HOUSTON, TX, USA | 5–8 NOVEMBER 2017

#PMOSym

PMO17BR401

Developing the Tools That Enable PMO Development

Mike Watson, Manager, Corporate Administrative Solutions PMO

FedEx Services

Why Focus on Systems?

The choice of software to support your PMO is critical to

realizing value, and is a pivotal decision affecting your future

ability to grow and adapt

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Corporate Administrative Solutions Team

• The Corporate Administrative Solutions Team (CAST) provides project

management, process improvement and business process support for the

FedEx back office

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• Since the beginning, CAST has been guided

by three primary objectives: centralize,

standardize and automate

• CAST has been successful in consolidating

financials into one global ERP and

standardizing policies and processes across

ten operating companies in a suite of back

office applications

Corporate Administrative Solutions Team

• The CAST workload expanded to include lease and contract

management; business intelligence; governance, risk and

compliance

• Projects and application support were informally organized in small

portfolios of related functions, mostly under a single manager

• Thanks to early successes, the CAST organization has had a history

of steady growth

• A patchwork of formats and processes made consolidated reporting

a time-consuming challenge

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CAST Contradictions

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Centralize

Standardize

Automate

Dispersed

Divergent

Manual

Cu

sto

me

rsIn

tern

al

The Need for a PMO

• Designing a structure and managing change

– Start with a realistic assessment of culture

to tailor solutions and manage change

– Organize projects into logical groups by program

– Establish templates, standards, techniques and governance

– Develop a benefits-focused plan for further development

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The Drive to Automate

• Uncovering under-reported

projects

• Coping with unexpected

volume

• Accommodating a significant

reorganization

• Growth of the organization

• Dealing with the limits of

software and manual processes

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Software Selection

• Plan for growth and the systems required to support it

• Scale the software to your needs

• Scale the software to your skills

• Is it supportable?

• Does your company already own or license a system?

• Do your company’s policies eliminate some options?

• Who do you have to work with?

• Strike a balance between standardization and flexibility

• What do you want to know?

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First Generation PMIS: SharePoint

• Plan for growth and the systems required to support it

• Scale the software to your needs

• Scale the software to your skills

• Is it supportable?

• Does your company already own or license a system?

• Do your company’s policies eliminate some options?

• Strike a balance between standardization and flexibility

• What do you want to know?

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Success!• No-cost solution

• Multiple quantifiable benefits

– The first near-real-time view of full project inventory and status

– Capture of targeted data only, allowing project managers to use their software package

of choice

– Flexibility to combine data from agile and waterfall projects

– Removed the burden of status reporting and freed project managers to focus on core

tasks

– Increased self-service and freed the PMO staff for more valuable work

– Improved planning capabilities

– Enhanced transparency and accountability

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Version 2.0

• A complex design chosen over a flat

structure eventually led to memory issues

not anticipated in prototypes and testing

• We migrated to a cloud database platform

(Quickbase)

• Availability of online training and a strong

user community have accelerated the

addition of more functionality previously

maintained in Excel and other formats

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Prepare for ChangeDon’t assume that your objectives are shared or considered positive by all your stakeholders. If

you have built a nimble PMO supported by flexible software, you will have a platform that

demonstrates the PMO’s value and enables growth

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• Software adoption will require some degree of change; be

prepared to manage the change and to address resistance

• Once management and other stakeholders see the value of

PMO data, expect new and shifting requirements

• Improved reporting increases transparency and

accountability, which will be a positive for most stakeholders

and management; not all project managers will see it the

same way

• If management has become used to certain formats and

data, focus on helping them adjust to change and ensure

they continue to get the data they need for decision making

• Be ready to accommodate differing levels of comfort and

proficiency with technology across your target audience

Key Decisions and Lessons Learned

• Whether it’s a spreadsheet or a dedicated application, your choice of software is critical to PMO success; it

will either be a springboard for growth and change or a burden that weighs you down

• Focus on value: both the project value you document and report on, and the value generated by the PMO

itself

• Balance standards and flexibility: ensure your data is comparable across the portfolio, but flexible enough to

accommodate change and growth

• Be sure your team can support the chosen system, and your stakeholders can master it and adapt to it

• If the software requires significant changes in process, are they acceptable?

• Start early identifying company policies that would guide or constrain software adoption

• Before looking at any software, decide what you want to know and report on

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Action Plan• Next week

– Ask the question: What do we want to know?

– Begin to document and analyze your current processes

• Next 90 days

– Identify opportunities to improve processes

– Compare those opportunities with existing systems, policies and stakeholder needs

• Next 12 months

– Carry out software selection considering portfolio management packages, in-house

options and development platforms

– Focus on value – from improved processes, efficiency, accuracy, transparency, etc.

– Balance software focus with attention to processes and policies

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