The book first considers the five stages of PMO capability, each benchmarking a particular level of capability achieved if functions are fully implemented. Each stage is also indicative of the organization’s maturity in project management, with the PMO’s role and responsibilities advancing from project management oversight and control at the lower end of the competency continuum to strategic business alignment at the higher competency stages.

This revised edition then examines 20 function models that can be used to guide the organization through the deliberation and the development of PMO operational capability. These models suggest what project management capability can be realized through comprehensive implementation of each PMO function.

Providing project and business managers with a starting point that enables them to achieve desired results from project management, The Complete Project Management Office Handbook is an important resource for everyone involved in making project management work effectively within the organization.

Throughout the book, a real-world, practical project plan is used to explain all management issues related to a project, including scope, time, costs, quality, human resources, communication, risks, procurement, and integration. This example also covers every stage of implementing a project management office (PMO), from initial analysis to post-deployment review.

The text is filled with insightful tips on using the most popular project management tools and software, including Mindmanager for initial planning sessions, Milestone Project Companion for report generation, and Microsoft Project, the most widely used tool for project planning. Project documents discussed in the book are on the accompanying CD ROM, so readers can use them to develop and track their own projects.

Drawing from the author’s more than 20 years in industry and ten years in teaching, Determining Project Requirements provides the essential techniques for business analysis. The book steps through each analysis phase from the initial idea stage to the final defined and validated requirements. The book covers the professional role of business analysts, the evolution of business analysis, and current and emerging standards. A practical example running throughout the book demonstrates how to nail down customer requirements for all levels of the organization and make sure project teams fully understand what customers require. It also explains how to select the appropriate techniques for analyzing different types of projects and for eliciting a broad range of requirements. The book includes exercises, best practices, tools, templates, and customizable solutions, as well as two examples of the Business Requirements Document. The book thoroughly explores the business analyst’s role in different organizations, the difficulties in capturing requirements, and the tools that assist the analysis process.

With readily applicable theories, tools, and techniques, Determining Project Requirements provides a foundation for formalizing business analysis processes and ensuring project success within the readers organization.

The book first discusses project authorization and initiation, followed by analysis and planning. It then covers execution, control, and closure. Each phase contains an explanation and an illustration of how to optimize success. Throughout the text, the author refers to numerous appendices that constitute both blank and completed templates. He provides details on how to use these tools, with an emphasis on balancing the benefits of standardization and the need for flexibility.

The accompanying downloadable resources encompass a color version of the book with four bonus features:

1. Quick start with Project 2003 that offers a one-page tutorial and three pages of screen prints designed to quickly generate readable and concise project plans
2. Complex project readiness grid that suggests how to manage intricate interrelationships in a project or program environment
3. Project management competency development grid that outlines a program for developing key skills among project managers within an organization
4. Traceability matrix that illustrates how various levels of requirements and final solutions are interrelated

This book offers a painless guide to quickly getting business initiatives out of the clouds and onto the ground. Blending the rigor and discipline of project management with the thoroughness of business analysis, it shows how to successfully build, complement, and enhance project management and business analysis in any organization.

Most people do not truly understand a concept until they can visualize it. This applies to all fields, including Project Management. The best way to effectively manage projects is to help your team visualize the end result as well as the steps needed to achieve that result.

Help Your Team Visualize the Right Path to Success

Building a Project Work Breakdown Structure: Visualizing Objectives, Deliverables, Activities, and Schedules employs a diagram approach to project planning and scheduling. This useful tool empowers business professionals to take control of and successfully communicate their projects, ensuring they are completed on time with their targeted impact.

Industry professional Dennis P. Miller, a consultant to leading Fortune 500 companies, thoroughly explains the keys to an effective Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) through an Eight Step Process. He has refined this process over a period of twenty years, applying it to over 100 projects ranging from software development to social events. The Eight Step Process starts with a concentrated effort to define the project through its deliverables. The middle steps walk the project team through a process of activity definition and sequencing and resource assignment. Finally, the last steps involve estimating the duration and verifying the project timeline.

Not Just What to Do, But How to Do It!

This is a hands-on volume that includes a practice section for each of the eight steps, providing readers with real examples of how the author has successfully applied this process. The result of its application is a visualization of the project’s objectives, deliverables, activities, and schedules. Over 130 illustrations enrich the instructions. Project managers are assured of success by following the simple tools in this unique and comprehensive volume.

Grounded in practicality, this book explains the procedures for running a successful project and highlights the finer points of managing and controlling the project. Written specifically for those responsible for the hands-on managing of projects, the book is also useful to overall program managers and senior executives.

Project managers will gain the confidence that comes from following a good recipe for success. Program managers will gain a perspective on the myriad of activities their project managers must perform to achieve a well-disciplined project. Senior managers will gain a perspective of the approach necessary at the beginning of a project to reduce the number of ill-advised projects and the effort required to achieve successful projects.

In order to succeed in today’s increasingly competitive environment, corporations, companies, governments, and nonprofit organizations must be conversant with modern project management techniques. This is especially true for individuals looking to remain professionally competitive.

Illustrating the why, what, and how of project management, Project Management Concepts, Methods, and Techniques will help readers develop and refine the skills needed to achieve strategic objectives. It presents a balanced blend of detailed explanatory texts and more than 200 illustrations to supply readers with actionable knowledge that can be put to use immediately.

Completely aligned with the Project Management Institute Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide), this book is the ideal platform for developing the understanding needed to plan, schedule, and deliver successful projects. Explaining how to recognize performance obstacles, it supplies time-tested strategies to help you:

• Overcome performance obstacles and produce positive results


• Master the communication and relationship management techniques required for success


• Develop and refine the core project management skills needed to manage projects in multi-disciplinary and cross-functional environments

Filled with exercises, worked-through answers, and self-assessment techniques, this book is an ideal guide for anyone who works directly or indirectly with the management of projects. It illustrates a wide range of real-world situations to help you develop the real-world knowledge needed to consistently deliver projects that meet and exceed stakeholder requirements well into the future.

This updated and completely revised edition of a bestseller extends the concepts and considerations of modern project management into the realm of project management oversight, control, and support. Illustrating the implications of project management in today’s organizations, The Complete Project Management Office Handbook, Third Edition explains how to use the project management office (PMO) as a business integrator to influence project outcomes in a manner that serves both project and business management interests.

Helping you determine if a PMO is right for your organization, this edition presents a five-stage PMO competency continuum to help you understand how to develop PMOs at different competency levels and associated functionalities. It also identifies five progressive PMO development levels to help you identify which level is best for your organization. Updates to this edition include:

• A refinement of the 20 PMO functions that guide PMO setup and operations


• A new section that provides an effective evaluation of PMO maturity indicators based on the prescribed 20 PMO functions presented in the handbook


• A new section on Establishing a Project Management Office that details a comprehensive process for determining the needs, purpose, and functionality for a new PMO


• Best practices that have cross-industry value and applicability

The book includes checklists, detailed process steps, and descriptive guidance for developing PMO functional capability. The up-to-date PMO model defined will not only help you better understand business practices in project management, but will also help you to adapt and integrate those practices into the project management environment in your organization.

For anyone associated with start-up and smaller PMOs, the book explains what can be done to create less rigorous PMO functional capabilities. It also includes helpful insights for those who need to specify and demonstrate "quick-wins" and early PMO-based accomplishments in their organization.