In Session I, we talked about the PMO Author taking a clean sheet of paper and developing a Funding Authorization Statement or Summary for a project which would include information and details concerning supporting documentation for the justification and approval process.
Here is the example we used:
“This funding authorization seeks $37.5 million (capital and expense) from the IT Executive Board to deliver the IT Marketing Apps Development Project for new Stores by December 2011. The Business Case is defined as follows…..The economics and payback are defined as follows….The risks to the project completion are defined as follows…..The proposed project team will consist of the following from IT and/or functional business units. The external consultants proposed for this project are ………Authorization of this project is part of a larger portfolio of projects which have been addressed by the IT Executive Board in its meeting of August 21, 2009.”
Every one of the Bolded Words (Information) in this Authorization statement need to be addressed including the following:
1. Definition of the Bolded Word (Information).
2. Location of the Bolded Word (Information), i.e. inside the PMO, supporting Corporate group, functional business group. This detail will provide the PMO Author with decision points for various pieces of information.
For example, the Business Case will contain financial/economic analyses which will need to be developed by someone or some group. Wherever that someone or some group resides sets up a decision point for the PMO Author.
3. At this point, I recommend that the PMO Author actually draw lines from the Bolded Word (Information) named in the Authorization Statement to a white space in the margin where the PMO Author will begin to fill in the details of what, where, when and how for each piece of information.
4. It is important that every Bolded Word (Information) in the Authorization Statement be addressed by the PMO Author at this point so that the next stage of maturation in the process will flow smoothly. Those of you familiar with David Allen’s Getting Things Done will recognize this as the next action.
5. Once all the information and locations are defined for one project’s Authorization Statement, then additional Authorization Statements can be added for additional projects until a Portfolio of Projects is included. At this point, an Information piece needs to be added to describe how the Portfolio will be handled.
6. Obviously each Bolded Word (Information) will include human resource as well as physical and financial resource materials so that a Budget of human resources and physical and financial resources can be developed.
7. Timing will also be a consideration after all Bolded Words (Information) and Resources have been defined. Now the “process” is beginning to look like a “Funding Authorization Process” and a flow of information to support the “Process.”
In the next Session, we will look at some other considerations such as ancillary or support processes for Control and Reporting.
You might want to revisit Session I again now that you have read Session II so that you get a complete picture of the “Process” and its inputs. As we develop more detail and more information, we are beginning to define what is termed a “Well Define Process” which includes entry and exit information and flow as well as criteria for moving the process from one stage to the next in a controlled fashion.
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