PMO alignment

PMO (project management office), is the centralized function within organizations to coordinate the project management related functions within the organization, and include;

1) Selection of the project management tools
2) Training on the project management methodolgy and tools
3) Helping project managers/teams on critical project management issues
4) Providing strategic input to the senior management related to project management competencies

Ideally PMO's should be equally aligned to the senior management as well as the project teams. In most of the PMO implementations, the PMO starts by aligning itself to the senior management, by providing the key data on project management to the senior management. While doing this, they tax the project teams for data, which the project teams consider as another necessary evil. Eventually PMO gets labelled as another audit function in disguise. At the same time it is very difficult for PMO's to get aligned to the project teams alone. A well balanced middle path is the best. PMOs should be both of "Consulting" and an 'Audit' mix, with more weightage to consulting.

PMO should be a right mix of Consulting and Audit