The Centre of Excellence in Project Management (CoEPM²) of the European Commission has recently released a Guide on Project Management Methodology. The purpose of the guide is to enable project teams to manage their projects effectively and deliver solutions and benefits to their organisations and stakeholders. PM² is a light and easy to implement methodology suitable for any type of project. PM² has been custom developed to fit the specific needs, culture and constraints of EU Institutions. The publication is available for free as download.  PM² is a Project Management Methodology and was developed by the European Commission incorporating elements from globally accepted best practices, standards and methodologies. It provides guidance on Project Governance (i.e. roles & responsibilities), Project Lifecycles (i.e. project phases), Processes (i.e. project management activities), Project Artefacts (i.e. templates and guidelines) and Mindsets (i.e. effective beliefs and behaviors). Several appendices cover aspects including but not limited to PM Tools & Techniques, Portfolio Management, Agile and Ethics.

Open PM² is an initiative taken by the European Commission that brings the PM² Methodology and its benefits closer to its broader stakeholders and user community. Open PM² provides open access to PM² to all European Union Institutions, EU Member States, contractors and the general public. Open PM² provides open access to the PM² Project Methodology to all EU Institutions, Contractors, Member States and EU Citizens. Opening PM² significantly contributes towards the increase in project management maturity within the European Union serving the needs of its stakeholders. It helps establish a common PM language and process for projects within and across institutions, increase effectiveness, collaboration efficiency and success in the coordination of projects in EU.  In addition, it is an important strategic initiative which will allow the EU community of Project Managers to help the PM² Methodology evolve and enrich the offering with additional best practices and examples.

Key deliverables of the Open PM² Initiative include:

• PM² Certification Exams available via PROMETRIC across EU-28 (available to EU Institution Staff only).
• PM² Guide – Open Edition available through the EU Bookshop (not yet available)
• PM² Methodology Wiki available through EU Login (http://europa.eu/!Gu76mr – EU Login account required).
• Establishment of an EU-wide Project Support Network (PSN) [a network of local Project Support Offices (PSOs)] which will be coordinated and supported by the EC’s Center of Excellence in PM² (CoEPM²).
• The PM² Guide – Open Edition is published with a full share and reuse EUPL License, and is positioned to become an open source methodology, meaning that reproduction and reuse is authorized provided the source is acknowledged.

The PM² Guide can ideally be combined with the IPMA Global Standards, e.g. the IPMA Individual Competence Baseline (IPMA ICB®), the IPMA Organisational Competence Baseline (IPMA OCB®) as well as the IPMA Project Excellence Baseline (IPMA PEB®), which are also accessible free of charge through our website.