Effective Project Management

This 2-day workshop is designed to completely cover the fundamentals of managing projects. It introduces participants to more complex topics in project management while it deepens their understanding of planning and controlling processes. Participants discover concepts, tools and ways to manage projects to achieve positive outcomes. They apply these principles and techniques to sample projects and create links to their own projects.

In this course participants will learn to:

• Define project requirements and scope.
• Develop a work breakdown structure and project activities.
• Build a network diagram to show activity sequence.
• Define resources required and create accountabilities across functions.
• Develop time and cost estimates.
• Generate project budgets and calendar-based schedules.
• Evaluate and plan for risk.
• Identify and analyze key stakeholders.
• Create a plan to meet communication needs.
• Track and manage project progress.
• Close out the project and conduct a post project review.

The workshop includes a detailed Participant Guide that has references to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, the international ANSI standard of the Project Management Institute. The Participant Guide illustrates tools and techniques with a comprehensive project example and describes a simplified project planning process. By attending this course you will also earn 16 PDU’s towards the PMP Certification.

Module 1: Project Management Overview

• What is a Project?
• Project Management Fundamentals
• Organizing the Project
• The Project Plan

Module 2: Starting the Project

• Project Initiation
• Simplified Project Management Processes
• Summarize the Project
• Defining Requirements and Scope
• Planning Purchases

Module 3: Project Planning Basics

• Work Breakdown Structure
• Techniques to Create a WBS
• Determining Activity Sequences
• Project Responsibilities

Module 4: Estimating and Risk

• The Nature of Estimating
• Project Estimates
• Estimating Time
• Estimating Cost
• Planning to Manage Risk

Module 5: Developing Project Schedules

• Critical Path
• Developing a Schedule
• Making Schedule Adjustments

Module 6: Stakeholders and Communication Planning

• Stakeholder Management
• Communication in Projects
• Planning Communications
• Project Kick-Off Meeting
• Finalizing the Project Plan

Module 7: Leading the Project

• Project Leadership Concepts
• Leading the Team - Build Trust
• Leading the Team - Encourage Interactions
• Leading the Team - Make Decisions
• Leading the Team - Accountability and Measurement

Module 8: Executing, Controlling and Closing Projects

• Project Execution
• Controlling the Project
• Change Control Process
• Closing the Project

The workshop is intended for project managers, project team members, business analysts, technical specialists, subject matter experts, and other project stakeholders who would like to refresh their skills, broaden their understanding, or learn some new approaches. It was created to help project participants reach the next level of proficiency and is appropriate for those with some project management experience and /or minimal project management training.