Project Management Office (PMO) Setup Guide

PMO Step-by-Step Implementation Plan

A project management office (PMO) is a department within a business, agency or enterprise that defines and maintains standards for project management within the organization.

The Project Management Office (PMO) is increasingly becoming the central hub of the enterprise. Its tasks can include the direct support of project managers as well as building central competencies, methods, processes, and in-house standards. 

The objective of this PMO Course is to provide participants with a fundamental understanding of the Project Management Office (PMO). The role of the PMO in organizations continues to be a topic of great interest to project management communities, as it has proven to be a major contributor to successfully managing and delivering projects, programs or portfolios to achieve the business goals. As organizations realize the huge benefits of centralized management, which allows them to utilize resources, consistently apply standards, and reuse organization assets, PMO becomes more and more common in all industries. An appropriate PMO will play a pivotal role in helping the organization achieve its goals and objectives.

This course is divided into two sections.

• The first section describes what a PMO is; its roles and its responsibilities. It also defines three major categories of PMO model, based on scope of operation and maturity. 
• The second section describes the basic steps of the PMO set-up, and supports the practitioners in developing the PMO implementation plan, with focus on PMO structure and processes.

The first section of the course is intended to provide an overview of Project Management Office (PMO), including a standardized definition, its roles, and the common governance models. Upon completion of this part, participants will understand what PMO is and what roles it plays within an organization. Finally, PMO models will be defined, with specific services and the enterprise environment factors needed, for each model.

The focus of second section of the course is to provide detailed guidelines on how to setup a Project Management Office (PMO), with best practices and examples. Practically, there are 6 basic steps to follow in order to successfully implement a PMO within an organization.