The hub is where the action is and where the scope of the project is articulated, budgeted, planned and managed. This is where the benchmarks for project performance and the baselines for post-project analysis are established. The project office also becomes the repository of best IT project practices for future use. Ideally, the person in charge of the office possesses a base technical knowledge, but also knows well the business and the industry the company plays in. Finding the right people to run the project office is not impossible.
Communication is critical.
Think of an application development project in which end users' last-minute demands force the project to run over budget. Communicating and facilitating discussion up front about software functionality lets the project office lock down the design before committing programmers to development.