The value of a project management office (PMO) should not exceed the value of a project. Many times, however, project costs that are linked to time, processes and resources are escalated into a vortex of overheads that beckon the questions, “is establishing a PMO worth it?” and “can I justify the cost of a PMO?”
What do you do if you are a business with projects to execute within a formal project management framework, yet calculations show a large discrepancy between PMO costs versus project benefits? According to Barend Cronj'e, managing director of project management specialist, CoLAB, there is an answer and, above all, it is instant.
“At CoLAB, we saw the need for a fully automated and simplistic project management methodology too, and so developed a best practices solution, which can deliver tangible project results immediately. Called Managed Project Office (MPO), the solution integrates all the enablers that are necessary for excellent product delivery, such as: project governance, project process methodology and people structures. All of these are incorporated fully into a preconfigured technology platform, providing businesses with an immediate project office solution,” says Cronj'e.
He explains that MPO is an end-to-end project office solution that is the ideal for both SMEs and large organisations to deliver projects “better and faster”.
“The solution was built with the ability to be deployed to scale in order to complement any type and size of business in any sector. It is, in particular, ideal for companies grappling with outsourcing their project management offices as it remains in an organisation's control, owing to its transparency and visibility attributes. In addition, it eliminates the high costs and the length of time it takes to set up a tangible office with the right set of governance, process, people and technology,” says Cronj'e.
For organisations already running projects, deploying the solution does not mean the redundancy of project manager positions, but rather it allows business managers to better utilise resources. “One of MPO's main purposes is to facilitate an environment for project managers to succeed by abiding to a project's governance policy, its scope and budget, as well as its management and accountability framework.”
He explains that in basic terms, what MPO does is provide a business with a virtual project management office containing all the core basics in order to get the framework of project management right. “The additional benefit of this is that in companies where no project management office exists, the person made responsible for a project does not necessarily need to be a project management pro. The reason for this is that an employee is handed a set of exemplary project principles that are linked to sophisticated process flows, stripping out all fluff, so that in an instant, a business can boast a sophisticated environment in which to manage projects in the most excellent way. Clients are also assured that CoLAB has well-skilled and expertly trained employees to support all MPO needs.”
As mentioned at the start of this piece, the cost element of a PMO can either be viewed as a gold mine or a black hole. The cost saving aspect of deploying MPO is, however, immense and threefold: it is an affordable solution, there is no capital expenditure and, because it can be outsourced, no permanent employees are required.
“In summary, MPO is a solution for businesses that require a project office today, to deliver on projects tomorrow. The solution offers a best practice model with core project management enablers to capacitate the delivery capability of project, programme and portfolio. It allows businesses to buy a fraction of the solution or the whole tool and to access these remotely. MPO does not over-engineer project management, but keeps it simple in order assist companies deliver on their projects,” says Cronj'e.
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