Datafox Consulting

A PMO is a centralized office of excellence in project management. By project management we mean project, program and portfolio management. As the organization matures its processes and human awareness in the best practices of project management and becomes a learning organization, the PMO can add even more business value to its strategic objectives.

Though almost a fad nowadays, setting up a PMO is not an easy task due to the complexities and impacts it is generally perceived to cause. But, when compared to the bulk of losses caused by the constantly bad managed or even aborted projects, the gains more than justify the efforts.

We can help your business by structuring a PMO for an isolated project, a department or business unit, or even at the corporate level, where the current corporate strategy guides the selection, authorization and monitoring of the strategic projects.

One of the main reasons for project failure is the lack of or inadequate use of a project management methodology. Projects of any kind cannot be executed in an ad hoc manner. Nor can they be executed through the use of a too complex or too rigid methodology when the need doesn't require it to be that way.

IT Projects have their own characteristics, usually a short-time expectation for its finish and an ever changing environment they must adjust to.An agile methodology may come in handy. Or not.

Engineering projects usually demand a high level of preparation, detail and technical expertise. Projects may actually be Programs, the time frame can be years, the project cost can be billions of dollars. Procurement requirements may request an intensive and complex business interrelationship with contractors. Performance measurement may play a big role to avoid fines and punishments. FEL processes may help a lot.

Public and non-profit organizations have projects that must drive themselves around governance requirements usually different from those of a private world. Interrelationships with other government agencies may slow down processes and increase the complexity of requirements and procurement processes. Lack of trained professionals may be part of the equation. Nevertheless, their clients want their products to be delivered with the adequate quality and faster than ever.

These are just some examples of the inherent intricacies of the business world we live in and that the resulting methodology must abide.

We develop the project, program and portfolio management methodologies of our clients with a keen eye on the current needs, constraints and available resources of the organization, always together with our clients for their personal knowledge about the project and organization plays a major role in the success of the methodology creation process.

Internationally recognized standards like PMI's PMBOK Guide®   and PRINCE2®  base our development process from beginning to end.

Our results are validated by the client and the final product is totally aligned and ready to be put into practice.

As organizations face tougher challenges like international competition, tighter budgets, demand for faster response actions and economical instability, likewise increases the need to successfully execute the corporate strategy.

The execution of corporate strategy is through projects. Hence the need to better understand how the organization performs its portfolio of projects.

Do you know how well your organization executes its projects? What and where could improvements be made? How does your corporation measure project performance?

Our unique approach to organizational project maturity assessment can use PMI's OPM3® or our own model, RapidRoadmap®. Through the use of a structured and hierarchical model, we can help you to diagnose the current status of your project execution processes and devise a roadmap for incremental improvements towards organizational efficiency.  

Successful implementation of corporate strategy can only be achieved through an integrated effort between operations and the development of the corporate strategy. These two organizational processes, though seemingly distinct, represent the organization's intentions and actions to make those happen.

Often times projects are executed due to urgent needs, regulatory requirements, stakeholder concerns, competitive forces, customer requirements and shareholder's wishes. Moreover, many projects are executed without even being known to the organization. Worse, there can be serious doubts whether a specific project really contributes to the organization's corporate strategy.

The organization must have a predefined process to adequately identify, select, evaluate, prioritize and authorize projects for initiation and, after that, make sure that only the projects that continue to contribute to corporate's strategy receive authorization to further execution.

We can help you understand your organization's current needs and elaborate a project alignment methodology that integrates the execution of projects to the required processes to fully realize corporate strategy.

We can help you customize your training needs to elaborate a training session that fully address your business expectations.

We currently offer the following training options:

• Project Management Fundamentals
• Work Breakdown Structure - WBS Workshop
• Practical Project Hands-on Workshop
• Know Thy Stakeholder Well
  
• Project Risk Management aligned with the PMBOK Guide®
• Project Risk Management aligned with Management Of Risks®
• Quantitative Risk Analysis
  
• Project Management for Executives
• Effective Leadership
• Improving the Team's Effectiveness Workshop
  
• Project Portfolio Management
• Prince2® Fundamentals
• Prince2® Advanced
• PMO - Project Management Office
• Negotiation in Projects
  
• Project Management Quality
• Project Cost and Financial Control
• Project Scope Management
• Project Quality Management
• Project Communication Management
• Project Procurement Management
• Project Organizational Alignment and Strategy Execution Aligned with the Balanced Scorecard
  

Relevant to all types of organizations whether in the private or public sectors, risk management allows a better understanding of the projects being executed and improves the chances of project success. But risk management is directly impacted by the organization's perception of risk and culture.

A standard risk management process not only protects shareholder value but also allows an increased cost efficiency because the project team analyzes different scenarios using a structured approach to determine possible impacts and devise alternate paths of execution. During this process, contingency plans may be created to make sure the project receives appropriate funding so as not to have its execution somehow impaired or even halted. This naturally concedes trust to the project and improves overall morale among its stakeholders.

We can help you create a risk management methodology that befits your organization's culture, project characteristics and available resources.  

According to several surveys, one of the biggest causes of project failure results from inadequate stakeholder management. It can be that the project communication is not being efficient or the project team has not identified all relevant stakeholders or there is no management of the stakeholder expectations.

People are different and thus have different needs. A project can impact groups of stakeholders in a very different manner, causing resistance in some and willingness to contribute in others.

No matter how big or small your project is, it is imperative that you use a structured process to identify and prioritize your stakeholder needs. Furthermore, managing their expectations is not done once or twice, but regularly and accordingly. This calls for a joint-effort between project communication and project integration initiatives. Often times, depending on the project complexity, a specialized functional organization inside the project can be created to address such issues to guarantee a focused approach.

We can help you create a stakeholder management methodology that foster commitment and greatly improves your project communication. Results can be quick and invigorating.