When would you consider de-centralasing a Project Management Office?

One of the major choices that a new project management office has to deal with is ... for work which is being managed in a much more decentralized manner, which is not easy ... being on site is better ... problems can be better/faster assessed ... at times it is best to identify a problem in person than having statements given over the phone or internet...travel arrangements have to be made which is time consuming    

When the projects are outside the HQ's area and the onsite project managers need to make daily decisions.

Though it is absolutely necessary for the project manager or their representative to be present onsite to monitor the project progress closely and solve day to day issues it not always possible for all the commercial team decision makers to be present in the site at all times so it will be necessary to have decentralised structure of reporting where head office is updated either on daily / weekly / fortnightly / monthly  progress report and incase any work is required to be done out of scope then prior permission is required to be taken before commencement, completion.

When the aggregate of  individual Net present Values (NPVs) of the the project and Management office is more than the combined NPV of the project and management office, then we will consider to decentralize the project and management office

Thank you, like you stated, when it needs in more hands on approach, but I always prefer to be close to a Project and have the meetings on site, not in a decentralized office, Y=That is sometimes difficult for the attenders but it is part of the work.be there!

when it gets difficult to manage multiple offlocation onlocation virtual communication channels, Transition strategy always helps to either monitor control or can say supervise run the pmo effectively.

When the project expands and staff growth accures

when you decide to appoint one person who is experienced in project managment at same time excluding all central locations in other places of countries and state provinces.

The projects are outside of the area and the onsite project managers need to make daily decisions.and have the meetings on site,

The projects are offsite  and the onsite managing authorities need to know the progress and made decisions daily or weekly bases. 

 

 

I think there is no really a rule of thumb on this matter. De-centralizing a Project Management Office depends on the capacity of the Managing Office on up to how many projects it can handle by itself without compromising the three main factors of a project, namely Quality, Time & Money. If the Manager felt that handling several projects by only one manager will not be advisable anymore or will put the company and the project as well at risks, then there's a need to have a de-centralization.