Performance assessment of an IT PMO against effectiveness & efficiency measures

Performance assessment of an IT PMO against effectiveness & efficiency measures
28 April 2023 by
Performance assessment of an IT PMO against effectiveness & efficiency measures
Expertivity Technologies , Elizabeth Hegarty

Facts

  • PMO process had not been adequately operationalised resulting in a lack of clarity in process roles & responsibilities and significant (>25%) inefficiencies in its execution.
  • The PMO was responsible for oversight of close to 40 PM’s and Programme managers, who were driving over 200 projects totaling to 46,000 person days effort.
  • Lack of active management of Planning Accuracy (PPC) and effective control of PM’s own planned v/s actual efforts. 
  • Work was being “dynamically allocated” self-managed amongst PM’s to balance their individual workloads.

Results

The assessment was concluded with following recommendations 

  • Clarify the roles & responsibilities of all stakeholders in the project delivery management process.
  • Require all PMs (and other resources ) to estimate their own work using structured and standard estimation templates. 
  • Set a Reasonable Expectation for % of project managers’ effort v/s the project, against benchmark rate of between 15%-20%. 
  • Stalled or on-hold project bookings to be reflected accurately in resource planning and time recording systems. 
  • Implement a structured planning cadences between PMs and Technology teams with monthly and quarterly reviews of resource requirements.

What was at stake?

The IT Management of the company wanted deeper understanding of the work done by their Project and Programme Managers and identify levers for improving their effectiveness and efficiencies.


What was the result?

With Expertivity’s help and support, the Project Management Office was able to discover the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders of the project delivery process. In addition to this, the Project and Programme managers were specifically advised on levers to manage their own workload and measure their effectiveness.


Background

Expertivity were asked to assess the PMO performance in terms of their planning methodology and rigour due to evidence emerging that: 

  • Monthly accuracy of resource planning (Planned Percent Complete or PPC) is weak (<10%, v/s a target of >80%).
  • PMO cost to overall project cost ratio (Percent Total Effort or PTE) was significantly higher (29%) than the market norm of 15%.


What was the process?

Expertivity facilitated a number of workshops with a representative sample of Project and Program Managers, and their PMO Manager to: 

  • Develop the current map of their project delivery methodologies.
  • Conduct in depth review of current project performance & challenges.
  • Capture Improvement Opportunities  and prioritise them.
  • Compare Current Process (what we do) with Designed Process (what we should do/adapt). 


What were the results? 

The client’s existing project delivery processes and related artefacts were mapped and critiqued by the team. It was discovered that although the processes are documented but they were not socialized or followed consistently across all the 100’s projects and programmes. Expertivity helped the client set up for success by articulating actions for each of the dimension of Process Management:

People – Defining the roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders.

Process  - Process to manage project bookings and metrics to measure its performance.

Technology – Developing reference dashboard views that the client can readily deploy.



Performance assessment of an IT PMO against effectiveness & efficiency measures
Expertivity Technologies , Elizabeth Hegarty 28 April 2023
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