ABSTRACT
All managers of significant projects need specialist support, not only for the specialist functions associated with the technology of the project, but also for project management administration, estimating, planning, purchasing, cost accounting and information handling. The way in which such specialist project administration and management support is provided and organized varies greatly from company to company and from project to project. For example, one large project might have its own legal department, whilst in other cases the project manager will need to refer to a centralized legal or commercial management department, or to an external solicitor for advice on contractual and legal issues. A company handling a number of different projects simultaneously might entrust the planning and scheduling of those projects to the individual project managers or it might provide a central planning and scheduling office. That central planning and scheduling group might be part of a larger project services office, staffed not only with planners but also with cost engineers, progress control and contract administration clerks, a local cost accounts clerk and even, in some cases, a small purchasing group. So, companies obviously have profound differences of opinion about the centralization or distribution of project support services. This chapter examines some of the roles that a project support office might fulfil, together with some of the advantages and disadvantages of centralization of the project planning and control function.
