P3O® (Portfolio, Programme and Project Office) - update on the new guidance from OGC (Engl.)

Sue Vowler (OGC, APM Group Ltd.)

P3O® Lead Author, Director Project Angels

Servicenummer: 0800 / 777 66 40

P3O® (Portfolio, Programme and Project Office) - update on the new guidance from OGC

There is currently no single place that either organisations or individuals can go to find advice on setting up and running effective delivery “challenge / support” offices in alignment with OGC best practice in PPM.  OGC have decided to fill this gap in both the market and its current portfolio of products by developing a set of guidance covering Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O).

The P3O guidance will fulfil a number of key objectives:

OGC formally started this new initiative at Best Practice Showcase 2007 and after 18 months in development the guidance was formally launched on 28th October 2008, together with a new APM Group Foundation qualification in P3O.

This session will give the potential users of the P3O guidance a chance to learn about the content of the new guidance and gives you a chance to pose questions to one of the authors. It will explain the alignment of P3O with other OGC methodologies and introduce the qualifications which APM Group are developing.

Many Portfolio, Programme and Project offices are set up and disbanded within 2 years, before they can really begin to make a difference. This session will explore the challenges and success factors in setting up a sustainable P3O model which is capable of evolving to meet growing organisational requirements.

Successful Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices require senior management commitment, appropriate investment, skilled staff and a mature environment in which to operate. This session will consider the value proposition of a P3O model - answering the questions most senior executives ask - what will I get for my investment in P3O? It will also describe different P3O models with typical services and functions, introduce a lifecycle for implementing or re-energising a P3O and examine the success factors in their deployment

Sue Vowler

Sue Vowler is an internationally recognised content expert in the Programme and Project Management community.  Her external reputation is such that she is often asked to speak at industry events, seminars and conferences and sit on industry review boards.  However she is not a theorist, she is a “doer” and has personally transformed many organisation's programmes.  She acted as an “Early Adopter” for PRINCE2®, trialling the method before it went on general release in the mid 1990s, and played a key role in the development of Managing Successful Programmes (MSPTM) and its subsequent refresh in 2007.  

She is recognised as one of the UK's foremost experts in Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices(P3O) and was invited to sit as a member of the ISEB Board on Programme and Project Support Offices at its foundation.  This Board provided governance for the introduction of international qualifications in Programme and Project Support.  She is lead author for OGC's (Office Government Commerce) P3O® Guidance and lead reviewer of the OGC's revised portfolio management guidance, both of which were formally launched in late 2008.

She worked with the Home Office to develop and pilot a set of Briefings for Senior Responsible Owners, which has recently been adopted as a formal Sponsor qualification by APM Group.

She has worked with a variety of organisations to design, establish and run programme offices and develop and tailor programme and project management organisation structures, roles / responsibilities, methods and processes to ensure delivery success within an organisation's local culture and structure. She is known for her pragmatic approach, where local practicality wins over the theory and a coaching / mentoring and workshop approach is the key to successful buy-in.