P3M3

Also known as: Portfolio Programme Project Management Maturity Model

framework · project management · regulatory-standard

AXELOS maturity model assessing organizational capability across portfolio, programme, and project management.

P3M3 (Portfolio, Programme, and Project Management Maturity Model) is the AXELOS maturity model assessing organizational capability across the three P3M perspectives (portfolio, programme, project) and seven process perspectives (management control, benefits management, financial management, stakeholder management, risk management, organizational governance, resource management). Originally developed by the UK Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and first published in 2005, P3M3 transitioned to AXELOS in 2013 as part of the OGC Best Management Practice portfolio sale. P3M3 v3.0 (2015) is the current edition. Like OPM3, P3M3 uses a five-level capability scale (Awareness, Repeatable, Defined, Managed, Optimised) following the CMMI tradition, applied across the 21-cell P3M / process-perspective matrix. Self-assessment and accredited consultant-led full assessments are both available.

Originators

Office of Government Commerce (2005 first publication); AXELOS (2013 onward); subsequent PeopleCert ownership; intellectual antecedents in CMMI, OGC's earlier PMMM, and the broader Best Management Practice methodology stack high

Year / Decade

2005 (first publication); 2015 (v3.0 current); ongoing AXELOS / PeopleCert stewardship high

Primary sources

AXELOS / PeopleCert (2015). Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3), Version 3.0, OGC (2005). P3M3 first edition, Williams, T. (2008). 'How Do Organizations Learn Lessons from Projects—and Do They?', IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management high

Core components

Three perspectives: Portfolio Management (PfM3), Programme Management (PgM3), Project Management (PjM3) — assessable independently or together
Seven process perspectives: management control, benefits management, financial management, stakeholder management, risk management, organizational governance, resource management
Five maturity levels (Awareness, Repeatable, Defined, Managed, Optimised)
Self-assessment and accredited assessor full assessment options
Integration with broader AXELOS Best Management Practice stack (PRINCE2, MSP, M_o_R, MoP)

Primary use case

Organizational maturity assessment for UK central government and local authorities, particularly those subject to AXELOS-aligned methodology adoption; international adoption in AXELOS-aligned jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, parts of Asia and Europe); input to PMO development, programme office establishment, and strategic-delivery improvement programmes; consultant-led organizational diagnostic and benchmark; academic reference in maturity-model research alongside OPM3 and CMMI.

Common criticisms

P3M3 inherits the broader maturity-model critique that the link between self-reported maturity and actual delivery outcomes is empirically weak — Williams (2008) and others have noted that higher P3M3 maturity does not demonstrably correlate with project success rates in the available evidence
the five-level CMMI-derived maturity scale was developed for software engineering process and applies awkwardly to portfolio and programme domains where many capabilities are not naturally process-uniform
the 21-cell perspective / process matrix produces granularity that is unsupportable from any single assessment, leading to assessment-fatigue and rough scoring in practice
the AXELOS commercial structure produced consulting markets with incentive for high-cost reassessment and improvement engagements
integration with OPM3 (PMI's analogue) produces framework-selection confusion, particularly in multinational organizations
post-2013 AXELOS stewardship has been criticized as slower in updating P3M3 than the underlying methodology stack
small organizations find P3M3 disproportionate to their scale.

Lineage

Child of: Managing Successful Programmes
Siblings: OPM3