Assignment Overview

The development and implementation of a Project Management Office (PMO) in an organisation offers many and varied benefits to an organisation and so the popularity of PMOs in the contemporary project management landscape continues to increase. With a diverse number of tools, techniques and approaches available, the positioning and structure of a PMO, taking into account concepts such as the maturity level of the organisation as well as the culture and governance practices in organisations require a significant level of diligence and planning to increase the likelihood of acceptance once the PMO is implemented.

Typically, a project to implement a PMO would commence with an environmental scan of contemporary project management office principles and practices, reviewing candidate frameworks and investigating similar PMO activities in industries aligned with the organisation for whom the PMO is to be established.

The assignment requires the development of a WBS and a MSP schedule to manage your assignment. Once the schedule is agreed and resources allocated a baseline schedule needs to be saved. This baseline schedule should then be used to track your project performance. This will be included within your project report where you will report on the way the project was managed.

In addition to your own project report you will need to complete a client report for Opticare. Opticare requires the development of a CRT to reflect the current status of management of projects in the aged care services industry. You should use the description provided and your own research to determine the core problem/s affecting the management of projects in the aged care services area. You should then examine in what way a PMO can address these issues and provide a report for management recommending what form the PMO should take, its primary functions and the its project governance role.

Summary of key facts that influence the project:

- No PMO currently exists

- No templates, manual or governance practices exist

- Company is immature in its current structure which requires a slow introduction in terms of new systems and processes

- The organisation prefers PMBOK, but is open to blending other methodologies/frameworks with the chosen structure

- Training is required for all stakeholders and will be coordinated and delivered by the PMO staff

- Current company staff are not well versed in project activities

- Timeline for implementation: April 2017

- Projects range from small (collaborative) projects requiring little or no formal structure, with the remaining being split between projects less than $200,000 and those exceeding $200,000.

- The company has a number of large scale projects (several million dollars) involving property acquisition and refurbishments.

- The company requires a formal approach to project selection and prioritization as projects have generally been chosen in the past based on the power and influence of the sponsor. It is felt that such an approach will not be appropriate as the organization expands.

- Stakeholders: potentially all employees in the organisation.

Assignment Questions:

The following are to be included in a report to the client:

1. What to Change? Complete a CRT to expose the logic which translates the key undesirable effects of the current state into one or more root causes. Select from the root cause that which you consider to be the core problem - ie. That which is the source of the most significant undesirable effects. (The CRT should fit onto one A4/A3 size page)

2. Based on the core problem/s identified in the CRT (from 1 above), complete a recommendation report for your client detailing the structure the PMO should follow, the basic governance role it must provide, the functions it should provide and how a PMO will address the identified core problem/s.

3. A set of templates should be provided for staff so that they can follow the PMO required management structure. This should be done within a google site.

The basic structure of the client report should be:
- Executive Summary
- Background
o CRT
o Summary of Current ‘As-is' Position
o Current Strategic priorities
o Overview of current project governance and systems
o Sector-wide PM approach
- Recommendations
o PMO Guiding principles
o PMO Governance
o Templates and delivery mechanisms
o Conclusion

You also need to complete a short Project Closure Report for your lecturer or program manager detailing how your assignment project went:
- Executive Summary
- Project Performance
- Final Project Tracking Gantt
- Assessment of Business Benefits
- Project Review
o what went well
o what didn't go well
o lessons learned