Benefits Management as a Path for Project Management Offices Contribute to Programs and Influence on Project Performance

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationships between the Project Management Offices (PMOs) functions and the results of performance indicators of product development projects, considering the triple constraint: time, cost, quality. A survey was conducted on a sample of 35 Brazilian manufacturing companies, which have a Product Development Process and a support of PMO for product projects. Although the survey´s results pointed out the presence of Project Management Offices on companies’ structure, it does not guarantee the success on project´s triple constraints, the benefits management was a PMO function correlated to cost performance. It suggests that if a company structure projects as programs, an effort to guarantee the focus on benefits rather than only on project’s results can drive good performance on costs.