Project Portfolio Office offers maturity assessments to help businesses deliver on strategic objectives

Project portfolio management (PPM) solution provider, Project Portfolio Office, offers a PPM maturity assessment service, aimed at benchmarking an organisation’s current project management competency, and then providing a practical roadmap that will allow both the business and its Project Management Office (PMO) to deliver on strategic objectives, reduce costs, and increase success rates.

“PMOs are able to make a huge contribution to building organisational PPM maturity, but it is important both for a PMO to align more closely to stakeholders’ value expectations, and also for the business to take stock of its current PPM maturity to make this a reality, as we’ve previously unpacked ” says Daléne Grobler, PPM executive consultant at Project Portfolio Office. “In order to achieve these goals and improve organisational project management competency, an evaluation, known as a maturity assessment, of the entire company’s project management system– and not just the PMO – is necessary.

“Maturity assessments should not focus only on processes and compliance, but also consider the competencies and behaviours of the people working within it, the tools and technology that enable it, and the management information used to manage delivery and performance.” With more than 15 years of experience in helping clients to achieve greater project success, Project Portfolio Office is well-placed to support organisations in selecting the right type of maturity assessment model to best suit their specific needs. As a registered Axelos Consulting Partner using the P3M3® (Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model) [3], Project Portfolio Office offers three assessment options:

· A facilitated, online self-assessment:This option includes an online P3M3® self-assessment [4] supported by a Project Portfolio Office consultant to provide independent guidance and interpretation. It takes between one and two weeks, and does not include the provision of an implementation plan.

· A full certification assessment:This evaluation is carried out by a Project Portfolio Office consultant, incorporates the development of a limited improvement plan, and could span from three to six weeks.

· A full diagnostic assessment:The full diagnostic offering, which is completed by a Project Portfolio Office consultant, focuses on key areas as selected by the client. This service follows a five-step process that includes: a scope definition of the assessment; planning of the process based on documents and systems to review, interviewees to be selected, and a solid understanding of the business’ objectives; performing the assessment of the defined framework, projects, programmes and portfolios, conducting the interviews, and validating findings; the capturing of the assessment’s outcomes; and the development of a final report with recommendations in the form of a capability improvement roadmap and plan. The process can take up to eight weeks to complete. “The business world, our organisations and working practices, will not be the same after the COVID-19 pandemic,” Grobler explains. “And this global rethink presents the ideal opportunity for PMOs to reflect on their own performance and current services, ensuring that they continue to add value to the organisation, whatever its ‘new normal’ structure might be, and adapt to its evolving needs into the future. “The value in Project Portfolio Office’s maturity assessment offering is clear. It will support your organisation in driving more efficient project execution to deliver positive business results in a dynamic environment,” she concludes. For more information about Project Portfolio Office’s maturity assessment service, please click here.

About Project Portfolio Office:
Project Portfolio Office helps organisations achieve greater project success by assisting at every level of the project and portfolio management (PPM) process. From consulting to businesses on how to build a successful Project Management Office (PMO), to delivering the capabilities needed for effective project delivery, Project Portfolio Office can provide the services and solutions needed for companies to improve execution within a competitive business environment. This includes its PPM tool, PPO, which is used to plan, manage, collaborate, execute and report on their projects, programmes and portfolios. Project Portfolio Office is also focused on adding value and enriching the broader PPM space. It does this through support of the Project Management South Africa (PMSA) association, as sponsor of PMSA’s invitation-only PMO Forum in both Gauteng and Cape Town. Project Portfolio Office also recently conducted the first ever comprehensive analysis of PMOs within South Africa.