What is a Project Management Office (PMO)?
A PMO standardizes project governance and supports project managers. PMI's three types by control level: supportive (templates, training, lessons learned — low control), controlling (compliance with frameworks required — moderate), and directive (the PMO owns projects and assigns the PMs — high).
Exam questions usually hinge on identifying the type from behavior: "provides templates on request" = supportive; "audits adherence to methodology" = controlling; "project managers report into it" = directive.
Worked example
An engineering firm's PMO starts supportive: a template library and a monthly PM community. After two public project failures, the board upgrades it to controlling — stage-gate compliance is now mandatory and audited. The construction division goes further: its PMO is directive, employing all PMs directly and assigning them to jobs.