Project Management Essentials

Intended Audience

This course is designed for any individual needing to perform project management activities in their job role on either a formal or informal basis, or any project team members who want to enhance their knowledge of project management in order to interact more productively with a project manager and perform more effectively on a project team. 

At Completion

• Identify the basic concepts and terminology of professional project management
• Launch a project
• Estimate project work
• Create a project schedule
• Plan project costs
• Plan for project risks
• Plan for project quality and compliance
• Manage human resources for your project
• Manage project procurements
• Plan for change management and plan for the project scope
• Monitor and optimize project schedule and cost
• Monitor quality of project work and the risks involved
• Plan communication strategies and manage stakeholder relationships
• Perform project closure

Prerequisites

Students should have completed Project Management Fundamentals, a course which will provide knowledge of terminology, roles and concepts of project management.  A working knowledge of Microsoft Office is also required. 

Exams & Certifications

?None

Materials

?Student Workbook and supplimental handout

Getting Started with Project Management

• Describe the basics of project management
• Recognize the factors influencing a project

Launching Projects

• Identify how an organization selects projects
• Identify stakeholders and their expectations
• Identify the project scope
• Prepare an effective Statement of Work (SOW)
• Formally authorize a project through a project chart

Estimating Project Work

• Estimate project effort and resources using the top-down estimation technique
• Estimate project effort and resources using the bottom-up estimation technique
• Identify the techniques used to reduce risks in project estimate

Creating a Project Schedule

• Illustrate project flow
• Identify activity resources
• Schedule project work

Planning Project Costs

• Estimate project costs
• Establish the cost baseline
• Reconcile funding and cost

Planning for Risks

• Create a risk management plan
• Identify project risks and their causes
• Analyze risks
• Develop a risk response plan

Planning for Quality and Compliance

• Create a quality management plan to deliver the expected project results
• Verify project compliance requirements

Managing Human Resources

• Plan your dream team
• Put the project team together
• Build the team; manage the project team
• Identify steps to assess team performance

Managing Project Procurements

• Plan for project procurements
• Conduct a make-or-buy analysis
• Obtain responses from vendors
• Examine types of contracts and warranties
• Manage vendors and procurements

Managing Change During Project Execution

• Execute the planned project
• Transition from planning to implementing
• Define the PMIS and identify common PMIS problems
• Manage project changes
• Avoid scope creep
• Identify change control systems
• Monitor the project scope

Monitoring and Controlling Project Schedule and Cost

• Monitor and control the project schedule
• Understand Earned Value Management (EVM)
• Optimize the project schedule
• Understand schedule compression and fast-tracking
• Crashing the schedule
• Monitor and control project costs

Monitoring Risk and Quality

• Monitor and control project risk
• Put quality plans into action
• Use quality assurance tools
• Control the quality of the project
• Conduct root cause analysis
• Use Pareto charts

Communicating and Reporting

• Communicate effectively using various methods
• Distribute project information
• Manage stakeholder relationships and expectations
• Report on project performance

Closing the Project

• Deliver the project to the customer or the operations team
• Close project procurements
• Wrap-up a project