The PMO manager must have a broad range of skills and knowledge to effectively lead the new system in the world of contractors and consultants. These include:

• An expert engineer to understand the technical aspects of PMO design and processes.
• A qualified project manager with experience from pre-contract and business development to close-out.
• Basic change management knowledge to work with the change manager.
• Contract experience, as every process step relates to contracts, regulations, best practices, and operational needs.
• Design and construction site experience for harmony between office and site operations.
• Commercial orientation to value every suggested step and process, providing economical options.
• Knowledge of governance, standards, policy development, and QA/QC procedures.
• Expertise in decision-making techniques, process mapping, and process improvement.
• Skills in prioritizing strategy, strategic thinking, and business strategic planning.
• Experience in project cost control and project planning, especially project portfolio management.
• Sufficient IT knowledge and skills for the new system.
• Strong leadership qualities to manage and drive change effectively.

Deciding which enterprise-level system to invest in is a strategic business decision, heavily influenced by the availability of skilled personnel, both internally and externally, to use the proposed system. The PMO manager must have enough information to oversee the new system. In the contractor and consultant world, this means being an expert engineer with experience from pre-contract to close-out, including contract, project management, design, and construction experience. Most importantly, they need to be commercially oriented to ensure that every suggested process provides an economical option that meets operational needs and is easy to implement and use.

The chosen implementation period is vital for the PMO plan. Stretching or shortening the period each has pros and cons. Key questions like “Why do we need a PMO?”, “What benefits will we get?”, and “How will it affect our operations and business?” help define the right timeframe. A questionnaire is crucial for any successful implementation, especially when dealing with change, helping to understand people’s mindsets and define the plan’s stages, stakeholders, and areas of resistance. While involving people is helpful, strong leadership is needed to prevent diversions. People during operations cannot handle a heavy load of change meetings and new procedures. Similarly, the initial hope for change can fade if it takes longer than expected.

Existing information and historical project data, often scattered across spreadsheets, various project management tools, and even hard copies, pose a significant challenge. This delays the main goal of implementing the new PMO system across the organization. The decision of whether to link and maintain current operations and historical data is not a luxury; organizations, especially consultants and contractors, need to manage ongoing projects and retain data records for 10 to 15 years. Having a change management system is essential to implement the new system with minimum disruption to current operations, sustaining business goals and revenue.

According to Gartner research, misalignment in functional requirements was a primary cause of project failures. The interaction between project operations and functional departments is a known organizational challenge. Decisions about full or limited ownership and delegation to the project management team can negatively impact new system implementation, often due to conflicts between current operations and the new system. This issue can be resolved with new staff and sufficient training for existing staff. From an organizational perspective, full ownership and delegation to the project management team are not possible without policies, procedures, processes, and regulations to maintain viability.

The “junk in, junk out” principle must be eliminated. Without control over data entry quality, any large data system will lose credibility. From experience, discussions about dashboard and report presentation often take more time than focusing on data entry quality and staff training. Choosing how and in what format data is entered is more critical than thinking about output format, a step where many PMOs fail, leading to a loss of faith in the implemented system.

However, top management and stakeholders often prioritize the visual presentation of project or portfolio status over detailed data or multi-hour meetings. While visuals help focus on key decision-making aspects like risk identification and crisis management, other data elements are still needed for a thorough assessment. This can be addressed by providing reports on a need-to-know basis and training stakeholders to delve deeper when necessary. Visualizing business operations is crucial for coordinating functional groups and aligning them with project operations, from opportunity identification to project execution and close-out. Gartner research found that misalignment in functional requirements was the main cause of project failures, along with schedule and cost mismanagement.

People naturally fear the unknown, and change always brings uncertainty. Individuals often question “what’s in it for me?” when faced with change. Some will resist it entirely because they are nearing retirement, don’t see the need for it, fear it will affect their positions, or for various other personal reasons. Effective change management, proper team involvement, and awareness campaigns are crucial for successful change. Leadership, transparent communication, facilitation, training, involvement, negotiation, strategic manipulation, and even coercion are common techniques used to achieve organizational change.

Organizations typically provide initial training and staff for the PMO as part of its implementation. However, staff may leave for new career paths or be moved to other departments and projects. A system needs stability. Its staff must be trained to train others to operate it in other offices, project sites, and even client offices. Since we are dealing with systems, research shows that younger generations are often more effective at handling new IT systems than older generations. Recruiting and training new graduates on the system is a good solution. Any system can only survive about five years before it’s considered old and needs upgrading to a new revision or even a complete replacement, based on experience and annual system reviews.