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Introduction
Project portfolio management (PPM) is beneficial to IT professionals in several ways apart from an overall increase in efficiency of monitoring and evaluation of ongoing projects. There is normally a grey zone in the functions of PPM and the project management office (PMO). The controversy raised is normally that the work is in the job description of the PMO. Many therefore foresee it as two avenues for performing the same function therefore if the PPM is as efficient as it is, then the PMO should be done with. The answer to this is that it is quite easy to develop a PMM that works in conjunction with PMO in the current systems arrangement.
According to Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (CoBit), one of the top information technology governance frameworks, IT portfolio management is a system that helps in defining the strategic IT plan, while a company’s project management structure is a control mechanism which describes to what extend or limits are projects arranged. To best begin with, the fundamental objective of the both PPM and PMO need to be observed. For the PPM, this is to make sure that the organizations perform the right tasks, while the core purpose of a PMO is to make sure that the organization performs the designated tasks correctly. PPM governs the type of requests that are funded by the organization and allocates resources for the IT projects. The PMO then governs all the active IT projects. This is by ensuring that specific projects run based on the common project management strategy.
PMO Implementation
The PMO I propose to establish, once created will perform the under mentioned tasks for this organization. Develop and maintain all processes and methodologies that pertain to management of projects in the organization. Be in charge of professional development of project managers for the organization. Develop and train the team that is allocated to them to work with. Take the responsibility for calculation of estimates, making of budgets, in addition to cost and capital estimating. Centralize the project establishment together with acquiring and maintaining the necessary software tools. Provide mentoring and coaching assistance to any staff within the organization that wants to manage a project themselves and finally act as a centralized clearing house for project related information that may be needed (Crawford et al, 2008, p. 3).
According to Wells (1999), a PMO will help in better management of this firm through: enhancement of project management tools and techniques that are available to them, improving staff professionalism in the field of project management, standardization and mobility of project tools and techniques, and enhanced competency in project management. The PMO also improves organizational design and performance of the entire firm plus maintains productive and skillful teams for projects.
My assistant and I propose that the team should at the beginning consist of: Project Manager, Program Manager, and Portfolio manager. In the event of larger projects, we propose to have additional assistants to help the aforementioned.
PPM Implementation
Technology has developed over the last decade that has ensured its association with accountability to business. This includes integrity of financial data, and support in high risk ventures such as in life sciences, aerospace, or national security. The accountability makes it to be a core part of business. The PPM therefore, is aimed at generating more revenue through creation of new products, services, systems. In the process, it reduces the cost of compliance. We propose that the PPM achieve this through: accuracy, flexibility, compliance, business driven initiative, and business leadership.
The above guidance is aimed at helping of managers to get a clear understanding of the specific skills and requisite abilities for the PPM to be effective. In construction of the job descriptions of the individuals concern, we developed a group of role description. These when combined form the desired job specification. The duties to be performed are those of the career manager, resource manager, work manager, senior responsible owner, programme board member, and project board member. Considering the appropriateness of individual responsibilities, we combined the roles to the below mentioned specifications: programme director, programme manager, project/strand manager, programme support office member, and project support office member. We propose that these people form the initial PPM, and their specific basic job roles are summarised in the table below on the next page.
Table showing a summary of the basic roles performed by members of the PPM team.
Project governance implementation
There are several principles designed to avoid the common failures associated with the ineffective poor project governance. We developed a project governance structure that incorporates these actions. These are: identification of single point accountability, ensuring that project governance is focused on service delivery, separating governance of the project from that of the organization, and separating the management by stakeholders and decision making of the project. The summarized results is as shown in the below diagram.
The figure above shows the proposed governance structure.
The project owner will solely be responsible for accountability of the success of the project and chair the projects board. The structure of the project, as depicted above will be completely separated from that of the organization. The decision making process of the organization will also not play any role in the project decision making when this framework is used. Take note though that the strategic stakeholders group may carry out key organizational roles providing valuable input to the project, and therefore have to be continuously be briefed on any developments. The proposed structure will completely recognize the fact that decision making path in this case must be through the Project Board.
The framework structure we developed though will neither precisely address the project’s communications nor report needs. Many people within the organization will need to be briefed on the projects or receive regular project updates. This implies that the project owner together with the director will need to establish a workable channel of communication frameworks which will enable this to occur. This though is a separate project decision and has to be made. To ensure that the decision making forum of the project board is an efficient size, it is kept away from the stakeholder forums.
Return on investment
The amount of money that companies spend on their operational costs in a bid to improve their IT infrastructure is very vital in their operations. As aforementioned, well organized project portfolio management and project management office are beneficial to the running of a business. They will increase the efficiency, and overall operations of the firm. This translates into monetary gains or improved revenues. The company can therefore look forward to significant increase in profits. However it is worth mentioning that that the effect of implementing this paper will not be felt instantly. Since some of the strategies are professionally based such as training, they take along time to be both mastered and implemented by the people concern. The monetary costs of implementation will also dig plunge the company deep financially. I therefore request for abet of patience from all parties as we strive to improve this firm.
How to mitigate conflicts, monitor culture and ensure acceptance
Measures have been taken in order to curb any conflict that will arise during the proposed implementation of the PMO, PPM and project governance. This has been done by clearly outlining to detail each individual’s specific job description. In cases where there is an overlap of duty, there are clear guidelines on procedures to follow and who outranks who in the decision making process. Nonetheless, not all conflict is negative. If well managed, conflicts can create much discussion and positive input into the project. This enables team building as well to occur.
Reference
Crawford, J.K., et al. (2008). Seven Steps to Strategy Execution: Integrating Portfolios, Programs, Projects and People for Organizational Performance. Glen Mills, PA: Project Management Solutions, Inc.
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