Every organization and every project is different. It is also turned out that there is no one way to better manage a project.
In the thrust to recap my experience and upskill, drafting this consolidated post on the All-in-All PMO checklist.
This post will be updated as and when any NEW process, templates, methods, ideologies, project tasks, estimating, or guidelines came across during the PMO career experience.
I will work until this checklist is consolidated to include all aspects of the project management.
Let’s get started.
| # | Category | Tasks | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charter | Understand the project charter in terms of scope, and authority to use the resources to project activities | If you have accessibility, get the business case and understand it in detail. |
| 2 | Scope of the Project | Understand what is to be delivered to the customer. Elaborate as much detail as possible with deliverables. | Understand what problem is being solved by executing the project |
| 3 | Exclusions from Scope | Understanding what is excluded from the scope will help to deliver the project in better ways. | This helps to avoid the gold plating and also aid in the change management process. |
| 4 | Purpose & Objectives | As a PMO, you need to know at 2000ft what is the purpose of the project and its objectives. | This is more in terms of technical understanding. |
| 5 | Project Management Plan | Brief plan about how the project will be executed, monitored and controlled. | This is a broad topic and most of the details covered in this checklist will constitute the PMP |
| 6 | Project Contract / PO | Get all the documents related to the contract and save them for future purposes. | Two important things – Cost, Timeline & Type of the contract are critical to know from the contract |
| 7 | Funding of the project | It is important to understand the funding of the project – Internal / External | This helps in monitoring the financials in terms of Revenue & Gross Margin |
| 8 | Customer Deliverables | While the project can have many deliverables, it is important to know what is expected by the customer ( documents, product build, etc) | This can be obtained from the contract and scope document with timelines. |
| 9 | Project Id, Project Name, Category, Domain, Function in the organization | All these elements are important to know as a PMO. | It helps to understand how the project is aligned within the organization. |
| 10 | Constraints & Assumptions known | Understand the constraints & assumptions in the project and document to keep revisiting periodically | These two needs to be published to management/customer and reviewed. |
| 11 | Context diagram | Typically this means the architecture and infrastructure diagram or the final hardware product build. | As a PMO, this will help to understand the scope of the program. |
| 12 | Cost accounting methods / Financial system interface | If the project needs monthly revenue/invoice generation to the customer, as a PMO understand how it is done. | Have a conversation with the finance team to know the internal process, tools to be used, email contacts, and the monthly cadence timelines |
| 13 | Billing Rate | With respect to customers, how are we billing them? Internal revenue generation is different from what is been billed to the customer | As a PMO, understand the difference in your project |
| 14 | Fixed, Indirect & Variable cost | Understand the different types of costs incurred in the project for effective tracking. | Draw an S-curve to show the relationship between spending and time. |
| 15 | Project Staffing – Domain wise | Understand the key skills required for the project and key roles to be deployed. | This is the base for the project organization chart. |
| 16 | Training needs | Is the team fully equipped with the technical skills that are needed for the execution of the project. | Periodically check the training needs and resource-related issues. |
| 17 | Resource Levels and Rates | As a PMO, it is important to consider the resource levels and the cost of the project. | Caution to consider the base rate from the finance team. |
| 18 | Resource allocation | Understand the resource allocation methods and control mechanisms. | This will impact the timesheet and in turn, the actual efforts tracking. |
| 19 | Resource Tracker | Maintain the resource tracker with all the details start/end date, skills, levels, etc. | This should be periodically updated and maintained. |
| 20 | Functional Department Support Personal | Every project will be handled by different personnel within Finance, HR, IT, Procurement, and Quality teams. Hence it is important to know the key POC | This POC should also be part of the Project Organisation Chart |
| 21 | Project Org chart | Everyone should know who is working on the project. So establish Team Org chart | This needs to be published to every stakeholder in the project and updated periodically |
| 22 | Customer Org Chart | In the product organization, when working with customers, you may need to know the key POC for various queries related to the project | Understand, if you as a PMO will have client interaction. |
| 23 | SME’s and Key POC | It is important as a PMO to know the key POC for each domain and functions | |
| 24 | RACI matrix | Once the org chart is finalized, it is important to create RACI for major tasks/milestones/deliverables. | In the project schedule, make sure each task is assigned to the task owner. |
| 25 | Communication Channel | Distribution List for the Team. | You can create your own personal DL in the outlook. |
| 26 | Required Technical Software set up and access | Document all the project-related software that is required for project delivery. | Classify the freeware and premium licenses cost that is been incurred in the project |
| 27 | Project Management Softwares | Understand the tools used for each scope of work like scheduling, budgeting, timesheet, quality audit, status reports & dashboards, etc | As a PMO, get hands-on with the PMO-related tools that are your bread and butter. |
| 28 | Internal Reporting Needs / checklist | Right from Day 1, you need to know what kind of reporting you are going to publish to customers and to the internal mgmt. | Finalize the template for both internal and customer along with the MOS for publishing. It should contain 1. Report name 2. Who 3. When |
| 29 | Reporting Repository | This is a repository by which project reports can be generated and organized for dissemination to the team. | Central Repository for the project. |
| 30 | Meeting Minutes | MOM is a key artifact taken for granted and it is important to use a common template as it aids to know where and what to look for. | Actions from the MOM should be clearly called out. |
| 31 | Action Tracker | Maintaining a consolidated action tracker will help to summarize and publish to stakeholders. | Periodic updates and releases of the action tracker are very important. |
| 32 | WBS & WBS Dictionary | List of all the product requirements and deliverables to be completed. | This can include different features that are being built into the product. |
| 33 | Project Schedule / WBS with resource/cost estimation | Whether you are using tools like MPP, Plan view, or Clarity, you need to know the entire flow of tasks and their correlation to the deliverables/milestones | Dependencies are a very key thing to capture in the project schedule. The plan will contain the milestone, projected, and actual start and end dates for each task, and elapsed days, and can include predecessors and resources required. |
| 34 | Project Timeline | A brief timeline with a list of all the milestones and project phases is very important. | Use tools to derive the project timeline and keep updating the same. |
| 35 | Holidays & Team Calendar | Make sure the Holidays ( including the global locations) are considered for the scheduling and reporting. | This will help to plan the tasks appropriately. |
| 36 | Contingency in the schedule | Ensure sufficient buffer is added to the tasks to track the leads and lags. | Holidays are to be considered. |
| 37 | Meeting invites with Links and agenda | Identify all the internal meetings that are required for a PMO to schedule and facilitate. | |
| 38 | Document Storage & Configuration mgmt | Often this is underrated. But having a centralized location for the documents. Separate folders for each category. | Have the key links related to the project under your signature for ease of access by your team. |
| 39 | Status Report | For the emails/status reports sent periodically, define the automated process like a fixed template. | Use resources like One note, Powerpoint, Excel or Outlook email to create templates |
| 40 | Escalation Matrix | As a PMO, you need to know whom to contact if the work is not progressing. | Create an escalation matrix for each domain and know the SMEs. |
| 41 | List of KPIs / Performance Metrics | As a PMO, understand the different KPIs to be monitored in the project. It can be from Revenue, GM, Utilisation, Attrition, FTEs, Risks, Changes, CPI & SPI, Cycle time, Milestone fidelity index, Defects tracking, and cost of quality. | This triggers the search for information on monitoring tools and how to measure them. |
| 42 | Variances Threshold and Tracking | Define budget or schedule variances, and provide corrective action when necessary | Understand the threshold levels and track against the baseline. |
| 43 | Baseline the project | Don’t ever start the project without baselining – Schedule, Cost, Resources, Tools, Templates, etc | Get the buy-in from the stakeholders |
| 44 | Efforts to track and monitoring | Understand how the baseline efforts on monthly basis are tracked against the actual hours from the timesheet. | |
| 45 | External suppliers/ Vendors | Understand the scope of work and apply concepts in the main project to the Subcontract as well. | Document, Document & Document |
| 46 | Procurement | Understand and know the sourcing requirements in the project. | Coordinate with the internal Procurement team for the cost, timeline etc. |
| 47 | Change Management | Change management is very important in project management. It has control over the success/failure of the project. | Define the process at the beginning of the project itself including the CCB board, templates, change log, timeline, and documentation. |
| 48 | Risk Management | Right from identifying the risks ensure best practices are followed in the project. | Risk log, risk tolerance, reviews, workaround, risk owner, mitigation & contingency plan. |
| 49 | RAID | Maintain the tracker for all the Risks, Actions, Issues, and Dependencies | It can be maintained in the tool or manually in excel. |
| 50 | Invoices | Ensure the invoice tracker is maintained and aligned with the Finance team. | Place all invoices copy in a central location. |
| 51 | Closing out projects | Have a project closure checklist to ensure the handover is smooth to the customer and also the project decommissioning. | Archiving, Deactivating, Documenting, and Final communication are very critical to the project. |
| 52 | Onboarding Manual | A key document to keep in handy for anyone joining the project. | Ensure to include information like tool access requests, key POCs, training documents, repository, etc. |
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