2.2. Pmo functions and tasks

As it follows from the literature analysis a wide range of possible responsibilities and tasks could be assigned to PMO in organization. According to Crawford (2004) nearly 75 functions of PMO could be identified. However, it is quite obvious that a single PMO can hardly perform all of them. Moreover, it is senseless in case if they do not fulfill the needs of organization and bring value to it. Thus, in practice PMOs tend to focus just on one or several functions. Kendall and Rollins (2003) have identified a set of factors that could influence on this choice: structure of accountability, development direction and the underlying model.

Talking about the first factor it’s necessary to highlight that the functions of PMOs are usually strongly defined by the level or department where it is situated. However, as the authors argue although in practice PMOs could be organized by different functional departments it leads to failures of project management offices or at least to the limited results. To bring the real benefits to the organization PMO should be better situated at the top organizational level and supported be the top management of the company.

Another factor is the direction of development which could cost reduction or performance improvement. Cost reduction is mainly concerned with managing resources and budget optimization. According to these underlying targets PMO could perform a range of functions related with control, collecting and analyzing information etc. However, the shortcoming of such approach is that PMO could prevent the establishment of mutual trust and could be considered as a negative phenomenon. Another problem is related with the fact that usually reduction of the costs is possible only at the expense of time constraints or scope of the project. In contrary, the main objectives of performance improvement usually include reduction of project duration and improvement of the project quality. Due to this it becomes possible to increase the number of project that meets strategic organizational goals. However, this approach has limitations as well, especially in terms of costs, but, according to the authors, it is not necessary that performance approach completely contradict to cost approach. As practice shows performance improvement could lead to a significant cost reduction.

Finally, the PMO functions could be determined by the role or model prescribed to PMO. The four models identified by Kendall and Rollins have already been described in the previous part of the study.

Having mentioned the factors underlying the choice of the PMO responsibilities it is necessary to move to a more precise description of the existing functions performed by project management offices.

According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMI, 2008), the general PMO functions include:

• Project Resource Management

• Identification of best practices, development of standards and project management methodology

• Coaching, mentoring and training

• Project audit and control of compliance with PM standards, procedures and templates

• Development and management of organizational process resources

• Coordination between projects

A great variety of the functions derives from the PMO models, described in the previous part, as well as from the other literature sources studied (Kendall & Rollins, 2003; PMI, 2008). To make it more convenient the functions are usually grouped in categories.

Although the functions could be grouped differently we would like to describe one of the most recent classifications provided by Artto et al. (2011) as, from our point of view, it involves all the basic functions revealed and includes the results of the most recent studies. According to the authors all the functions revealed could be divided into five distinctive categories: managing practices, training and consulting, administrative support, monitoring and control and evaluating, analyzing and choosing projects.

Managing practices is concerned with the development of standards, procedures, methods, tools and information systems that help to improve project management practices and encourage continuous development of project management in organization. In fact, this group mainly refers to the knowledge management activities of PMO.

Another group closely connected with the knowledge role of PMO is training and consulting. These functions are concerned with the development of project organizational culture and improvement of employees’ knowledge in the area of project management through consulting, mentoring and trainings.

While talking about providing administrative support it is supposed that PMO undertakes some responsibilities of project managers in order to get economy of scale or to help project managers to decrease the workload. This function may include support in project planning, facilitation of kick-off meetings, providing facilities and equipment, reporting project status to upper management etc.

Monitoring and control group is often considered by many authors as one of the most important functions of PMO. It usually includes such tasks as collecting reports, monitoring project performance, analyzing project progress and results, resource allocation, risk management, development of reward system and managing benefits.

And, finally, Evaluating, analyzing and choosing projects group refers mainly to portfolio management practices and functions and includes strategic planning, identification, evaluation and selection of projects, managing programs and portfolios, coordination between projects etc. More precisely, all the functions belonging to the groups as well as the sources of are described in the Table 4.

Table 4: Project management office tasks (Artto et al., 2011)

Task category	Specific tasks of PMO	References
Managing practices	Monitor and control performance of the project management office. Develop, implement and maintain project tools, standards and processes (methodology). Implement and operate a project information system. Manage project documentation archives. Manage customer interfaces. Provide a set of tools without efforts to standardize. Implement and manage a database of lessons learned. Implement and manage a risk database. Develop and maintain a project scoreboard. Ensure mandated processes are followed. Project organizations and structure. Standardize report forms. Promote issue resolution. Maintain a project workbook or library. Improve accuracy and timeliness of timesheets. Standardize project reviews. Identify and document best practices.	Hill (2008), Hobbs and Aubry (2007), Letavec (2006), Marsh (2001), Pellegrinelli and Garagna (2009), Rad and Levin (2002).
Providing administrative support	Report project status to upper management. Provide advice to upper management. Execute specialized tasks for project managers. Conduct networking and environmental scanning. Recruit, select, evaluate and determine salaries for project managers. Leverage economies of scale and scope. Provide facilities and equipment support. Support project planning. Support customer relationship management. Coordinate vendor / contractor relationship management. Facilitate project kickoff meetings. Track and record changes made to project requirements. Support project closeouts. Assemble project assets from across the organization.	Hill (2008), Hobbs and Aubry (2007), Letavec (2006), Marsh (2001), Pellegrinelli and Garagna (2009), Rad and Levin (2002).
Monitoring and controlling projects	Monitor and control project performance. Manage benefits. Allocate resources to different projects. Conduct post-project reviews. Conduct project audits. Manage risks. Evaluate and develop a reward system. Measure and track customer satisfaction.	Hill (2008), Hobbs and Aubry (2007), Letavec (2006), Marsh (2001), Rad and Levin (2002).
Training and consulting	Develop competency in personnel, including training. Promote project management within organization. Provide mentoring for project managers. Capture knowledge and enhance knowledge dissemination. Supply experience and knowledge. Facilitate re-use, Career development. Enhance team development. Facilitate communication. Provide consultations to troubled projects. Create a project management training material.	Hobbs and Aubry (2007), Hill (2008), Letavec (2006), Marsh (2001), Pellegrinelli and Garagna (2009), Rad and Levin (2002).
Evaluating, analyzing and choosing projects	Coordinate between projects. Participate in strategic planning. Manage one or more portfolio. Identify, select and prioritize new projects. Manage one or more programs. Evaluate project definition and planning. Conduct cost/benefit analysis of projects. Supervise funding submissions. Assess competency, capability and maturity. Provide project start-up assistance.	Hobbs and Aubry (2007), Hill (2008), Letavec (2006), Marsh (2001), Pellegrinelli and Garagna (2009), Rad and Levin (2002).

Thus, having described the main theoretical foundations of the study in the domain of change management and project management offices we can move on to the conceptual phase of the research.