Understanding how maturity is impacted by technology is a key driver for organisations to understand both the value of a change, and their specific needs.
For PMO teams, where there is a need to do more with less, adopting a PMO solution can provide a critical step, becoming a catalyst for adding discipline and structure where teams often struggle to gain engagement and freeing up critical bandwidth.
During our latest Wellingtone community event (scroll to the bottom to watch the video), Emma Arnaz-Pemberton and Baz Khinda shared valuable insights on leveraging technology and the right PMO solutions to advance your Project Management Office (PMO) maturity journey, busting some myths along the way.
What is PMO maturity?
PMO maturity is not solely determined by the age or type of PMO. Contrary to common myths, an older PMO does not necessarily equate to a more mature one. Neither does the type of PMO you have.
Maturity is about how well you deliver services valued by your customers. It’s essential to understand the nature of your PMO and focus on delivering value rather than striving for a perfect balance between governing, strategic, tactical, and supporting roles.
A PMO that reports to the CEO, is very different to a PMO that reports to the Head of Commercial – it is critical to understand your reality before defining your aspirations.
he danger of trying to define the PMO without understanding the nature of it, is that the team end up developing a function that doesn’t add the value that the PMO Customers need, or it is not set up to succeed due to the structure that it operates within.
Why measure PMO maturity?
Measuring maturity is crucial for understanding where you are and where you need to go. Various models, such as the Axelos P3M3, provide frameworks for organisational and individual assessments. However, the PMO perspective is often missing.
It is therefore vital to measure how well your PMO enables (for example) resource management and aligns with best practices. When considered through this lens, the result can be very different to ‘how does your organisation do resource management’.
The role of technology in PMO maturity advancement
Technology plays a significant role in advancing PMO maturity and it’s never too early to start thinking about it.
The latest State of Project Management Research indicates that many organisations lack access to real-time, centralised KPIs. This results in inefficiencies, such as spending excessive time on manual data collation which is open to error, and inconsistency as we can see from the State of Project Management report 2025.
In fact, the research also reveals that 42% of respondents spend more than a day each month collating project reports and manipulating data.
Leveraging technology, such as Microsoft Planner Premium (formerly known as Project for the web) and the Wellingtone Accelerator +, can help centralise data, improve visibility, and enforce a degree of discipline in the project management practices that you are struggling to embed.
The Wellingtone research underscores the importance of technology in advancing PMO maturity. Tools like Microsoft Planner Premium and the Wellingtone Accelerator + provide centralised, real-time data, enabling organisations to move away from disjointed solutions and manual processes.
Why is a common language important for Project Management?
Project Management is a world of new words and acronyms. Because of the complexity in the nomenclature it can be overwhelming for those being exposed for the first time.
To alleviate that, creating a common language that ensures everyone understands what we are talking about is a sure fire to gain more engagement.
Centralising project management into a tool enables this common language to accelerate in its growth as everyone is seeing the same picture, meaning less re-education is needed, leading to better and more informed conversations moving forward.
PMO solution implementation approach
You can implement a PMO solution like the Accelerator+ at any level of maturity, and the following quote best illustrates the recommended approach:
It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward – Louis Sachar
There’s a common misconception within many organisations that a certain level of maturity is required before implementing a PMO solution. However, this is not the case. From experience, teams that have invested a significant amount of time and effort into ‘perfecting’ their processes, frameworks and other templates to reach a certain level of documented maturity, tend to create overly complex ways of working that are held together with spreadsheets, glue and bits of paper.
Consequently, without a robust joined up solution being in place they become almost impossible to embed, and as a result people start to disengage and revert to the old ways of working. Having overly complex perceived ‘must have features/requirements‘ also makes it more challenging to find a project management solution that ticks all the right boxes, not without investing a significant amount on an extensive search process and subsequent customisation which increases the overall cost and can often result in an overly engineered app that nobody wants to use.
With that considered, we’d always recommend the simpler approach, and that is to take small steps in the right direction. Even if you’re at level 1 maturity, deploying a solution with lightweight configuration will automatically take you on a path of standardisation, centralised documentation / logs and automated reporting. The example implementation roadmap that we covered within the webinar is outlined below:
Using this approach results in:
- A lower upfront investment
- Quick wins and tangible benefits
- Better change management and adoption
I’d also advise that when selecting a solution, ensure to pick one that can scale and adapt as your level of maturity increases, because you don’t want to choose wrong, only to be forced into a migration later down the line. And if you’re using Microsoft 365, do check out the native, Microsoft powered PMO solutions before exploring third party apps such as Smartsheet and Monday because not only can they prove to be more costly for large userbases, but IT may not be overly enthusiastic about additional cloud hosting due to potential security and compliance issues.
Questions from the Community
Q: How relevant is real-time reporting if people update at different times?
Real-time reporting is crucial for certain aspects, such as resource management, where knowing availability in (close to) real-time is essential. With the Accelerator +, organisations can set specific times for updates to ensure data consistency up to once an hour.
Q: Do we need a separate license for Project for the web?
Planner Premium (formerly Project for the web) is licensed directly through Microsoft. There are different plans available, such as Planner Plan 1 and Plan 3, each offering varying levels of functionality. You can check with your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement to find out what you have in your organisation already.
Q: What is the duration for implementing Accelerator +?
The fixed-price QuickStart package for Accelerator + typically takes 4-6 weeks to implement. This includes requirements capture, configuration, and training.
Q: Will AI functionality be introduced automatically with the Microsoft upgrade?
Yes, when Project for the web switches to Planner for the web, AI functionality, such as Copilot integration, will be available automatically for users with the appropriate licenses.
Q: How does Accelerator + work with agile projects?
Planner Premium offers basic Kanban capabilities out-of-the-box, however the Accelerator+ can also support integration with Azure DevOps.
In Conclusion
Embarking on your PPM and PMO maturity journey with a PMO solution can be a strategic move to significantly enhance your organisation’s project management capabilities.
By implementing a robust technology solution, you can streamline processes, improve resource allocation, create a common language, and ensure better alignment with your business goals.
The journey, however, requires commitment and collaboration across various departments, but the benefits of increased efficiency, improved project outcomes, and enhanced stakeholder satisfaction are well worth the effort.
Ready to transform your project and portfolio management?
Discover how Wellingtone’s Accelerator+ transforms Microsoft Planner into a powerful, enterprise-ready solution tailored to your ways of working.
No third-party licenses, no long-term commitments – just seamless integration, rich functionality, and future-proof scalability within your Microsoft 365 environment.
Want to take the next step in your maturity journey?
Understanding where you are is the first step to meaningful change. Whether you’re looking to benchmark your current capability, gain independent insights, or create a clear roadmap for improvement, our Project Management Maturity Assessment and AXELOS P3M3 Audit provide the expert guidance and practical recommendations you need. Let’s talk about how we can help you transform your project, programme, portfolio, or PMO capability.
