Page 23 - Organizational Project Management

Chapter 2

User Overview

2.1 HOW THE STANDARD IS ORGANIZED
To help the user understand the processes necessary to implement the
OPM3 Standard, it is divided into three main sections. Section One pro-
vides an orientation to the basic concepts of the Model and its operation,
Section Two helps the user understand the components and processes of
the Model itself, and Section Three provides the actual step-by-step process
for applying OPM3. Section Three is supported by the Self-Assessment
instrument (see Appendix D) and by the three Directories listing Best Prac-
tices and data on their constituent Capabilities, including the dependencies
among them (see Section 3.4). The Directories are essential to using the
Model in conducting a detailed assessment of maturity in organizational
project management.
Additional information of interest to users is presented in the appen-
dices, including historical background on the Standard, its evolution, and
contributing participants.

2.2 KNOWLEDGE, ASSESSMENT, AND IMPROVEMENT

It may be helpful for the user to think of OPM3 as consisting of three inter-
locking elements: Knowledge, Assessment, and Improvement. In the Knowl-
edge element, the user becomes proficient in the Standard, to be
comfortable with the body of Best Practices knowledge it contains, with the
idea of organizational project management, with organizational project
management maturity, and with the concepts and methodology of OPM3.
In the Assessment element, the organization is compared to the Standard
to determine its current location on a continuum of organizational project
management maturity. In the Improvement element, organizations that
decide to move ahead with change initiatives leading to increased maturity
can use the results of the Assessment as a basis for planning, and move for-
ward to implement the plan.

©2003 Project Management Institute, Four Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-3299 USA 7