Program Management

A recent Gartner study indicates that over 75% of enterprise IT systems implementations fail to deliver as promised. Much of the blame goes to the IT system vendor, run-away requirements, inadequate controls put on the project by the customer, and failures of the IT system integrator. These failures can be prevented, or at least controlled, with consistently applied project management procedures. To effectively reduce the risk of IT system failure, most agencies and commercial entities establish a Program Management Office (PMO).

A PMO exists to perform the following beneficial functions – all resulting in higher customer satisfaction:

• Provides guidance and support to all projects for the program, agency, or division;
• Enables successful definition, integration, acceptance, and implementation of all deliverables within each program;
• Provides a single point-of-contact for the customer (internal or external) that ensures effective communication;
• Provides consistency and reliability of all deliverables and processes within a program, agency, or division; and
• Minimizes gaps and overlaps between projects.

Deploying a New PMO

We have discovered that setting up a new PMO, if done correctly, sets the stage for subsequent project success. Our approach includes the following basic plan:

• Perform an assessment of the organization and its associated projects, programs, and maturity levels;
• Develop recommendations to establish the PMO;
• Design a deployment roadmap for the PMO implementation taking our customer’s resources, knowledge, and skills into account;
• Obtain a consensus for the PMO design and partner with our customer to implement the PMO; and
• Communicate the successes and achievements of the PMO to the executive sponsors and the entire organization.

We believe that a PMO should start by developing the following functions within an Integrated Information Technology Governance Framework:

• Project and Program Governance;
• Performance Management;
• Schedule Management;
• Financial Management;
• Risk, Issue, and Scope Management;
• Resource Management;
• Quality Management;
• Communications Management; and
• Supplier or Contractor Management.

Our Integrated IT Governance Framework also focuses on the drivers behind an organization’s IT requirements. The IT Governance Framework also connects an organization’s IT requirements to Capital Planning and Investment Control, Portfolio Management and configuration management so that IT investment dollars can be allocated to the most impactful IT solutions. An adequate governance framework also works to limit IT investment in systems that require sun-setting due to evolving requirements.

Our PMO implementations provide the following benefits:

• Establishes governance standards to be used across all projects and programs for Quality Control and Configuration Management;
• Develops a PMO Charter and communications plan;
• Identifies resource needs for the PMO and performance measures to gauge success;
• Incorporates the proper amount of repeatable delivery processes to fit your culture; and
• Improves the competencies of the PMO staff through training and mentoring.

Enhancing an Existing PMO

PMOs are consistently challenged to provide additional value to their organizations – oftentimes with shrinking budgets and tight deadlines. To take your PMO to the next level, we will develop a transformational roadmap using our Integrated IT Governance Framework to identify areas of the PMO that need improvement.

Shivoy uses the following approach to enhance an existing PMO:

• Perform an assessment of the existing PMO to include its associated projects, programs, and maturity level according to Project Management Institute’s OPM3 assessment and the Kerzner PM Maturity Assessment models;
• Develop recommendations to enhance the PMO;
• Design a deployment roadmap for PMO enhancement taking our customer’s resources, knowledge, and skills into account;
• Obtain consensus for the design and partner with our customer to implement the PMO recommendations; and
• Communicate the successes and achievements of the new PMO to executive sponsors and the entire organization.