Volta River Authority Case Study

INTRODUCTION

It has become increasingly clear that the management of projects within the Volta River Authority (VRA) is a very great issue. Decisions made in the context of one project has impacted other projects within the VRA project portfolio inunforeseen and often detrimental ways, and this, coupled with lack of adequate resources, especially human, has eventually brought the project management processes within VRA into question.

To address these problems, the VRA Executive has decided on the establishment of a business function responsible for the coordination of all project work across VRA and be providing the infrastructure and competence necessary to manage multipleprojects. We will call this function the Project Management Office.

PMO ROLES

The exact composition of the PMO in terms of the number of personnel, their responsibility assignments, their expertise, and whether they each have single roles or multiple roles will depend on the total number of projects in the project portfolio, the number of projects under execution at any given time and the sizes of the projects. Responsibility assignments, however, should not be arbitrary; accountability must go hand in hand with authority and involvement in the decision making process. Typical roles that have evolved through the practice of project management are:

1. PMO Manager

The position of PMO Manager by virtue of the fact that could be used as a training ground for those being groomed for senior management, is a very important one. Besides the technical competencies and the experience necessary to perform effectively in this role, the PMO Manager must possess business acumen, a network of contacts, the ability to take initiative when required, an understanding of the points of view of all project stakeholders, and a system-thinking

2. Project Finance Officer

The project finance officer is responsible for all project finance and cost control within the PMO. Typically, the project finance officer will have two reporting lines: one to the PMO manager, the other to the Director, Finance.

More specifically, the project finance officer provides financial and accounting guidance to the PMO and the project managers, and ensures the integrity of the projects’ budgets by controlling scope changes, fiscal changes, and overhead allocations, and by flagging significant project overruns and under-runs.

Typical responsibilities include the following:

• Challenging all inputs to assure their validity and appropriateness;

• Authorizing funds disbursements;

• Establishing procedures for financial reporting;

• Preparing financial reports;

• Providing assistance and expertise related to the organization’s financial