CITI - partners in change » PPSO / PMO

Creating valuable project and programme support offices

Paul Ashton — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:38:21 +0000

Are you a manager or director who needs to ensure that the investment in a support office meets the needs of senior executives while delivering value to the business?

Are you charged with maximising value from the company’s project portfolio and programmes?

Do you support and guide project and programme managers as they carry out their delivery responsibilities?

Are you responsible for setting up / running a PSO?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions – this course is for you.

What are the course objectives?

This course will enable you to understand the principles of high value, and highly valued, project and programme support offices (PPSOs). It will help you to ensure that the investment made in these functions is repaid and that they meet both the needs of senior managers charged with maximising the value from the company’s project portfolio and the needs of project and programme managers as they carry out their delivery responsibilities. You will be given the knowledge, and more importantly the understanding, of how you can establish and run the type of PPSO most suitable to your organisation.

What content is covered?

The course looks at the approaches to adopt, and the traps to avoid, when establishing and positioning a project or programme office. It builds on CITI research into the most successful styles and levels of project and programme support offices and demonstrates how they can add value to portfolio management. You will learn to distinguish between project and programme support offices, identifying the different expectations, tools, techniques and roles they play. We also cover what needs to be done to convert a project office to a programme office and how that approach varies in different organisational structures. A working model of a PPSO with exemplar tools is used to illustrate how some of the ideas can be translated into effective actions for when you return to your workplace. This will help you to establish and run the ‘right’ type of PPSO for your organisation.

What are the key topics?

Stakeholder analysis and management
Types of support offices
Best practice examples
Monitoring & control functions
Analysis of your PPSOs and identification of improvements
Methods & quality assurance
Portfolio planning & monitoring
Programme and project support offices – the differences
Tracking benefits
Managing interdependencies in portfolios and programmes

What is the course format?

An interactive course, using a mixture of lectures, structured discussions, exercises and formal case work. You are invited to take part in benchmarking your current PSO which can then be used on your return to work to help you prioritise changes. Our discussions will be supported by a working model of a PSO that uses three toolkits to illustrate how some of the ideas can be translated into appropriate activities within your organisations.

What is the duration and cost of the course?

This is a 2 day master class.

£800 plus VAT.

For further details contact us on 01908 283 600 or opencourses@citi.co.uk.

What is a PMO?

Paul Ashton — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:25:14 +0000

PMO, or Project Management Office, is a generic term used to describe a variety of management functions within an organisation. Alternative names include Programme Management Office, Portfolio Management Office and Project (or Programme or Portfolio) Support Office.

The purpose of a PMO is to provide a range of reporting and support services to one or more projects, programmes or portfolios. Its main activities may range from simply providing project management support functions to being responsible for the direct management of project and programme managers.

In a number of major organisations a corporate PMO is established which often reports directly to the executive board. This type of PMO not only performs a similar function to ‘solo’ PMOs, providing information, but may also provide advice and guidance, set and maintain standards for project management within the organisation, and provide ‘leadership’ to the project profession across the organisation.

What is the focus of a PMO?

Paul Ashton — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:16:40 +0000

Corporate or central PMOs are often arranged in a hierarchical structure with specific functions being delegated to the various offices. At a strategic level they provide advice and guidance to the executive on the coporate portfolio, look outside the organisation to discover and then inculcate best practices into the organisation, and provide support and guidance to the project and programme communities.

At a divisional or functional level, PMO teams act as consultants to the projects and programmes being undertaken by the organisation. They carry out reviews and health checks on projects to help ensure their success and the capture of lessons learned.
At a tactical level, solo PMOs provide support to individual projects or programmes, often in the form of administrative or specialist staff (e.g. planners, risk managers).

Open course schedule

Paul Ashton — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 09:17:15 +0000

We are currently creating our schedule for open courses in 2015 – please email oc@citi.co.uk for further information.