PE-Backed Manufacturer A PMO stood up in 90 days.
Program and project management as a service: experienced project managers with real subject matter expertise, placed inside your organization to run your projects. Swiftwater stood up this client’s first Project Management Office in 90 days and runs it today, giving the CIO and the Director of IT one governed view of every project in the portfolio: what it is, where it stands, what it costs, and what decision it needs next.
At a glance
- Sector
- Hurricane and storm protection products
- Model
- Vertically integrated, manufacture and install
- Ownership
- Private equity majority since 2021
- Engagement
- Program Management as a Service (PMaaS), ongoing
- Reports to
- CIO and Director of IT
- Outcome
- A PMO chartered, staffed and operating in 90 days; 30+ projects a year
What the problem looked like
A growing portfolio of projects, and no common way to run it.
The client is a vertically integrated manufacturer and installer of code-approved hurricane and storm protection products, owning both its manufacturing plants and its installation and service crews. In 2021, an operationally focused private equity firm took a majority stake to accelerate the next phase: new geographic markets, stronger technology infrastructure, and a footprint scaled to demand.
That agenda multiplied the number of projects running at the same time, across manufacturing, field service, sales operations, and the systems connecting them. Dozens of initiatives were live at once, each with its own scope, schedule, budget, and vendors. None of them shared a common way of being ranked, started, tracked, or reported.
The people carrying that load were the CIO and the Director of IT. They needed to answer questions that no one could answer consistently: which projects matter most this quarter, which are on schedule and within budget, which are at risk, and what decision does leadership owe the portfolio this week.
The company engaged Swiftwater to build the delivery structure a portfolio that size calls for: a way to rank what matters most, start every project the same way, keep work moving to scope, schedule, and budget, and give leadership a single view of progress.
How the PMO runs the portfolio
A PMO is a standing office that runs four disciplines continuously across every project in the portfolio, so that work is prioritized deliberately, started consistently, driven to scope, schedule, and budget, and reported to leadership on a fixed cadence.
The office is staffed by Swiftwater project managers, available on demand and matched to the work. Each one brings subject matter expertise in the systems and functions they are delivering, so they can run requirements sessions with the business, challenge a vendor’s plan, and make delivery calls without waiting for someone to translate for them. Scale the number of project managers up for a heavy quarter and back down when the portfolio settles.
Swiftwater established all four disciplines inside the first 90 days and applies them to 30+ projects a year. The client’s technology leadership owns every discipline. Swiftwater staffs and operates them day to day.
01 Rank
Deciding what the portfolio works on
- Portfolio scoring against business goals
- Structured backlog review
- Prioritization with the CIO and leadership
02 Initiate
Starting every project the same way
- Project charters, scope, and success criteria
- Standardized requirements sessions
- AI-enabled business analysis
03 Deliver
Holding scope, schedule, and budget
- Common delivery standards across every project
- Platform and vendor coordination
- Change management and adoption
04 Govern
Giving leadership one view
- Weekly steering committee (SteerCo)
- Risk, issue, and decision log
- Portfolio status reporting
Results
Every discipline was established inside the first 90 days and has run continuously since. The office has not missed its weekly cycle.
What Swiftwater delivered
- 90 days to a PMO chartered, staffed, and operating
- 30+ projects a year ranked, planned, tracked, and delivered to one common standard
- Weekly SteerCo giving the CIO, the Director of IT, and ownership a recurring read on schedule, budget, risk, and decisions
- Client owned: the CIO and Director of IT own the program and carry accountability for results throughout
What changed for the CIO and the Director of IT
Before the PMO, project status lived with whoever sat closest to each project, and the portfolio view had to be reassembled by hand every time leadership asked for it. Today the CIO and the Director of IT work from one ranked portfolio, one intake standard, and one weekly forum where schedule, budget, risk, and open decisions are put in front of leadership together.
Priorities are set deliberately against business goals. Projects start with a charter, a defined scope, and named owners. The decisions leadership owes the portfolio surface on a predictable cadence. That is the difference between managing projects one at a time and running a portfolio.
Delivery conditions
Multiple projects ran concurrently. Delivery depended on third-party platforms and the integration layer between them, which put vendor coordination on the critical path. Priorities moved as the growth agenda moved. Standard disciplines, applied consistently, are what held the portfolio together through all of it.
The maturity curve
PMO capability matures in stages, and every organization starts at the first one. This client moved through three stages inside a year and operates at the fourth today:
- Project led. Delivery organized project by project by the people closest to it.
- Standardized. A common charter, ranking, and intake applied across the portfolio.
- Governed. Routine backlog review and a weekly SteerCo cadence.
- Client owned. The CIO and Director of IT own the program and Swiftwater staffs and operates the office as PMaaS.
Bottom line
The client runs a standing PMO on a defined operating cadence. Projects are ranked, initiated, and delivered against one standard, backlog reviews happen as routine, and SteerCo gives leadership a recurring read on status, risk, and decisions. The client’s CIO and Director of IT own the program and carry accountability for results. Swiftwater staffs and operates the office.
Swiftwater’s Program Management as a Service (PMaaS) puts an experienced program and project management team inside your organization. We stand up the office, set the standards, and run the portfolio day to day. You own the program and stay accountable for the results. That combination is what produces them. See also the PM as a Service brochure.
Best for
- Organizations with a growing portfolio of concurrent projects
- CIOs and IT directors without a common way to rank and report projects
- Private equity backed companies executing a growth agenda
Frequently asked questions
What does a PMO as a service include?
Portfolio ranking, a standard way to initiate projects, delivery to scope, schedule and budget, and governance through a weekly steering committee, staffed by experienced project managers who run the work.
How long does it take to stand up a PMO?
For this client, Swiftwater chartered, staffed and started operating the PMO within 90 days.
Who owns the program when Swiftwater runs the PMO?
The client. Here, the CIO and Director of IT own the program and carry accountability for results, and Swiftwater staffs and operates the office.
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