Summary
Outlines PMO and stakeholder expectations for project success at UARK—covering governance, communication, risk, and closure to ensure alignment, accountability, and effective project delivery.
Body
Audience: University of Arkansas affiliates
Responsible Group: IT Project Management Team
Overview
The purpose of this document is to outline the expectations and responsibilities of the Project Management Office (PMO) in managing projects effectively while also detailing what is expected from the project requestors, sponsors, stakeholders, and team members.
What to expect from the PMO Team?
- Adherence to Project Governance:
- Manage all projects in the TeamDynamix (TDX) project management module using standard project management methodologies (agile, waterfall, iterative, hybrid, etc.)
- Utilize standardized PMO project templates and documentation for all project plans and related project documents.
- Respect project roles and responsibilities.
- When submitting a new project or consultation request you can expect to hear back from the PMO team within 3 business days.
- All project tasks will be assigned directly to resources through the TDX project. There will not be a separate service request created for work items that are part of a project. An exception will be made when task completion requires the submission of a service request that has a built-in approval workflow or performs automated tasks. Service requests for these items will be submitted and tracked within the associated project task. This ensures all tasks are tracked and completed within the project framework and avoids submission of unnecessary service requests.
- Coordination of organizational change management to assess impact and communicate accordingly to those impacted.
- Resource Management:
- Oversee resource allocation, ensuring that projects have the necessary resources (people, tools, budget) to succeed.
- Monitoring and Reporting:
- Track project progress, identify risks, and report on performance to stakeholders, ensuring transparency and accountability.
- Provide regular project status updates including updates on risks and issues.
- Escalate when needed to the appropriate level of leadership and/or project stakeholders based on identified issues, risks, or resource constraints.
- Process Improvement:
- Analyzing project performance data to identify areas for improvement and refine project management processes.
- Strategic Alignment:
- Ensure that projects are aligned with the organization's strategic goals and objectives, contributing to the overall success of the business.
- Communication and Collaboration:
- Facilitate communication and collaboration between project teams, stakeholders, and other departments, ensuring everyone is aligned and informed.
- Escalation of problems or delays promptly.
- Risk Management:
- Implement and maintain risk management processes to identify, assess, and mitigate potential risks that could impact project success.
- Customer Satisfaction:
- Ensure that project deliverables meet the required quality standards and adhere to relevant regulations and compliance requirements.
- Project Closure:
- Schedule and facilitate a lessons learned meeting.
- Complete a project closure document with lessons learned feedback.
- Complete an end of project survey. (Future offering)
What the PMO Team expects from you?
Expectations of the Project Requestor / Sponsor / Stakeholders:
- Clear Requirements:
- Well-defined goals, priorities, outcomes, and success criteria.
- Timely Feedback:
- Prompt responses to questions, approvals, and deliverable reviews.
- Realistic Expectations:
- Understanding of project constraints (scope, time, budget).
- Active Engagement:
- Participation in meetings, workshops, and key decisions.
- Support for Change Management:
- Cooperation in handling scope or requirement changes.
- Respect for Process:
- Adherence to timelines, signoffs, and agreed procedures.
- Budget and Resource Commitment:
- Timely provision of funding and availability of stakeholders.
- Reporting:
- Communication of project status to upper-level leaders and business stakeholders on a regular basis.
- Escalations:
- Timely response to escalations when being escalated to.
- Escalation to the project manager and appropriate levels of leadership when you are the one doing the escalation.
- Project Closure:
- Active participation in the lessons learned meeting.
- Review of and sign off on the project closure documentation.
- Completion of end of project survey. (Future offering)
Expectations of the Project Team Members:
A project team consists of both technical and non-technical resources that are assigned to complete tasks that are defined to achieve the overall project goal. This can include resources from both IT and business-facing areas.
- Accountability:
- Responsible for assigned tasks and deliverables
- Update task status and progress in TDX at least weekly before the project status meeting.
- Regular attendance at project related meetings. If you are unable to attend, please communicate with the project manager prior to the given meeting with any updates, questions, concerns, or issues that you have so that the PM can get them addressed in the meeting on your behalf.
- Collaboration:
- Teamwork, knowledge sharing, and mutual support.
- Honest communication about progress, blockers, and risks.
- Use of agreed upon collaboration/communication tools for the duration of the project.
- Time Management:
- Ability to meet deadlines and manage workloads.
- Reporting office outages and unavailability (PTO, sick, etc.) to the project manager.
- Capacity Management (Managers/Directors):
- Determine from your team who is qualified for and has the availability needed to take on the requested work.
- Adaptability:
- Flexibility to adjust to changes in project scope and timelines.
- Professionalism:
- Respectful, reliable, and constructive behavior.
- Escalation:
- Timely escalations of roadblocks, issues, or unexpected surprises to the project manager.
- Project Closure:
- Active participation in the lessons learned meeting.
- Completion of end of project survey. (Future offering)