by organisations.

Meister Task

Meister task’s kanban structure aids the smooth management of projects. Due to its wide range of capabilities, this software is popular for teams that value clean visual design and user experience. 

Meister task offers features like watching, mentioning, tags, task scheduling, and a personal board to which tasks from any project can be pinned and organised. This makes it simple, enjoyable, and easy to collaborate with colleagues either in-house or in-home office.

Nifty

Nifty greatly reduces project development cycles and improves team productivity. Nifty software allows users to manage tasks through list view or Kanban. Its calendar feature is easily integrated with google, making it easy to schedule tasks. 

Nifty also offers file sharing and makes communication seamless because each project has an individual discussion channel, encouraging project-specific communication.

Trello

Trello is an online kanban tool used for project management. With Trello, one can visualize an entire project in one view. Trello also allows users to move their cards around on their dashboards. Allocation of tasks and information display is done using these cards, which are accessible to any team member.

Asana

Asana project management software offers tasks, projects, conversations, and dashboards to keep work organized. A peculiar feature is the ability to create custom features peculiar to a particular user. The software also offers “Team pages” for conversations and ideas and a “Smart Box” for important project updates. 

Conclusion

Project management offices form an integral part of an organization. They are key to ensuring the success of the projects of the organization. They facilitate the planning and implementation that brings a project from conception to complete execution.