Program Stewardship
PMO Advisory – Current state maturity assessment and recommendations
The Client
A $2B international company facilitating travel commerce by connecting the world’s leading travel providers, with online and offline travel buyers delivered through the Company’s proprietary business-to-business (“B2B”) travel platforms.
The Challenge
The client’s project investment portfolio was managed by corresponding lines of business in a siloed product development organization structure. Technology platforms and infrastructure were managed in similarly isolated verticals. Delivery of corresponding programs and projects were managed across a half-dozen, federated Project Management Offices (PMOs). To improve efficiency, consistency and timeliness of delivery, the CIO directed all technology program and project management functions, including all federated PMOs be collapsed and brought under a centralized Project Management Organization (PMO) within the Office of the CIO. Dietrich was asked to measure the current state maturity of the existing PMO’s, stand-up a centralized PMO and begin to standardize project delivery using best practices, within a six-month timeframe. The client was concurrently pursuing transformation to Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
The Approach
While maintaining a traditional phased approach, Dietrich tailored an engagement model to focus on establishing current state maturity assessments in PMO processes, organizations and individuals. We conducted multi-week assessments of all federated PMOs, advised on organizational design, outlined change management considerations and steps for implementation of a centralized PMO. Dietrich quickly recognized broader organization factors contributing to the client’s inability to successfully deliver project investments. Additionally, Dietrich:
- Developed and managed project documents: Charter, Scope, Resource Plan, Project Plan, Risk & Issues.
- Advised on proposed Organization Structure, Program Communication & Change Enablement Plans.
- Designed a client-specific individual competency assessment and ranking tool for project-oriented roles.
- Aligned Dietrich Maturity Assessment Framework with the client’s federated PMO structure.
- Conducted full maturity assessments of current PMO and project delivery practices through facilitated interviews and data gathering. The scope included:
- People & Organization
- Strategy & Planning
- Methodology
- Governance & Control
- Published current-state maturity assessment reports for each line of business PMO with a consolidated roll-up score at the enterprise level.
- Completed comprehensive audits on a diverse sampling of projects to identify deviations from current PMO governance, control measures against best practices.
- Conducted a forensic analysis of PMO reporting platforms, including data source mapping and normalization, which lead to the identification of report discrepancies, inaccuracies and cost-saving opportunities.
- Identified inhibitors contributing to the client’s inability to consistently deliver projects successfully. They included:
- Portfolio Management
- Resource Management
- Governance and Control
- Communication and Culture
- Reporting and Metrics
- Quality Management
- IT Infrastructure
- Methodology and Tools
- Documented and delivered comprehensive set of observations, recommendations and action plans addressing program and project delivery inhibitors.
The Result
Dietrich’s comprehensive assessment, diligent observations, analysis and future state recommendations contributed to the client’s decision to delay centralization of PMO functions and instead align the next steps of their PMO maturity to the larger IT transformation program. Implementation of Dietrich’s maturity model recommendations will produce significant cost savings and efficiencies in project delivery over time.