Getting organized

implementing the project office

 
 
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ARTICLE PMO April 1999
PM Network
Lullen, J. J. | Sylvia, Richard
How to cite this article:
Lullen, J. J. & Sylvia, R. (1999). Getting organized: implementing the project office. PM
Network, 13(4), 51–55.
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by J.J. Lullen, PMP, and Richard Sylvia, PMP
You've always wanted to be on the stage? Here are four stages that can
improve your project management operations.
THE ADVENT AND USE of technology in today's competitive business
environment continues to produce an ever-increasing volume of data and
information. Vast data repositories, better known as data
warehouses, coupled with technological advances in moving information
from point to point, have resulted in increased expectations for
instantaneous decisions. This plethora of information has consequently
affected the manner in which corporations conduct their daily business
operations. Those companies that process and utilize their information
expeditiously create competitive advantages for themselves.
How does a company structure and position itself to take advantage of
the immediate availability of information if the information exists
decentralized across several geographic areas? The search for the silver
bullet answer to this question has forced companies to reengineer their
current processes and procedures and adopt a different approach to
managing their businesses. The latest business paradigm found to fit
today's corporate vision is the utilization of structured project
management practices to efficiently manage daily business operations.
Project management, through predefined methodologies, first surfaced
during the 1950s. Given the unstructured approach to managing projects,
the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as the construction industry,
implemented project management disciplines in the management of their
business practices. These practices have become prevalent in many
industries today as companies move toward group or project-based
activities. These practices now allow corporations to harness the
information they've collected. This turnkey solution produces what is
commonly referred to as best practices or standards, which are eventually
utilized companywide. The result of the processes, procedures, and
deliverables gathered is the successful accomplishment of the
corporation's goals and initiatives.
James J. Lullen III, PMP, has over 20 years project management
experience, doing facilities and construction management for the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. He is a regional program manager with ENTEX
Information Services Inc. Recently he has been a Year 2000 project
manager and managed transition and outsourcing services projects.
Richard J. Sylvia Jr., PMP, has more than 16 years of project
management and systems integration experience. He is manager of
project management (East Region) for ENTEX Information Services Inc.
He has managed business transition projects and provides leadership to
a team of more than 20 project managers.
Stages of Project Office Development
Exhibit 1. This graphic shows the activities for each stage of
development for the Reflex Inc. Project Office.
Recently, in an effort to exploit the lessons learned from what are deemed
as successful projects, we examined the business practices of a company
we'll call Reflex Inc. (due to privacy issues). Given the company's desire
to transform current practices into a more structured method of monitoring
and controlling projects, we developed and implemented the initial stages
of the Project Office concept. This centralized approach would eventually
be the catalyst for all managed projects. Through the skills of diplomacy,
negotiation, leading and controlling, a thoroughly implemented project
office increases the leverage of successful projects, to the benefit of the
entire organization.
The Challenge. In order to increase the profitability and better control the
costs of the many projects that were simultaneously being conducted
within the organization, the executive management staff at Reflex began
to demand that project managers produce better results. In order to
accomplish this directive, the following questions needed to be answered:
How do we measure success?
How do we avoid the dilemma of creating new activity durations for each
project?
How do we dispel the notion that each project starts with a blank piece
of paper?
 What are the necessary steps needed in order to create a repository for
project history?
Prior to the implementation of the project office, we found that the majority
of the projects that were completed successfully benefited from individual
acts of heroism as opposed to predictable, repeatable processes. There
were numerous stories relative to the super project manager, who always
delivered on what was promised—the successful completion of a project,
on time, within budget, and with the highest level of quality relative to the
scope of work. However, the question we needed to answer was, “How
can we leverage this expertise and these results in order for other
projects to enjoy the same success?”
It takes vision, as well as the execution of several stages, to reap the full
benefits from a successful project office implementation. Leveraging the
successful results of managed projects is one of the key benefits realized.
We created for Reflex the operational concept for development and
implementation of the project office. This was accomplished through a
process depicted in Exhibit 1, which outlines the four development stages
of the project office. It is imperative that each stage be built upon the
efforts of the previous stage. Exhibit 1 depicts overlapping ellipses to
illustrate the required handoffs, from one stage to the next, given the
integration of the various activities necessary to bridge each of the
outlined stages. In addition to leveraging success, other benefits to be
gained from the project office are consistency of effort across the
organization; leverage of scarce resources across the enterprise in an
organized manner; implemented or improved change management and
configuration management procedures; and clear metrics to measure
project success.
Stage 1: Project Office Setup. Our collective experience in managing
projects provided us with the basis to estimate that this early setup stage
would take approximately three months to complete. Stage 1 was
composed of the initialization of the project office, which entailed defining
the expected value addthat the project office staff would bring to the
organization. Most organizations are structured differently; thus each
company must make its individual case for a project office.
The formation of the project office commenced with a documented
statement of purpose, otherwise known as a project charter. The charter
contains the objectives and general basis for the formation of the project
office. The most important component of the project charter is that of
sponsorship from the executive management staff. The charter gives the
director of the project office the business authority to engage and
consume other resources from the various business units in order to
accomplish the tasks necessary to complete sanctioned projects, and
becomes the cornerstone upon which all other project plans are built.
Given that there was not a resource from the present staff who had ever
constructed a true project charter, creation of the project charter was left
to the newly established core project office team. Subsequent steps
involved creating the organizational structure, which included defining the
roles and responsibilities for the various resource levels as well as clearly
articulating the definition of a project.The Project Management Institute,
an international association specifically chartered to evangelize project
management practices, defines a project as a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique product or service. This definition covers
the range of projects from the very simple to the highly complex.
A benefit-cost analysis was also conducted during Stage 1. The areas of
concern reviewed included the number of successful projects versus the
number of failed projects during a predefined time period, the number of
new project starts during that same period, and the budgeted cost of work
for those projects.
The business case also involved documenting the project planning
methodology employed throughout the business, clarifying how the
company was to define a successful project, and aligning the objectives
of the project office with the overall strategy of the business. Roles and
responsibilities were addressed in a matrix table format in order to
capture everyone's sphere of influence. Team-building activities focused
initially on daily conference calls to build rapport amongst the team
members, both local and remote.
Typically, an organization managing projects in the context of Stage 1
finds that only 10-15 percent of all projects started actually have a
documented project plan. In the case of Reflex we found no consistent
patterns of project planning or documentation. In some areas where
managers were unfamiliar with project management practices, they
actually felt that project plans slowed down the progress of the project.
This reaction is typical, given the introduction of processes and
procedures where none had existed before.
Reader Service Number 5095
Stage 2: Operational Project Office. Early estimations proved that it
would take approximately seven or eight months to move the organization
from the commencement of Stage 1 to the end of Stage 2. During Stage
2, the project office structure was established by describing its areas of
direct support and further clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the
prospective team members. The hiring of the project management staff,
®
including some Project Management Professionals (PMP ), was also
conducted during this stage. Once hired, it was imperative that staff
members fully understood the interaction they shared with each other as
well as across the organization. These roles were also communicated
throughout the organization to reduce confusion and distrust. Within
Reflex we created additional project management roles and gave team
members assignments to lead the project office in the specific areas:
communications analyst; methodology analyst; project management
education specialist; incident-and-report-tracking analyst; standards-and-
document-control analyst.
These roles would serve as the infrastructure for the project office. We
also expected that considerable improvements in the practice of
managing projects would be gained during Stage 2 to ensure creation of
historical reference files and consistent status reporting. All project
managers were led to focus on the use of one project management
software application program and the consistent preparation of master
project guidebooks for each project. We also improved risk management
through the use of an improved risk matrix analysis process.
Efficiencies in change management were gained by using more stringent
measures to control changes to project scope of work, which drastically
decreased scope creep. More consistent document controls were
realized, which directly correlated to a higher probability of project
success. Processes and procedures, relative to project controls, took on a
more consistent look across the organization.
Reader Service Number 5039
Stage 3: Fully Functional Project Office. Stage 3 began with the
establishment of a fully functional project office. A fully functional
environment finds 70-80 percent of all projects being performed under
documented project plans. A major improvement of documented project
plans translated into more projects being completed on time and more
new projects being started within a specified time period.
The environment during Stage 3 emanated a more professional project
management atmosphere. Project teams utilized project handbooks of
instruction, which aided in the consistent quality of project execution. A
major proponent of the project office was the confidence that the project
managers displayed in the use of the project data repository. Project
Management Professionals were placed more often in mentoring roles for
other project managers.
The project office database now included lessons learned, activity
durations, and a cross-reference to various other projects. This data
served as the basis for building new project files based on the knowledge
of prior project experiences. This database of enterprise knowledge
proves to be an invaluable resource, bringing synergy to the various
ongoing projects as well as serving as a catalyst for future project
endeavors.
The cross-functional nature of projects, also known as a matrix
management organization, calls for managers to work with various
functional departments within the organization. The project manager thus
has loyalty to the project and is not accountable to an individual
department. As more departments share resources, they too share
technological opportunities, allowing changes in one division to have an
immediate positive impact on the operations of other business units within
the organization.
An impartial project manager can best negotiate differences and drive
change when they cross departmental boundaries. This requires the
project manager to build a network of relationships throughout the
organization. The centralization of the project office helps an organization
gain consistency of execution by creating a community of project
managers who have survived and been successful with project
implementation and delivery.
Stage 4: Continuous Improvement. The final stage is actually an
iterative stage that consists of continuous process improvements. Stage 4
involves refinement of processes such that projects are performed in a
predictable manner. By building successive projects upon the lessons
learned from previous projects, the project office begins to pay dividends
and truly add value to the organization by raising the professional level of
managing projects. Project execution becomes consistently successful,
within budget, in shorter time periods, and delivering projects with the
highest level of quality.
The creation of the project office was nearly complete upon our
departure. The outstanding issues to be addressed and incorporated into
the Reflex project office included establishment of an enterprise project
®
management forum; elevation of the PMP  certification to a level of
importance equal to the Microsoft certified systems engineer and the
Cisco certified internetworking engineer certifications; and refining the
transition flow between the various stages to effectively capture corporate
strategy organizational restructuring and process changes.
DEVELOPING, IMPLEMENTING, AND ORGANIZING the creation of a
project office is a methodical and detail-oriented undertaking. Pulling
together a project office calls for the use of the same project management
techniques that allow projects to be successful. Gaining the support of the
executive management staff, establishing a clear project charter, making
the investment for the long haul, structuring selection and training of
project managers, and producing effective champions of changewho have
impact across the entire organization are all key factors in the
construction of a successful project office.