ISEB PPSO Consultants - PPSO Consulting & Implementation

Why Implement an ISEB PPSO and how can our ISEB PPSO Consultants help you set up, implement and manage an effective PPSO within your organisation using the best practice principles of ISEB PPSO standards and our years of experience?

If your organisation either has a single critical and complex programme/project or has multiple programmes/projects running in parallel, then the business case for a Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO) is very strong indeed. All programmes and projects have an element of support administration connected with them and although this should be kept to a 'fit for purpose' level it is essential that highly skilled programme and project support (PPSO) administration services are both available to the programme/project management community and controlled effectively.

The question is who should provide skilled programme/project support and do that administration? If no conscious decision is made, it usually falls to the Programme and/or Project Manager to ensure that administration is dealt with, of course this is not a good and practical use of a Programme/Project Manager's time. The question then becomes, wouldn't it be better to delegate programme and project support/administration activities to a dedicated and highly skilled programme/project support resource pool? The answer to this question in best practice terms is unequivocally a big YES!

Doing so thus allows the Programme/Project Manager(s) to get on with what they are supposed to be doing - managing their programme(s) and project(s), not supporting them!

Setting up, implementing and managing a successful and competent Programme and/or Project Support Office (PPSO) is a major undertaking in its own right, and one that can easily divert existing resources from your core business activities such as product development. A PPSO is highly resource intensive and critically so if you don't have the right people/attitude/skills on board.

Using our ISEB PPSO Consulting & Implementation capability enables the provision of an end to end bespoke ISEB PPSO that will suit your organisations corporate programme/project support office requirements without the need to re-deploy or re-train your existing product development teams or other such skill specific resources/staff. Indeed, they too will learn from the PPSO team owing to the KPS approach to sharing best practice and knowledge transfer.

Our qualified ISEB PPSO Consultants have extensive experience in successfully delivering Programme and Project Support Office's (PPSO's) within multiple organisations either for single or multi-tier programme/project environments.

By outsourcing your Programme and/or Project Support Office (PPSO) Setup/Implementation (and/or resourcing and management) requirements to KPS we will ensure your organisation has the necessary specialist programme and project support skills available to effectively and efficiently support the successful delivery of your programmes and/or projects in a multi-tier scenario or otherwise.

What is an ISEB PPSO (Programme and Project Support Office)?

A Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO), sometimes known as a PMO (Programme/Project Management Office), is a central hub/pool of highly skilled resources that provides administrative support and expert programme and project guidance to Programme and Project Managers and their teams. The Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO) also ensures correct and efficient use of best practice programme, project and risk management methodologies. THE PPSO may share these skills across the organisations programmes and projects as needed.

Typically the Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO) covers:

  • Programme/Project Planning and Scheduling.
  • Programme/Project Tracking and Reporting.
  • Configuration Management & Document Control.
  • Programme/Project Risks & Issues Monitoring and Control.
  • Change Control and Change Management Support.
  • Programme/Project Quality Control.
  • Adhoc Training (In Tools, Processes).
  • Programme/Project Budget / Financial Monitoring and Reporting.
  • Tolerance Exception Monitoring
  • Expert guidance and advice pertaining to programme and project management best practices (ISEB PPSO) and planning and control tools.

Why implement an ISEB PPSO?

Simply put KPS Consultants can not imagine a scenario whereby a PPSO doesn't exist! The PPSO is an absolutely essential function for any organisation structured, led by, and/or operating in a best practice programme management or project management environment! If an organisation is running multiple programmes and projects simultaneously or has large scale programmes, the business case and justification for a PPSO is very strong indeed as it serves as an enabling project in its own right.

The Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO or indeed PMO) can be an organisations most valuable asset or it can be a problem to the extent of being a hindrance for delivery. Ultimately this is dependant on how well it is set up, the skills, mind set, attitude and outlook of those that work within it.

Programmes and Projects can often fail for many reasons such as over utilisation of Programme and Project Managers or their lack of access to a central area for skilled business support. A highly effective way of addressing these and many other issues is the formation of a PPSO. To assist our clients KPS offers support and guidance on how to implement a successful PPSO function within your organisation. Our highly skilled team can work with you to design, implement, manage and run complete PPSO functions.

With an increased emphasis on globalisation, agile working and virtual teams, KPS is proud to introduce our off site 'Virtual PPSO' solution. KPS can offer a team of dedicated project professionals that can assist your organisations programmes and projects by serving as your PPSO. Being off site means that we can be available for your requirements almost immediately whilst also saving you the over head of providing your suppliers with office space, equipment, network resources and many other associated costs. It also means that we are available to start delivering your requirements much quicker.

The PPSO can also serve as a type of consultancy function to enable the sharing of skills and best practice project management. As KPS strongly believes in sharing our knowledge with our clients this would mean that we are able to use the PPSO function as a platform to facilitate PPSO training and workshop requirements.

As mentioned briefly above, the success of a PPSO will largely depend on those that work within it. Organisations must be very careful in choosing able and highly skilled administrators and importantly those who have the correct approach and mindset. KPS provides consultants and resource that host both of these attributes to the highest pedigree and many more owing to our stringent selection criteria for employees and our ongoing investment in the skill development of those whom we employ.

The PPSO team should recognise the importance of their role in the programme or project. The attitude should be to take pride in their work, be focussed and determined to provide a helpful and professional quality service that fits the requirements of the organisations programmes and project management community.

It is often the case that programmes and projects fail or seldom complete on time or within budget. Some of the reasons may be owing to a PPSO not being in place from the start. Other related/associated reasons may be as follows:

  • Inexperienced programme/project support personnel - Skills do not match the role, needs or requirements (Critical).
  • Programme/Project processes not clearly defined, articulated or understood.
  • Communication breakdown or 'lack of' - One of the biggest and most common issues in organisations.
  • Vague requirements. - 'Can you just build me that wall by this date, thanks and let me know when its built'! - No start up!!!!
  • Poor schedule estimation.
  • Hidden costs.
  • Scope creep!
  • Conflicting methodology - 'I don't understand best practice Project Methodology so lets create our own non-standard/non-best practice internal methodology, brand it, copyright it, sell it and be the only experts/users'! - PINO (Project Methodology In Name Only)!
  • Lack of Senior Responsible Ownership (SRO) - 'I've no idea about programmes/projects and I don't want to know. Even if I did, I have a company to run, shareholders, investors, P/L to worry about and don't have time for such things'!

A highly effective solution for addressing these risks and also reducing the impact that the risks have on the organisations work flow, programme/project delivery and productivity is by the formation and implementation of a centralised ISEB Programme and Project Support Office (ISEB PPSO).

The implementation of a Programme and/or Project Support Office (PPSO) will help organisations of all types and sizes by shaping and putting in place all the necessary programme/project support/administration functions and business processes as well as gathering information that can be used to support decision-making. Indeed, evidence and experience has demonstrated that the PPSO enables dramatic and dynamic improvement to over-all business/organisational systems and processes in addition to its core purpose of skilled programme/project support. The Programme and/or Project Support Office (PPSO) can also serve as an enabler for improved efficiency, productivity and often serves as gateway/platform to propagate best practice, dispersing programme/project management knowledge throughout the organisation to the widest possible audience.

Key Benefits of implementing an ISEB PPSO

Some of the fundamental key benefits of implementing a Programme and/or Project Support Office (PPSO) are identified below:

  • Provides a centralised coherent support function that aids with planning, support and administration duties allowing programme, project managers, and team managers to focus on product/service development and delivery.
  • Serves in a consulting capacity by providing training, guidance on programme/project management best practices such as the ISEB PPSO Standard.
  • Creates an effective oversight and control of the organisation's programmes and projects.
  • Aids delivery of strategic programmes and projects with more coherency and efficiency, whilst improving delivery (time and budget).
  • Serves as a SPOC (single point of contact) for programme and project support requirements or requests.
  • Integrates and promotes programme and project management tools and techniques and ensures industry led best practice standards are shared across the organisation.
  • Helps provide focus on programme and project schedules.
  • Improves consumer confidence, as programmes and projects are delivered more timely.
  • Supports the preparation for potential audits.
  • Improves inter-departmental relationships.
  • Provides consistent and accurate programme and project reporting, thus facilitating early warning of risks and issues.
  • Internal communications improve significantly.
  • Keeps management better informed.
  • Helps to achieve business objectives.

Please note that the full benefits could start to be realised between six months to a year. However there will be some benefits that are realised immediately, such as communication, better visibility of programme and project information and more control of programme and project tracking.

Approach to Implementing your ISEB PPSO

Our ISEB PPSO Consultants takes a four-stage approach in providing your organisation with a robust, scaleable and effective Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO) solution.

  1. Requirements Capture and Proposal of Bespoke PPSO Solution:

    • An initial meeting to understand and capture your PPSO requirements.
    • Evaluate PPSO requirements based on number of programmes/projects and their scale/scope.
    • Propose PPSO solution based on your requirements and our suggestions.
    • Agree/approval of terms of reference, roles and responsibilities.

  2. ISEB PPSO Solution Design and Preparation:

    • Review of your current operations, along with any relevant processes.
    • Design of PPSO solution.
    • Establish PPSO implementation plan.

  3. ISEB PPSO Solution Delivery / Implementation:

    • Introduction of the KPS team to all sponsors/stakeholders.
    • Development of relevant PPSO processes and procedures.
    • Creation of a PPSO Service Level Agreements (SLA's) to manage programme /project requests for support.
    • The launch of your new Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO).

  4. ISEB PPSO Management:

    • Management of the Programme and Project Support Office (PPSO).
    • Provision of specialist and highly experienced ISEB PPSO Consultants to undertake Interim Management assignments.

Why ISEB PPSO Consultants?

ISEB PSSO Consultants can offer your organisation a bespoke PPSO solution (Setup, Implementation and Management) that is scalable, robust and reliable whilst delivering the specific service levels your organisation requires. With our successful track record of delivering Programme and Project Support Office's (PPSO's) throughout major organisations in the UK and worldwide, KPS Consultants are well placed to meet your organisation's requirements by reducing risk and improving time to delivery.

KPS ISEB PPSO Consultants will aim to satisfy your organisation's requirements by achieving:

  • A cost effective solution that is excellent value for money.
  • Swift implementation.
  • Protect you from making potentially disastrous mistakes.
  • Transferring our ISEB PPSO expertise to your existing staff.
  • Improvement of business process efficiency.
  • Flexibility and scaleable, responding promptly to changing needs.
  • Delivering a successful outcome.

For further information on how our ISEB PPSO Consultants can assist your organisation's PPSO Setup, Implementation and Management needs, please contact KPS Consultants.

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