Project Management Fundamentals

Course Overview

Well-managed projects reap undoubted benefits and in today's business environment a solid project management approach is often required by your customers. However, a lot of the project management training currently available is either too specialised, confining itself to a particular methodology, or too excessive, being aimed at full-time professional project managers. This course, on the other hand, aims at giving a general overview of the subject and is designed to give an awareness of Project Management to all staff that need it, not just the specialists. It also serves as an introduction to more specialised project management training.

What You Will Learn

• Defining Project Objectives: Stakeholders, Benefits and the Business Case.
• Designing the Plan: Planning, Quality and Risk and the major Project Management methodologies.
• Delivering the Plan; Monitoring, Control and remaining true to the original Business Purpose.

Audience

Novices to Project Management

Requirements

Duration

2 days

Structure

Learning Unit 1; Overview and Introduction to the Key Concepts

1.1 Defining the Objectives of a Project

• Stakeholders and their objectives
• Avoiding failure
• Documenting the objectives
• Choosing Project Strategies

1.2 Designing a Plan to Realise the Objectives

• The Project Proposal; Planning, Quality and Risk Management

1.3 Implementing the Plan

• Monitoring Progress
• Evaluating progress and communicating conclusions
• Managing divergences from the Plan

1.4 Closing the Project; Handover and Review

1.5 Introduction to our Sample Project

Learning Unit 2; Defining the Objectives

2.1 Identifying Stakeholders; stakeholder analysis and management.

2.2 The broader context

• The Programme; Project interfaces
• The Organisation; turning strategic aims into business realities
• The Project Environment; constraints and complexity

2.3 Agreeing the Objectives

• Scope Management
• Documenting the objectives; the Business Case and the Project Brief

2.4 Choosing a Strategy

• Core methodologies; PMBOK and Prince 2
• Planning Strategies; Product-based and activity-based
• Quality Management Strategies

Learning Unit 3; Designing the Plan

3.1 Quality

• Who's Quality?
• The Quality Management System (Criteria & Metrics, Quality Control, ISO 9001)

3.2 Planning

• Identify Products and Activities; the PBS and WBS
• Structuring Activities; the PFD, the WFD and identifying dependencies
• Estimating; some methodologies and tips
• Scheduling; PERT & CPM charts, Gantt charts, Checkpoints or Stages

3.3 Risk

• Risk Identification
• Estimating Risk Impact
• Risk Mitigation Strategies
• Risk Monitoring & Control

Learning Unit 4; Delivering the Plan

4.1 Monitoring

• Team Structures, People Management & Leadership
• Procurement and Supply Chain Management
• Contract Management

4.2 Control

• Quality and Risk Control
• Time and Cost Control
• Change Control
• Configuration Management
• The Communication Plan and Project Organisation
• Evaluating Control Information and taking Corrective action
• Stage Review and Continuous Improvement

Learning Unit 5; Closing the Project

5.1 The Handover

5.2 Project Review

• Lessons learnt
• Improving Project Management Processes

5.3 The Project Close

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