Project Environment Interface Concepts

The PMO can be the primary interface between the project management environment and the resource managers in the relevant organization. This takes some of the burden for resource acquisition away from project managers until their input and decisions are ultimately needed. The PMO's understanding of project management and technical disciplines, combined with frequent examinations of project performance, enable it to guide or recommend management processes for project resources. It can take responsibility for interacting with resource managers to establish the resource acquisition and assignment processes that can then be used by all project managers.

The PMO also can serve as the interface between the project environment and senior and executive managers for matters involving management of project resources. A PMO that is involved in resource management will be more adequately prepared to assist senior management in its responsibilities for resource allocation, for example in such processes as project portfolio management. The more advanced PMO also can be involved in forecasting resource requirements to ensure that senior management has the resource strength to meet the demands of projects expected to be undertaken in an upcoming period of time.

The PMO can assist and guide project managers in their deliberation and selection of project resources, making recommendations from an informed perspective. In particular, the PMO might have insight of resource availability that can be introduced to resource planning efforts. It also can serve to develop and present project resource performance standards and requirements that are applied across all projects and used by all project team members. And finally, by developing procedures for project manager use, the PMO can guide project managers in dispersing project teams at the completion of a project or in managing individual departures from the project team during the project.

The PMO can facilitate the introduction of part-time and temporary project team members into the project management environment. In particular, it can develop procedures for project managers to use that help individuals acclimate to the project assignment. In some organizations, this may be rote for project team members who are accustomed to participating in one or more projects outside their business unit. However, the PMO may consider reviewing and formalizing this process to ensure an effective approach for all parties involved. In other cases, the process for introducing new project team members may simply be incomplete, thus warranting further PMO examination. The need to introduce individuals to project assignments applies as well to full-time resources, where the PMO can contribute a standard approach for what is accomplished to deploy resources on each project.