Why Attend
The overall aim of this course is to provide participants with the necessary skills required to plan their projects by creating project scope statements and project work breakdown structures. Additionally, participants will learn how to develop key performance indicators for monitoring and controlling their project schedule and budget. The course also aims at assisting participants in appraising the feasibility of their projects by applying capital budgeting techniques. Finally, the course will cover how to effectively plan project stakeholders’ engagement and manage their expectations.
Course Methodology
The course uses a mix of interactive techniques, such as brief presentations by consultant and participants, and psychometric assessments. The course also features the use of a number of group exercises and case studies followed by plenary discussions.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Plan projects using statement of work and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Schedule projects activities and build the project network model
- Calculate project budgets and schedule variances using Earned Value (EV) techniques
- Select the right projects using capital budgeting techniques
- Relate to project stakeholders through better negotiation and communication skills
Target Audience
Project managers, members of project offices, project sponsors, functional managers, senior management and individuals interested in project management. This course is worth 30 Professional Development Units (PDUs).
Target Competencies
- Planning projects
- Organizing projects
- Executing projects
- Controlling projects
- Cognitive abilities
- Communication
Course Outline
- Planning projects
- Project management definitions
- Projects versus operations
- Managing project constraints
- Applications of project management
- Potential benefits of project management
- Definition of project life cycle
- Defining project requirements
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Project specifications
- Milestone schedule
- Work breakdown structure
- WBS decomposition problems
- WBS guidelines and checklists
- Scheduling projects
- Linking activities and WBS sequencing
- Forward and backward scheduling
- Critical Path Method (CPM)
- Slack management
- Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
- Schedule compression techniques
- Myths and realities of schedule compression
- Resource planning and leveling
- Organizing and controlling projects
- Project organization and project control
- Mastering earned value management
- Schedule and budget variances
- Project forecasting
- Project management reporting
- Auditing a project
- The role of software in project management
- Selecting projects using capital budgeting techniques
- Definition of capital budgeting
- Cost of capital
- Accounting Rate of Return (ARR)
- Payback Period (PP)
- Net Present Value (NPV)
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
- Managing project stakeholders
- Identifying stakeholders
- Types of stakeholders
- Stakeholder power and interest grid
- Planning stakeholder management
- Managing stakeholder engagement
- Controlling stakeholder engagement
