The PMO Service Catalog: What It Is and What It Does

Many PMOs aren’t effectively communicating their value as well as they could, or they may be attempting several things simultaneously that it’s difficult to understand what it is they’re trying to achieve.

During the Wellingtone APM and IPMA-accredited PMO Professional course, the PMO Service Catalog is presented to give learners real, practical tools to both manage the expectations of internal clients and articulate their role and responsibilities.

The PMO service catalog is exactly what it implies—a catalog of services offered by the PMO team (and associated enabling departments).

In its simplest form, it can be a plain list of services to assist project teams and decision-makers in understanding when and how the PMO can support the day-to-day management of change and, in some cases, operational work.

In its more sophisticated format, it can be a game-changer in how people perceive their PMOs and the value they bring to the table.

Value is in the eye of the beholder and is therefore always difficult to assess. From a PMO perspective, particularly when the team is not directly contributing to project delivery (or the bottom line). While this may be true, explicitly stating what you offer can help the rest of the organization understand what services your team provides.

The PMO service catalog can be created and shared using a variety of tools, from slide decks to interactive platforms. The more comprehensive ones tend to contain the following:

• Service Name: a short, nice, and simple title to identify the service
• Description: a brief narrative of what the service entails
• Category: identifies the category that the service relates to within the PMO offering
• Target User: clarifies who is the service intended to
• Key challenges: lists the key pain points that explain the why of the service
• Benefits: a brief explanation of the benefits of the service; it should answer the question, ‘What’s in it for me?’
• Process: clarifies what the associated steps are in the process from the moment the service is requested up to when it’s delivered
• Specialist: in larger PMO teams, specialist roles will be the most appropriate to run the service (e.g. Risk specialist; Comms; Scheduling, etc.)
• Frequency: determines the frequency, recommended or actual, for delivering the service
• SLAs: refers to the commitment to deliver the service within an agreed timescale or level of quality
• KPIs: Identifies the key indicators that are going to be tracked by the PMO to measure the performance of the service
• Timeline: Displays continuous improvement with key dates planned out

Figure 1 – Example of a Service in a Service Catalog (source: CEB, A New Approach to PMO Value Delivery)

The PMO service catalog can and should be used as a performance-tracking mechanism. Through this, the PMO can easily assign an RAG status to how each service is performing over time. The possibilities are endless when creativity is at play.

Our team of experts has collated some tips to get you started on creating your first service catalog:

• Make it visual: pictures tell stories, so take the time to make your service catalog visually appealing.
• Make it simple: less is often more, especially for senior teams, so identify the appropriate level of detail.
• Make it fun: avoid jargon and acronyms, make it interesting, and if possible, include the ability for people to interact with it.
• Share it, please: do not draft a service catalog and keep it to yourself; publish and share it across your organization.

A service catalog will be of little use if the mindset of the PMO is not one of a service provider.

Ensuring that the perception from within and outside of the PMO is that the team is a service provider with internal customers who consume its services is key to success and avoids the service catalog becoming a static document.

A new tool doesn’t change the culture, so there may be some work that has to be done to ensure that the service catalog lands in the right way for all of the PMO internal customers.

Head over to the FuturePMO website to find out more about the PMO Service Catalog and services.

You may also be interested in our APM & IPMA Accredited PMO Professional course. This globally accredited course guides delegates through creating their own PMO service catalog so they can go back to their organization with confidence and be able to articulate what it is their PMO offers its internal customers. If you’re ready to upgrade your PMO team through the creation of a service catalog, check it out today.