Project Management Skills

Overview:

Introduction:

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 Objectives:

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Plan projects using the 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

Targeted Audience:

Project managers, members of project offices, project sponsors, functional managers, senior management, and individuals interested in project management.

Course Outlines:

Unit 1: Planning Projects:

• Projects versus operations
• Project management definitions
• Managing project constraints
• Applications of project management
• Potential benefits of project management
• Definition of the project life cycle
• Project charter
• Project scope statement
• Project specifications
• Work breakdown structure
• Project decomposition

Unit 2: Scheduling Projects:

• Linking activities and WBS sequencing
• Predecessors sequencing techniques
• Program evaluation and review technique (PERT)
• Critical Path Method (CPM)
• Forward and backward scheduling
• Gantt chart
• Milestone chart
• Slack management
• Schedule compression techniques
• Myths and realities of schedule compression
• Resource planning
• Resource leveling

Unit 3: Organizing and Controlling Projects:

• Project organization and project control
• Mastering earned value management
• Schedule and budget variances
• Schedule and cost performance indexes
• Earned value management benefits
• Project management reporting
• Auditing a project
• The role of software in project management

Unit 4: Selecting Projects Using Capital Budgeting Techniques:

• Definition of capital budgeting
• Accounting Rate of Return (ARR)
• Payback Period (PP)
• Net Present Value (NPV)
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

Unit 5: Managing Project Stakeholders:

• Identifying stakeholders
• Types of stakeholders
• Managing stakeholder engagement
• Project manager skills
• Project negotiatio