PMcrunch

Processes on Demand, by BOT International, is a robust suite of PMO tools – project management templates and software integrated together – to enable structured project management.  The toolset is focused on Project Management Office (PMO) functions to provide a structure for organizing projects enterprise wide.

The application toolset is web-based, so installation of the software instantly makes it accessible to anyone in the organization.  I would say it is built around the “Best Practices” or “Center of Excellence” concept that core best practices supported by some core expertise can permeate the organization.  This is the idea behind PMOs – which can vary widely in effectiveness.

Processes on Demand provides an introductory video that explains at an executive level how it works.  Basic concepts behind the approach include:

1. Every organization is different, and hence has unique differences in how it needs to approach projects.
2. Every organization would benefit from select useful processes around its project management efforts.
3. Most of the time, difficulties in projectizing the organization through use of a PMO reside in the process.
4. The aim of processes is to reduce human error, and to leverage the human element where needed most.

What is most interesting as an initial observation about the Processes on Demand offering is the integration between the software and the templates.  

Most software or online project management tools tend to embed certain fixed processes into the application, which works well if your processes are aligned with those embedded in the software.  While many offerings are flexible and configurable, there are limitations to this.

Most project management template offerings are sets of structured templates, often in Word or Excel format.  Again, these are useful, but they do not necessarily lend themselves to organization-wide adoption, change, and consistency.  They do not necessarily produce “repeatable processes”, which is one of the objectives of PMOs.
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John Reiling, PMP
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