The PMO Life Cycle

The PMO Life Cycle

The PMO Life Cycle is a series of phases undertaken to launch, plan, execute, and improve a PMO. The Method123 Project Office Management life cycle (MPOM™) consists of four phases.

PMO Initiation

To formally launch a PMO, the team must first define the role of the PMO and obtain sponsorship. These are formalized in the PMO Charter. The team then secures funding and establishes an executive steering committee that will ensure wide support of the PMO. Then the PMO office itself is built by defining staff roles, recruiting staff, and establishing the physical premises. At this point, the PMO will be up and running, and the PMO team can then prepare a detailed execution plan.

PMO Planning

The first step of the PMO planning phase is to create a high-level execution plan. The execution plan specifies which services the PMO will offer during the execution phase, and specifies when the PMO will begin providing each service. Once the execution plan is prepared, the PMO must decide exactly what it is that will be deployed. The PMO adopts all of the project management methods, approaches and tools that are required by organization. The following steps will be taken:

• Adopt methodology. The project management methodology is an overall framework for project management, including a life cycle appropriate to the organization.
• Adopt standards. Standards are the rules to be followed when running projects. They must conform to professional, governmental, and industry requirements.
• Adopt processes. Processes are the specific instructions defining how projects will be executed.
• Adopt tools. Tools include paper and electronic templates, forms, and flow charts.
• Adopt software. This includes software for project management, as well as ancillary software such as executive dashboards for reporting status and organizational risk management tools.
  Adopt knowledge base. The knowledge base holds all historical and current project management information.
• Publicize PMO. When planning is complete, the PMO announces the services it will offer.