AtekPC Project Management Office - Case Preparation

Problem/Issue Statement

 

The PC industry was changing, and AtekPC was dealing with remarkable pressure from larger competitors. To compete in a changing industry where consolidation was getting widespread, AtekPC had implemented a corporate planning office to decide on selecting an ideal PMO model for its company. Recognizing the role that IT would play in enabling AtekPC to respond to the industry pressures, the senior executive had supported the creation of a PMO within IT. The AtekPC management is now faced with challenges in the development and deployment of a Project Management Office in the company.

The main challenges and obstacles in implementing a PMO at AtekPC was that a formal documentation and plans for PMO did not exist. There was a shortage of PMO expert resources, where staff consisted of a PMO director and three contract project managers. Therefore leading AtekPC to a problem statement of selecting between PMO-Heavy model and PMO-light model.

 

Situation Assessment

 

The changes in AtekPC’s business environment caused the company to introduce a PMO. In mature organizations, the PMO is the focal point for improvement and enhancement in project management through the implementation of the enterprise-oriented functions. Enterprise-oriented functions are intended to strengthen the overall capability of the organization for long-range benefits. The enterprise functions provide the long-term stability and backbone for the project management success. This mission is met by establishing, and maintaining, a project historical database, by developing and disseminating project management best practices, by providing training in all project management knowledge areas, and by providing visibility for the value of project management to the organization.

 

The decision criteria would be cost reduction and to get better on projects which would mean getting more creative, adaptive, and agile in launching new products.

 

Evaluation of Alternatives

 

A PMO that is based throughout an organization in comparison to a PMO base in one department is more likely to get the support from the senior executive. Project management should not be a departmental strategy; it should rather be an organizational strategy. The PMO must exist within Information Technology organization and provide project support for all Enterprise IT projects and its clients across the company. The specific duties of a PMO are typically divided into two categories: project-focused and enterprise-oriented. Project focused responsibilities such as consulting, mentoring, and training were services that enabled the success of individual projects. On the other hand, enterprise responsibilities addressed services that might improve all projects such as portfolio management, PM standards, methods, and tools, and project performance documents. The Enterprise PMO will oversee the management of all strategically aligned projects. This leads us to further understand the selection between the two models available to an organization. An ideal way is to note the characteristics and limitation of the PMO heavy and PMO light models.

For PMO heavy model:

Characteristics:

·         Organization will have full staff of project managers who have an implicit responsibility for managing all IT projects.

·         Hire project management experts, either from internal or external sources, and use these resources to manage projects under the direction of the PMO.

·         In extreme case for PMO-heavy model, none of the project would operate outside the management and direct control of the PMO.

Limitation:

·         There aren’t enough people to move fast. Company wants to move fast to be competitive however there is resistance among employees due to the culture and governance issues.

For PMO light model:

Characteristics:

·         There is minimum number of staff who are experts in working through internal project managers to perform the responsibilities of the PMO.

·         This model focuses on the development of skills of internal project managers who were not formally connected with the PMO.

·         In the extreme scenario for PMO-light, all projects operate outside of the PMO under existing organizational controls, and the ownership of projects resided within the functional area and IT group charged with execution of the project.

Limitations:

·         No one in the management wants to move to PMO as people in the department and functions challenge the values of PMO. This depends on the culture of the organizations.

·         The delays from the light approach might compromise the ability to provide PMO services and to demonstrate its worth to the functional areas of the business. It gets hard to acquire resources and to find funding for PMO resources.

·         The functional areas don’t literally understand what the PMO is & perceive it as a sort of a road block and an obstacle to progress.

·         The fact that it creates a choice for the management whether to add projects under PMO or elsewhere. If they add all of them in PMO, it create a situation of being too aggressive which in turn may violate the culture so much that you cause a big red flag.

·         Having the business resources available is already becoming a problem for AtekPC. With a PMO-light they are lined up better with the business side in terms of the number of resources, and it’s a better balance.

Recommendation

PMO-heavy seems to be the best model for AtekPC, but the management should recognize that they would not be able to gain acceptance immediately from this approach. The demand for resources was more throughout AtekPC, and the PMO would need to prove itself in order to earn the resources they wanted. Therefore there is a need to build support for the PMO-heavy model through project successes. As the PMO gains acceptance, AtekPC can implement a PMO-heavy approach, furnishing project managers to the various groups.

Purpose and mission of a PMO:

The objective of implementing PMO is to deliver successful IT projects, build project management maturity at the organizational level, keep management and project audiences informed, and serve as the organization’s authority on IT project management practices. The purpose and mission of PMO is to have consistent project practices. The specific duties of a PMO were typically divided into two categories: project-focused and enterprise-oriented. Project focused responsibilities such as consulting, mentoring, and training were services that enabled the success of individual projects. On the other hand, enterprise responsibilities addressed services that might improve all projects such as portfolio management, PM standards, methods, and tools, and project performance archives. PMO’s are more effective and can better impact the bottom line, when they are operating at the corporate enterprise-wide strategic level, rather than at the departmental level. Departmentally based Project Management offices are successful in their own silos but not accepted outside their span of influence, and therefore, are unable to influence the organization as a whole. This is because many project management offices started off from a grass roots approach.

Structural and governance mechanisms critical for effective PMO implementation:

In the current governance, there seem to be no roadmaps or timelines for maturation of the PMO, people did not know who PMO was accountable to, and there was weak support from the senior executives. There was resistance among employees which was not making the PMO a success. Keeping in mind it is not possible to measure the performance of PMO and proving its value was by having one which seems to be the only way that will work for AtekPC.

How much PM is enough PM? How much PMO support is enough PMO support?

If the PMO is to be successful, there are several key issues that must be assumed. The success of projects, in general, all rely on the factors being implemented; i.e. the integration of client, implementer, and software vendor goals and plans, constant management of the project’s scope, and finally a method for gaining visibility into project health at all levels throughout the life of the project. There is no definitive answer to the above question, because it purely varies from project to project. To decide on what is needed is to analyse each situation, evaluate whether the benefits are worth the cost and risk.  When PM is applied skillfully, in an appropriate way, it generally improves the probability of project success and pays for itself. When we let fear and adherence to inappropriate rigid standards that drive decision making then everyone loses. However the key point to understand is that every project needs planning, controlling, monitoring and again going back to planning when there are issues seen in the controlling and monitoring phases. And it would be a quality and logical recommendation, if all the projects are handled through PMO.

Presentation

If I were to present this case I would include metrics that measure the stakeholder’s expectation from PMO performance and relate it to the AtekPC’s vision and mission statements.

I would make initial assessments based on assumption which will show the improvements in project successes over time and further measure it through decreases in schedule and budget overruns, and client responses. The Project Management approach can be measured by quality and timeliness of project planning documents, accuracy of time and cost estimates and effectiveness at mentoring and coaching project teams..

I would show an analysis of moving from a single project perspective to a more holistic perspective with the help of the following factors critical to the success of the PMO; I.e. Executive Support, agreement to requirements and scope, user involvement & collaboration, resource alignment reflective of current need, management of expectations, strong project management infrastructure and ability to measure and report.

Other delivery considerations to keep in mind for the PMO at AtekPC are the cost and budget function which requires an allocation method for funding. However the long term benefits of implementing the PMO should be factored in to estimate the future value added to the organization.