A Portfolio Management Office (PMO) is a group or department inside a company, agency, or organization that establishes and maintains project management standards.

A PMO’s main objective is to reap the benefits of standardizing and adhering to project management procedures, policies, and methodologies. To be most effective, the office should reflect the organization’s culture and strategy. As more firms using PMOs have seen a return on their investment, the popularity of the office has grown.

According to the Project Management Institute’s 2016 Pulse of the Profession survey, over seven out of ten businesses have a PMO, a statistic that has been consistent for five years (PMI).

What are the responsibilities of PMO?

A Portfolio Management Office (PMO) is in charge of providing advice, documentation, and metrics relating to the management and implementation of projects inside a company. A Portfolio Management Office (PMO) can also get engaged in project-related duties and follow up on project activities until they are completed. As a strategic tool for keeping implementers and decision-makers working toward consistent, business- or mission-focused goals and objectives, the office may report on project activities, challenges, and needs to senior management.

A PMO’s project management concepts, methods, and processes are usually based on industry-standard methodologies. Here are a few methods for project management that are widely used:

• Agile

The Agile approach is used for projects that demand a high level of speed, flexibility, and continual product delivery to customers in short time frames.

• Waterfall

The waterfall technique gives you more control over each step of a project, but it’s also highly rigid if the scope of the project changes.

• Scrum

This phrase refers to the creation of players in the rugby game and is part of the Agile framework. It has a 30-day turnaround on its deliveries. Switching to Scrum can help workgroups who have trouble prioritizing tasks increase their efficiency.

• Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a term used to describe a process that Six Sigma is an approach for improving processes by eliminating defects, which are defined as a product or service that does not meet its standards.

Different types of PMOs

Although there is no conventional approach to PMO creation, a good PMO has a firm foundation that is linked with the company’s organizational goal.

A number of organizational variables, including targeted goals, historic strengths, and cultural imperatives, influence how a PMO is organized and staffed for optimal performance. Since 2010, the types of PMOs in businesses have stayed stable; two-thirds of companies have a departmental, regional, or divisional PMO or PMOs.

A Portfolio Management Office can be organized in three different ways.

• Project repository

This approach is most common in firms that encourage distributed, business-centric project ownership or businesses with a weak central governance structure. The project office is only a clearinghouse for project methodology and standards. Project managers continue to report to their respective business units and are financed by them.

• Coach model of the project

The project coach model implies that some project management techniques will be shared across business units and that communication will be coordinated through the project office. Project performance is regularly evaluated, and best practices are documented and shared. In this approach, the PMO is a permanent institution with employees that has some supervisory authority over all projects.

• EPMO

EPMO stands for Enterprise Portfolio Management Office. This model also assumes a governance process that involves the PMO in all projects, regardless of size, allowing it to assess scope; allocate resources; and verify time, budget, risk, and impact assumptions before the project is undertaken. In most cases, funding is a mix of direct, budgeted provision for basic services and a fee-for-service charge for others.

According to the PMI study, EPMOs are found in roughly half of all companies. While they play a critical role in delivering organizational value, many organizations still struggle with how to define the EPMO role, to position it for long-term success and utilize the office to help achieve strategic objectives.