Instruction of PMO Assignment 1

Subject:BusinessPrice: Bought3

Share With

Instruction of PMO Assignment

1.Promot:

Leveraging the materials covered in the session (please check the attached file to learn the PMO) , reflect on the Project Management Organization (PMO) within your current or past organization,I highly recommand the IT company such as: Alibaba, Tiktok or simliar company.

1. Was there a formal PMO?

2.Where did the PMO report within the organization?

3.Was PMO following a particular standard (PMI, PRINCE2 or other)?

· If possible, use a particular project to illustrate the project management approach and methodology used at your organization.

· If you are unable to reference an example from your professional experience, you can leverage publicly available sources to find an organization/project to analyze and discuss. 

Please make sure to include reference source.

2. Assessement:

Your response to the discussion prompt should be 500 words. You will be graded on how well you apply the course concepts.

Rubric:

- PMO example: 20%

- Description of PMO: 70%

- Reply on peer's post: 10%

3. Examples:

I provided some draft by my classmate below that you can refer to the writing structure and writing method of their articles. In my opinion, I think the student 2’s structure with bulletin points is more clearly.

Student 1

We understand that Organizational Project Management is the framework used to align project, program, and portfolio practices with organizational strategies and objectives, and customizing or fitting the practices within an organization’s context and situation.

PMO provides guidance to organizational management, employees and practitioners on different topics. During my time at Deloitte, I have learned that IT risk consultants focus on standard methodologies while taking into account the specific application into the project management and implementation to each client’s operating procedures. Many fortune 500 IT companies also set up PMO at different levels for its strategic IT programs, program-level initiatives and human resources in order to set up a technical infrastructure division for web hosting services.

Each project is unique where individuals often break new ground, implement new technologies and fundamentally change the way people do business. More often, corporate managers are trying to do three things at once. To manage these challenges, the right approach is to implement a pragmatic project control framework.

To narrow down, project management institute (PMI) is implemented in the human resources operations in Deloitte. PMI helps define OPM as a strategic execution framework that enables organizational practices to consistently and predictably deliver strategy and achieve the best performance. To view the framework as a top-down message: vision, mission, strategy, linkage and oversight, and strategy delivery. The program utilizes resources provided to quality control the current talents regarding for example, working hours, quarterly snapshots for performance, and online training attendance. Once HR has achieved a standardized process, tools such as Lean and Six Sigma can come into play for ongoing talent monitoring. This way, HR managers are able to analyze the outcomes and better align with the company’s values and strategy such as encouraging work life balance and providing equal opportunities regarding retaining and promoting excellent professionals.

In conclusion, I learned that although the framework is useful for any organization that is seeking to better meet the strategic goals, the standard is more beneficial for those enterprises that do not have a unified project management approach and are in the working process of improving their current PMO framework. As the enterprises grow larger overtime, especially when they adapt to more advanced technologies, this standard will help maintain a stable and consistent structure in order for the organization to stay on track.

 

Student 2

When I was working as a supply chain manager 9(commodity-coffee), I oversaw a project which is opening an overseas bonded warehouse by collaborating with a local warehouse company. The goal was to complete the project within a four months’ time frame and to reach an agreement on pricing and future operation protocol, and the scope will be a global operation among Vietnam, US, Japan. There is a formal/ standard procedure of opening a warehouse within the company, however, there isn’t a formal PMO. Plus, the company only stores reports, for example, contracts, signed-off application forms, or any additional terms agreement, etc.

But reflecting on lectures material, the most suitable way to illustrate this project is through the PMI PMBOK® Guide “The 5 Phases of Project Management”

1. Conception and Initiation: This project was initiated because our North America office has been consistently experienced shipment delays from Vietnam. And due to the coffee crop/ shipment season being humid in Vietnam, so when the shipment arrived in US winter season, causing the green beans moisture level exceeded the NCA standard (industry standard). As a result, the quality is inconsistent and rejected by the clients.

2. Definition and Planning: The scope was working with our Ho Chi Min office for communication, such as contract negotiation, with the local bonded warehouse company. Our Tokyo headquarters oversaw all the risk management, including insurance, cost-saving targets, etc. And my job was to make sure the operation planning matches industry standard and supervise all the documents logistics.

3. Launch or Execution: Three months after all the details of terms and condition was confirmed, we had a trial shipment to make sure their operation in handling coffee matches industry standard and the time frame and quality.

4. Performance and Control: Since every origin country handles the coffee differently and the time differences and language barrier, we took longer than expected to check local facilities is aligned with US food safety guidelines and US customs regulations.

5. Project Close: The project went 2 weeks over the time schedule, however, the corrections we pointed out to the bonded warehouse did get resolved after the last couple of shipments.

My takeaway in this project was, if you are working with a third party, advance communication is critical, for example, customer expectation or strict requirements when handling coffee. Above mentioned point definitely helps with sticking with the initial project timeline. Secondly is to implement a PMO that fits the company culture and industry nature, and has a thorough report. Due to the lack of information and little documentation in the data, when I started the project I need to start from scratch and that might cause some delay as well. 

Student 3

I want to share the project management approach and methodology used by Tencent. Tencent, as a large Internet company, has many business departments. Therefore, PMO is very important for Tencent. A PMO can help different departments work in harmony. It can improve communication, strategize resource allocation, and implement major changes in Tencent.

Tencent has formal PMOs at different levels, including Enterprise PMO and Division PMOs. What I'm referring to in this case is the Division PMO. The Division PMO directly reports to Division President or Enterprise PMO. In addition, Tencent’s PMOs do not follow a particular international standard, like PMI or PRINCE2. However, the working process within its PMOs is similar to PRINCE2 to some extent.

The particular project that I’d like to share is called “Optimal Screen”. It is not an IT project, but the internal logic is the same. The purpose of this project is to increase the stay time of consumers and convert them to purchase in stores by issuing coupons and mini-games on electronic screens. This project involved 4 departments, 2 retailers, 1 game outsourcer, and 1 co-developed hardware vendor.

The first step is to start up the “Optimal Screen” Project and build a team. The PMO needs to ensure that the right people have the right roles and responsibilities in the project. The second step is to initiate the project. The project team members need to determine what is the business case and do the market research. Plus, the Division PMO needs to report the estimated funding to the Division President or Enterprise PMO to ensure that the resources across projects are reasonably allocated. The third step is to develop and design the product prototype. In this step, the Division PMO needs to coordinate 4 departments, including design, operations, R&D, and business departments. In addition, the Division PMO needs to monitor the progress of the game outsourcer and the co-developed hardware vendor. Also, it needs to report to the 2 retailers weekly and keep their feedback up-to-date. Reporting the progress to the Division President and Enterprise PMO is also necessary. The fourth step is Close Beta. Before this step, the Division PMO needs to manage stage boundaries. It will determine whether the product is mature enough for internal testing. In the fourth step, the project needs to be tested internally. The last step is the formal operation and close. This step covers the formal decommissioning of the project, follow-on actions, and evaluation of the benefits.

Also, Tencent’s PMO is responsible for establishing the standards and templates in the project management.