What is MSP Programme Office (or Program Office )?

What is MSP Programme Office (or Program Office )?

There are many ways a Programme Office (or Program Office ) can be defined or described. A Programme Office (or Program Office ) is most popularly described as the nerve centre of an MSP programme. The programme office management function provides all the information and the standards for an MSP programme.

According to the managing successful programme manual, all information passes through and recorded at the Programme Office (or Program Office ). Programme Office (or Program Office ) also acts as the centre for all communication and monitoring and control activities in an MSP programme. The Programme Office (or Program Office ) is a very important part of the MSP organisation as programmes are generally very huge and involve proper coordination among large numbers of people and huge amounts of data or information.

A Programme Office (or Program Office ) can support one or more MSP programmes. Generally, in cases where the organisation is very large or the change is on a large scale, the Programme Office (or Program Office ) supports more than one programme.

Even in cases where a Programme Office (or Program Office ) does not physically exist, the activities of Programme Office (or Program Office ) are generally performed by another similar entity. For example, in organisations where the programmes are part of a portfolio, the Programme Office (or Program Office ) activities can be provided by a corporate portfolio office, programme management office (or program management office ), or centre of excellence.

A Programme Office (or Program Office ) plays two very distinct roles in managing successful programmes. In one role, the Programme Office (or Program Office ) provides all the support that various programmes need in delivering their objectives. This can include a variety of things from a simple resource to dealing with the highest level of escalation that blocks the progress of a programme. In the second role, the Programme Office (or Program Office ) provides assurance and governance across all the programmes. This second role is very wide and covers governance, control, standards, approvals, finances, health checks etc.

Programme office functions

What are Programme Office (or Program Office ) responsibilities?

What are Programme Office (or Program Office ) functions?

The main responsibilities or functions of the Programme Office (or Program Office ) are as below:

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  • Track, measure and report the progress of delivery of one or more programmes against the baselined and agreed plans.
  • Record and maintain all master copies of data,
  • Generate and distribute all needed quality management guidelines and documentation,
  • Maintain, control and update all programme documentation,
  • Establish and maintain an electronic library of all programme data and index the same in a sensible way,
  • Provide help and support to the MSP programme manager with preparing and maintaining the programme budget,
  • Maintain status reports on all projects in the programme,
  • Track all risks and issues and support the programmes in dealing with them,
  • Analyse interfaces and critical dependencies between projects and recommend proper actions to the MSP programme manager to deal with the same,
  • Maintain a full list of stakeholders and their interests,
  • Establish consistent practices and standards for project planning, reporting, change control, risk log etc.
  • Register change requests for subsequent actions, monitor their approvals, prompt timely action and report on their progress,
  • Provide comprehensive reports on an overview of all programmes, how they depend on each other etc. to the senior management,
  • Provide consulting advise to various project delivery teams at all times so that a common approach is taken in all projects or programmes,
  • Carry out health checks and advise on necessary actions, provide support in the form of workshops etc.

What are Programme Office (or Program Office ) skill sets?

What is Programme Office (or Program Office ) job description?

The below are the common skills required in a Programme Office (or Program Office ). These generally appear on a Programme Office (or Program Office ) job description.

• Good knowledge and experience in planning techniques gained from working on projects or programmes,
• Ability to use software meant for resource management, scheduling of activities, reporting, analysis and communication of plans,
• Knowledge on the process to capture actual progress of work and ability to use such tools,
• Sound knowledge on risk and issue analysis and experience with the procedures to manage the same,
• Having the ability to create and administer the action plans to manage risks and issues,
• Sound knowledge and decent experience in cost estimating, cost tracking and analysis,
• Good understanding of the financial methods used on a project or programme or program,
• Experience of creating and maintaining project and programme related filing systems in both physical and electronic forms in a consistent manner,
• Good knowledge of configuration management,
• Knowledge about resources outside the Programme Office (or Program Office ) that can provide useful and helpful data when needed,
• Ability to create and maintain the reference material up-to-date,
• Knowledge of industry standard techniques for assessing requests for change,
• Experience in procedures to manage the change requests,
• Ability to administer the action plans from the change requests,
• Must be able to perform activities of generic nature in an office like arranging travel, booking facilities and logistics for project and program (or programme ) teams.

Programme Office | Ramaaa Consultants Limited | Manoj Gajavelli MSP | Experts in Managing Successful Programmes and MSP Programme Management | Specialists in Training and Consulting.

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