The SFDA has established a program managements office as a new administration in accordance to its belief of the program management; which will work on achieving the SFDA strategy and vision that represents the SFDA as a regional pioneer authority in fields of food, drug and medical devices offers its services professionally to participate in enhancing and protecting health in the Kingdom. The administration is headed by Eng. Saleh Alhadhlol, who has a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from New Haven University and a master degree in business from King Saud University; he worked for a long time in the Company of Advanced Electronics and inducted several positions ended by being the manager of advanced technique military programs and projects in the military systems sector in the company.
The Program Management Office (PMO) considered a new concept sought by profit and non profit international establishments as there is a need for having specialized centers concentrate on coordination among projects, directing projects managers and unifying programs and projects activities in the establishments. The center is also responsible of monitoring and controlling costs, resources, projects requirements and time of implementation. The concept has been an essential demand in projects managements since it offers reliable information for executive administrations about projects progress and deals with any problems or difficulties as several projects fail in achieving their goals.
The Program Management Office (PMO) has three main roles as it firstly considered a consultive administration which execute projects, rescue stumbled ones, direct and help projects managers and offer opinions about best applications for specialized administrations. Yet, it also has an educational training role offered through defining best advanced procedures in field of project managements and how to apply them gradually in the establishment. In addition, the office trains projects managers and the team members in curricula and procedures used in projects managements and builds an educational base relates to projects management in the establishment. Finally, its role that relates to measurement and evaluation in which it sets particular documents and procedures and follows them.
A new study of Forrester Research Center for applicable studies about (PMO) revealed that establishments that apply this system achieve investments profits up to 80% which decreases during the implementation of the project to 20% also projects success will be guaranteed to 30- 35%, while the rate of projects fail in establishments that do not apply (PMO) reaches 74%.
As any new science, this system faces several difficulties as: misunderstanding the role of it and its suggestions, believing that it is a barrier hinders achieving goals on time and nonexistence of initial financing as well as operational costs of the program requirements.