Course Description

The art and science of project management as applied to a variety of large and small project situations, in commercial, public, and private sectors. Coverage includes project life cycle management; project organizations and leadership; project team building; RFPs, proposals, and contracts; techniques for project scope definition, work definition, estimating, scheduling, risk management, control, and close-out; the PMO; project management methodology; and project selection/portfolio management.

Prerequisites

None

Course Objectives

This course will enable you to:

• Understand the key principles of managing projects and the project life cycle.
• Understand the project manager’s leadership role with project stakeholders.
• Understand the importance of teamwork and how to build an effective team
• Identify user requirements and retain focus on them to keep projects on track.
• Understand the importance of RFPs and proposals, and how to create them
• Know the distinction and tradeoffs between different kinds of project contracts
• Create a project master plan to document everything that must be done, start to finish.
• Develop a work breakdown structure to define project deliverables, activities, and responsibilities
• Utilize networks and Gantt charts to plan and schedule project activities, taking into account resource and time constraints
• Establish an organization structure appropriate for the project.
• Know the distinction between fiscal budgets and project budgets
• Control the project to complete it on time, on budget, and to meet requirements
• Know the principles and practices in managing risk in projects
• Know proper project close-out procedures, including project post summary reviews.
• Understand importance of knowledge management in project management.
• Know the key elements of a project management methodology and understand the importance of methodology to project success
• Understand the purpose and functions of the PMO, and how PMOs evolve in organizations
• Know the relationship between project selection and project success, and the role of project portfolio management in selecting/managing multiple projects

Course Topics

The following topics will be covered in the order given.

• Introduction to Project Management
• Project Planning Basics
• Introducing the Project Manager
• Project Leadership
• Project Stakeholders
• Project Organizations
• Team Building
• Systems and Project Management
• System Development Cycle and Project Life Span
• Phase A:  Conception
• Proposals 30
• Contracts
• Phase B: Definition
• SOW and Requirements
• Work Definition:  WBS, Work Packages, Estimating, and Responsibility
• Scheduling Basics: Gantt Charts
• Scheduling: Network Methods
• PERT
• Time/Cost Tradeoff
• Resource Leveling
• Critical Chain Scheduling
• Project Cost Estimating and Budgeting
• Risk Management
• Project Control:  Tracking/Status Assessment, Earned Value
• Change Control
• Phase C:  Execution
• Close-out and Follow-up
• Project Management Methodology
• PM Knowledge Management
• PMO
• Project Selection and Portfolio Management
• Summary and Lessons Learned