PMO Learning and Development

The four levels are:

• Level 1 – New to Working in PMO
  • These roles are entry level
  • Mainly working in programme or project support
  • Job titles include; Project Administrator, Project Co-ordinator, Project Support Officer
  • Assumes that knowledge is needed in both project management AND PMO.
• Level 2 – Supporting Portfolio, Programmes and Projects
  • These are the various roles found that support portfolio, programme and project delivery
  • Can include those working in a PMO – or supporting singular projects and programmes
  • Tends to be practitioners who have been working in the role for 2 years+
  • Job titles include; PMO Analyst, Programme Co-ordinator, Project Co-ordinator, Project Support Officer
  • Assumes that more advanced knowledge is needed in portfolio, programme and project management AND advanced topics in PMO.
• Level 3 – Leading and Managing PMOs
  • For PMO practitioners at the management level of PMO
  • Assumes practitioners are setting up and/or ongoing management of PMOs. Tends to be singular PMOs – a portfolio office, programme office or project office
  • Experienced practitioners who have worked within the project management field for a number of years
  • Job titles include; PMO Manager, PMO Lead, Head of PMO, Portfolio Office Manager, Programme Office Manager, Project Office Manager.
  • Assumes that advanced knowledge is needed in PMO design, set up, management and improvement
• Level 4 – Managing and Directing PMOs
  • For PMO practitioners at the director / enterprise level of PMO
  • Practitioners are designing, setting up and managing enterprise level PMOs across the organisation. Likely to be responsible for multiple PMOs.
  • Assumes practitioners have advanced experience and knowledge in portfolio, programme and project management AND PMO organisational design.
  • Job titles include; Head of PMO, PMO Director, Director of PMO, ePMO Manager
  • Practitioners will be working at a senior/board level within the organisation.

Alongside the core certification courses are our specialist courses. These are shorter courses that go deeper into certain topic areas. PMO practitioners are advised to think about their development in specific skills gap areas and consider short courses alongside other self-development activities.

Find out more about the two areas for learning & development for PMO practitioners below.

P3O Foundation is suitable for those having worked in a support role for over two years or more. It’s a great certification to do if you’re wanting to learn more about the different types of PMOs that exist and the services they provide. It’s a 3-day course.

P3O Practitioner is aimed at those who are managing or looking to moving into a management role in PMO and specifically looking to implement a PMO. This is a 2-day course and you must already have the P3O Foundation. Lots of people opt to do both the Foundation and Practitioner together in 5 days.

AXELOS – Management of Portfolios (MoP®)

PMO practitioners have chosen MoP because they’re working at a portfolio level – within a Portfolio Management Office or an Enterprise PMO (ePMO). In this type of role, it is important to understand how portfolio management determines which projects and programmes an organisation decides to do and when.

For PMO practitioners with minimal experience in portfolio management, the three day Foundation level course is the place to start.

The Practitioner level course is particularly useful if you are setting up a Portfolio Office or organisation-wide PMO and are looking for best practice to inform your approach to implementation.

The PMO Essentials from the House of PMO

The House of PMO, a new professional body for PMO professionals are launching four new PMO certifications this year.

The House of PMO mission, which we 100% support, is to create a home for PMO professionals where they can develop themselves, support the development of others and contribute to the development of the PMO profession.

The first two courses – PMO Essentials for PMO Administrators  and PMO Essentials for PMO Analysts – are now available to book through PMO Learning.

The certifications are called PMO Essentials and the four include:

• PMO Essentials for PMO Administrators
• PMO Essentials for PMO Analysts
• PMO Essentials for PMO Managers (launching 2022)
• PMO Essentials for PMO Directors (launching 2022)

The certification courses are accredited by APMG, the global examination institute.

PMO Learning will be the first accredited training organisation (ATO) licenced to deliver the new courses.

Current specialist courses include:

• Lean-Agile PMO – for PMO professionals learning to support both traditional and Agile projects in their organisation
• Agile Frameworks and the PMO – for PMO practitioners looking to learn about enterprise level Agile frameworks such as SAFe.
• Setting Up a PMO – setting up a Project Management Office is available for anyone tasked with this business requirement.
• Coaching Skills for the PMO – coaching techniques for PMO professionals looking to improve problem-solving and team collaboration
• Facilitation Fundamentals for the PMO – the APMG Foundation certification in Facilitation for PMO professionals looking to improve their facilitation skills
• Benefits Management and the PMO – a key challenge area for many PMO professionals, this course provides the fundamentals.
• Unlocking Business Agility through Portfolio Management – This course explores the critical success factors for effective portfolio management and identifies strategies and tactics to address organisation blockers.
• Assurance for the PMO Professional – This course describes how you as a PMO professional fit into the project assurance landscape, and how you can help ensure that project assurance is effective and efficient.
• Foundations of PMO Leadership – In this course, we will look at the fundamentals of leadership and how they apply to the PMO. You will learn about the fundamental roles a leader needs to play and the skills you need in order to play them effectively.

For further details on the specialist PMO courses [take a look at the PMO specialist courses here]