Project and Programme Management Courses

Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O®) Foundation and Practitioner Combined - Self-paced

Length 365 days access
Price $2145 inc GST
Inclusions Exam vouchers

Course overview

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Why study this course

P3O stands for Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices and the first edition of the guidance was released in 2008. P3O training courses have since become a must-have for those working within any form of programme or project support office environment. A P3O model provides support for programmes and projects of all types that aim to bring about change within an organisation.

The P3O Guidance brings together a set of principles, processes and techniques to facilitate effective delivery of portfolio, programme and project management, through the enablement of focused support structures. These structures also bridge the gap between the strategy, management implementation decisions and the tactical delivery of prioritised programmes and projects.

This course includes a digital copy of the official Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices guidance, and is supported by additional learning tools such as post-course reading materials and practical material for reference back in the workplace.

Examination
This course pricing includes vouchers for the P3O Foundation Exam and P3O Practitioner Exam, which are online proctored exams through PeopleCert. Practice exam papers are provided in the course, and reviewed to assist in preparation.

The Foundation exam is:

60 minutes duration
75 multiple choice questions, of which 70 count towards your marks; the other 5 are trial questions only and are not scored
Pass mark is 35 out of 70 (i.e. 50%)
Closed book

The Practitioner exam is:

2½ hours (150 minutes) duration
Objective testing multiple choice questions
Pass mark is 40 out of 80 (i.e. 50%)
Open book (Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices official publication only)

After passing the exams, each student’s certificates will be made available to them via PeopleCert.

It is highly recommended that you spend some additional time reviewing and consolidating what you’ve learned, to be well prepared for the exam.

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What you’ll learn

Learning Objectives
To prepare candidates with sufficient knowledge and understanding to work as an informed member of a Portfolio, Programme and Project Office. The P3O Guidance provides a set of dynamic and value adding models that help make available support for portfolio, programme and project management. A P3O environment can:

be temporary or permanent;
be physical or virtual; and
can include centralised or de-centralised Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices.

Learning Outcomes
Most people recognise the support structure of P3O as a Support Office, Portfolio Office, Centre of Excellence, Enterprise or Corporate Programme Office, Programme Management Office, Project Office, etc. These offices often provide a wide range of support services to programmes and projects, often in the way of training, methodology custodianship, programme and project registration, executive portfolio, programme and project reporting, to name but a few.

The P3O Guidance takes the structures and services of portfolio, programme and project offices and describes then in detail under 22 key headings, further sub divided by portfolio, programme, project and centres of excellence.

The P3O Guidance examines the value proposition of portfolio, programme and project offices and helps organisations make the business case to justify the creation of the P3O’s or the improvements of their existing support offices.

Skills Gained
Implementing or re-energising any sort of portfolio, programme or project support office, requires that one is able to articulate the value proposition of these support offices to the various stakeholder groups. The P3O Guidance further assists those designing, implementing and operating their respective portfolio, programme and project offices, in measuring and assessing their respective maturity, as it relates to the use, support and organisational uptake of the services provided by the portfolio, programme and project support office.

Organisations can make use of the P3O Maturity Assessment tool within the P3O Guidance to assess and articulate the manner in which P3O services are currently delivered across the organisation and how they might need to be calibrated, to target specific improvements in portfolio, programme and project management implementation.

PeopleCert at Lumify Work

Lumify Work is an Accredited Training Organisation with Gold status for PeopleCert courses and certifications including PRINCE2, ITIL, MSP, AgileSHIFT, MoP, and P3O. PeopleCert is one of the leading players in the global certification industry, partnering with multi-national organisations and government bodies for the development and management of globally recognised certification schemes.

View all PeopleCert at Lumify Work courses

Who is the course for?

Programme Managers
Project Management
Portfolio Managers
Senior Executives
Programme/Project Management Office Head
Portfolio, Programme and Project Support Office Staff

Course subjects

Identify the most effective P3O model to adopt to ensure strategic objectives are delivered
Understand the value a P3O can offer and how it can be measured
Identify the functions and services a P3O would offer and organisation
The roles and responsibilities needed to effectively deliver and operationalise a P3O service
Explore a range of strategic analysis and portfolio modelling techniques used within a P3O
Understand the relationship between strategy, portfolio, programme and project management
How to implement or re-energise a P3O
Understand the business case for a P3O and how it integrates with P3M3 (Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model)

P3O Overview and Principles:

P3O definitions – Portfolio, Programme, Project
P3O decision-support role and governance responsibilities
P3O characteristics of a mature P3O and differences between Portfolio, Programme and Project offices

The Business Case for a P3O:

Elements and differences that support doing the right programmes and projects and those that support doing programmes and projects right
P3O value matrix
P3O Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – including their measurement

Re-Energise or Implement a P3O:

Components of the permanent P3O model lifecycle
Definition stage of the permanent P3O lifecycle
Capability maturity, P3O tools and techniques
Blueprint information flows and reporting requirement
Temporary versus permanent P3O models
Key areas of focus of a temporary Programme or Project Office

P3O Models:

Functional areas of a P3O including skills and competences required
Functions and services delivered by a P3O
Relationships with other corporate function offices
Information Assurance including resource provision by P3O
Sizing a P3O including different model types

Impact of maturity on P3O implementation:

Function and Services
Knowledge management techniques
Types of facilitated workshops

Tools and Techniques:

Utilisation of tools and standard P3O techniques
Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for tools and techniques
Individual, collaborative and integrated tools
Objectives and benefits of: portfolio prioritisation and optimisation; management dashboards; knowledge management; information

Roles and Responsibilities:

Management, generic and functional based P3O roles

Prerequisites

This course has no prerequisites, however the following would be an advantage:

Previous or current experience of working within project, programme and portfolio environment
Previous training and development in programme or project management
Currently practising as a programme or project manager
Previous experience working in senior management, leadership or executive role

PeopleCert Exams

All PeopleCert exams are now conducted via online proctoring, with an improved web-based platform released in February 2024. Candidates can schedule their exam for any time within the voucher validity period of 12 months, to be taken anywhere, on any Windows or Mac computer. Live proctors will guide and invigilate the exam process. For full details please see PeopleCert's Guidelines for Web-Based Exam Driver.

To comply with PeopleCert requirements, Lumify Work cannot provide PeopleCert training courses (AgileSHIFT®, ITIL®, Lean Six Sigma, MoP™, M_o_R™, MSP®, P3O®, PRINCE2®, and PRINCE2 Agile®) without the corresponding official exam.

Terms & Conditions

The supply of this course by Lumify Work is governed by the booking terms and conditions. Please read the terms and conditions carefully before enrolling in this course, as enrolment in the course is conditional on acceptance of these terms and conditions.