Department of Municipal Affairs and the Municipalities join the exclusive international PMO Executive Council

The PMO Executive Council is a council of senior executives with a shared commitment to steward enterprise-wide Project Management Offices (PMO).

This membership was put forth to DMA as an initiative by the PMO at Al Ain Municipality identifying the PMO Executive Council as an opportunity for adoption across the municipal system of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The PMO Executive Council currently has over 300 public and private corporate members, of which the municipalities of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi stand as the first organization in the Middle East to join the network. The PMO Council network serves to enhance the resources made available to its members while enabling them to share and learn best practices, ideas, templates, metrics, and other elements that may contribute to the success of PMO management.

Members of the PMO Executive Council network include PMOs of organizations such as: Government of Ontario-Ministry of Government Services, the State of North Carolina, the State of Wisconsin, Tennessee Valley Authority, The World Bank Group, Bank of America, Chevron Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Nike, L'Oreal, National Bank of Canada, and others.

The PMO Executive Council offers a set of unique services and tools which will assist the Municipalities in their most pressing managerial, communications, and decision-making challenges with regards to their projects. It also provides valuable research of best practises to align their function with the enterprises, diagnose and close performance gaps, and mitigate governance and risk exposure.

The PMO Executive Council provides content research and information such as:

- Case-based best practices research, proprietary quantitative research, and an executive meeting series
- Cross-functional perspectives on the PMO, drawn from the Corporate Executive Board's unique access to the insights of PMO and other executives
- Practical tools and templates which provide accurate benchmarks, diagnose problems, and supply appropriate solutions

The membership benefits also include learnings about new ideas and the opportunity to request support on specific projects, and obtaining "on-the-fly" decision support using the available exclusive online tools and resources which include the Annual Executive Retreats, Leadership Briefings, and the Members' Teleconferences.

H.E. Engineer Ahmed Shareef, Undersecretary of the Department of Municipal Affairs said: "Subscribing to the International PMO Executive Council is a milestone in itself, as DMA and Municipalities of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are the first organization in the Middle East to become a member of this prestigious network. The uniqueness and value of this membership is all about the sharing of knowledge and expertise, we truly see this membership as a prime resource tool for our municipal PMOs to learn and excel."

Shareef Added: "We at DMA are very proud that the PMO membership suggestion came from within our municipal 'family', Al Ain Municipality, in aspiration to enhance the performance and effectiveness of our PMOs through utilizing beneficial resources that offer extra focused and resourceful access to international best practices."

Al Ain City Municipality has pioneered in establishing their PMO operation which has successfully overseen and managed many projects and enabled, over the past period, more projects to deliver high quality results on time and within budget.

Al Ain PMO strives to equip project managers with the best methodologies and tools available to ensure that projects adhere to internationally adopted standards and processes. The PMO also aims to share resources, methodologies, tools and techniques and the related high-level project management focus amongst the municipal project management teams.

Mr. Suhail Thani AlMuhairi, PMO Director in AAM, commented:

"The PMO at Al Ain Municipality is proud to introduce the Executive Council of PMO to the region for the first time. EC provides content rich programs addressing leading edge topics with highly involvement with people who can have a direct impact on our business. I'm sure that this step will increase our knowledge and understanding of up-to-date trends in the PMO industry."

The Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi City Municipality and Western Region Municipality are now underway to establish their comprehensive PMO which will, once fully developed, adopt unified practices and database systems for monitoring and supervision of projects within each respective municipality. These state-of-the-art PMOs that are being developed aim to build and improve the municipalities' employee capabilities to manage projects and transform the municipality from function based to project based.

Each PMO will encompasses a team that is dedicated to improving the practice of project management in the organization, and monitoring project performance, while enriching the experience of all project participants and stakeholders across the entire municipal system of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

On the 24th and 25th of February, as one of their first encounters and participation as members, the DMA and municipalities attended PMO Executive Council's 'Annual Executive Retreat' which was held in London, titled "Redefining Resource Governance - Boosting Resource Productivity to Deliver High-Quality Projects".