PMO Roadmap Case Study
Overview
The client, a regional council, engaged LEVA to work with them to develop a roadmap for their PMO.
The client had experienced growth in project activity across the organisation and recognised the need to increase their project planning and delivery maturity. As a first step, they had decided to broaden the scope of their existing PMO from an IT project focus to a whole organisation focus. The client engaged LEVA to create a roadmap to provide a path for their PMO to implement and embed this change.
LEVA started by developing a PMO charter that created a solid terms of reference for what the PMO was expected to achieve and how they would operate. The PMO charter – documented in a 1-page format with supporting information – outlined the business drivers, objectives and outcomes for the updated focus of the PMO. The PMO scope, key enablers and high-level roles were also included in the charter.
An existing PMO maturity assessment based on the seven P3M3* perspectives was used as a basis to agree the desired future state maturity. Change Management was added as an eighth perspective, as the client had included change management as a discipline within the PMO.
From the current state and desired future state analysis LEVA was able to complete a gap analysis across the eight perspectives for the PMO – Organisational Governance, Management control, Benefits Management, Risk Management, Stakeholder Management, Finance Management, Resource Management and Change Management. The gap analysis identified the initiatives that the PMO would need to implement to achieve their desired outcome – a broad and mature PMO that supported projects across the organisation.
* P3M3 is a management maturity model which aims for a gradual increase of maturity in how an organisation delivers its projects, programmes and portfolios. As with any investment in an improvement initiative, increasing the maturity rating should not be seen as a justification itself. It is about the improved capability to deliver strategic objectives, reduce costs and increase success rates. P3M3 has been developed and is certified through Axelos - P3M3 Axelos consulting partners
Our Approach
Collaborative – LEVA worked collaboratively with the client gaining input and feedback at appropriate stages during the engagement. In the initial stage, the LEVA consultant met with a range of senior leaders from across the Council to listen to and understand what they wanted from a PMO and concerns around current project delivery practices.
Adaptive – LEVAs approach and the final Roadmap output are designed to be adaptive. Regular reviews of the roadmap are encouraged, and the longer-term initiatives specified are based more on the business outcomes rather than the exact solution.
Experience-based – LEVA based its recommendations on their PMO and project management experience from across other organisations – understanding how to tailor previous experiences and knowledge is key to LEVA’s approach.
Pragmatic artefacts – LEVA’s approach was based on realistic and pragmatic delivery that was tailored for the client organisation and maturity. Documentation was PowerPoint-based rather than long wordy documents making it easy for the client to navigate and digest.
Enabling the Client – LEVA’s approach was to work with the Council staff in a way that enabled them to own the output and roadmap going forward