In the prior post, I talked about defining the Business Objectives (outcomes) for the PMO. Once these are known and agreed upon by the PMO Sponsor, you can move on do defining the Project Objectives, with the project being the establishment of the PMO.

I list here some considerations for setting Project Objectives for the PMO. It is not meant to be a complete list, but it will give you a good idea of what to consider.

• Budget – What will be the budget for the PMO? Consider salaries, benefits, ongoing education, funding for professional organizations such as PMI, paying for certifications such as PMP, and travel.
• Organizational Structure – What will be the level of the top of the organization (Officer, Sr. VP, VP, Sr. Director, Director, etc)? Will there be multiple levels below this? Will you have different levels of PM’s? How many full time employees? Will you use consultants?
• Offices and Locations reserved
• Job Descriptions – Once you have an Organizational Structure defined, you will need Job Descriptions and pay ranges for each defined job. These will be used as guides in the interview and hiring process.
• Hiring – Starting with the top of the PMO organization. Once hired, this person will be largely responsible for hiring the rest of the team.
• PMO Charter – This will contain the “rules of engagement” for the PMO. Things like how projects will be assigned, the roles the team will play, the project life cycle for this organization, the definition of when the PMO engagement on a project ends, etc.
• PMO Processes and Templates – These will be the standards and practices for all steps of the project life cycle.

Your Project Objectives for establishing the PMO should be approved by the PMO Sponsor before moving on to the next step.