Project Environment Interface Concepts

The PMO can use its comprehensive understanding of project management requirements to plan and support facilities and equipment needs in the project management environment. This ranges from addressing individual project needs to establishing cross-project support capability for facilities and equipment.

In many cases, the relevant organization will have an existing capability to provide facility and equipment support, likely as two separate business functions. The role of the PMO is to bring that support into close alignment with project needs while serving the business interests of advanced planning and reduced costs. To that end, the PMO serves as an interface for project managers with such business support units, thereby reducing the project manager's need to attend to such matters.

The PMO's oversight of facilities and equipment can provide an important accounting function. If the nature of business is one that requires reusable specialized equipment — e.g., heavy equipment for construction, gauges and testing equipment for laboratories, and toolkits for hardware maintenance — the PMO can be the source for planning and allocating equipment use at the times needed by different projects. Likewise, equipment needs for anticipated project work across multiple projects can be procured in bulk to realize cost savings, in contrast to expensing equipment for individual projects at no cost benefit. Similarly, the PMO's perspective across projects will enable it to examine facility acquisition and assignment opportunities that maximize cost savings to the relevant organization, locally and worldwide.

Finally, the PMO performs a combined oversight and support role by ensuring that facilities and equipment within the project management environment adequately support project teams in their pursuit and achievement of project objectives. This includes identifying and acquiring the computing hardware and software needed to get the job done, as well as monitoring the needs for office space and office fixtures, furnishings, and equipment needed by project team members. Again, this PMO support reduces the administrative burden and allows project managers to spend more of their time on direct project management efforts.

This PMO function is merely one of coordination for collocated project teams, where the business unit to which they are assigned inherently provides the necessary office space and equipment for the project team member. Conversely, where project teams are more transient — separate facilities needed at various locales for specific client engagements, global-reaching projects requiring travel, frequent turnover of personnel assigned to the project effort — the PMO can play a facilitating role in helping project managers achieve project objectives while also monitoring business interests in the process.