Creating the project office 8. This is a book about improving organizational performance by implementing a project office system that develops project management as a core competency and thus adds value to the organization. A project office consists of a team dedicated to improving the practice of project management in the organization. The improvement in organizational performance is achieved by obtaining more value from projects, making project management a standard management practice, and then moving the organization toward the enterprise project management concept | 48 Creating the Project Office and the project planning itself will be matters of routine. This means the project core team will develop a detailed project plan where both key products and services for the project and key project milestones will be identified and scheduled. Historical data from past projects will be used when developing those plans so that the team will believe the project really can be completed by the scheduled deadline. Customer and End-User Input The fourth characteristic for success is a high level of customer and end-user input in defining the final product of the project. Under departmental systems department members may assume that they know best what customers want since they are expert in that particular area. An enterprise project management system makes no such assumption. Instead end users of all project results will be clearly identified and representatives of the end users will be consulted early in the project planning process. Due to this early-and-often interaction user expectations will be well known and team members will know how the end users will use the final product as well as the problems the end users are trying to solve. And user representatives will consult with the team on a regular basis to the point where an end user will become a wider member of the project core team. Clear measures of customer satisfaction and quality plans will be a part of project planning. Team Support The fifth characteristic for success involves those practices that support the project team members and allow them to focus on the work of the project. Remember that the three keys to success in any project are focus focus and focus. Ideally most team members will work full time on only one project. They will not feel they are working on too many projects and their current project will be their top priority. A core team will be established to work on the project from beginning to end and all project team members will feel responsible for the final
