Evaluating PMO Performance

PMO (Program Management Office) typically is responsible for program and project delivery management and, centralization and standardization within organization. It becomes the part of company’s central office which tracks the progress and results of strategic initiatives. In Transforming the Program Management Office into a Results Management Office, Deloitte notes that “despite the perceived need for PMOs, their ambiguous role and often incomplete implementation limit their effectiveness.”

So how can one measure the effectiveness of PMO? Every firm has its own way of measuring. I would like to share my thoughts and views on it.

I would define PMO more as an Expectation Management office (EMO). If the expectations of various entities involved in the project are managed well, it results in the success of the PMO. Staying true to the goals of a project or program has always been a key element of success, but scope creep and new priorities not aligned to strategic goals can skew projects off-course.

PMO plays a very critical role in making sure that the company’s goals are translated well into the projects and programs it undertakes. After talking to my peers, bosses and friends, I narrowed down to three key performance indicators (KPIs) which might help in evaluating PMO performance – 

• Feedback from the executive sponsor – This helps to understand the expectations of the executive sponsor in terms of project alignment to company strategy and how well the project performed in terms of budget and timeline.
• Feedback from customers – This helps to understand how happy the end users are with the project delivery. Did we manage customer expectations? Will the customer want to do business with us again?
• Feedback from the team – This helps to understand how good the processes are and how well the governance model is.

 Now the next question is how to measure these KPIs? Few ways to do that are - 

• Strategic metrics – Delivery timeline, improve time to market, estimated v/s actual time of delivery
• Improved Governance process – Industry baseline v/s actual, Project and team Health check
• Annual Operating plan – Projects delivered v/s planned, number of projects remained in the same state for x number of months
• Resource Management – Resource utilization rate, offshore-onshore model
• Project cost – Estimated v/s actual
• Customer Satisfaction – CSAT surveys, NPS
• ROI – Post project ROI, Balanced Scorecards

 How is PMO evaluated in your organization? It would be good to know your thoughts on it.