{"id":2101,"date":"2015-12-08T05:47:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T10:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=2101"},"modified":"2015-12-07T17:03:32","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T22:03:32","slug":"the-5-critical-elements-to-creating-a-project-management-centre-of-excellence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-5-critical-elements-to-creating-a-project-management-centre-of-excellence\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Critical Elements to Creating a Project Management Center of Excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creating a Project Management Centre of Excellence is the driving force that takes an organization forward to realize their project management mandate.\u00a0 It encompasses the process of creating a strategy for project management, re-shaping the culture to be more focused on the consistency in the management of projects and implementing a project management process.<\/p>\n

Creating a Project Management Centre of Excellence<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"project_management_COE\"A Centre of Excellence is a business unit that has organization-wide authority.\u00a0 The key elements of a successful Project Management Centre of Excellence include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Vision and Strategies<\/strong>
    \n<\/em>A clear vision of what it represents and the strategies to identify how it will reach this vision in the short and long term.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Competencies<\/strong>
      \n<\/em>The selection of resources based on project competency requirements compared to actual project resource competencies.\u00a0 The identification of coaching, training and other developmental activities to close any competency gap.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Culture<\/strong>
        \n<\/em>How to re-shape the organizational culture to be more supportive of the consistency in the management of projects.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Processes<\/strong>
          \n<\/em>The right processes, tools and templates that are helpful and meaningful to project managers and their teams.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. Quality<\/strong>
            \n<\/em>The quality criteria for the project management framework, processes and documents.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            1. Create the Vision and Strategies<\/strong><\/h2>\n

            One approach to creating a vision for the Centre of Excellence is to brainstorm ideas that focus on what the future will look like.\u00a0 Start by creating scenarios that describe what the Centre will be doing 5 years into the future.\u00a0 What are some of the things that they will be doing that reflect a successful Centre of Excellence?\u00a0 What will employees and customers be saying about them?\u00a0 How did they get there?<\/p>\n

            The outcome of this process is the creation of a vision statement for the Project Management Centre of Excellence.\u00a0 Determine how this vision aligns and supports the organization\u2019s strategic direction.<\/p>\n

            The alignment of the Centre of Excellence to the goals of the organization is key to driving strategy implementation.\u00a0 Strategies translate this vision into reality. They close the gap between the present and the \u201cideal\u201d future described in the vision scenarios.\u00a0 These strategies must be described clearly so that the organization understands and accepts them.<\/p>\n

            Vision Statement Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            • Create a project culture where project management is a valued competency embedded in the organization and where project leaders and their teams embrace the project management processes to ensure that the organization\u2019s projects deliver on their customer, quality and regulatory goals.<\/li>\n
            • To foster and support an organizational culture of project management to ensure greater accountability and consistency<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Strategy Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n