Training and Education Activities Across the PMO Continuum

The "training and education" function along the PMO competency continuum represents a structured approach to improving or increasing professional capability within the project management environment. The PMO's responsibility ranges from simply identifying what professional-grade training and education programs are available and encouraging enrollment, to the more complex capability of designing, implementing, and administering a comprehensive training program for the project management and business environments of the relevant organization.

Table 10.1 provides an overview of the range of prescribed PMO training and education activities according to each level in the PMO competency continuum.

Table 10.1: Range of Training and Education Activities across the PMO Continuum

Project Office	Basic PMO	Standard PMO	Advanced PMO	Center of Excellence
Manages project team member participation in optional and required training	Identifies needs and facilitates participation in training courses Initiates surveys and assessments to identify training needs Identifies internal and external training providers Introduces basic project manager training courses Integrates project technical training	Establishes and manages a formal training curriculum Defines training requirements Develops and implements a comprehensive training program for project managers, team members, and executives Evaluates project environment training results	Expands training capability and oversight role Extends project training to other stakeholders Introduces training in advanced topics Manages training records in project management environment	Uses training results in strategic business initiatives Includes vendor and contractor participation in training programs Applies training credentials in customer and other business proposals Applies training credentials in advertising and marketing

The project office nearly always has direct interface with project team members, and it is positioned to identify preferred content of individual training, with consideration for both technical and project management training. This level of oversight will make or influence decisions regarding which project team members could or should attend available training. In the absence of a higher level PMO, the project office should conduct a general search of training available for participants in the project management environment and then use those training resources when an individual project team member demonstrates need or otherwise warrants specific training.

Mid-range PMO levels have the responsibility of establishing a complete and comprehensive training program for use within the relevant organization. It normally begins this effort with some type of training needs survey or a more detailed current competency assessment. Then the PMO will identify either internal or external professional training resources as a basis for developing an initial or complete training curriculum for the project management environment. In a more mature organization, the mid-range PMO will identify competency requirements for project resources and specify training courses that will help individuals to achieve those competencies. Training program administration is an important element of this function model. To that end, the mid-range PMO will ensure that managers and other individuals in the project management environment are made aware of requirements and availability of the training program curriculum that the PMO establishes. It also will provide oversight, management, and documentation of participant enrollment, attendance, and outcomes in training courses as a means to measure and examine success and benefits of the training program.

The center of excellence is characterized by the examination of training programs from a strategic business perspective. It will review and align training program results to achieve maximum competitive business advantage for the relevant organization. Based on its own success with training, it may encourage or require vendor/contractor business partners to participate in training offered through the PMO or in a similar project management training regimen.

This PMO function provides the relevant organization with the capability to improve or increase individual skill, knowledge, and competency for work conducted within the project management environment. This model PMO function highlights some prominent considerations for the PMO that is involved in establishing a comprehensive training program to fulfill the needs for project management training and education.