A consistent value capability of a PMO is the ability to share data through a variety of different reports and dashboards. Presenting the right combination of data through a set of meaningful reports & dashboards is a missing value added capability provided by very few PMO’s. Let’s have a look at a few key practices that will serve as your base in providing the meaningful reports your organisation needs.
Accuracy
Your data can’t be wrong. All the data used for PMO reporting must be accurate and be free of conflict with other data sources. If anyone in your organisation can question the origin or correctness of the data, the message your data conveys lost trust. Data conflicts must be resolved to produce truly relevant reporting your data can often come into conflict with other data sources. When this happens, the conflict must be resolved. The PMO needs to understand the data that drive the organisation. Data conflicts must be resolved to produce reporting that is truly relevant for the organisation.
Context
People will make assumptions about data in the absence of context. In project portfolio management “assumptions” in reporting are never helpful. Providing context to your reporting will help reduce these unintended assumptions. Projects create a lot of data, and rather than trying to capture everything, pick the data points that will have the biggest impact on your strategic plans and quantify the value of the PMO to the business. It’s worth investing time in PMO analytics as there is a strong case for tangible returns.
Tools
The tool you choose for your project portfolio management must provide PMO with a way to interconnect all the data streams into one consistent report, no matter the project management tools you’ve got in place, the number of employees you have or the projects you are building. One of the ways to make it happen is data aggregation. It provides PMO with transparency and visibility across all your projects and portfolios. So, it is much easier to make sense of all the continuous data flow and “translate” it into a report, easy to understand and base decisions on.
But with so much data available, the PMO has to collect the right information to demonstrate outcomes and show the impact that it is having on the business. Visit our website and fill out the contact form, and one of our experts will be in touch to have a friendly chat about making better and faster decision making for your business.
