Chapter 8: Facilities and Equipment Support

Overview

Project managers have traditionally held general responsibility for obtaining and using the facilities and equipment required for each project effort. On larger, possibly geographically dispersed projects, the project manager could enlist the assistance of specialized business units within the relevant organization to obtain such resources, e.g., facilities management, procurement, and contracting departments. Under the concepts of this PMO function, the PMO will examine the opportunities in which it can intervene to oversee facilities and equipment within the project management environment. In so doing, it will facilitate better alignment of facilities and equipment acquisition, assignment, and disposal based on project requirements, thereby reducing a large part of the project manager's burden in this area of responsibility.

This "facilities and equipment support" function enables the PMO to:

• Establish a common project work space configuration

• Monitor, manage, and control facilities and equipment acquisition, use, and disposition within the project management environment

• Optimize specific facilities and equipment utilization and assignment across projects

• Reduce facilities and equipment expenses for individual projects

The PMO will be able to achieve these functional objectives by working closely with (a) project managers, to help them identify requirements for facilities and equipment as part of their physical resource planning, and (b) business units that currently provide this type of support to project managers. In turn, the PMO can establish the procedures necessary to requisition facilities and equipment for each project effort. This PMO function is inherently needed more in organizations that have significant or specialized project equipment needs and extensive project facilities requirements.