PMI PMO Certified Professional

A PMO that ignores its setting gets rejected. You read the organization’s strategy, culture, structure and maturity, and judge what kind of PMO it will accept.

• Reading organizational strategy
• Organizational culture and its effect on a PMO
• Structures and decision-making styles
• Assessing project management maturity
• Sponsorship and the political landscape
• Finding the pain points a PMO should address

You build An organizational assessment that identifies the needs a PMO should meet.

A PMO needs a purpose in words that stakeholders accept. You write the vision and mission, set a strategy, and make the case that links the PMO to results the business cares about.

• Writing a PMO vision and mission
• Objectives and strategic fit
• Stakeholder needs and expectations
• Making the business case for a PMO
• Setting early priorities and quick wins
• Communicating the strategy

You build A PMO charter with vision, mission, objectives and a business case.

A PMO is what it does. You choose the services it offers, from methods and templates to reporting, training and portfolio support, and decide which belong in the first release.

• Mapping needs to services
• Methods, standards and templates
• Reporting and portfolio support
• Training, coaching and resource support
• Tools and information management
• Service levels and funding models

You build A service catalog with definitions, owners and service levels.

Design follows purpose. You decide where the PMO sits, what authority it holds, how it is staffed and funded, and how it works with project teams day to day.

• Placing the PMO in the organization
• Authority and decision rights
• Roles and staffing
• Funding the PMO
• Centralized, federated and embedded models
• Working with agile and hybrid delivery teams

You build An operating model with structure, roles and relationships.

Governance makes decisions timely and visible. You design stage gates, escalation paths, policies and standards that give control without choking delivery.

• Governance frameworks and principles
• Stage gates and approval points
• Escalation and decision processes
• Policies, standards and compliance
• Governing a mix of delivery approaches
• Audit and assurance

You build A governance framework with gates, decision rights and escalation rules.

A PMO earns trust through routine. You run reporting cycles, manage resources and workload, maintain tools and data, and handle the requests that arrive each week.

• Operating rhythms and calendars
• Project and portfolio reporting
• Resource and capacity management
• Tools, data and information quality
• Managing requests and support
• Knowledge management and lessons learned

You build An operations manual with a reporting calendar and standard reports.

A PMO has to show what it delivers. You choose measures for its own performance and for the projects it supports, track benefits, and report value in terms executives use.

• Performance measures for a PMO
• Measuring project health across the portfolio
• Benefits tracking and realization
• The cost of the PMO and the return
• Dashboards and scorecards
• Reporting value to executives

You build A PMO scorecard that links measures to the value it claims.

A PMO that stands still falls behind. You assess maturity, judge how effective the PMO has been, plan improvements, and manage the change these bring.

• Maturity models for project management and PMOs
• Assessing PMO effectiveness
• Collecting feedback from stakeholders
• Building an improvement roadmap
• Managing change in how the PMO works
• Reviewing and renewing the PMO’s mandate

You build A maturity assessment and an improvement roadmap.

A PMO runs on skilled people who must earn respect without command. You define roles and competencies, develop the team, engage stakeholders, and influence leaders across the organization.

• PMO roles and competencies
• Recruiting and developing PMO staff
• Building capability and growth paths
• Engaging executives and project managers
• Influence without authority
• Building a community of practice

You build A capability plan for the PMO team and a stakeholder engagement plan.

One organization carries the course. You assess its needs, define the PMO’s vision and services, design its structure and governance, set measures, and present a first-year plan.

• Assessing the organization and its needs
• Defining vision, services and structure
• Designing governance and operations
• Setting measures and a roadmap
• Presenting the case to leadership

You build A PMO design package: charter, services, governance, measures and a first-year roadmap.