Enterprise Project Management Offices (EPMOs) are a well-established concept in Project Management literature and they are widespread across much of the private and public sectors. However, the establishment of EPMOs at US airports – many of which are local government entities – have traditionally lagged behind their contemporaries. A small but growing movement now exists to expand the adoption of EPMOs at American airports, as illustrated by Raleigh-Durham (RDU) International Airport’s experience developing an EPMO. In late 2017, RDU’s executive leadership approved the creation of an EPMO to be fully functional by mid-2019. This presentation will tell the story of RDU’s methodical approach to creating its EPMO, detailing the research conducted and specific steps taken to develop the Office and its effort to secure organization-wide buy in. It will include lessons learned and actionable tips for Project Management practitioners and organizations interested in developing their own EPMO.
PMI Talent Triangle: Strategic and Business Management
There are as many approaches to ‘ensure success’ for project prioritization as there are methods and tools to make your project a success. But as with project management, prioritization requires more than a process or software program to deliver desired results.
The Project Management Office is the logical unit to provide the framework, methodology, and sometimes the leadership to implement the prioritization process. While it certainly a value-add proposition for a PMO, selecting an appropriate model and putting it into operation can be problematic. Prioritization rules are subject to interpretation and organizational politics, and can suffer from the lack of credible metrics. To successfully prioritize its portfolios, the PMO must identify which factors truly support the business model, organizational strategy, nature of projects, and resource constraints in implementing a practical approach.
Colorado Springs Utilities, a community owned utility providing electric, natural gas, water, and wastewater services faced a unique prioritization challenge. While each service is a separate business line with their own construction priorities, many projects impact two or more services. Additionally, IT projects support all four services and compete with construction projects in the prioritization process. The PMO was charged with implementing an enterprise wide system that prioritized the 100+ ongoing projects across the construction and IT spectrum.
This presentation addresses the challenges of building and executing a prioritization process. Using lessons learned from experiences in both public and private sectors, the presenter will provide guidelines for establishing ranking criteria and implementing an effective prioritization system.
PMI Talent Triangle: Strategic and Business Management
