Chapter 20: Business Performance

Overview

The PMO's role transcends multiple professional disciplines in its effort to integrate project management practices with business performance objectives. Project management provides a variety of tools that can be used for managing business performance. In many ways, project management is business performance management. At the PMO level, project management concepts and practices are applied to integrate technical and business functions within the relevant organization, with executive level oversight of business interests and strategy implementation. To that end, the PMO's effort to establish project management capability within the relevant organization effectually represents business performance management.

The PMO can be successful in contributing to business performance management only if the essential project management capabilities have been implemented within the relevant organization. Key activities within each of the PMO functions need to be examined, and essential capabilities need to be positioned to facilitate and maximize business performance management. Executives and senior managers can be effective in managing business performance decisions and actions only if they understand and apply those essential capabilities, which, by any other name, is still project management.

This "business performance" function enables the PMO to:

• Institute an enterprisewide business collaboration capability

• Consolidate project management practices for distinct business value

• Establish measures and controls for business productivity

• Develop executive understanding of project management processes and practices

• Facilitate the achievement of core business goals: revenue, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction

The PMO will need sufficient internal recognition and executive sponsorship to achieve this strategic level capability. However, it can begin to introduce components of this capability with fundamental senior management support and implementation of critical PMO functions.