Centre of Excellence for programme and project management

In February 2011 The Northern Ireland public sector P3O (portfolio, programme, project office) community met in The Mount Conference Centre, Belfast. Around forty people attended this years event including Leslie Warren and Michael Browne from the NI Branch Committee.

The assembled group was welcomed by David Carson, Head of the Central Procurement Directorates Policy & Performance Division, who outlined some of the changes he saw for the NI public sector PPM community in over the coming 12 months.

This year the NI group was joined by colleagues from the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly Government, who shared their news and views of the PPM and Gateway Review environment in the devolved administrations.

The key note speaker was Howard Fletcher, a Fellow of the APM, who provided the event with an update on key developments in the profession.

After the keynote speech the attendees took part in interactive sessions looking at how Cabinet Office Major Projects Assurance might apply in the local environment and if the Registered Project Professional system would be of value to their organisations. A lively discussion ensued with many points being taken, both by CoE and Howard, for further clarification.