PROJECT REPORT

On

“Implementation of PMO and Project Server 2010 in Headway Technologies”

Supervised By: Submitted By:

Sir Syed Ali Raza Yousuf Khan

Submitted On: Ayesha Ajaib

28th December 2010 ShumailaSarwar

Talea Altaf

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to our Sir, Mr. Syed Ali Raza, our project supervisor. The supervision and support that he gave truly helped the progression and smoothness of our project.

Our deep sense of gratitude to Mr. Fahad Mehmood and Mr. Tashfeen Riaz from Headway Technologies for providing us with the information we required, their support was highly

appreciated.

We also extend heartfelt thanks to our family and well wishers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ContentsExecutive Summary:..............................................................................................................................5

1. BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY.................................................................................................5

1.2 Company Vision...........................................................................................................................6

1.3 Mission Statement.......................................................................................................................6

1.4 Organizational Hierarchy.............................................................................................................7

1.5 Branch Structure..........................................................................................................................8

2. Introduction: PMO........................................................................................................................9

2.1 Types of PMO.........................................................................................................................9

2.1.1. Supportive PMO.............................................................................................................9

2.1.2. Controlling PMO............................................................................................................9

2.1.3. Directive PMO..............................................................................................................10

3. THE CASE: WHY DO WE NEED TO ESTABLISH A PMO?.................................................................11

3.1. The reasons for the need to establish a PMO are listed below............................................11

4. ESTABLISHING A PMO..................................................................................................................14

4.1.1. PURPOSE......................................................................................................................14

4.1.2. PMO MISSION STATEMENT..........................................................................................14

4.1.3. VISION STATEMENT.....................................................................................................14

4.2. PMO MEMBERS...................................................................................................................14

4.3. PMO CUSTOMERS & STAKEHOLDERS..................................................................................15

4.4. STEPS INVOLVED IN ESTABLISHING PMO.............................................................................16

4.4.1. PERFORM INITIAL ASSESSMENT...................................................................................16

4.4.2. HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT............................................................................................16

4.4.3. CULTURAL ASSESSMENT..............................................................................................16

4.5. GAP Assessment..................................................................................................................17

4.6. Functions of PMO:...............................................................................................................17

4.7. PMO SERVICE OFFERINGS....................................................................................................18

4.8. PMO STAFFING AND STRUCTURE.............................................................................................19

4.9. PMO METRICS......................................................................................................................21

4.10. INTERNAL REVIEW & ASSESSMENT..................................................................................22

4.11. Communication Aids........................................................................................................23

4.12. HIGH LEVEL GOALS OF PMO............................................................................................23

4.12. PMO KEY SUCCESS FACTORS............................................................................................26

4.13. BARRIERS TO SUCCESS OF PMO.......................................................................................26

4.14. ESCALATION MODEL........................................................................................................27

4.14.1. The escalation path is as below:..................................................................................27

4.15. PMO MATURITY MODEL..................................................................................................28

5. IMPLEMENTING PS2010 IN PMO:................................................................................................31

5.1. How Microsoft Project Sever 2010 complements PMO.......................................................31

5.2. Project proposal and Strategy in PS2010:............................................................................32

WORKFLOW:....................................................................................................................................33

Workflow Phases.........................................................................................................................34

5.2.1. Workflow stages:.........................................................................................................35

5.2.2. Workflow Stages and Phases in Headway Technologies:.............................................36

5.3. Business drivers:..................................................................................................................38

5.4. Business Drivers and Priority:..............................................................................................39

5.5. Project Scheduling:..............................................................................................................40

5.6. Resource Planning:..............................................................................................................40

5.7. Reporting:............................................................................................................................41

Benefits of implementing PMO and Project Server 2010....................................................................42

Executive Summary:The report is about the establishment of a PMO at Headway Technologies. We have started off by analyzing the current state of the organization and its workflows. Our fact findings analysis led us to the suggestion of the establishment of a PMO. Project management practices have now become an integral part of any matrix organization functioning in a projectized environment. By observing the loop holes existing in Headway Technologies the establishment of PMO has become evident. By evidence it is clear that project management best practices yield their ultimate benefit when deployed throughout the organization and have a central point of control. Thus establishment of the PMO seemed like the most viable option. Furthermore we have complimented our PMO with the latest and the most widely used tool now a days Project server 2010. We have shown how Project server 2010’s capabilities will benefit the organization through its powerful and wide range of features.

1. BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANYHeadway Technologies, is a well reputed private firm established back in 1990, although its history is brief but the organization has grown exponentially since its beginning. The firm was started by a young and ambitious software engineer. The owner was an experienced software developer at the time and was looking to start his own venture, after spending 8 odd years working as a software developer in different capacities and companies. In 1995 the owner, Mr. Tashfeen Riaz in partnership with his longtime friend and colleague Mr. Fahad Mehmood, stated a small software development venture, with just a handful of jobs and contacts.

Headway Technologies has now grown from a small software development firm with a handful of employees to a full fledge organization with its offices in all the major cities of the country with over 350 employees. It has diversified its portfolio considerably. From its core expertise in software development, Headway Technologies is now running projects in the following fields:

Telecommunications Back office services Call Center Services Software and web development services Chip Design and fabrication

1.2 Company VisionHeadway's vision is to secure success by enabling its clients to focus only on their core business, helping them achieve their business goals, and hence, becoming their most preferred outsourcing services provider.

Our business philosophy focuses on standardization of outsourcing processes, as well as their successful execution at the offshore location, constantly improving synergies, creating transparency between the Outsourcers and their offshore operations and ensuring that the ultimate goal of 'Customer Satisfaction' is met first, while costs reduced and quality improved.

1.3 Mission Statement"To be the leading innovator in providing outsourcing and Technology solutions."

Headway's mission is to make outsourcing a hassle-free process for the Outsourcing companies. We critically analyze a project's implementation and operational cycles, identify and minimize lags, standardize processes and streamline project-tasks.

CEO

Board of Dir

Telecom Software Design Backoffice Business Dev and Org Support

1.4 Organizational HierarchyHeadway Technologies has transformed itself from a bureaucratic organization into a matrix structure, it took place over the years as the organization grew in size and as its portfolio diversified. The organization has a board of directors directly under the two CEOs, the directors are responsible for their respective branches and each branch has its own management and teams.

Each Branch has its senior manager and depending on the size of the branch, two or three managers who manage the teams on the ongoing projects, example of telecom branch is below. The teams are segregated by the area of their expertise and the projects are forwarded to a specific branch depending on the scope of work or the major portion of the work falling in a branch’s area of expertise. One branch’s teams share work of multiple projects among themselves, Some projects need expertise from more than one branch in this case the resource is shared among the branches, the organization’s structure is closest to a weak matrix.

Dir

Senior Manager

Team 1 Team 2 Team 3

1.5 Branch StructureThe business development and the organizational support branch is a small but its function is very critical, and is a lot of business functions combined into one, it has the following functions:

Human Resource Business Development Finance Administration

Its the first commercial point of contact at Headway Tech, this branch is responsible for securing future projects, it maintains relationships with the existing customers and finds new ones, it also has an organizational support division which encompasses the company’s accounts, HR and the marketing department, the staff in these groups is kept short as the these functions are mainly outsourced. The maximum resource employed in this branch are in the finance department, a couple of financial experts who advice the CEO’s in the financial decisions.

2. Introduction: PMOProject Management Office (PMO) is a department or group that defines and maintains the standards generally of project management process in a business or professional enterprise. The PMO strives to standardize and introduce economies of replication in project execution. PMO serves as a source of documentation, guidance and metrics on the practice of project management and execution. Companies that want to improve project outcomes, provide critical project information for higher management or an analytical project decision process, are increasingly turning to the creation of a Project Management Office (PMO) as the change agent. Regardless of the business function of the projects in question, from marketing to IT projects, from client services to R&D—a PMO can be the answer to better decisions, information, and execution.

The PMO was originally conceived as means of capturing and propagating good project management practices throughout the organization. The role of the PMO has been expanded, however, to include analysis, communication, and decision support. The PMO has become not only the center of excellence for project execution, but management’s lens for viewing project performance, and the platform for initiating project portfolio management in the future. This more strategic role of the PMO requires thoughtful planning at the outset.

Building a successful PMO has structural components similar to any other construction project: a strong foundation and floor, solid structural supports, and a strong exterior are essential components of building your PMO.

2.1 Types of PMO

2.1.1. Supportive PMOIn this role the PMO largely gives support in terms of on-demand activities, templates, best practices, access to historical information and serves as a knowledge base for similar natured projects or activities of a project. This sort of a PMO is best suited for an organization where project success is met in a loosely controlled way and where the need to have an eye on every project is considered unnecessary. Also, this sort of a PMO can be used in an enterprise or an organization where there are already experienced project managers working and they just need a helping hand while already following the project management best practices. The standardizing of the work flows and the procedures is the main work of the supportive PMO.

2.1.2. Controlling PMO

A Controlling PMO as the name suggest has more control over the ongoing projects, organizations where there is a desire to have a close check and control over the activities, processes, procedures, documentation, and more employ this type of a PMO. The PMO not only provides support to the ongoing projects it also demands that the support is utilized. This can include the embracing of specific methodologies, templates, forms, conformance to governance, and application of other PMO controlled sets of rules. Also projects or the project executing bodies may have to undergo frequent reviews by the controlling PMO. This sort of a PMO needs a clear case that compliance with project management organization offerings and how it executes projects, furthermore enough support from the higher management so it has the power to ensure the conformance to the PMO.

2.1.3. Directive PMOThe directive PMO goes a step further than the “supportive PMO” by taking over the projects completely, the PMO is a project management pool from where they are assigned on to projects, the project management expertise and the resource to manage a project both come from the PMO. This sort of a PMO ensures a great level of uniformity in practice across all projects and introduces an abundance of professionalism into the project.

This type of a PMO is best suited for the larger matrix organization where the office can matrix out and add value and provide support to a larger area.

3. THE CASE: WHY DO WE NEED TO ESTABLISH A PMO?As Headway Technologies has a diversified portfolio with anywhere between 30 to 35 projects running at any given time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to effectively and efficiently monitor the progress on projects and more importantly identify and address the issues. Headway Technologies has a well-equipped management and organizational resource despite of which recently some of its projects have suffered schedule over runs resulting in increased costs and some loss of business due to un-happy customers. Headway Technologies has experienced project managers in their respective fields and use of project management best practices is evident but still the organization is continuously being challenged with resource planning and forecasting and schedule overruns. A well-managed Project Management Office (PMO) can address these challenges and focus on much more than just delivering projects. As Headway Technologies have a number of departments it sometimes leads to miscommunication and mismanagement of information, the purpose of the PMO is to convey best-practice project management standards into a cohesive set of principles that aligns with our organization’s Strategic Plan which will boost efficiency, help in cost cutting, and improves project delivery in terms of time and budget.

3.1. The reasons for the need to establish a PMO are listed below. Avoid Communication issue

Headway Technologies have 5 departments under which a number of projects are running. As there is no proper communication channels set, miscommunication or lack of communication can lead to project failure. Like it or not, communication is the most important component within any project. The success of most projects, whether handled by a dedicated project team or a cross-departmental team, depends upon a set of crucial communication skills and techniques. Communication and human interaction make or break a project. So PMO is being set up to make sure that there are proper communication channels within the organization.

Create effective oversight and control of all the projects

As there are a number of projects in each department, keeping track of all of the projects i.e. their timelines, budget, scope, quality etc. becomes necessary to achieve maximum productivity and customer satisfaction. By creating an effective and efficient methodology of keeping control of all the projects and having an overall view of all the projects running and disseminated will increase in organization’s efficiency and outcome.

Minimize project “thrash“ and promote greater project success

With so many projects running parallel in our organization, it gets difficult to handle all of them without appropriate management methods as lack of planning, lack of user responses, lack of resources, technical illiteracy, incomplete requirements, mismanagement can lead to project thrash i.e., failure. So by setting up PMO we are making sure all of these things are aligned with the project which will direct to promoting greater project success.

Keep management better informed

Management should be aware of all the activities that are going on within the project team. Therefore the PMO will be responsible to set up a proper reporting and documentation formats to make sure that the management is updated about the projects and activities on regular basis.

Improve integration of projects with the strategic organizational goals

Let’s face it; it is indeed difficult to handle numbers of parallel running projects. So many matters to consider like schedule to meet, budget allocation, constant inquiries from stakeholders, team to manage, constant changes, etc. Due to the complexity of the projects many Project Managers (PM) tend to focus on the system to build rather than at the “big picture”. The PMO will improve the project integration which includes the processes and methods required to ensure that the various elements of the project are properly organized and aligned with the organizational strategic goals.

Prioritization of projects

As Project Managers tend to focus on organization’s productivity, they sometimes take in projects that do not add value to the organization’s goals. When project with short due date comes in, manager assigns the resources to that project and the duration of other ongoing projects is then affected. The PMO will proactively and reactively manage resources throughout the project life cycle according to the projects’ priority and that priority will be set with the help of the organization’s business drivers.

Build project management expertise in the staff

One of the critical challenges is keeping ahead of the curve in terms of new technologies. In today’s rapidly changing environment, keeping your staff up-to-date is becoming more and more difficult. PMO will make sure to provide numerous opportunities to assist in this challenge and help develop the expertise within the staff.

Set clear goals and expectations among team members

Setting the expectations is so important, it allows team members to work better together and it also aligns every party that is involved on the same page so that there are no surprises.

Help define and then achieve business objectives

Business is complex and demanding. To succeed we must purposefully define our key objectives. We must then focus on them on regular basis. During the daily course of business life, however, there are an endless series of events, most small, some large: projects, tasks, presentations, scheduled meetings, impromptu meetings, budget reviews etc. The pace and unending flow of these events, the continuous stream of interruptions, the pressure to meet deadlines, emergencies, and frequent change means that there is little time to reflect on the real important objectives that are temporarily being forgotten or forced out of the main stream. So keeping a focused environment is very essential for any business.

O ASSIGNED TO PMO

4. ESTABLISHING A PMO

4.1.1. PURPOSEThe purpose of setting up a PMO is to drive the strategic goals of our company. The PMO is basically the medium for achieving the goals and strategy that already is defined. The business purpose for the PMO is to provide focus and oversight for related projects. Too often related projects can develop a narrow focus but do not have the big-picture view of how a particular project might be connected to other projects. When the project is completed, the program will end, and the real effort to obtain the business benefits falls on the operations group to deliver.

It involves assuring alignment in the projects to, hopefully, provide the return on the investment/cost and optimize the use of often limited resources. The PMO will operate under the following guiding principal: The success of the PMO is derived exclusively from the success of its clients.

4.1.2. PMO MISSION STATEMENTThe mission of this office is to provide project management leadership, expertise and experience, and training to project teams for initiating, planning, guiding implementations and project completions. The primary responsibilities are to manage and control all the projects being handled by the organization in an organized way making sure that the project plans are implemented on schedule, within budget, and within scope. Critical to successful project management involves maintaining project alignment to the strategic goals and mission of Headway Technologies; whether projects are managed for the benefit of the Division of Operations or for mission-critical purposes that benefit the entire Enterprise and surrounding community. Incorporating project management administration with best practice methods and standards that are either based on proper strategic plan and scope ensure consistency is applied effectively and is scalable to be administered across various sized projects.

4.1.3. VISION STATEMENT

Promote best practice standards and methodologies into a project management discipline that advances the core vision and mission of Headway Technologies.

4.2. PMO MEMBERSFollowing are the main key members or the decision makers of the PMO

CEO Board of Directors Project Managers

4.3. PMO CUSTOMERS & STAKEHOLDERSSponsor: The two people responsible for the PMO funding are the owners who started off the organization itself, i.e. Mr. Tashfeen Riaz along with his partner Mr. Fahad Mehmood. The Executive Sponsor has the following roles and responsibilities:

Champion the PMO Provide high-level oversight, direction, and support Provide escalation remedy Ensure the PMO meets its goals Approve major scope changes to PMO Provide resources, if applicable Approve PMO Charter

Stakeholders: The stakeholders are the specific people or groups who have an interest or a partial stake in the products and services our PMO provides.

Internal Stakeholders External StakeholdersInvestors Shareholders

Employees Local communityManagement Customers

SuppliersGovernment

Clients: While there may be many stakeholders, it is important to recognize who the clients are. The PMO’s main focus will be to help them meet their project and business objectives. Following is the Headway Technology Client List:

Telenor OGDC SCO MIT PTC Ovex Technologies Nortel Networks Metro Cash and Carry

4.4. STEPS INVOLVED IN ESTABLISHING PMO

4.4.1. PERFORM INITIAL ASSESSMENTTo perform an initiation assessment, we at Headway Technologies are going to assign an expert Project Manager (PMO initiator) to perform these 4 steps:

1.Conduct Interviews2.Perform Studies3.Prepare Problems List4.Prepare Gap Analysis

 To perform the initial assessment, the PMO initiator will conduct open-ended interviews and formal studies to define critical problems and measure current key project success factors. Problems identified during the assessment may come from senior executives, project managers, or other project stakeholders. These issues list becomes the core of the initial assessment report. The assessment report will also include an executive summary and a gap analysis.

4.4.2. HISTORICAL ASSESSMENTA historical assessment of the company allows you to understand where the company came from, what path it has traveled and how it has gotten to where it is currently at/ Headway Tech was the brain child of two individuals and it slowly transformed into a large organization, though it has evolved into a matrix structure, there are still elements of the tight lines of control and also the desire to maintain that control. A PMO in place can provide a bird’s eye view of the current state of the ongoing projects and their state. This not only allows the management to quickly see the state and react accordingly.

4.4.3. CULTURAL ASSESSMENTThe culture of the company has a major impact on the approach to implement a PMO. The thing is: we can’t change others; we have to change collectively to make a real, sustainable change as an organization. We have seen that command and control works worse in our organization, we found out that the most successful way to change is by engaging the co-workers and employees.

PMO structure and process are only part of the overall picture, mainly it takes people to adapt to the cultural shifts that result and embrace PMO operations. Therefore, the training division will be a part of the PMO, it will incorporate training, professional development, mentoring, and coaching the employees, thus to become a valued organizational entity to the business by adapting these cultural shifts.

4.5. GAP Assessment

Area Current State Desired State

MethodsVarying methods, no standards

Standards, reports, tools,guidelines & prioritization

Training Minimal trainingStandard classes (tools, softskills, methods)

ConsultingNone available internally Project reviews, mentoring,

manage projects

SupportMultiple tools, no political support

Standard tools, templates &documentation

ManagersOnly a few trained, no PMPs, no focused PMs

All PMP certified, careerpaths, sponsorship

4.6. Functions of PMO:

Following are the main functions defined for the Headway’s PMO:

Project support: Provide project management guidance to project managers in business units.

Project management process/methodology: Develop and implement a consistent and standardized process tools and templates.

Training: Conduct training programs or collect requirements for an outside company. Home for project managers: Maintain a centralized office from which project managers

are loaned out to work on projects.

Internal consulting and mentoring: Advise employees about best practices. Provide

training and certification to build core project management skills.

Project management software tools: Maintain project management tools for use by employees, mainly Project server 2010.

Portfolio management: Establish a staff of program managers who can manage multiple projects that are related, such as infrastructure technologies, desktop applications and so on, and allocate resources accordingly.

Identifying and solving problems using project management: To identify problems, the PMO performs assessments, that is, evaluations of the overall state of project management. Additional assessments are performed as needed, including during PMO Planning. In addition, the PMO may review and audit individual projects to identify any problems they may have and then take specific actions to resolve those problems

Providing ongoing services to ensure that problems stay solved and do not recur: Because new projects are always starting, it is not enough to simply solve problems with existing current projects. The PMO must proactively offer a suite of services that will meet the current, as well as future projects. These services fall into four distinct categories.

General Services disseminate project status information and reduce costs through standardization. Supportive Services provide the training and support to help project managers succeed on their projects. Controlling Services assess and review the status of project management and projects to define problems and recommend corrective action. Directive Services are used to directly manage projects.

Cost reduction through efficient, centralized servicesThe PMO can increase project efficiency through the centralization of services such as staff, supplier, customer and equipment management. Centralizing these services also standardizes how they are implemented, thereby reducing the costs incurred by using different methods on different projects.

Making sure that stakeholders have up-to-date, accurate informationThe PMO will Update Plans and produce Report Status for projects, programs and portfolios. Depending on the level of sophistication of the Knowledge Base, this may be a manual activity or a thoroughly automated function.

Supporting ongoing improvement in project managementOrganizations and their projects are constantly changing and the PMO must change with them. When the original problems are solved, new problems or opportunities are identified and the PMO can then support ongoing improvement in project management.

4.7. PMO SERVICE OFFERINGSAfter studying the organizational structure we have decided to work towards a controlling PMO, as the organization is well staffed with managers who are using the project management best practices and procedures, but they are working in silos and a controlling PMO will make the conformance better and also provide a control over the projects in an organizational goal oriented way.

The PMO manager and sponsors at Headway Technologies agree on a basic approach to PMO execution. This, in turn, determines the selection of services the PMO will offer. For example, following are the approach for a PMO to organize its service offerings in this order:

1. If, on request, the PMO is charged with managing a project:

a. Project Sponsors make their requests to the PMO collaborate to decide where resources should be allocated

i. PMO provides Project Management services for the project

ii. PMO is accountable for successful project delivery

iii. PMO deals directly with the Project Sponsor

iv. PMO enforces its Project Management standards in these projects

v. PMO will directly manage resources assigned or attached to project

2. If, on request, the PMO is asked to assist and provide project support:

a. Project Sponsors make their requests to the PMO collaborate to decide where PMO resources should be allocated

i. Department provides the Project Manager for the project

ii. PMO provides guidance to the Project Manager but under normal circumstances would not provide direct Project Management services

iii. PMO oversees successful project delivery

iv. PMO deals directly with the Project Sponsor and Project Manager

v. PMO enforces its Project Management standards in these projects

In addition, the PMO:

1. Provides Business Analysis services (e.g., Requirements Analysis, Joint Application -Development sessions) on request.

2. Performs risk audits on request

4.8. PMO STAFFING AND STRUCTURESome of the key attributes set up for hiring PMO staffs are:

Experience:  Staff experienced in the key role(s) in the PMO is a critical requirement. Someone who knows what to filter to the Project/Program Director, how to escalate to the Steering Committee, the key aspects of change control etc.

Adaptability:  If the PMO is going to be molded to fit the overall organization, then it needs to be staffed by people who understand the priorities and can come up with novel solutions to resolve issues and new ways to communicate information

People-oriented:  To make a PMO work, it is important to get out and talk to the different Work stream / project teams and gain their trust and support by selling the PMO capabilities

Empathy:  Understanding the implications of actions the PMO carries out and if possible, minimizing the impact on usually overworked project teams

Empowerment:  The Program/Project Director needs to ensure empowering the team. Without true delegation of powers, the PMO will soon lose respect and response. People who fill these roles should be ready to assume this mantle.

The main Key members of the PMO that have been assigned are:

PMO RoleStaff

CountRole Description Name

PMO Project Director 1

Has overall responsibility and management of PMO strategy, processes, resources, and operations. Manages assigned projects and programs. Mentors, trains, and provides project management guidance and direction to Headway’s staff. Identifies, develops and implements process improvements.

Khurram Raza

Project/Program Manager

1

Manages assigned projects and programs. Mentors, trains, and provides project management guidance and direction to project teams. Identifies, develops and implements process improvements.

Ishfaq Kiyani

PMO Analyst/Lead 1

Provides support and services to departments, project teams and individuals in the following areas: system analysis, database analysis, planning, design, documentation, training, coordination, quality management, applications programming, support, project communication and process improvement.

Arham Khokhar

Training/Doc Project Director

1

Manages the planning, design, development and implementation of accessible documentation and knowledge sharing standards and strategies. Coordinates system-wide training for upgrades and initiatives. Provides support and direction for other activities as requested.

Mh. Raza Khan

Documentation Coordinator

1

Coordinates documentation activities with teams and departments including document analysis and QA, versioning, and workflow. Support teams by attending meetings and producing meeting summaries and fit-gap/design notes.

Laiba Abubakar

Technical Analyst 1

Manages all aspects of the PMO that relates to technical support to teams for the implementation of other knowledge-sharing initiatives such as Microsoft Server 2010.

Nauman Ghauri

4.9. PMO METRICSMetrics should measure those aspects of PMO performance that are directly related to its Goals and support its Vision and Mission. On that basis, the following areas of focus can be used to assess PMO value to the organization.

4.10. INTERNAL REVIEW & ASSESSMENTThe PMO staff will develop or acquire the appropriate tools in which to measure PMO effectiveness. The PMO Executive Sponsors will approve such tools before they are used.

Assessments will include:1. Improvements in project successes over time can be measured through:

a. Decreases in schedule and budget overrunsb. Client / project participant responses

2. The Project Management approach can be measured by:a. Quality and timeliness of project planning documentsb. Accuracy of time and cost estimatesc. Effectiveness at mentoring and coaching project teams

The PMO, with inputs from Clients, will be responsible for the gathering of performance metrics.

4.11. Communication AidsThe PMO will provide the following regular reports:

COMMUNICATION AIDS

Type/technique Description

E-mail Allows project teams to communicate text, audio, and video files between the team members

Interoffice memos Provides a formal forum to communicate key dates, policies, and procedures

Instant Messaging (IM) Allows team members to communicate real-time

Project status meetings Provides regular status updates and reviews of the projectTelephone/video conferences

Provides a medium to involve team members located in other geographic regions

Intranet, Internet boards Formally communicates status, progress, highlights, and objectives to all

Walk-about Involves a hands-on face-to-face approach with your team and clients

Project Server 2010 Provides communication between the entire organization

4.12. HIGH LEVEL GOALS OF PMOThe high level goals set for the PMO in our organization are laid down is such a way that the PMO will share certain characteristics which endear them to management and the project managers they support. Following are the High Level Goals of PMO

1. PROJECTS ALIGN WITH ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

At some level, every project is conceived to provide some benefit to the organization. The business case, charter and scope ideally describe this in an understandable way. Our PMO will ensure that all projects worked in our organization have benefits that truly align to the most important needs and objectives of the business. If the nature of the business environment changes significantly, PMO will decide what impact if any this will have on the active projects. Sometimes projects need to be redefined, shelved or even cancelled.  If a project’s benefits are no longer benefits, it makes no sense to continue working on the project.

2. PROJECT SUCCESS RATES INCREASE

The PMO will ensure that all needed resources are available and allocated before the start of the project. PMO will monitor the project plan and budget throughout the lifecycle to ensure that the project remains on track, and that resources are available as needed. As large risks present themselves, the PMO may help in brokering solutions which are best for everyone involved. These activities increase the number of projects completed on time, on budget and in scope.

3. PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMPETENCE INCREASES

The project management offices will find ways to improve skill and competence of project management activities over time. As important is the establishment of formal or informal mentoring programs for all project managers. Mentoring increases networking relationships, provides practical guidance for newer project managers, and contributes to a team culture in the organization.

4. STANDARDS AND TEMPLATES ARE DEVELOPED AND IMPROVED

PMO will provide useful, practical and helpful project templates. These templates are revised as often as necessary to ensure that the right type of documentation is being created. Clear guidance is provided to ensure that the minimum number of documents is created for any particular project.

5. TRAINING IS AVAILABLE

PMO will offer more than one class a year. Free training will be available in multiple formats and in various ways. There may be online sessions. An open door policy may be in effect. There may be a constantly monitored IM (instant messaging) or chat account available to any PM with a question at any time.

6. LEARNING IS EMBRACED

The PMO members seek out feedback and incorporate it into project management office policies and activities. Lessons learned are included in projects and in the PMO itself. The PMO looks for ways to continually increase its value up (to management) and down (to project managers)

7. SET COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

Communication is the most important component within any project. The success of most projects, whether handled by a dedicated project team or a cross-departmental team, depends upon a set of crucial communication skills and techniques. Our PMO is going to establish three clear communication channels that will manage and increase the chances of success.

COMMUNICATION CHANNLES

4.13. PMO KEY SUCCESS FACTORSIf the PMO is to be successful, there are several key issues that must be addressed. The success of projects, in general, all rely on the following factors being implemented: the integration of client, implementer, and software vendor goals and plans, constant management of the project’s scope, and finally a method for gaining visibility into project health at all levels throughout the life of the project.

Moving from a single project perspective to a more holistic perspective, the following factors will be absolutely critical to the success of the PMO.

1. Executive Support2. Effective Data Custodian Committee / Prioritization Committee3. Compelling Business Case4. Agreement to Requirements and Scope5. User Involvement & Collaboration6. Resource Alignment Reflective of Current Need7. Management of Expectations8. Strong Project Management Infrastructure

a. Minimal Scope Creepb. Strong Change Control Processc. Standardized Project Management Methodology

9. Ability to Measure and Report

4.14. BARRIERS TO SUCCESS OF PMOIn addition to the items listed above, the following barriers have been identified as opportunities to address when considering the implementation of a PMO as they often lead to difficulty and resistance in acceptance.

1. Unclear purpose - not well defined or communicated2. No executive buy-in3. PMO is seen as an overhead or marketing function4. Unrealistic expectations that the PMO is a ‘silver bullet’; giving a quick fix to core business-level

problems5. PMO is seen as too authoritative, or perceived as a threat6. Politics and power struggles7. Hard to prove value

4.15. ESCALATION MODELThe PMO will implement an escalation model that will allow project issues to be raised to higher authorities for timely resolutions. An escalation process ensures that the next level of management is informed (within a specific amount of time) if an issue cannot be resolved at a lower level. In this function, the PMO will act as a third party by escalating issues based on the following criteria:

1. PMO Standards are not being enforced (Project Management Methodologies)

2. Request for escalation by a Project Manager

3. The PMO identifies an adverse risk to a project

As a third party, the PMO will attempt to arbitrate issues prior to escalating to the next level in the chain. If a remedy is not possible, the issue will be escalated and documented by the PMO.

4.14.1. The escalation path is as below:Level 1 – Project Manager escalates issue to PMO. The PMO will attempt to resolve the issue with help from the Project Manager and Clients. Escalation will be formally documented and disseminated.

Level 2 – Issue cannot be resolved at level 1. PMO will escalate the issue to the Executive Sponsor for remedy. Escalation and remedy will be formally documented and disseminated.

ProjectManagers

ProjectManagement Office

Executive Sponsors

4.16. PMO MATURITY MODEL

MATURITY LEVEL DESCRIPTION

LEVEL 5Optimized

People–PMO leaders exist in all areas of the company–Accepted specialization (portfolio, program and strategy) supports maximum performanceProcess–Portfolio extends beyond IT–Comprehensive PMO throughout the organisation–Pipeline managed in real-timeTechnology–Single, integrated system supports reporting, collaboration and analysisFinancial Management–Programs have their own financial resources–Full life cycle costs and benefits are available

LEVEL 4Managed

People–Network of PMO leaders exist company-wide in a federated model–Centers of excellence improve workload management–Capacity planning enabledProcess–Similar projects managed as programs–Portfolios are actively maintainedTechnology–Workflow added to toolset–Business users adopt tools as usefulFinancial Management–Portfolio is modeled and appropriately optimized –factoring in risk–Benefit realization is tracked

LEVEL 3Defined

People–PMO leader role formalized–Increasing specialization trend beginning–Shared resource pool formalizingProcess–PMO function established–Projects are approved on a portfolio basis–Enterprise architecture functions involvedTechnology–Portfolio tool is in place–Reporting dashboardsFinancial Management–Costs are captured and forecast–Benefits are identified and related to the strategy of the portfolio

LEVEL 2Developing

People–PMO(s) established–Programs increasingly managed in-house–Project staffing/resource capacity issues begin to be addressed

Process–Project processes in place–PMO(s) organized–Emerging understanding of program and portfolio management–Risks now reviewedTechnology–Project collaboration and team workspaces supportedFinancial Management–Project cost and labor hours captured–Estimate of benefits made for each project

LEVEL 1Initial

People–Priority projects get appropriate staffing –everything else is “first available”–Nascent PMO leader role –primarily still an individual manager focusProcess–All internal processes centered on management critical projects–Vendors are often responsible for large initiativesTechnology–Project scheduling tools and milestone reporting adoptedFinancial Management–Projects have budgetary estimates –actual costs can be approximated and some benefit statements are produced

The ultimate goal of establishing PMO in this organization is to reach the maximum level of maturity. The company stands at level 2 right now as there are considerable project management practices being followed and standardized procedure exists for most processes but there is no implemented program or portfolio management solution.

BUDGET FOR PMO IMPLEMENTATIONA PMO is expensive to create and put into operation. The budget for this project is detailed below. Costs for this project are presented in various categories.

Fixed Costs $xxx

Material Costs $xxx

Total Cost $xxx

Management Reserve $x,xxx.xx

5. IMPLEMENTING PS2010 IN PMO:Having addressed the need and responsibilities of a PMO Project server 2010 is the best suited tool given the present circumstances and level of expertise that exist in house also the teams familiarity with Microsoft based tools is ample.

Also consultancy is available locally which beside the offshore support can give us hands on service on PS2010 installation/deployment.

5.1. How Microsoft Project Sever 2010 complements PMOMany organizations across the industry use Project server 2010 to automate their PPM processes as its solution is flexible, provides end-to-end Project Portfolio Management platform. As the needs for PMO mentioned earlier in the report are being catered by the features of Project Server 2010. These features in turn are helping our organization achieve the following business imperatives:

Avoid Communication Issue:

To share information and drive teamwork PS 2010 helps to build connection among different teams.

Create Effective Oversight and control of all the projects:

Throughout the project life cycle it helps to manage resources reactively and proactively. Helps in creating and communicating the project schedule. Monitor and Control project and portfolio financial performance.

Minimize project “thrash” and promote greater project success:

Identify, reduce, and communicate issues and risks that could adversely affect project success

Initiate, plan, and deliver strategic programs

Keep management informed:

Project performance is effectively measured and visibility and control across all portfolios is gained with Business Intelligence and Reporting feature.

Improve integration of projects with the strategic organizational goals:

Having defined business drivers and strategies it can objectively prioritize, optimize, and select project portfolios that best align with the organization’s business strategy by using its Portfolio Selection and Analytics feature.

Different constraints can be factored in to run what If analysis for the better assessment and prioritization of projects.

It helps to consolidate data at one place which helps program/project managers to better strategize, prioritize and choose the right project.

Build Project management expertise in the staff:

It manages a central database of all requests and manage them using governance workflow Set clear goals and expectation among the team members: Simplify the collection of time and task status updates from team members by Time and Task

Management feature.

5.2. Project proposal and Strategy in PS2010:Currently data in our organization is dispersed. Data related to project/program is captured but the data resides in a variety of systems, forms and sources. Mostly the communication takes place via emails, instant messengers, notes, and data fields in different business systems and other communication channels mentioned above. The problem faced was that new information related to the project and change control was communicated through web forms, office notes and non-project communication tools. The governance and initiation of tasks and projects resided outside the projectised environment. This problem gave rise to the need of a tool that combines both proposal features and portfolio server. Having all the data, workflows and lifecycle stages attached to each project will be a significant benefit.

Project Server 2010 combines both proposal features and builder module of portfolio server to provide more flexibility and ease of use in one place. This will help the project/program Managers to strategize, prioritize and choose the right projects.

The advantage of PS2010 is that PMO need not to begin proposal creation from scratch. For creating a proposal preloaded SharePoint lists or enterprise project types (EPT’s) can be used as a starting point. One can group the proposals/projects can be grouped department wise.

Project Server 2010 helps create our own templates for project plans and project workspace. By creating templates we fixed few activities in our project workflow that should be executed for every project. For example the stages “automated rejection”, approvals and signoffs are the stages that are fixed for every project.

This feature of project server 2010 helps PM’s to select, prioritize, plan, track, manage and execute the projects end to end in a better way. This will help determine each proposals impact on business drivers and other proposals, in turn will help generating a priority score. By this feature PM will have multiple intermediate approvers approving the proposals through multiple stages. Once approved the proposal will become a potential project and can be tracked and managed through project web applications, this lead to a more scientific way of project selection on the bases of existing data analysis.

WORKFLOW:

Workflow PhasesIn Microsoft Project Web App, a phase represents a collection of stages grouped to identify a common set of activities in the project life cycle. Examples of phases are project creation, project selection, and project management. The workflow phases defined by default in Project Web Application are:

Workflow phases can be viewed and edited by clicking on the Workflow in the Workflow Phases column.

5.2.1. Workflow stages:A stage represents one step in a project life cycle in Microsoft Project Web App. A stage is composed of one or more Project Detail Pages linked by common logic or theme. Stages at a user level appear as steps in a project. At each step, data must be entered, modified, reviewed, or processed.

5.2.2. Workflow Stages and Phases in Headway Technologies:We have defined our own workflow Phases and stages that are mentioned below.

Workflow Stage Description

Workflow Phase Name: Requirement Gathering - PMO

Initial requirement Submitted to PMO

The initial requirements are gathered from the client and submitted to creation phase.

Workflow Phase Name: Create - PMO

Prioritizing projectAt this stage the projects that have higher priority based on urgency level will seek attention first.

Automated RejectionThe proposal will automatically be rejected if the project cost is more than $ 100,000.

Checking feasibility of the project

The PMO validates if the adequate resource level is available for the undertaking of the project

Requirements MaturedDuring this stage, work on maturing the requirements is done by holding meetings with the customer, working on flows if required and creating the Requirements Specifications document to lock down the project requirements

Customer Sign-OffOnce the requirements are matured it is moved to this stage for customer signoff on the agreed terms.

Project Signed offAt this stage the project is signed off by the PMO for moving it to the planning phase.

Workflow Phase Name: Planning-PMO

Project initial PlanningIn this workflow stage, summary information about the proposal needs to be entered. Press Save to save data without moving onto the next workflow stage for review. Press Save then Submit to save and submit the proposal for review.

Resource PlanningIn this workflow stage, the proposal is being evaluated on whether it can be resourced. As a result of this process, the project is either a resource is allocated or not.

Developing and Updating schedule

In this workflow stage, the proposal is being scheduled in detail and tasks are assigned against the resources.

Prioritize and select project for execution

At this stage the project is prioritized on the basis of business drivers and urgency level. If it is on high priority it will be selected for execution else it will stay in the same stage till its turn comes.

Workflow Phase Name: Execution – Respective Team

Project ImplementationThe proposal is under execution. Once all the tasks in the Schedule are completed, click Submit to move to the closure workflow stage.

Workflow Phase Name: Closing - PMO

Completed - PMOIf the project is completed 100% the project will be announced as completed. else it will move back to the execution phase for 100% completion.

5.3. Business drivers:Business drivers are the factors in the organization that either impact the financial institution or provide opportunity for business expansion. A driver is an objective that projects can be measured against. Below are mentioned the drivers and strategic goals that are defined for our organization.

Driver Name Description

Securing future business This driver assures the continuity of the business.

Increased flexibility and maximizing business opportunity

This diver is designed to make most out of the available business opportunity and make the organization more versatile in terms of

project undertaking.

Disaster recovery This driver is organization wide.

HW/SW optimization It helps to effectively and efficiently use the org. assets

Operational efficiencyThis driver helps monitor efficiency of the ongoing operations in

the organization

Improve customer satisfaction This driver would focus on improving customer satisfaction.

Improve product/service qualityThis driver focuses on improving the quality standards of the

current and future products and services.

Enter to new marketAs our organization has a diversified portfolio so we need to

focus on capturing the new markets.

Technology/Process InnovationThis driver focuses on the processes followed in all the departments and the technology in all the departments.

Customer growth

Revenue Growth Focusing of revenue generation

5.4. Business Drivers and Priority:After adding the drivers we can prioritize them. Below mentioned are the agreed upon percentages for the few drivers.

Driver Name Priority

Securing future business 14.29%

Increased flexibility and maximizing business opportunity 13.19%

Disaster recovery 12.09%

HW/SW optimization 10.99%

Operational efficiency 9.89%

Improve customer satisfaction 8.79%

Improve product/service quality 7.69%

Enter to new market 6.59%

Technology/Process Innovation 5.49%

Customer growth 4.4%

Revenue Growth 3.3%

5.5. Project Scheduling:Project scheduling is critical to project management. A schedule helps in drafting timings and sequence of the project activities.PS2010 is helping us in creating schedules by introducing user controlled scheduling option. Previously we were using Ms project with expert opinion to schedule the project activities. This approach was a standalone and caused conflict among project manager in terms of the usage of the resources as different resources are engaged on different project at the same time. To cater this problem project server 2010 helped us in scheduling in an efficient way. It also helps to share the schedule with team members. One can share the tasks through SharePoint. If there are modifications made to the plan by team members the PM, at any point, can sync the changes back into the project. Thus it is a faster collaborative mechanism to collect information from team member through SharePoint interface.

5.6. Resource Planning:Resource availability, skilled resources and suitable staffing are the key aspects a Resource manager or PM has to deal with. Our company is facing issues regarding resource allocation. At times the resource is engaged on different projects and it is hard to figure out the engagement of the resource also at times resources are underutilized for vast times while the other resources are over allocated i.e resource leveling issue.

MS2010 offers a range of features to plan and manage resources:

Team Planner Resource pool Resource leveling Resource plan Resource analysis

These tools help resource Manager to have complete insight and visibility to his or her team’s work. Through PS2010 we can assign resources to the tasks.

Hence end-to-end resource management in terms of capturing resources details, analyzing availability versus demand for project selection, and resolving over allocation can all be managed now with PS2010.

5.7. Reporting:Microsoft Project Server 2010 provides a central point for hosting the reports, dashboards, and report connections that can be auto-created or manually authored to provide access to reporting data in Project Server for users.

REPORT TYPE RECIPIENT NAME FREQUENCY

Completed Project ListsCEO Monthly

Project Updates Project Manager Weekly

PMO Review Report BOD , CEO Monthly

HR Performance Report HR Manager Monthly

6.

Benefits of implementing PMO and Project Server 2010PMO has provided sufficient benefits to our company. It is helping in achieving the goals and strategy that is already defined. Project Server 2010 fully implements the responsibilities of PMO. It effectively and efficiently monitors the progress of projects and more importantly identify and address the issues. It was a challenge for managers to plan resource and forecast schedule overruns manually. Keeping track of projects and its performance was also crucial. Having multiple departments also led to miscommunication and mismanagement of information.

Project Server 2010 is an effective and efficient tool for keeping control of all the projects and having an overall view of all the projects running. It ensures that all needed resources are available and allocated before the start of the project and even if there is an issue on resources, it resolves it by setting up the amount of work to be done by that resource. By setting up business drivers and priority of projects, Project Server takes the decision of accepting the project proposal by its own.

Successful implementation of this PMO framework within our organization had been possible due to Executive Sponsorship and management to identify the strategy for success. PMO has added momentum to continuous process improvement, identify and mitigate risk early in software development life-cycle, implementation of best practices / lessons learned, and manage cost through the application of applied project management methodology.

PMO framework has provided multiple benefits mentioned in the report. Our organization is provided with an overview of the status of all running projects and projects in the pipeline. This unified project management methodology, after developed and deployed in all the offices, has focused on providing collaboration of all the managers, consolidated status reporting, resource tracking, and scheduling and earned value management. The resource gaps in regards to skills have been removed through training for reaching a higher competency level among all the members of the organization.

Project Server turned out to be the most easy communication tool for reporting issues, risks in particular projects. Tasks allocated to resources are viewed online in this server and employees report the progress of those tasks in the same platform. The projects are aligned with the organization’s goals and all the requirements are also stored.

APPROVAL

The signature(s) below indicate acceptance of the Project Management Office’s Charter and agreement to all articles included within.

Approve Approve with Modifications Disapprove

____________________________________________________________

Executive Sponsor (signature required) Executive Sponsor (signature required)

Name: Mr. Tashfeen Riaz Name: Mr. Fahad Mehmood

Title: C.E.O Title: C.E.O

Date: Date: