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Program Management Office receives ITRMC award

ITD’s new project management process, created as part of its commitment to improve efficiency, has been selected for a state technology award from the Information Technology Resource Management Council (ITRMC).

“ITD’s Project Management Office – A Center of Excellence” received the award for Data, Information and Knowledge Management. Teresa K. Luna, chair of the ITRMC council will formally present the award to ITD representatives later.

ITD’s Project Management Office (PMO) created and implemented new processes for leveraging and managing funding, data, programs and new projects across the department.

“The PMO provides transparent, standardized management practices, risk assessments and funding forecasts for all IT projects,” according to the award nomination. “Exposing project sponsors and end users to the immediate and long-term benefits of project management has elevated department-wide expectations and increased the value and quality of all PMO products and services.”

ITD formed a Project Management Office in 2007 to manage all department IT projects. Before formation of the PMO, an inventory of the department’s active IT projects determined only 22 percent were on schedule and within budget. The department had little or no information on the number of IT projects, their schedules, resource needs, scopes or budgets.

Projects were completed on a “first in, first out” basis rather than using well-defined project-prioritization procedures. Lack of enterprise planning among program areas resulted in inefficiencies.

Forming the PMO and staffing it with experienced, highly qualified project managers and enterprise architects resulted in dramatic improvements. The PMO now completes 94 percent of all projects within budget, and completes 81 percent of them on time (based on a 13-month rolling schedule).

This is significantly above the national average of 12 percent of projects completed within budget and on time (as reported by the Standish Group).

With creation of the PMO, the department has an online portfolio that lists every IT project. The portfolio identifies team members, budgets, schedules, project descriptions and risk ratings. In addition, the PMO:

Standardizes ITD’s project-management lifecycle by following PMI Best Practices
Provides detailed project-management information to sponsors and stakeholders
Projects operational costs for each project for a full five years
Provides consistent, enterprise-wide solutions
Increases completion and success rates for projects
Transparently provides project status, needs, and activities online
Provides consistent, easy-to-understand information to sponsors and stakeholders
Delivers higher-quality products and services to end users

The PMO conducts a cost-benefit analysis for each project to ensure the right solutions are being implemented and to improve the department’s effectiveness and efficiency.

The department’s current IT Project Portfolio contains $51 million in projects (funded by the sponsoring divisions or districts). Projects are managed by the PMO as resources allow, however, the PMO provides risk-management services for all projects in the portfolio.

Projects now are much more likely to be completed on time and within budget, and customer service has improved dramatically. Customer surveys show that 92 percent of PMO customers are satisfied with its services and products.

“The Project Management Office has proven to be a huge success for the department, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually through increased efficiencies created by department-wide enterprise planning,” according to the award application.