Introduction

Three project management innovations that have made great strides over the last decade are project management office, portfolio management, and partnering. The former two in particular have had significant impacts in the 21 ^st century alone.

Project Management Office (PMO) Strategy, Tactics, and Operations

The Project Management Journal ^[1] declares that the formalization of the implementation of a PMO is one of the most significant developments in recent years. A PMO is also referred to by titles such as project office, project management center of excellence, or directorate of project management. Independent of the operational title, a PMO is the organizational entity with full-time personnel to provide a focal point for the discipline of project management.

As the 21 ^st century began, an increasing number of organizations began establishing a PMO to support and manage their project management efforts. The functions of the PMO support the platform established by financially focused project management (FFPM), in that they cover the quantitative and qualitative areas of project management. Quantitative areas cover creation and utilization of formal tools and procedures in managing scope, cost, quality, schedule, risk, contract, integration, and environmental change. Qualitative areas cover sophistication in managing communications and in managing relationships within the team, with the client, and with vendors.

There can be considerable variation in goals of a PMO. Goals can vary in urgency and sophistication. An enterprise with a forward-looking approach to the performance of enterprise projects would have the goal of establishing industry standards...