Enterprise Transformation Office

 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/eapmo-matthew-kern

 

A PMO or Project Management Office is an element of the enterprise that maintains project management standards. Enterprise Architecture plans and monitors enterprise transformation. The two may be (and have sometimes been) combined in an EAPMO.

Other approaches to enterprise transformation or improvement fall far short of the breadth of vision and potential gains of agility, efficiency and effectiveness offered by the EAPMO organized to combine oversight of all transformative projects. I suggest the term Enterprise Transformation Office or ETO for this kind of organization.

PMO: The project management office (1,2) commonly maintains standards for project management, program management and portfolio management. It is a single unique operation within the enterprise. As the enterprise should have only one portfolio to avoid suboptimization, there is discussion as to if the PMO should perform the portfolio management for the organization.

EA: Enterprise Architecture, as described in FEA and FEAF, is decision support for organizational portfolio management. It is closely connected to portfolio management in its main or top-level process. (3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10) EA and portfolio management should be organizationally close, tied together, to achieve gains through transformation.

Transformation: Transformation changes the enterprise, improving operations or creating new capabilities. The primary means of causing this transformation is the project, possibly organized into programs, and managed by the portfolio. This is differentiated from functional or operational management which oversees steady-state operations in the enterprise. The primary purpose of the PMO is to achieve organizational transformation. (11,12,13,14, 15, 16) Again, organizational proximity would help.

Portfolio Management: There are strong reasons to integrate, or tightly relate the portfolio management function with its enterprise architecture decision support. These are intended to operate in a tight cycle. If you also agree that the PMO should perform the organizational portfolio management, then there is significant potential synergy in combining the PMO, EA and portfolio management in a single organizational unit. (17,18)

Such an organization would contain experts in the distinct disciplines of EA, project management and portfolio management, presumably in distinct sub-units, located together for organizational efficiency. It would possibly be headed by the person responsible for organizational transformation.

When these functions are not combined significant synergy, efficiency and effectiveness can be lost.

(In the US Federal Government portfolio management is called CPIC. The relationship between EA and portfolio management is described in OMB Circular A-130, and this relationship is the policy of the US Federal Government. Program and project review is also describe there as the "control" and "evaluate" phases of CPIC. Compliance with law and policy requires that these be treated together for all IT. Best practice would have these functions combined for non-IT as well, all transformational efforts of any kind.)

Roadmap: A roadmap is a schedule for transformation efforts. The enterprise transformational roadmap is a central artifact for both a PMO and EA. (19) Combining would again improve effectiveness.

Waste: Placing EA in the PMO can reduce waste. (20,21)

Governance: Unifying EA and PMO governance can save effort. (22,23)

Standards: The PMO promotes and possibly audits for standards applied to projects and programs. EA is intended to be the standards clearinghouse for the organization in various frameworks. This function can and should be unified. (24)

SDLC: The system lifecycle is a standard that should be managed and enforced by EA and PMO efforts, together. (25)

Vision: A key product of EA is the vision of the target (to-be) enterprise. This is what the programs and projects are attempting to create. There is bennefit in having that function performed in the PMO. (26)

EA Principles: Principles describe how projects and programs will perform transformation. There is benefit in having the PMO select and promote EA principles. (27)

Strategy: EA seeks to create a portfolio that implements the strategic plan. The PMO also seeks to create and management the portfolio of projects and programs to implement the strategic plan. There is benefit in unifying or centralizing these functions. (28, 29, 30)

Business and Technical Drivers: EA tracks the forces that drive organizational change, attempting to accommodate, leverage and even anticipate these forces. It is advantageous to merge this function into the PMO. (31)

Innovation: An ETO style EAPMO can reduce barriers to innovation and improve agility. (32)

Acquisition or Procurement: Each project or program must select implementation methods for its bit of organizational transformation. Some efforts may be outsourced. Some may be purchased. Some may be developed within the organization. Many require purchase of supporting software or other elements. With an ETO/ EAPMO acquisition or procurement is tactical support for the strategic efforts of the ETO, applied to the project or program. In effect, the ETO implements "strategic acquisition" or replaces any notion of or independent implementation of "strategic acquisition". However the ETOhas greater potential to do so in an effective and compliant way vice modern current organizational standards. (33)

Audits and IV&V: The ETOis the proper place to sponsor or conduct audits and IV&V (Independent Verification and Validation) Efforts, in addition to program or project reviews and progress reporting. (34)

Conclusion: If you perform portfolio management, enterprise architecture and management oversight of programs and projects then you should probably combine these functions into an ETO style EAPMO. There is significant overlap of function, and significant synergy to be achieved.

References:

1. http://www.slideshare.net/Gartner/gartner-enterprise-programme-management-office-functions-and-capabilities

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_office

3. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/enterprise-segment-solution-kern-msem-bsee-cea-cissp-issap-itil-pmp/edit

4. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/parsimony-vs-comprehensive-ea-matthew/edit

5. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141129174141-86002769-ea-is-interdisciplinary/edit

6. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141004183219-86002769-choose-five-frameworks/edit

7. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140816204807-86002769-enterprise-architecture-purpose/edit

8. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140816144513-86002769-enterprise-architecture-scope/edit

9. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140622135614-86002769-enterprise-architecture-concepts/edit

10. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140622135425-86002769-enterprise-architecture-origins/edit

11. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/enterprise-transformation-matthew-kern/edit

12. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/integration-system-engineering-enterprise-matthew/edit

13. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140920150603-86002769-where-to-start/edit

14. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140920122233-86002769-transformation-investment-portfolio/edit

15. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140803161040-86002769-the-value-of-enterprise-software/edit

16. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140723111655-86002769-enterprise-transformation-methods/edit

17. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/enterprise-architecture-portfolio-management-matthew/edit

18. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140826222008-86002769-what-is-suboptimization/edit

19. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140920032120-86002769-enterprise-architecture-roadmap/edit

20. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140802151937-86002769-change-without-purpose/edit

21. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140921200744-86002769-10-ways-to-botch-ea/edit

22. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140801112523-86002769-enterprise-architecture-governance/edit

23. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140802133423-86002769-enterprise-architecture-maturity-management/edit

24. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140921131156-86002769-approved-technologies-standards/edit
25. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141127015951-86002769-system-engineering-inefficiency/edit
26. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140912112037-86002769-enterprise-architecture-vision/edit
27. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140921154042-86002769-enterprise-architecture-principles/edit

28. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140919090447-86002769-outcomes-vs-capabilities/edit

29. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140822173711-86002769-culture-vs-strategy/edit

30. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140719145138-86002769-strategic-operational-and-tactical-thinking/edit

31. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140912125408-86002769-enterprise-architecture-drivers/edit
32. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140830141415-86002769-innovation/edit
33. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140704182755-86002769-cots-gots-vs-mots-vs-custom-developemnt/edit
34. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140726190101-86002769-performance-measures-in-the-enterprise/edit