PMO setup & project governance
Establish a shared way to oversee projects, compare progress and make decisions. We design the PMO's responsibilities, templates and reporting around your organisation's size and capacity.
How we can help
When projects report in different formats, leadership can struggle to see where attention is needed. One team may report tasks completed while another reports money spent, leaving little basis for comparison. A project management office, or PMO, provides a common structure for planning, reporting and oversight across the organisation.
We help establish that structure and make its responsibilities clear. The assignment begins with how projects are currently approved and managed, who makes decisions, and where the team experiences delays or duplicated work. From there, we design a PMO that the organisation can staff and maintain, with an agreed role in supporting delivery and escalating concerns.
When this may be useful
- Leadership receives inconsistent project reports and cannot compare status, risk or resource demands across the portfolio.
- Project managers lack shared templates, clear escalation routes or guidance on which decisions require approval.
- A growing portfolio needs an accountable owner for reporting standards, governance and coordination between projects.
What the work involves
Assess current project management
Review a sample of projects, governance documents and reporting practices. Speak with sponsors and delivery staff to identify gaps in ownership, information quality and decision-making, as well as practices that already work well.
Define the PMO's role
Develop the PMO charter, reporting relationships and responsibilities. Clarify what the office will coordinate, which decisions remain with sponsors and project managers, and what staffing is needed to perform the agreed role.
Introduce shared reporting
Prepare templates for project charters, plans, status updates, risks and changes. Define a manageable set of portfolio measures and build a dashboard that makes the source and reporting date of each measure clear.
Establish review and approval arrangements
Set out stage reviews, escalation thresholds and the regular reporting calendar. Coach the people using the process, then adjust it in response to the first reporting cycles and the decisions leadership needs to make.
How the assignment runs
Understand the portfolio
Review the organisation's projects, existing controls and available capacity. Agree the problems the PMO should address first.
Design the operating model
Work through responsibilities, decision rights and reporting needs with the people who will run and use the PMO.
Introduce and refine
Roll out the agreed templates and dashboard, support initial reviews and revise the arrangements where they create avoidable work.
What to prepare
These details will help us understand the starting point and agree a useful scope:
- Current project list, including sponsors and project managers
- Examples of project reports, approval processes and templates
- Organisation structure and proposed PMO staffing arrangements
If some information is still being developed, we can discuss what is available in the first conversation.
Questions about this service.
For anything specific to your organisation, get in touch. We can discuss the requirements before you decide on an engagement.
Does a PMO require a new department?
Not necessarily. A small organisation may assign a limited coordination role to an existing team. The design depends on the portfolio's complexity, the oversight required and the capacity available to maintain it.
Can we retain our current project software?
We review the tools already in use before recommending changes. Shared definitions, responsibilities and reporting practices often need attention before a software decision will be useful.
Can you support the PMO after setup?
Yes. Support can include coaching the PMO team, reviewing early reporting cycles or an agreed role in running the office. Ownership and the handover arrangements are defined during scoping.
Let’s talk about what you need.
Share a little about your project, the challenge you are facing and where you would like some help.