PMO Survey Reveals Strong Link Between PMO Effectiveness and Process Maturity

Planview unveils PMO 2.0 Survey Report featuring trends, challenges and 2009 initatives

Austin, TX — January 20, 2009 — Planview®, the leading independent provider of enterprise-wide portfolio management solutions, today released findings from its 2008 PMO 2.0 Survey Report, which analyzes the overall state of the Project, Program and Portfolio Management Office (PMO) within knowledge-based, technology environments. More than 450 participants, representing a diverse cross section of PMOs and industry sectors, took part in the online survey managed by OpenSky Research. The full report, PMO 2.0 Survey Report, is now available for download.

Scope of Work and Organizational Structure

The survey found that the traditional PMO model, focused exclusively on project management, is now in the minority. With more than 60 percent of PMOs reporting a wider scope of interest, PMOs are increasingly taking on responsibilities that encompass all planned work and comprehensive resource management, operational support and a broad range of business management services.

The PMO is also reporting to higher levels within the organization (55 percent reporting to the C-level), and acting as a catalyst to make improvements across the enterprise (more than 25 percent of respondents represent an Enterprise PMO).

Operational Challenges and Process Maturity Levels

Respondents had the opportunity to rank the presence and impact of 33 operational challenges in four categories: organizational, process, technology and situational. More than half of respondents cited organizational challenges such as interdepartmental politics and organizational silos as the most vexing roadblocks to improving operational performance. The survey also exposed a strong relationship between the reported level of process maturity and the ability to mitigate the effects of these challenges across all categories. There is also a strong linkage identified between these factors and the reported level of PMO performance.

Key Initiatives for 2009

Many organizations anticipate continued evolution of the PMO through the coming years, and survey participants were asked to identify PMO improvements planned for 2009. The top 5 initiatives planned are:

1. Reporting/analytics/dashboards
2. Improving core business processes
3. Updating supporting applications/technology
4. Extending scope of the PMO to include strategic support
5. Automating business processes

Methodology

The PMO 2.0 Survey Report was conducted by OpenSky Research, an independent third party research firm. Survey data was then analyzed by by Terry Doerscher, chief process architect for Planview, with support from Guernsey Research and peer reviewers. The full report is available for download at www.planview.com/pmosurveyreport.