The role of the EPMO

I’ve recently been asked what I believe the role of an EPMO is, and in simple terms I believe it is to keep the organisation on track to deliver its strategy - ensuring it is doing the right thing at the right time to achieve the strategic objectives and value. How an EPMO goes about achieving this however is likely to vary based on the organisational need. 

A traditional PMO is usually found within a function, responsible for setting and managing a standardised approach to project management for that function. This usually includes frameworks, tools, resource planning, financial management, risk and quality tracking, governance, reporting and knowledge sharing. In some cases the PMO will also take on direct responsibility for the Programme and Project Managers as well as the roles of PMO Analysts and Administrators/Coordinators. 

Scaling a PMO to an EPMO can be considered fairly simplistically as applying the same responsibilities across all functions in an organisation, consolidating the capabilities from individual functions to enterprise level, with oversight of the entire organisational portfolio of programmes and projects. 

Interestingly the act of scaling to this level, providing a more direct linkage with the strategy and business model, can also enable it to take on wider responsibilities. The capabilities housed in the EPMO are exposed to the big picture and network of the organisation, enabling them to apply the same skills of coordination, analysis, prioritisation, collaboration, stakeholder management and outcome focus, to a broader view. 

As such I have found that an EPMO naturally evolves not just into a Enterprise Portfolio Management Office, but also into a function that helps join up the other functions, the organisational glue and in some cases its conscious, acting as an independent body with the delivery of the strategy as its anchor. This has in my experience included encompassing responsibility for: 

1. Organisational Governance, helping the organisation define the most effective governance model (beyond just project/programme governance) whilst meeting all relevant regulatory, audit, and board requirements. 
2. Organisational Performance, supporting the definition and reporting of strategic and operational performance scorecards to provide the right data for effective decision-making, indicating when directional changes are needed and providing a view of the here and now challenges that need consideration from the strategic delivery. 
3. Business & Functional Planning, coordinating the breakdown of the strategy into a delivery roadmap, combining that with operational requirements, and working within financial and resource capacity to develop a realistic business plan, as well as working with the functions to ensure their plans add up to the objectives and outcomes required to keep the overall business plan and organisation on track. 

In the unique challenge of the pandemic it also enabled the pivot of the same capabilities into Crisis Management, supporting organisations manage and react to the evolving situation. 

Does your organisation have an EPMO, though possibly with another name, and what responsibility does it have?