Page 21 - Organizational Project Management

Chapter 1—Foundational Concepts

OPM3 is designed to help organizations align diverse aspects of their
operations with their overall business strategy. The application of OPM3
will assist organizations in establishing policies and process standards to
ensure that operations are consistent with strategic objectives. Similarly,
OPM3 may support the establishment of improvement goals in alignment
with the organization’s strategy.

1.3 ORGANIZATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Organizational project management is the application of knowledge, skills,
tools, and techniques to organizational and project activities to achieve the
aims of an organization through projects.
The term “organization” does not necessarily refer to an entire company,
agency, association, or society. It can refer to business units, functional
groups, departments, or sub-agencies within the whole. In the context of
OPM3, the term applies to any groups intending to make use of the mate-
rial in this Standard. This use will involve assessing their organizational
project management maturity, and determining whether their maturity is
deemed satisfactory at that point in time. If an organization decides to
improve its maturity, OPM3 will assist with the pursuit of improvements.
As important as it is for an organization to accomplish individual proj-
ects successfully, additional strategic value is generally realized by treating
most endeavors as projects—managing them individually and collectively
in alignment with strategic goals. Organizations also benefit from estab-
lishing an infrastructure supportive of the needs of project management.
While individual projects may be considered tactical, organizational
project management is, by definition, strategic. Used properly, it mirrors an
organization’s business strategy and provides a high-level perspective and
regulation of critical resources that directly impact financial results. Seen
in this light, organizational project management is a strategic advantage in
a competitive economy.

1.4 ORGANIZATIONAL MATURITY
A “maturity model” is a conceptual framework, with constituent parts, that
defines maturity in the area of interest—in this case, organizational project
management. In some cases, such as with OPM3, a maturity model may
also describe a process whereby an organization can develop or achieve
something desirable, such as a set of Capabilities or practices. This process
can result in a more highly evolved organizational state; in other words, a
more mature organization.
Organizational project management maturity can be defined as the
degree to which an organization practices organizational project manage-
ment. In OPM3, this is reflected by the combination of Best Practices
achieved within the Project, Program, and Portfolio domains. OPM3 is a
maturity model describing the incremental Capabilities that aggregate to
Best Practices, and which are prerequisite to effective organizational project
management.

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