Establishing Project Management Office in Customs Agency - Coursework Example

Establishing Project Management Office (PMO) in Customs Agency

Introduction

A Project Management Office refers to a group of departments within an agency or a business premise that aims at maintaining the standards for proper project management within the organization. According to Hill (2013), PMO aids in creating a centralized and co-coordinating body within the organization that provides the central point for the management of the organization. It supports and identifies the project management issues with the aim of facilitating and promoting the achievements of the set objectives by various departments.

The key goal of a PMO is to achieve benefits from a project after employing the outlined processes, policies, and guidelines. Project Management Office is meant to be the source of documentation, guidance and metrics that guide the undertakings of implementing various projects within the organization (Santosus, 2003). PMO is involved in all the activities of the organizations and follows them until they are completed and the expected outcome achieved. The office, therefore, reports the progress of the activities, the problems encountered as well as the requirements of the management team as a tool keeping the decision maker towards achieving the set goals and objectives.

Methodology in creating a PMO

A Project Management Office bases its processes, practices and principles on some set industry standard methodology just like project management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) or the Project in Controlled (PRINCE2). The methodologies are consistent with the requirements related to ISO9000 and govern various regulatory requirements in implementing projects (WhatIs.com 2016). PRINCE2 is the most preferred project management methodology used in creating a PMO. The methodology was developed by the United Kingdom government and has been used internationally. The methodology uses the best-proven practices from a variety of backgrounds and industries. Therefore, it has been proved to be most effective. PRINCE2 methodology encompasses eights processes which are outlined below.

Start up

The decision makers appoint a project manager. The individuals define the need for the project and outline the processes that will be used in executing the project.

Direction

The project board plays a crucial role in foreseeing the success of the project. The project manager represents the project board. The manager on behalf of the board is therefore charged with the responsibility of managing the details of the project.

Initiation

Initiation process begins with the preparation of the project initiation document. The document is prepared by the project manager which is then later submitted to the board for approval. Once the project board approves the document, it is returned to the manager for revision (WhatIs.com 2016).

Stage control

In this phase, the project is broken down into some stages; the stages are grouped according to their logical relationship and the level of risk. Therefore, each stage has a predecessor and a successor. The successor events begin upon the completion of the predecessor activity. Control ensures that the logical relationship of the stages is not affected by either deleting or adding and activity, and therefore, the process of the project is consistently updated.

Stage boundary management

Each activity is usually allocated a given span of time. For a next stage to be developed in a project, the state of the current stage must be reviewed. The project, therefore, continues after the project board has executed the current stage and planned for the successive stage.

Planning

Planning involves a combination of the factors of production involved the project. In this case, therefore, the raw material, equipment, and labor needed to undertake the project are considered. The estimation of the project is carried out using empirical cost estimates, production function, Bill of quantities or joint costs. Activity scheduling and streamlining also takes place.

Product delivery management

The purpose of this process is to ensure that the activities are implemented as per the schedule. If the activities do not follow the scheduled protocol, then the project board has to plan on the best strategy of either updating the schedule or finding the constraints (Hill, 2013).

Closing

Once the project has been completed, the manager should conduct a post review. Project review entails an evaluation of the outcome of the project (WhatIs.com 2016). Once the evaluation process has been certified and approved by the project board, the project is then closed.

Order of processes in PRINCE2 methodology

Stages of creating a PMO

Creating a PMO should be treated like any other organizational change project. There are various stages needed in creating a PMO that works best for an organization.

The first step is to establish the role, scope, and outcomes of the project. The roles of PMO vary differently in various firms (Project Smart, 2009). Therefore, it is always recommended that the group consults with the stakeholders and identify their needs. Once the needs have been identified, the major role is to determine where the PMO will fit best within the organization.

Secondly, the existing projects and skill levels are reviewed to identify the needs. In many cases, PMO has been established in organizations that have recorded a history of failure or underperforming projects. Therefore, through examining the already existing projects, one will be capable of conceptualizing the gaps that have existed in the projects and identify the areas that the PMO will address. The third stage is to plan the implementation of the projects according to the needs. Once the gap is identified, then the purpose the PMO has to be determined as well (Makar, 2015). Therefore, PMO implementation plan is then prepared.

The fourth step entails the establishment of procedures and processes undertaken in performing the various projects. Therefore, it will be required that issues such as training, recruitment, funding processes and project approval processes will be documented. The reporting mechanisms of the various projects will be well illustrated. For instance, individual projects may need to report regularly to the PMO and that the PMO may need to provide the portfolio report to the executives (Project Smart, 2009). Therefore, for the sake of creating efficiency in the operation of various projects, the mechanisms need to be established and agreed early enough.

The final stage is the review of the PMO. As organizations mature, the structure and the methodologies evolve. The process may compromise the scope and performance of the PMO. Therefore, there is a need to work with the executives of the organization frequently in reviewing the performance and scope of the PMO to ensure that it remains current and relevant to the changing needs of the organization.

The order in which the following processes are undertaken is as shown below

Tasks and Functions of PMO

The duties undertaken by PMO vary widely. The kind of functions primarily depends on various factors such as the size of the organization, success of the project, the experience of the project, the available skills and the level of executive support for the project management (Donselaar, Portman, and Hedeman, 2011). In some instances, Project Management Office does not depend on how innovative the enterprise needs to be. Some of the functions that PMO can undertake are discussed below.

One of the major functions of the Project Management Office is that it develops standard project processes tools and templates. PMO comes with a common set of practices and principles and templates used in managing a certain project. Creating management templates means that standardized components are reused in various projects, and this helps in saving money and time once a new project begins (Project Smart, 2009). The processes ensure that the expected outcomes of the organization are met in the easiest way possible through some standard guidelines and policies. PMO reviews and approves project requests and allocate funds to various sectors within the organization in performing the approved projects.

PMO also has the task of ensuring that the project management standards are followed. The process is undertaken through performing regular assessments on the projects and comparing the feedback with the expected outcome. Another function of PMO is to contextualize and establish the best practice methodology (Hill, 2013). The methodology ensures that the right procedures are followed and implemented in the right place, right time and by the right persons. The right methodology ensures that project approvals, training, recruitments and funding of the projects follow the documented timeframes and mechanisms.

Project Management Office allocates staff of the project and allocates all the projects equally. Once the qualified staffs are selected based on their qualifications, they are trained and coached to build core project management skills and competence. The PMO also guides the project managers on how to perform some activities or even helps in informing new project managers on how the organization runs projects. For instance, PMO has played a crucial role in assisting the individual working in the position of project managers but not formally trained f or the position since it provides them with the necessary information.

Additionally, the PMO tracks down the status and current achievements of all the projects of the organization. It plans and schedules the ongoing projects in the organization. In this, therefore, it ensures coordination between the proponents, determines the completion date of the projects and control cash flow within the various organizations. With the creation of the PMO, organizations are capable of managing project governance and prioritization (Donselaar, Portman, and Hedeman, 2011). In this case, the implementation of various projects is undertaken based on an outlined order of priority that is more economical and aids the organization in achieving the set objectives with ease.

Finally, PMO plays a crucial task of managing and facilitating portfolio management process. For the projects with a project portfolio management approach, MPO facilitates and manages this process. PMO aids in capturing the requests of various projects and that each request has the adequate information needed in assessing the project. PMO also helps in keeping up to date information about the projects that are underway and requests pending review. Based on the available resources, PMO helps in creating a resource capability plan which utilizes prioritization model in assessing the requests that should be dealt with first (Project Smart, 2009).

Benefits of PMO

Creating a PMO in customs agency provide common reporting and planning processes, supports in bringing structures and in planning and tracking the execution of the projects. With the aid of PMO, organizations are capable of creating an effective control and integration of the projects to the overall outcomes of the premises. Some of the benefits of creating a PMO are as discussed below.

PMO ensures consistency and uniformity in project delivery. In this case, PMO ensures integration of the production techniques and processes in organizations. Therefore, consistency is created among the production proponents as well as those in the lines of delivery. Another benefit of PMO is that it aids in establishing an enterprise focus on improvements in the competency of the management. Project Smart (2009), stated that PMO ensures that best qualified and experienced individuals are selected for the position of the head of PMO as well as the senior staff in the organizations. Therefore, upon the selection of the most competent persons, the organization is guaranteed improvement in the implementation of various projects. Additionally, PMO helps in enhancing and developing project management skills and knowledge through mentoring and training. Through the scientific disciplines and training courses required for the senior staff working in the PMO such as certification on project management, managerial skills will be highly enhanced in the organizations that implement the PMO.

PMO increases the satisfaction of the customers through the achievement of the outcomes. With increased delivery of the projects and the reduction of project overruns, the customers are usually satisfied. Project Management Office helps in storing the performance and the operational data. Through the operational and performance information archived, the organizations are usually capable of conceptualizing and tracking down the performance of various guidelines outlines by the senior staff and the Head of Project Management Office (Santosus, 2003).

The PMO office serves as the central of the different operations in an organization. In this case, therefore, a centralized point of reference for the project management practice is created. Incorporating the various departments in the organization helps in reinforcing the achievement of the set goals and objectives by harmonizing the different scales of production.

Required Budget for senior employees working in PMO

The budget for the senior staff depends on the salaries and allowances received by the individuals. Different countries pay the staff differently. The various senior staffs in PMO include project coordinator, project scheduler, Assistant Project Manager, Project Manager, and Senior Project Manager. According to Glassdoor (2016), the salary estimates of the managers are based on bonuses, salaries, wages and hourly pay. Reports from Ogilvy and Mather, Brolaz Projects and Kenya Data Networks proved that the project manager received monthly salaries of 261000, 208000 and 2.1 million respectively (Glassdoor, 2016). Different organizations pay different salaries to the employees, and, therefore, the budget varies.

Required training courses for Senior Employees working in PMO

One of the most requirements in the PMO office is professional certification in project management. The certificates are usually available from Project Management Institutions. The certification makes the professional globally recognized and respected as a Project Management Professional (PMP). In attaining the PMP credential, the individual must satisfy the requirements that involve educations, experience, ethical norms and pass the PMP certification examination (Wetfeet, 2016).

The senior employees in PMO should undertake courses of critical path method and Project planning. The courses enable the individuals to determine the expected completion time of the projects, calculate the completion time of some individual activities and calculate the critical path that a certain project should follow. Therefore, the PMO employees should be familiar with at least one CPM scheduling software such as Scitor Project Scheduler, Microsoft Project, and AEC Fast Track. The projects enable them to monitors the trend of the activities and ensure that resources are well utilized in the projects (Wetfeet, 2016).

Qualifications and Scientific Disciplines Required in working in a PMO

According to Wetfeet (2016), the educational requirements for the senior employees in PMO vary greatly according to the type of the project. For construction projects, the employees are required to have a degree in Civil Engineering or Architecture. For High- tech projects, the employees are required to be holders of a degree in electrical engineering. In most cases, the heads of the PMO are expected to undertake a particular type of formal training such as Masters in Business Administration (MBM)

PMO Strategies in Customs Authority

The General Authority of Customs in Qatar has prepared PMO strategic plan 2013- 2016 that tries to explain its plans and provides the hard work needed to achieve the aspirations and ambitions outlined in the plan (Customs.gov.qa, 2016). The aims of the strategic plan are to provide custom services that exceeded the expectations of their customers and contributed efficiently to attaining continuous development. All the members of the customs are therefore expected to put these goals in a new perspective and try to achieve these goals. The strategy contains values that guide the General Authority of Customs both internally and externally.

According to Customs.gov.qa (2016), the plan also includes a summary of a various consultation meeting with various proponents in the agencies operating the customs. The summary aids in providing information from the agencies on the expected future performance of the customs. Based on the outlined strategies, General Authority of Customs aims at providing custom services to all clients.

In a bid of achieving the described strategies of the plan, academic and administrative performance should be developed and ensure that the financial resources are efficiently and properly invested. The major values of the PMO strategic plan are patriotism and customer satisfaction through honesty, transparency through understanding and respect. Other values include integrity, professionalism, group work and achieving best results of institutional and individual levels.

The main goals of the PMO strategic plans include protecting the society and environment by reducing customs commercial fraud, being one of the factors creating catalyst investment environment. Additionally, the goals include providing services at the customs following the latest global practices in meeting the needs of the customers and preparing institutional capacity and competent working group within the organization (Customs.gov.qa, 2016).

PMO services

There are many PMO services including benefits management, administrative support, governance, management planning, mentoring, methodology, management planning, planning, portfolio management, project management tools, resource management, management reporting, risk management and training among many more. From the list above, five services have been considered of substantial aid in PMO. These services are planning, management reporting, portfolio management, management planning and methodology, process and standards.

The five services have been considered as the most significant because regardless of the type and scope of PMO in operation, these services span across all of them. Methodology process and standards refer to the criteria followed in the implementation of guidelines in various activities. The methodology delivered by PMO creates a logical relationship that integrates the resources available to accomplish a certain task within a set time frame. According to Makar (2015), management reporting and portfolio management depicts on the approaches that an individual organization reacts to the schedules provided by various projects. Based on the creation of the PMO, all the firms must ensure that the portfolio generated presents the entire schedules and procedures of activities undertaken by the individual projects which are then approved by the executive. Portfolio management includes activities such as the selection and identification of projects, project execution, prioritization, and closure.

PMO plans for various activities based on the set timeframe and the available factors of production. Planning of the activities as scheduled by the PMO also considers the logical relationship between different activities that succeed or precede the current one.

Reasons of PMO fail in Government Agency

Enhanced project delivery begins upon the implementation of PMO. Unfortunately, the effort of implementing PMO fails in some instances. The reason behind the failure of PMO in government Agency has nothing to do with technology but some of the top reasons for its failure are discussed below.

According to Glander (2014), executive commitments are one of the major grounds of PMO failure. Once a PMO has been set, the senior management employs a PMO manager who is responsible for implementing, optimizing resources and checking the status of the project with excellent efficiency (Hill 2013). The senior management believes that it has solved the problem by implementing the strategies and putting the PMO manager in place. Despite all these undertakings, the senior management is not involved in project checkpoints and crucial decision in the implementation of the PMO. As a result, the project continues to face challenges, and the organization fails to achieve the gains of the whole process.

Flexibility and adaptability are other reasons that lead to failure of PMO. Many PMOs have failed due to employing PMO managers that have succeeded in implementing PMO in other organizations without considering needs that reflect the culture of the organization as well as the key stakeholders of their organizations (Majik, 2015). In this case, the managers have to understand the strategies that work best in different organizations and those that don't work. Since the implementation of PMO is not an exact science, different strategies work differently in various agencies.

According to Majik (2015), PMO has also failed because some agencies consider it as an obstacle to productivity. Instead, PMO should be considered as part of the organization that aids in ensuring that the mission and objectives of the organization are achieved. Lack of strategic vision in various government agencies has limited the success of PMO (Young, 2009). In many cases, the PMO managers are caught up in a day to day activities in training, supporting and education the project teams. The PMO leaders may, therefore, forget to set up routine checkpoints at regular intervals to check on the progress towards achieving the PMO's mission. The process may, therefore, lead to the failure of the PMO in attaining its set goals.

Finally, the success of PMO in government agencies has been compromised by lack of using metrics. In some instances, PMO managers find it difficult to gather data about the progress of the PMO implementation (Glander, 2014). Data collection helps in determining the resource utilization; duration spend on individual activities as well as the budget (Makar 2015). Therefore, PMO managers that fail to apply effective data collection metrics lead to mismanagement of resources and budget misappropriation in the organizations which leads to failure of achieving the set goals of the PMO.

Form 1- Skills, Requirements, Qualifications, and Tasks of the Head of PMO Office

Skills

• Excellent communication and oral skills with the capability of comfortably conducting presentations to huge groups.
• Demonstrate capability for decision-making, problem-solving, assertiveness and sound judgment
• Experienced user of MS Office toolsets such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel and MS Project.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills.

Requirements

• A Proper understanding of acceptance and delivery of project processes within a fast operating business environment.
• Experienced in providing services to internal stakeholders in a bid of achieving successful project outcomes.
• Competent experience in PMO, Project Coordinator or Project Analyst. Additional knowledge of project management will be an added advantage.
• Understanding of the frameworks and the principles of a successful project management based on a support perspective.

Qualification of the Head of PMO

• The relevant tertiary qualifications
• Have certificates of Project Management such as PRINCE2 and PMP.
• An impressive track record of successful project delivery and strong personal leadership skills.
• Having worked for more than 10 years in the position of senior staff in PMO or even program manager with a remarkable record of successful project delivery. The experience may include an initiative that span business lines, impact a large number of employees of the organization or need reporting to the shareholders (Future Cities Catapult, 2016). For example, building a data warehouse for the customs authority team to enable them to analyze information about customer satisfaction.
• The capability to improve the practices of the projects management by putting in place new guidelines and policies with the main focus of creating teamwork within the organization
• Credibility of the heads of PMO is a crucial skill. The senior staff having served with competence and credibility will be considered for the position of the head of PMO.

Tasks of the head of PMO

• Lead and develop the project or program management office. The head will be responsible for establishing the approaches followed by the organization in undertaking various projects. Head of PMO will play a crucial role in initiating, planning, resourcing, monitoring, execution, control and finally completion of the project (Future Cities Catapult, 2016).
• Ensure that PMO meets the objectives of the firm as outlined in the strategic objectives of the organization.
• The head of PMO with a positive track record in project delivery will be entrusted with the position of strategic advisor and will work alongside business leaders to determine the projects that should be undertaken, the reason they should be undertaken and the most appropriate that they should be undertaken.

Form 2- Requirements, Skills, Qualifications and Tasks of Senior staff in PMO

Skills

• Experience working in a customs Agency
• Experience of working in Organizational Architecture
• Experience of working in clearance single window
• Experience working in Strategic Development Projects
• Prior experience of working with organizations on a contract basis.

Requirements

• Tertiary qualification in Project Management
• Masters degree or more than 5 years experience in project management
• Five or more years in supervisory, leadership and administration experience
• Experience in developing and managing senior level scientific staff
• Competent interpersonal skills in interacting with the customers and team members. The skills will be crucial in creating teamwork among the employees as well as creating motivation to the customers (Jobs.csra.com, 2016).
• Impressive interpersonal skills in maintain and establishing positive client relationship through executive level
• Prior experience in leading PMO in small companies.
• Ability to manage large and multiple projects because many projects will be undertaken simultaneously.

Qualifications

• Current certification of PMP
• Experienced with the management of contractors and subcontractors in various projects. The experience will be crucial because several contractors and subcontractors will be involved in the organizational architecture project, clearance single window project and strategic development project (Jobs.csra.com, 2016).
• Prior experience of directly interacting with clients at a senior level.
• Illustrate ability to provide critical reviews of PMO in implementing internal and external projects.
• Have strong skill in problem-solving
• Experience on financial reporting systems budgets Development and calculation of Earned Value Analysis of various operations within the project.

Tasks

• Ensures compliance with the contractual rights by the proponents involved in various projects.
• Prepare and recommend on the personal and operating budgets for approval. The senior staff will also be responsible for monitoring the finances of the various projects and reporting financial data of the projects to the senior management (Jobs.csra.com, 2016).
• Monitors the spending of projects according to the outlined budget and provides explanations of variances.
• Direct the staff in product management strategy and implementation of various projects within the organization.
• Collaborate, conduct, and oversee the evaluation of the product development time frame.
• The senior staff will participate in training, hiring and evaluation of the employees in the organization to enhance the performance of the organization.
• Reward and motivate the employees through bonuses and promotion within allocated company guidelines and budgets.
• Address the performance issues within the customs authority as well in the implementation of the projects and make recommendations for the required course of action.