Project Management Basics

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Every project has a definite beginning and definite end. And each product or service that is created is different in some distinguishing way from all similar products or services.

There are many different types of projects depending on the industry and scope of activities. Some examples:

• Developing a new product or service,
• Effecting a change in structure, staffing or style of an organization,
• Designing computer software, such as a materials managements (inventory) system, a claim processing system, or an accounting system.

Project management is much more than just scheduling. It involves balancing many different components, which project managers organize into nine knowledge areas.

A typical project starts with someone having an idea, or by an idea emerging through discussion. The idea then gains acceptance from a wider group: probably informally through discussion with colleagues and them through a more formal process involving senior management, the management committee or Board. This leads to a fund-raising process, which usually causes significant delay, and then, if the funding bid is successful the project can start, staff can be appointed and work can begin. This work has to be planned and managed, problems dealt with, until the project concludes, hopefully successfully, and is wound up.

Formal methods of Project Management provide a framework to manage this process, providing a series of elements – templates and procedures to manage the project through its life cycle. The key elements consist of:

• Defining the project accurately, systematically clarifying objectives.
• Dividing the project up into manageable tasks and stages.
• Controlling the projects through its stages using the project definition as a baseline.
• Highlighting risks and developing specific procedures to deal with them
• Providing mechanisms to deal with quality issues
• Clarifying roles to provide the basis for effective teamwork.

Course Description

This course is designed to teach students the basic principles of good project management. Students will learn how to identify and schedule project resources, create project flow charts, and produce critical path planning and evaluation reports. Important issues of staff selection and team management are also covered. These learning objectives are reinforced by a course project that allows the student to apply the principles and use the tools they learned.

Who Should Attend

Individuals interested in learning the basic principles of good project management.

Access Provided

• One-month, unlimited access to course trainng materials, practice tests, discussion forum and certified instructor

Certification

• Certificate awarded by Eristotle Limited, UK.

Course Outline

Module 1: Introduction to Project Management

• Understand the growing need for better project management, especially for information technology projects.
• Explain what a project is and provide examples of information technology projects
• Describe what project management is and discuss key elements for the project management framework
• Discuss how project management relates to other disciplines
• Understand the history of project management
• Describe the project management profession, including recent trends in project management research, certification, and software products

Module 2: The Project Management and Information Technology Context

• Understand the systems view of project management and how it applies to information technology projects
• Analyze a formal organization using the structural, human resources, political, and symbolic organization frames
• Explain the differences among functional, matrix, and project organizational structures
• Explain why stakeholder management and top management commitment are critical for a project's success
• understand the concept, development, implementation, and close-out phase of the project life cycle
• Distinguish between project development and product development
• Discuss the unique attributes and diverse nature of information technology projects
• List the skills and attributes of a good project manager in general and in the information technology field

Module 3: The Project Management Process Groups: A Case Study

• Describe the five project management process groups, the typical level of activity for each, and the interactions among them
• Understand how the project management process groups relate to the project management knowledge areas
• Discuss how organizations develop information technology project management methodology to meet their needs
• Review a case study of an organization applying the project management process groups to manage an information technology project
• Understand the contribution that effective project initiation, project planning, project execution, project control, and project closing makes to project success

Module 4: Project Integration Management

• Describe an overall framework of project integration management as it relates to other project management knowledge areas and the project life cycle
• Describe project plan development, including project plan content, using guidelines and templates for developing plans, and performing a stakeholder analysis to help manage relationships
• Explain project plan execution, its relationship to project planning, the factors related to successful results, and tools and techniques to assist in project plan execution
• Understand the integrated change control process, planning for and managing changes in information technology projects, and developing and using a change control system
• Describe how software can assist in project integration management

Module 5: Project Scope Management

• Understand the elements that make good project scope management important
• Describe the strategic planning process, apply different project selection methods, such as a net present value analysis, a weighted scoring model, and a balanced scorecard, and understand the importance of creating a project charter
• Explain the scope planning process and contents of a scope statement
  Discuss the scope definition process and construct a work breakdown structure using the analogy, top-down, bottom-up, and mind mapping approaches
• Understand the importance of scope verification and scope change control to avoid scope creep on information technology projects
• Describe how software can assist in project scope management

Module 6: Project Time Management

• Understand the importance of project schedules and good project time management
• Define activities as the basis for developing project schedules
• Describe how project management use network diagrams and dependencies to assist in activity sequencing
• Explain how various tools and techniques help project managers perform activity duration estimating and schedule development
• Use a Gantt chart for schedule planning and tracking schedule information
• Understand and use critical path analysis
• Describe how to several techniques for shortening project schedules
• Explain the basic concept behind critical chain scheduling and Program Evaluation and Review Technique ( PERT )
• Discuss how reality checks and people issues are involved in controlling and managing changes to the project schedule
• Describe how software can assist in project time management

Module 7: Project Cost Management

• Understand the importance of good project cost management
• Explain basic project cost management principles, concepts, and terms
• Describe how resource planning relates directly to project cost management
• Explain cost estimating using definitive, budgetary, and rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimates
• Understand the processes involved in cost budgeting and preparing a cost estimate for an information technology project
• Understand the benefits of earned value management and project portfolio management to assist in cost control
• Describe how software can assist in project cost management

Module 8: Project Quality Management

• Understand the importance of project quality management for information technology products and services
• Define project quality management and understand how quality relates to various aspects of information technology projects
• Describe quality planning and its relationship to project scope management
• Discuss the importance of quality assurance
• List the three outputs of the quality control process
• Understand the tools and techniques for quality control, such as pareto analysis, statistical sampling, Six Sigma, quality control charts, and testing
• Describe important concepts related to Six Sigma and how it help organizations improve quality and reduce costs
• Summarize the contributions of noteworthy quality experts to modern quality management
• Understand how the Malcolm Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 standard promote quality in project management
• Describe how leadership, cost, organizational influences, and maturity models relate to improving quality in information technology projects
• Discuss how software can assist in project quality management

Module 9: Project Human Resource Management

• Explain the importance of good human resource management on projects, especially on information technology projects
• Define project human resource management and understand its processes
• Summarize key concepts for managing people by understanding the theories of Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, David McClelland, and Douglas McGregor on motivation, H.J. Thamhain and D. L. Wilemon on influencing workers, and Stephen Covey on how people and teams can become more effective
• Discuss organization planning and be able to create a project organizational chart, responsibility assignment matrix, and resource histogram
• Understand important issues involved in project staff acquisition and explain the concepts of resource assignments, resource loading, and resource leveling                                                              
• Assist in team development with training, team-building activities, and reward systems
  Describe how project management software can assist in project human resource management

Module 10: Project Communication Management

• Understand the importance of good communication on projects and describe the major components of a communications management plan
• Discuss the elements of project communications planning, including information distribution, performance reporting, and administrative closure
• Discuss various methods for project information distribution and the advantages and disadvantage of each
• Understand individual communication needs and how to determine the number of communications channels needed for a project
• Understand how the main outputs of performance reporting help stakeholders stay informed about project resources
• Recognize how the main outputs of administrative closure are used to formally end a project
  List various methods for improving project communications, such as managing conflicts, running effective meeting, using e-mail effectively, and using templates
• Describe how software can enhance project communications

Module 11: Project Risk Management

• Understand what risk is and the importance of good project risk management
• Discuss the elements involved in risk management planning
• List common sources of risks on information technology projects
• Describe the risk identification process and tools and techniques to help identify project risks
• Discuss the qualitative risk analysis process and explain how to calculate risk factors, use probability/impact matrixes, the Top Ten Risk Item Tracking technique, and expert judgment to rank risks
• Explain the quantify risk analysis process and how to use decision trees and simulation to quantitative risks
• Provide examples of using different risk response planning strategies such as risk avoidance, acceptance, transference, and mitigation
• Discuss what is involved in risk monitoring and control
• Describe how software can assist in project risk management
• Explain the results of good project risk management

Module 12: Project Procurement Management

• Understand the importance of project procurement management and the increasing use of outsourcing for information technology projects
• Describe the procurement planning process, procurement planning tools and techniques, types of contracts, and statements of work
• Discuss what is involved in solicitation planning and the difference between a request for proposal and q request for quote
• Explain what occurs during the solicitation process
• Describe the source selection process and different approaches for evaluating proaches for evaluating proposals or selecting suppliers
• Discuss the importance of good contract administration
• Describe the contract close-out process
• Discuss types of software available to assist in project procurement management