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Organizations should establish project management standards.As noted in the IT Handbook's "Management Booklet," standards are criteria mandated by management to ensure corporate conformity with policy, government regulations, and acceptable levels of control. Institutions that routinely complete multiple projects should establish project management offices to coordinate project activities. Standards should be in place to address general project activities such as project request, review, and approval processes, project management methodology selections, and project reporting and documentation requirements. Standards should also address the specific requirements of individual projects. For example, standards relating to software development projects should include, among other things, application design, programming, and testing requirements.
Project management standards should be commensurate with organizational and project characteristics and risks. The standards should be sufficiently detailed to ensure team members can identify project objectives and expectations. Clearly defined expectations are a prerequisite for successfully completing projects and obtaining buy-in throughout an organization. The standards should require representatives from all departments involved in, or affected by, a project to assist in defining functional requirements and project deliverables.
Organizations that need to coordinate multiple projects should establish standards for coordinating and managing the projects from an organization-wide perspective. The standards should include procedures for project prioritizing, resource coordination, progress reporting, stale project resolution, etc.