Overview:
The Challenge
The world of projects is rife with cost overruns and delays. This can be caused by inadequate project planning, poor workmanship, vendor delays and a host of other factors. The fact is, there are few organizations who can accurately predict the final cost or completion date of their projects on a routine basis. This can cause enormous difficulties. For example, how can we hope to forecast the ROI of our substantial investment in projects if we cannot estimate with any accuracy the cost side of the equation? How can we guarantee a delivery date with a constantly shifting schedule? How can we get a handle on this?
The Solution
The Core of Project Management delivers practical, hands-on training in the development and management of scope, schedule and budget. Attendees are shown how to generate useful preliminary estimates; use a project charter to establish scope boundaries; use a Work Breakdown Structure as the basis for an effective schedule; use Risk Analysis and other techniques to drive budget accuracy; employ Earned Value Management as the tool of choice for accurate forecasting; and control project cost through effective Change Control. Through lecture, discussion, exercises and other means participants are shown an effective project process that supports both successful project delivery and creation of long-term project value. Topics covered during this course include:
- The purpose of projects – realization of Business Value
- The Project Triad: Scope, Time and Cost
- Setting boundaries with the project charter
- Creating useful preliminary estimates
- Scope as the foundation to project planning
- Developing an effective project schedule
- Planning procurement
- Using risk management to control cost and prevent delays
- Four primary functions of the budget
- Budget impact of scope, schedule, procurement and risk
- Creating a detailed project budget
- Setting and managing the project performance baseline
- Reporting and forecasting with Earned Value Management
- Project Monitoring and Control
- Optimizing long-term project value
Audience:
This course is of immediate value to Business Owners, Project and Program Managers, Portfolio Managers, Budget Analysts, Functional Managers, IT Managers, Product Development Directors, Senior Managers, Acquisition/Procurement Officials, and Business Managers with project responsibility.
Prerequisites:
This course assumes some experience with project work and budgeting, but no specific prior training is required.
Course duration:
2 days
Course Outline:
Project Schedule and Budget in Context
- Why we do projects - Business Value
- Project versus Product Life Cycle
- Managing projects for optimal long-term value
- Creating Project Balance: Scope, Time, Cost, Risk and Quality
- How effective project management prevents delays and cost overruns
Foundation for Project Planning
- Purpose of the project charter
- Setting preliminary scope boundaries
- Developing useful estimates of time and cost
- Total Cost of Ownership
- Taking risk into account
- Managing to the Triple Constraint
Defining Project Scope
- Purpose of the Scope Statement
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Requirements drive Quality
- The Scope baseline
- Impact of scope changes on schedule and budget
Developing the Schedule
- Leveraging the WBS
- Defining the schedule
- Value of the Critical Path
- Resourcing the project
- How the resource-loaded schedule helps define project cost
Procurement
- Procurement Planning
- Vendor search and selection
- Contracts
- Impact of procurement on budget
Creating the Budget
- Budget lifecycle
- Accounting for all sources of project cost
- Value and cost of proactive risk management
- Contingency and Management Reserves
- Funding limit reconciliation
- Tracking cost
- The project performance baseline
Controlling changes to Scope, Schedule and Budget
- Controlling scope, schedule and budget through project Change Control
- Keeping the project plan in balance
- What you should never cut from your project
- Reporting and forecasting with Earned Value Management
- Managing the project to optimize long-term project value
Delivery and Transition
- Transition Planning
- Smooth Deployment
- Preparing the customer
- Smooth hand-off to the support organization
- Steps to ensure Business Value realization
Learning Approach
- A highly experienced instructor will use interactive lecture format, numerous hands-on exercises, team activities, group discussions, and other techniques to drive home the essential points of this material.
- You have the option of using your own, ongoing project as the focus of class exercises. As a result, not only do you gain experience with the tools, but you also learn more about your project.
- We will build on your prior experience in this topic, while providing you with a structure and vocabulary to use in future projects.
- If you have modest project management knowledge, you will find that the clarity of the material and direct presentation style of the instructor will make the subject matter easy to understand.
- You will receive a Participant Guide which will help you follow the material, take notes and retain what you learned so that you can apply it on your job.
Why should I take this course?
- If you are experiencing difficulties defining and managing project budgets and schedules, the material in this course will give you an understanding of steps you can take to gain control.
- Experienced project managers will obtain a vocabulary and framework that lends new perspectives on scheduling and budgeting to the wealth of experience they already have.
- All participants take home a set of tools and techniques to help them deal with the many aspects of project scheduling and budgeting.
- Take this course and learn how to avoid the problems with time and cost that business managers most often encounter in their projects.
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