1.

Project management consists of applying the knowledge, capabilities, tools and techniques
specific to a project's activities, which have defined objectives, goals and requirements, related to
time, costs, quality and performance parameters, activities considered important and appropriate
for financing. Time, cost, quality and performance are constraints for the project.

For Strider, the goal is aligning strategic business directions with IT resources and expanding the
scope to an enterprise level that would include business projects.

The specific duties of the PMO are divided into two categories: project focused and enterprise
oriented, such as portofolio management, PM standards, methods, tools and project performance
archives.

One of the most important missions of the PMO is cost reduction, using resources more
efficiently. Also, another reach is getting more creative, adaptive and agile in launching new
products. PMO is responsible for establishing, publishing and disseminating project practices. As
the PMO developed, Nelson hoped to be able to include the following duties without additional
costs: portofolio management and archiving responsabilities.
2. Implementing a PMO in a non-PM environment is a challenge because it went against the
grain of the organizational culture. The fact that many of the staff, even the managers have little
or no experience with formal project management practices is also a challenge because very few
knew how to use any of the software tools, such as Microsoft Project.
Another source of resistance is the lack of understanding at all levels of the value of formal
project management. All this challenges created cultural barriers to its success. Regardless of the
technical challenges during the implementation, the core of the problems seems to be that the
PMO is lacking organization support, from the top to the bottom. There is not enough executive
stakeholder support; there is no visibility of the program; there is a conflict of interests within
departments; people are reluctant to change the ways they have been doing things.
3. A successful structure can range from simple project data reporting to a centralized structure
that takes the lead on every aspect of project management. A PMO that is organizationally based
versus departmentally based is more likely to get executive support. A de-centralized PMO
structure could have difficulty performing a strong role when using matrix-managed resources. A
centralized structure that does nothing more than report status will add too much overhead to the
institution. The more responsibility assigned to project office, the higher it should report in the
institution. The most robust structure usually requires reporting directly to the President or CEO
of the institution for maximum effectiveness. For staff allocation, a combination of the two
approaches will require the company to hire an individual for PMO implementation. Along with
that the current managers can be trained for the PMO implementation to make it effective
without hiring new staff as the company has limited resources available.
4. From AtekPC experience, other companies should learn that is not effective to implement a
PMO without trying to establish a balance between the existing structure of the company and the
new vision. It is very important that the employees are prepared and taught how to work with
PMO.
AptekPC seems to have an informal pattern of communication, which can’t be radically changed
within a short time. However a gradual shift can be brought through the use of PMO light by
focusing on the strengths of the process and allowing the employees to understand, accept and
adapt to the changed procedures. Culture plays perhaps the biggest role in whether the
organization is successful in executing projects. Managers, including the head of the
organization, need to step up and evaluate the project culture. Until the culture changes, project
managers will consistently struggle to be successful.