Case Study

From a functional view to explain the role of the O&M sector within the RCJ$,$ so as to understand the complexity and challenges of objective alignment, the O&M maintains all infrastructure, assets and facilities through five core departments: roads, buildings, sanitation, irrigation and landscaping, and general utilities. All O&M services are delivered through $23$ O&M contractors $($over $5,000$ employees$)$ using operational O&M processes and procedures. Each department has a set of processes, procedures, and improvement plans within a specific scope and reports to the general manager, O&M$.$ An example of the daily operational tasks with different functions and deliverables is the preventive maintenance for roads and bridges, which requires different resources, processes, and supervision from those required for buildings; the same applies for sanitation and waste collection. The structure and scope of the O&M sector within the city is illustrated in Exhibit $2.$

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Exhibit $1$: Link between the organization strategic and function objectives.

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Exhibit $2$: Structure of O&M scope within the city.

To evaluate O&M capabilities within the sector and to achieve the strategic objectives, RCJ came up with a group of projects that are required to improve performance and achieve the corporate objectives as shown in Exhibit $3.$

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Exhibit $3$: Example of projects within O&M departments.

To manage the projects in one layer $($high level$)$ to ensure alignment with strategic objectives, sustain improvements and changes, share and manage knowledge and practices, and systematize the methodology of management, the PMO was established to manage the transformation. The business case was presented to the executive management to approve building a PMO within the O&M sector.

RCJ implemented the idea of the PMO at the beginning of the project in $1970$ to build the city and successfully practiced PMO building, management, and operation. However, the idea of the PMO within O&M wasn't mature, and there was no prior experience.

The first phase to initiate the PMO was to answer the following:

What is the PMO structure and organization?

What is the PMO's role and services?

What is the PMO methodology?

What PMO model should be adopted?

Structure and organization

The PMO would act as the unit to manage projects within the transformation and coordinate, communicate, and share knowledge, practices, and progress across five departments, as explained in the following paragraphs. Exhibit $4$ shows the reporting structure of the PMO within the O&M sector.

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Exhibit $4$: Organization structure.

PMO role and services

Determining the role of the PMO and its services was important to:

make clear the communication channels and reporting;

define the roles and responsibilities for each function within the sector and the PMO;

differentiate between the operational and daily activities from strategic projects and goals.

The entire project must achieve the strategic objectives and these projects are the starters with more in the pipeline. So after elaborating and developing the overall O&M plan, the main role of the PMO is the responsibility of managing all projects and programs within the O&M sector and aligning them with the business strategic objectives. That will result in changes and transformation from one way of doing things into another way of doing them. In this case study, the PMO leads the transformation through different models, using the portfolio method as per Project Management Institute $($PMI$)$ industry standards. This portfolio consists of programs and projects for planning, scope management and execution of each project. Therefore, the PMO is responsible for sharing knowledge and information during strategy implementation with departments and reporting to executive management.

As part of initiating and building the PMO, it was important to identify the provided services and communicate those services to executive management, users and departments, as these stakeholders interact with and are influenced by the PMO. The services include the following:

$1)$ Create a repository for project information.

$2)$ Manage and share knowledge and experience throughout the five departments and their projects to ensure alignment and integration $($knowledge management$).$

$3)$ Manage consultant performance and measure compliance.

$4)$ Manage changes and support transformation through training, sharing best practices and recommending additional training.

PMO Model

The PMO model was selected based on the transformation roadmap for the O&M$,$ which integrated the different phases of the roadmap $($stabilize$,$ transform, excel and sustain$).$ Each phase has the required support from the PMO based on requirements and deliverables and on the maturity of both the PMO and the departments responsible for preparing, managing, and executing the projects. The PMO model in each phase shows how the PMO executes work within its role. The three models for each phase of the PMO