PMO (Project Management Office) is a team whose one of the functions is control. Different organizations require a different level of control in project management. How to know when and at what level of PMO control is needed?
What is included in PMO control function?
project management document content control: checking that the documents are prepared correctly and all the necessary information is provided and described
control whether all signoffs are collected: verification if project manager has all the evidence showing that everyone with whom he had to align is done
project budget plan control: verification of whether all the necessary costs are calculated and planned
project's budget expenditures control: whether to the extent that the planned project has spent, if not, what are the reasons for discrepancies
project implementation plan control: reviewing the detailed plan of the project by assessing whether it is sufficiently detailed, whether the tasks are assigned to people, whether the logical durations are designed for different phases, what method of implementing the tasks is chosen (parallel or sequenced) and deep diving into how realistic this plan is
control over the composition of the project team: whether all the necessary resources are assigned and the project is ready to move on
control of the project business plan: whether the project has assessed the planned benefits that it plans to achieve and earn in the course of the project implementation
control of assessment of project risks and dependencies: whether all risks and dependencies are assessed, whether they are correctly described and whether the owners are correctly assigned, and whether all this is reflected in the project implementation plan
When and what kind of PMO control is needed?
When PMO function is being implemented, it is not worth implementing all control mechanisms, as this makes it possible to bend the stick too far, in places where control may be superfluous.
It is best to first of all name the weakest points that you want to improve and introduce changes gradually, taking into account:
what is the maturity of project management and other processes,
what is the level of ownership, i.e. whether people understand the their responsibilities and act as owners and leaders
the importance and complexity of the projects taking place: if the projects are not interdependent and do not have strict deadlines, the omission of which can cause great pain to the organization, the less control should be applied
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