What does a PMO do?

The short answer is: Whatever the Organization’s executive level wants it to!

PMO’s can perform many diverse functions, but it all depends on the chief executive, the organization’s
matrix structure, the organization’s internal culture, and the nature of the projects in which the
organization is engaged.
Their role can vary widely from
-- Primarily serving the Executive, Portfolio and Program levels, as a central staff management layer and
filter, to “objectively” collect, process, collate and consolidate reports from lower project managers into
a systematic management information system, and maintain in an executive conference and board
room permanent displays of data, charts and graphs on organization portfolio, program and project
status & progress – for private &/or public display. This can also range from merely collecting
processed reports from the project managers, to having a dedicated data processing staff, skilled in MS
Project, Primavera, or other software to take the raw data from the projects to process, analyze, print,
and disseminate. The PMO may also be assigned the responsibility to highlight and comment on the
findings and make recommendations to the managers as an intermediary authoritative staff; or merely
as a specialist staff service support role with no line authority – leaving the Project Managers to deal
directly with their Program &/or Portfolio managers.
In addition to PMP-type technical specialists, it is also useful to have a few core Procurement and
Financial Management specialists to act as intermediaries with those respective functional departments.
-- Acting as a focal dissemination function and “PR” point for all stakeholders
-- Primarily service as a repository of PMgt expertise, serving the Project Managers and their staffs as a
“Goto” temporary “help desk” in PM tools, techniques (such as logframe, risk analysis, benefit/cost,
critical path development, earned value analysis, quality assurance, inspection, sampling and quality
control) and their applications on an “ad hoc” basis -- to supplement PM resources during the various
preliminary scoping, planning & design, implementation monitoring, trouble-shooting and evaluation
phases and life-cycle. In this role the PMO can also take on the role of disseminating PM PMBOK-type
information to others – as being applied within the organization -- by conducting on-going education &
training of the organization’s project staff, contractors, consultants, suppliers and other stakeholders.
[With constant turnover, you cannot assume that previously disseminated PM knowledge and SOPs are
still understood and practiced.
In establishing a PMO, apart from the purely technical functional aspects and potential benefits of the
foregoing alternatives, both the existing organization culture and the personalities of the designated
PMO chief and individual Project Managers should not to be overlooked.
Some perceive the PMO as an intermediary hierarchical managerial level and -- as a special assistant to
top management – an overseer of the project managers, and taking on supervisory airs.
Others perceive the PMO as primarily a knowledge center service to the Project Managers, without any
on-going line authority or responsibility.
Many Project Managers guard their information closely, take full responsibility for it, and are unwilling
to turn it over to intermediaries to process or share with others except their Program or Portfolio
Managers. Other Project Managers -- on the other hand -- seek to concentrate on the functional
technical implementation aspects of the project and are eager to accept “non-threatening” internally-
outsourced ancillary support; especially when they are short staffed and face day-to-day multitask
deadline pressures themselves.
Thus, whatever the structure, the actual PMO roles, authorities and responsibilities should be made
clear to all, to prevent unwarranted expectations and internal conflicts.
Hope this helps.
[FYI, while I am now primarily a “preacher”, in the past I have established, been in – and observed –
several different combinations of the above!]