Hi Elizabeth,
I had the experience of building a Project Office at a previous company. We created/adopted a number of templates. I should be able to supply you with a couple, though, I am new to tek-tips so I'll have to figure out how to e-mail them to you. Some guidelines though. Regardless of the project type, requirements, or anything else, there are certain things that I believe must be done.
1. Standard project plan format. For MS Project users this would be key header/footer information, standard gantt table information.
2. Standard format/procedure for status reporting.
3. Standard format/procedure for risk analysis.
4. Standard format/mgmt process for project P&L.
5. Standard communication plan.
6. Standard change control format and reporting procedure.
7. Standard functional requirements doc format.
8. Standard deliverable acceptance document.
9. Written statement to client and stakeholders that ONLY the PM speaks for the project commitments. NO ONE ELSE.
While there will likely be others, those would seem to me to be necessary regardless of the project. I would also echo that
has some good ones though I also do not have access to the premium site. I also want to put in a plug for Lotus Notes. We used it extensively as a repository for the project library and it was excellent. We also used it to develop some custom Project Office group collaboration tools. Alas, I could not take those with me.
Lastly, as I have told my teams, it is the documentation or methodology used, it is the diligence and attention to detail of the practioners. It is critical that everybody on the team understand everything that can go wrong and what it could mean so that everyone works together to prevent problems. Led, of course, by a PM who knows what they are doing.