Microsoft Project Conference 2014 Recap: PC276 Monitoring & Automation of PMO Governance

Session Conducted by: Michael Wharton, MVP, MBA, PMP, MCT, MCST, MCDBA, MCSD, MCSE+I, MCC2011 and 2012

MyProjectExpert.com

The Microsoft Project Conference wrapped up a few weeks ago and over that time I have started to digest the sessions I was unable to attend in person. I plan on blogging about a few of the standout sessions that may peak your interest.

Michael Wharton from www.myprojectexpert.com provided an in depth session demonstrating various ways to implement governance within a PMO using Project Server. These methods were laid out in simple and straightforward ways that ranged from creating standard views within Microsoft Project Server to automating the monitoring using SSRS & SSIS.

The focus on the session was to inspire attendees to start monitoring their PMOs right away. There is no wrong time to start this process. PMO monitoring needs to be agile and flexible moving from identification of issues to the automation of compliance. Once complete you repeat the process.

This process is very familiar to me. As a PMO lead for a few large programs in years past we have rolled out “exception reporting” with various levels of success. These reports aligned with the monitoring that Michael showed in his examples. These reports usually cover areas from the simple (e.g., Tasks with actuals in the future, Tasks planned to start earlier than the status date) to the more company specific (e.g., Task names too short, too many resources on a task).

Taking things a step further Michael works in a Project Schedule Conformance Index as well as his proprietary Resource Conformance Index. These measures look for specific deficiencies in the project schedule and resource pool and weights them to determine an overall percentage score. The projects or resource pool is then rated each month. Thresholds are set to determine their relationships to the standards set by the organization. The goal is to have the high performers raise those who do not meet the standards.

Ultimately with these reports it has been my experience that the most difficult part is to ensure you are balancing the carrot and stick as these are rolled out. Michael points out various ways the email notifications are sent out and to whom (i.e., Resource only, All Resources, Manager, PMO). This is important but it is equally important to ensure that the repercussions of being on these reports is established and measured. Historically I have seen organizations use the stick too frequently removing Project Managers from large programs. This generated fear within the organization where the PM’s would start to game the system and do whatever they needed to do to ensure they stayed off the reports. Alternatively the organization could have invested more in training to ensure that the PM’s understood the importance of the reports and proper scheduling techniques.

Michael’s presentation is definitely one to listen to when establishing your PMO or when looking to optimize your PMO. Microsoft has now released the presentations for viewing to the public via Channel 9. I have embedded the presentation below.