Project Management Office (PMO)

Project Management Office – Why you need this service

You need a Project Management Office (PMO) if you want to bring order to a number of projects. This can apply to an overall enterprise, an organisational group, a programme, or a large project with a number of workstreams or sub-projects. The functions of a PMO vary considerably, depending on the need of the organisation or project. Some of the common functions are:

Centre of Excellence, with:

  • Methods and tools
  • Good practice guidance
  • Training, coaching & mentoring
  • Lessons learnt repository
  • Advisory services
  • Standards

Governance Support, with:

  • Project Dashboard & reporting
  • Project Board secretariat
  • Strategy alignment
  • Escalation facilitation

Portfolio Management services may be provided by the PMO.

Resource Management. The PMO may maintain a pool of project management people for use on the organisation’s projects. The service may also include forecasting project resource requirements, based on the project portfolio and the projections included in project briefs, business cases, and plans.

Project Management Office – What Caravel provides

Caravel will design a Project Management Office model (including structure and functions) that is appropriate to your organisation or situation. The model depends on whether you need an enterprise wide PMO, a PMO for a unit (such as ICT or a regional office), or a PMO for a large project or programme – or a combination of these needs.

We can deliver the PMO services on your behalf, or help you to establish a PMO capability which you will operate.

Our services vary from predominantly remote provision (if your PMO requirements are modest) to an on-site team.

We review existing PMOs to consider whether they meet your requirements and conform to good practice standards. From these reviews we provide practical and realistic recommendations for PMO improvements.