Programme Management Office (PMO)

Description

A Programme or Project Management Office (PMO) is a single, central support structure, designed to provide assistance to change and delivery initiatives within an organisation. A PMO can provide a variety of support to a single Programme/Project or it can have a wider support remit to Programmes/Projects across the organisation, especially in an organisation where there is a lot of ongoing programme and project activity. Without such a PMO, an organisation is forced to replicate support arrangements over and over again as programmes and projects come and go.

Compelling reasons for organisations to establish a corporate PMO include:

• better continuity and maintenance of standards;
• increased skills development and transfer; and
• ability to collect and handover vital Lessons Learned from one initiative to the next.

A corporate PMO may eventually adopt a Portfolio Management role, looking across all Programme, Project and other related activity in the organisation. This enables organisation-wide standards and processes and provides senior managers with important information on progress, costs and resources which helps with key decisions.    

The diagram below illustrates how a PMO might fit into a typical Programme Management organisation structure. If this diagram is not accessible or you require an alternative format, please contact us at coe@dfpni.gov.uk

For more information please follow the links provided.

Purpose	Sources	Further Detail