ASSESSMENT OF THE MOSCOW REGION AS A PROJECT-ORIENTED SOCIETY

ROLAND GAREIS, ALEXEJ POLKOVNIKOV, AND VLADIMIR VOROPAJEV

1. INTRODUCTION OF THE MODEL OF THE PROJECT-ORIENTED COMPANY (POS)

The IPMA and the PROJEKTMANAGEMENT GROUP of the University of Economics and

Business Administration, Vienna conducted the POS benchmarking project from 2000 to 2002. In 2000 and
2001 the POS Maturity Model was developed and first applied to assess and benchmark Austria, Denmark, Hun-
gary, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom as a first group of POSs. The experience gained in this process
allowed to adapt the POS Maturity Model slightly. In 2002 it was applied for the assessments and benchmarking
of the second group: Austria, Ireland, Latvia, and Norway. The results of the POS benchmarking project were
used for a comparison with the Moscow Region.

A society, which considers projects and programmes as an important form to perform complex business proc-
esses, in which exist many project-oriented organisations, which has specific competences for the management
of projects, programmes, and project portfolios, and which has structures, to further develop these management
competences, can be perceived as a project-oriented society.

Not only traditional industries but also the public sector and non profit organizations perceive projects and pro-
grammes as appropriate organizations to perform business processes of medium to large scope. Beside tradi-
tional contracting projects, new project types, such as marketing-, product development-, and organisational
development projects, have gained importance. "Management by Projects" becomes a macro-economic strategy
of the society, to cope with complexity and dynamics and to ensure quality of the project results.

The model of the project-oriented considers on the one hand the practices of project-oriented organisations such
as practices in project management, programme management, project portfolio management, as well as practices
in personnel management and organisational design, and considers on the other hand the project management
related services of education, research, and marketing institutions.

Project
Management in POOs
100
80 Programme
PM Marketing Management in POOs
60
Services
40
20 Project Portfolio
PM Research 0 Management in POOs
Services

PM Education Personnel
Services Management in POOs

Organizational
Design of POOs

FIGURE 1: THE POS MATURITY MODEL

• Project management: A project is a temporary organisation for performing a unique, short-or midterm
process of medium or high complexity. PM is a business process of the project-oriented company. The PM
process starts with the project assignment and ends with the project approval. It consists of the sub-processes
project start, project co-ordination, project controlling, project discontinuity management, and project close-
down.

http://www.rgc.at
• Programme management: A programme is a temporary organisation for performing a unique, mid-or
long-term process of high complexity. A programme is a set of projects and tasks that are closely coupled by
common objectives. Programmes are limited as to time and budget. Programme management is a business
process of the project-oriented company. The programme management process consists of the sub-processes
programme start, programme co-ordination, programme controlling, programme closedown and perhaps the
management of a programme discontinuity.

• Project portfolio management: A project portfolio is a set of projects (and programmes), which are per-
formed by a project-oriented company at a certain point in time. A project portfolio is more than the sum of
projects. A project portfolio database is the basis for project portfolio management. Information of this data-
base can be used to decide, if new projects should be started and to establish priorities among projects. The
objective of project portfolio management is to optimise the results of the project portfolio.

• Personnel management in project-oriented organisations: Personnel management processes in project-

oriented companies are recruitment, disposition and development of project personnel. In project-oriented
companies a PM career path includes the PM-roles Junior Project Manager, Project Manager, Senior Project
Manager and PM Executive.

• Organisational design of project-oriented organisations: Project-oriented companies have specific inte-

grative organisational structures, such as PM Offices, Project Portfolio Groups or Expert Pools, and specific
integrative tools such as PM procedures and standard project plans.

• PM education: Formal PM education programmes are provided by different institutions and might lead to
academic degrees in PM. The PM approach taught and the number of courses vary in different programmes.

• PM research: PM research projects and programmes, PM related publications and events and PM related
research financing are services provided by PM research institutions.

• PM marketing: The primary PM marketing institution in a POS is the national PM association. Services
like membership, certifications of project managers, PM events, etc. are services provided by these institu-
tions.

2. THE ASSESSMENT APPROACH

The assessment of the Moscow Region as a POS was organized in cooperation between SOVNET and the PRO-
JEKTMANAGEMENT GROUP of the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, Aus-
tria.
The Moscow Region was selected for the assessment and benchmarking because of its economic importance and
relative homogeniousity as a project-oriented region within Russia. Moscow lies within the central part of Russia
and covers an area of 994 square kilometres. According to the constitution of the Russian Federation Moscow is
a city of federal importance. Moscow is the largest political, economical, scientific and cultural centre of the
Russian Federation. The permanent population of the City is about 8.54 million people, of these more than 71 %
active manpower. The basis for the Moscow economy is the rich scientific, technical and industrial potential of
the city. In the territory of the city there are many large enterprises of the following industries: ferrous and non-
ferrous metallurgy, engineering industry (including car manufacturers and aerospace industry), construction
materials manufacturing, food industry, defense industry, etc. Moscow is one of the most important transport
centres in Russia and Eastern Europe.

In Moscow are situated the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN) and 90 related scientific organisations, includ-
ing 78 scientific research institutes and specialised Academies of Sciences. Moscow is the largest educational
centre in the country.

SOVNET nominated a PM Practices Team and PM Institutions Team with representatives of the Russian PM
association, of project-oriented organisations of Moscow and of PM researchers, in order to assess the compe-
tences of the Moscow Region.

Based on the POS questionnaire the PM Institutions Team assessed the services of PM-related institutions of the
Moscow Region (PM education institutions, PM research institutions, and PM marketing institutions).

The PM Practices Team assessed the practices of project-oriented organisations in the Moscow Region in a
workshop, which was performed on February 17th in Moscow. The practices in project management, programme
management, project portfolio management, personnel management in project-oriented organisations and in
organisational design of project-oriented organisations were considered. This assessment was questionnaire
based. About 25 project management experts of different industries participated in four working groups of five to
six persons. The participants discussed the questionnaire in the groups and had to reach a consensus answer. The
Practice Panel was moderated by Roland Gareis and Martina Huemann. The contents were translated into Rus-
sian by Alexei Polkovnikov.

Further strategies for the further development of the Moscow Region as a POS were defined. The results of this
workshop were documented and benchmarked with other POSs. A benchmarking report was prepared.

Also the PM Institutions Team performed a workshop on February 18th. The results of the assessment of PM
education, PM research and PM marketing were interpreted and discussed. The PM Institutions Team was coor-
dinated by Olga Ilina of the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering.

3. OVERALL RESULTS OF THE ASSESSMENT OF THE MOSCOW REGION AS A POS

The overall results of the assessment of the Moscow Region as a POS are visualized in the spider web presenta-
tion. The area in the spider web shows a relatively high, homogenous POS maturity.

FIGURE 2: MATURITY OF THE MOSCOW REGION AS A POS

4. BENCHMARKING OF THE MOSCOW REGION WITH OTHER PROJECT-ORIENTED

SOCIETIES

The results of the assessment of the Moscow Region as a POS were benchmarked with other POSs (Austria,
Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Sweden, and United Kingdom).

The maturities of the different POSs are documented in POS ratios. The maturities of the POSs in the different
dimensions of the POS Maturity Model as well as the overall POS maturities, PM Practice maturities and the PM
Service maturities are presented in Figure 3.

SWE UK NOR MOS IRL DEN AUT HUN ROM LAT

POS Ratio 56 55 46 45 44 42 37 34 23 22
Project Management 63 56 51 52 54 46 39 42 31 28
Programme Management 70 30 55 40 44 37 26 37 17 16
Project Portfolio
57 30 45 28 39 43 25 37 10 0
Management
Personnel Management 62 58 47 31 46 50 35 46 26 25
Organisational Design 65 40 45 28 45 55 31 35 30 22
PM Practice Ratio 63 47 46 40 46 46 33 40 25 21
PM Education 40 80 30 51 34 30 36 30 30 11
PM Research 40 70 44 38 16 30 28 20 10 11
PM Marketing 40 70 38 70 67 40 71 15 10 50
PM Service Ratio 40 73 37 53 39 33 45 22 17 24
FIGURE 3: MATURITY RATIOS OF POSS
The Moscow Region has the fourth highest overall POS ratio. The Moscow Region has high competences in
project and programme management but relatively little competences regarding portfolio management, personnel
management and organisational design of project-oriented organisations. The PM practice ratio places the Mos-
cow Region in the lower half of the POSs. PM marketing is the highest of the benchmarked societies and PM
education is the second highest. This results from the heavy marketing activity of SOVNET in connection with
the IPMA World Congress in the Moscow Region. The PM service ratio is the second highest of the bench-
marked countries.

TO BE ADDED: Detailled analyses of selected questions, of specific interests for the Moscow Region (4-5
questions)

5. STRATEGIES FOR THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOSCOW REGION

Based on the results of the assessment the following strategies for the further development of the Moscow Re-
gion as a POS were defined:

• Project management should be provided as an overall management qualification in the society (schools,
municipalities, families, etc.).
• Further PM education programmes have to be established and existing education programmes have to be
extended.
• PM research is further to be promoted and financed.
• A long term PM marketing initiative can be launched in connection with the IPMA World Congress. The
initiative may include further events.
• PM certification has to be promoted further to raise the number of annual PM certifications.
• Assessments and benchmarking of further regions in Russia have to be performed

Ideas for Assessing other Soviet Regions as POSs (Alexej)