Project Management Office

The PMO Life Cycle - Overview

To explain the project office life cycle fully, it is first necessary to understand more about projects, programs, and portfolios. And then learn about PMO types, their benefits and their relationship to the organization they serve. Lastly, learn how the PMO Life Cycle will help the deployment of an efficient and effective PMO.

• Projects, Programs, and Portfolios. Each term is defined and the relationships among the project, programs, and portfolios are explained.
• Defining a PMO. Explains each of the different types of PMO common in the market today.
• Role of a PMO. Explains how a PMO improves the organization's project success rate.
• Benefits of a PMO. Focuses on the value of a PMO to the organization it serves.
• PMO relationships. Shows how a PMO establishes strong relationships with the production departments, project managers and project stakeholders.
• PMO services. Introduces over twenty PMO services, in four categories.
• Multiple PMOs. Describes how an organization will benefit from having multiple PMOs.
• PMO Maturity. Provides a best-practices approach to growing a PMO over several years.
• The PMO life cycle. Explains how to initiate, plan, execute and improve a PMO.

Once you have reviewed the topics that explain the purpose, function and benefits of a PMO, you should review the following life cycle phases:

• PMO initiation. To initiate a PMO, the team must define its role and purpose, obtain a sponsor, create a charter, define roles, hire staff, and open the project management office.
  
• PMO planning. The team creates an overall plan and also adopts a methodology, software, project management tools, databases, and policies to standardize project management.
  
• PMO execution. The team implements the plan. The PMO offers services in four categories: general services; supportive services, controlling services, and directive services.
  
• PMO improvement Once the PMO is well established, the team reviews and improves the services it offers. It works to improve the level of project management maturity throughout the organization.