PMO Maturity: Delivering Organizational Value Through Project Management

Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading authority on project management, and global professional services firm, PwC, have teamed up to address the current state of project management office (PMO) maturity through the creation of a bespoke PMO maturity index. While the global maturity index score shows there is still a long way to go for PMOs on their maturity journey, it has identified a cohort of 230 PMOs—called the “Top 10 Percent” in this report—which are leaders across all dimensions of the index.

The Top 10 Percent are delivering on multiple aspects across five key dimensions of PMO maturity: governance, integration and alignment, processes, technology and data, and people. This allows the Top 10 Percent to have greater influence and impact in their organization and ultimately deliver more successful project outcomes. This is highlighted in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, where the Top 10 Percent were able to support the sharp pivot their organizations took by accelerating new ways of working and rapidly expanding risk management functions.

This report showcases the key attributes of the Top 10 Percent PMOs and the steps that can be taken to join them.

The project management office (PMO) has a vital role to play as the world transitions into a post-pandemic era. Often misunderstood as a department confined to governance and compliance, we are seeing PMOs move beyond the tactical execution of projects and perform a wider range of activities that drive strategic value for their organizations. These evolved PMOs embrace new technology, focus on team culture, and help develop project managers into ambassadors for value creation. They also have greater presence in the boardroom by working with the C-suite to align projects effectively with the organization’s strategy and focus on key outcomes that really matter to the organization.

To assess the current state of PMO maturity and understand what we can learn from the most advanced PMOs, PMI and PwC have created a first-of-its-kind Global PMO Maturity Index. Using the results from a worldwide survey of over 4000 project management professionals, of which over 2500 work in a PMO, a profile of the highest-performing PMOs—the “Top 10 Percent”—reveals what they have in common and how they create long-term benefits for their organizations.