Establishment of Project Management Office (PMO) in Attock Petroleum Limited (APL)

Abstract

Being one of the fastest growing Oil Marketing Company (OMC) in Pakistan, Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) has to face many daunting challenges & professionally steer itself to achieve the set-forth objectives & goals in line with the company’s vision. There are thirteen (13) Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) operating within Pakistan today. In a highly competitive industry with a complex regulatory mechanism, APL needs to be proactive in order to consolidate its market position & strive for higher growth objectives. During early 2012, the management of APL realized that a high number of the projects undertaken usually end up being delayed & over budget. This caused a serious concern within the organization. After a few meetings, it was decided that the organization needs to establish a Project Management Office (PMO) in order to ensure timely completion of various projects by setting up business drivers, acquiring the necessary resources, implementing an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) software & training and counseling of quality management staff. A thorough research was conducted & several milestones were set to achieve this goal. The company was able to successfully set-up the Project Management Office (PMO) by the end of September 2012. Soon after the commissioning of the PMO, there was a marked improvement in acquiring efficiencies within all on-going projects. This in turn motivated the management staff further, thereby creating a sense of achievement & pride within the human resource. Resultantly, the company quickly conducted training sessions of all the staff members in order to get everyone up-to-speed. Better handling of resources & closer monitoring and controls only helped in delivering various objectives within the set deadlines. Once again, being one of the dynamic organizations, APL has geared itself to embark on a journey to rapid growth & explore new-horizons by effectively controlling its costs, improving its processes & market readiness by prioritizing projects; thereby getting the desired results within timelines. Currently, the organization has created a research & development cell having the continuous-improvement approach in mind and inculcated a culture of professional excellence in all its business activities.