Posted on by Clem Maloney

Establishing a PMO for a Growing Organisation

Description

Establishing a PMO for a Growing Organisation

Sector: Professional Services
Service: IT Resourcing & Project Delivery Oversight
Objective: Insourcing a consultractor as PMO Manager to establish a Project Management Office (PMO), build initial delivery capability, and transition leadership once operational.

Context

A mid-sized professional services organisation of around 100 staff had reached the point where projects were being delivered inconsistently, with varying approaches to governance, reporting, and prioritisation. Leadership recognised the risks: duplicated effort, missed deadlines, limited visibility of benefits realisation, and increasing difficulty aligning projects to strategy.

To support planned growth and larger initiatives, the organisation committed to creating a PMO. The initial requirement was for a lean but effective unit, centred on a PMO Manager, two Project Managers, and a Project Coordinator, with the capacity to scale as demand increased.

Approach

123.EXPERT provided an experienced consultractor PMO Manager on an on-hire basis. This individual was tasked with both establishing the PMO and building the structures that would allow the role to be transitioned once the function was stable.

The consultractor:

  • Designed the PMO framework, covering project lifecycle governance, reporting standards, and prioritisation methods.

  • Recruited and onboarded two Project Managers and a Coordinator, ensuring complementary skills and alignment to the new delivery standards.

  • Introduced standardised templates for scheduling, risk management, and benefits tracking.

  • Built executive dashboards to provide clear oversight of progress and risks.

  • Mentored the internal team, preparing them to assume leadership once the PMO was embedded.

Impact

Within six months, the PMO was operational, delivering improved project consistency, clearer reporting, and stronger alignment with organisational strategy. Leadership gained transparency across the project portfolio, enabling better resource allocation and decision-making.

True to the 123.EXPERT delivery-focussed insourcing model, the consultractor both provided hands-on delivery oversight and built internal capability. By replacing themselves with a permanent internal successor, they ensured continuity, scalability, and a sustainable PMO aligned to the organisation’s growth ambitions.