IT PMO Overview

​The University of Iowa Information Technology (IT) Project Management Office (PMO) is the primary source for the University’s IT project management needs. The PMO offers an array of services and resources that champion project success and customer satisfaction. The PMO leverages industry best practices and methodologies to assist in raising the performance for project delivery. If your department has a project, the PMO can develop a strategy to accomplish your goals. The PMO supports large, medium, and small scale projects and will work with staff to provide project management support, templates, tools, and mentoring for the duration of a projects lifecycle. 

How the PMO Works

The PMO utilizes a framework known as the project management lifecycle which is a systematic approach to completing all tasks for a project. The framework provides a consistent method to manage projects with repeatable practices. It is divided into four phases: Initiation, Planning, Implementation, and Close Out. Each phase includes a collection of activities that culminate into deliverables. A project manager leads the project team through each phase. Completion of a phase requires hand-off of deliverables and a phase end review. Before a phase can be considered closed, approval is obtained by the sponsor and/or owner, ensuring client involvement in all stages of the project. In addition, each phase is frequented by regular status updates.

PMO Benefits

Scalable

  • Framework can be scaled to projects of any size by allowing multiple iterations and varying particular activities.

Flexible

  • Project manager has discretion in deciding which particular activities are most practical to the project and may employ components that best suit project needs.
  • Framework is designed to serve different types of IT projects such as infrastructure, development, services, etc.
  • Varying levels of formality can be applied to serve different size projects

Adaptable

  • Allows for changing client needs
  • Continuously improves by developing a body of knowledge

Reliable

  • Provides foundation that allows for consistent application of project management practices to all projects with repeatable phases
  • Diminishes rework
  • Provides reportable project metrics
  • Raises efficiency and effectiveness for project delivery