Programme Management has oversight of the purpose and status of all projects in a Programme and can use this oversight to support project-level activity to ensure the overall program goals are likely to be met, possibly by providing a decision-making capacity that cannot be achieved at project level or by providing the Project Manager with a program perspective when required, or as a sounding board for ideas and approaches to solving project issues that have program impacts.

Typically in a programme there is a need to identify and manage cross-project dependencies and often the PMO (Programme or Project Management Office) may not have sufficient insight of the risk, issues, requirements, design or solution to be able to usefully manage these. The Programme Manager may be well placed to provide this insight by actively seeking out such information from the Project Managers although in large and/or complex projects, a specific role may be required. However this insight arises, the Programme Manager needs this in order to be comfortable that the overall program goals are achievable.

There are two different views of how programmes differ from projects.

On one view, projects deliver outputs, discrete parcels or "chunks" of change; programs create outcomes. On this view, a project might deliver a new factory, hospital or IT system. By combining these projects with other deliverables and changes, their programs might deliver increased income from a new product, shorter waiting lists at the hospital or reduced operating costs due to improved technology.

The other view is that a programme is nothing more than either a large project or a set (or portfolio) of projects. On this second view, the point of having a programme is to exploit economies of scale and to reduce co-ordination costs and risks. The Project Manager's job is to ensure that their project succeeds. The Programme Manager, on the other hand, may not care about individual projects, but is concerned with the aggregate result or end-state. For example, in a financial institution a program may include one project that is designed to take advantage of a rising market, and another to protect against the downside of a falling market. These projects are opposites with respect to their success conditions, but they fit together in the same program.

According to the view that programmes deliver outcomes but projects deliver outputs, programme management is concerned with doing the right projects. The Programme Manager has been described as 'playing chess' and keeping the overview in mind, with the pieces to be used or sacrificed being the projects. In contrast, project management is about doing projects right. And also according to this view, successful projects deliver on time, to budget and to specification, whereas successful programs deliver long term improvements to an organisation. Improvements are usually identified through benefits. An organisation should select the group of programmes that most take it towards its strategic aims while remaining within its capacity to deliver the changes. On the other hand, the view that programmes are simply large projects or a set of projects allows that a programme may need to deliver tangible benefits quickly.

Consider the following set of projects:

• design of the new product - this delivers a design specification,
• modifications to the production line or factory - delivers a manufacturing capability,
• marketing - delivers advertisements, brochures and pamphlets,
• staff training - delivers staff trained to sell and support the new product.

One view has it that these are different projects within a programme. But in practice they can just as well be managed as sub-projects within a single project. Which approach to choose? Programme and project management are both practical disciplines, and the answer to such a question must be "whatever works." What works depends very much on the nature of the organisation in which the project or program is run. Typically a programme is broken down into projects that reflect the organisation's structure. The design project will be run by the design team, the factory will manage the modifications to the production line, and so on. Organisational structure and organisational culture are key factors in how to structure a program.

The distinction between the terms "outcome" and "output" is far from clear, except in a trivial sense. Each of the projects listed in the example above is designed to deliver some 'thing', known as a 'deliverable' or an 'output', and together they improve the organisation. Where one draws the line between the complete single benefit that causes the improvement and its component parts is partly a matter of preference and partly a matter of the culture and structure of the organisation. Either way, benefits will normally be enjoyed long after the end of the programme and all of its component projects. The point is that to achieve maximum benefits, there must be an integration of parts into a whole. Whether this integration is managed in something that is called a project or a program is of secondary importance to understanding the benefits and managing the process of integration well.

Many programmes are concerned with delivering a capability to change. Only when that capability is transferred to the line management and utilized by the host organisation will the benefits actually be delivered. On this view, a programme team cannot, on their own, deliver benefits. Benefits can only be delivered through the utilization of a new capability.

Programmes are normally designed to deliver the organisation's strategy, such as an ambition to be the fourth biggest supermarket in a region by 2015 or reduce wastage by 5% in two year's time.

According to Project Management Institute (PMI), The Standard for Programme Management, 2nd Ed., "A Programme is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits and control NOT available from managing them individually. Programmes may include elements of related work outside of the scope of the discreet projects in the program... Some projects within a programme can deliver useful incremental benefits to the organisation before the programme itself has completed."

Programme management also emphasizes the coordinating and prioritizing of resources across projects, managing links between the projects and the overall costs and risks of the programme.

Programme management may provide a layer above the management of projects and focuses on selecting the best group of projects, defining them in terms of their objectives and providing an environment where projects can be run successfully. Programme managers should not micromanage, but should leave project management to the project managers.

Transformation Associates can assist you in all aspects of Programme Management from setting up your PMO function to detailed management of programme dependencies. We can work closely with your existing PMO team to streamline and improve your PMO processes.