Project Environment Interface Concepts

The PMO is charged with facilitating, if not directly handling, much of the project information that crosses desks, influences meetings, and enters boardrooms throughout the relevant organization. The PMO undertakes a major initiative and broad role that combines elements of oversight, control, and support in developing and implementing a project knowledge management capability. When properly constructed, the knowledge management system will be a tremendous benefit and distinct service in the project management environment and throughout the relevant organization.

The PMO's "project knowledge management" function establishes the processes and means for reporting project progress and status. Progress is the specification of the advancements made in achieving planned project activities and objectives, i.e., cost, schedule, and resource utilization management. Status is a determination of what that resulting progress signifies relative to project management effectiveness, contractual obligations, customer satisfaction, and business interests. The knowledge management system enables the generation and distribution of project performance information so that these status factors can be examined, interpreted, and, as necessary, acted upon by a wide range of project stakeholders.

Moreover, the PMO will use this function to provide procedures and tools that facilitate project teams' ongoing efforts to communicate, collaborate, and become a more cohesive unit, with particular consideration for those project team members not physically collocated. This activity includes establishing capability for such things as project level reporting, project task assignment and management, technical solution deliberation and discussion, task performance review and hand-off, and time management. In addition, this may also include acknowledging external vendor and contractor participation in project activities and providing them with appropriate access to selected areas of the knowledge management system. Furthermore, project management communication and collaboration can be extended to senior management by implementing an "executive dashboard" tool that provides real-time, business-critical information at a glance.

The knowledge management function can provide the modern, presumably electronic answer to the traditional "project binder," where all project information resides. This function allows the PMO to introduce and integrate preferred tools that help the PMO, project managers, and other project stakeholders to develop and manage project information and documentation. Accordingly, the project management information system tool is a prominent knowledge management component. It is used to capture and distribute project data, such as cost, schedule, and resource utilization; develop and access project plans and documents; and maintain issues, meeting agendas and actions, and other important project logs.

Similar to the need for a standard "project binder" is the consideration for project archives, which includes possible alignment with a project management reference library. This enables access to such information as lessons learned, technical solution guidance, and, perhaps, interactive discussions of prevalent business or technical topics and personal insights in "chat rooms." It also may address on-line training for project stakeholders across the relevant organization. Consequently, this PMO function can be used to establish and integrate the preferred project management reference capability for use within the project management environment.