Overview
Get a solid grounding in project management planning and control methods with this comprehensive course using proven project management techniques.
Project Planning, Scheduling and Control gives you the foundation, tools and proven techniques to plan, manage and control each stage of the project life cycle; to work within organizational and cost constraints; to establish and accomplish goals that are linked directly to stakeholder needs; to get the best out of your project team; and to utilize tried and proven project management tools to get the job done on time, within budget and accordance with requirements. You will work through a proactive approach to risk, both threats and opportunities, which will give you a clear understanding of both a qualitative and a quantitative view of risk analysis.
Covering the entire project life cycle, this course is based on the best practices found in the Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Programme Objectives
Participants attending the programme will:

• Establish project goals and objectives that are directly linked to stakeholders’ needs
• Develop and use work breakdown structures
• Develop realistic and measurable objectives to ensure positive results
• Estimate project time and costs using proven techniques
• Establish a project control system and ­monitor progress
• Use a practical, step-by-step process to manage project risk
• Identify threats and opportunities to your project, and weigh their relative value
• Identify and overturn the psychological barriers to risk in stakeholders

Who Should Attend?
Individuals from all industries, government bodies, non-profit organizations and any one who are interested in learning techniques for managing projects will find this course valuable.
This programme will be of especial interest to:

• Programme managers
• Project managers
• Project team members
• Members of Process Improvement Teams
• Administrators responsible for managing projects
• Technical professionals and engineers moving into project leadership roles

Training Methodology
Project management knowledge, skills, tools and techniques are taught through case studies, experiential exercises and practical examples that can used immediately to improve your project results.

Programme Outline
This program addresses both the “hard” skills and the “soft” skills needed by project managers to plan and control projects. The “hard” skills are the technical “mechanics” of managing a project, while the “soft” skills deal with the human issues, and ultimately, it is people who deliver results on projects.

The goal of this programme is to assist organizations in developing project managers who are aware of the strategic importance that project management plays in the achievement of the mission of their organization, and their role in leading the way to better performance and profits.

DAY 1 -

• Foundations of Project Management
• What is a "project"?
• What is project management?
• Managing the triple constraints  
• The life cycle of a project
• Who are the stakeholders?
• What are the project manager’s responsibilities?

• Project Initiation
• What is the role of senior management?
• The project charter
• Conducting a Needs Assessment
• Project selection considerations
• Benefit/cost ratio
• Present value and net present value
• Management by objectives
• Developing Requirements

 

DAY 2 -

• Project Planning
• Scope definition
• Developing the Work Breakdown Structure
• Estimating the work
• Basic rules of estimating
• Types of estimates types and levels of estimating
• Budget
• Definitive
• Top-down vs. bottom-up
• Order of magnitude
• Estimating methodologies
• Identifying costs
• Resources
• Materials
• Direct and indirect costs
• Inclusion of risk
• Time-controlled estimates vs. resource-limited estimates

DAY 3 -  

• Scheduling the work
• Network scheduling
• Validating schedules
• Precedence relationships
• Basic scheduling and network calculations
• Finding the critical path
• Imposed constraints
• The Gantt chart
• Milestones
• Making up time in the Schedule
• Procurement planning
• Communication planning
• Quality planning

DAY 4 -

• Risk Management Planning
• The Basic Foundations of Risk Management
• Definition and elements of risk
• Types of risk
• Threats and opportunities
• Components of risk management
• Determining risk tolerances
• Risk management Planning
• Risk identification
• Risk qualification
• Risk quantification
• Risk analysis and Prioritization
• Analyzing risks
• Evaluating profitability
• Financial tools and techniques
• Decision trees and expected-value analysis
• Prioritizing risks
• Risk response Planning
• Risk response strategies for threats
• Avoidance
• Mitigation
• Transference
• Acceptance
• Risk response strategies for opportunities
• Pursue
• Enhance
• Ignore
• Risk response control
• Executing the risk strategies
• Contingency plans and workarounds
• Reassessing risk

DAY 5 -

• Project Implementation
• Project Baselines
• Establishing baselines
• Types of baselines
• The “S” curve (cumulative cost curve)
• Evaluation and Forecasting
• The process of control
• Establishing a monitoring system
• Controlling costs and schedule during the project
• Sunk costs
• Earned value
• Causes of variances
• Project audits 
• Dealing With Changes to the Project Plans
• Sources of change
• Screening and evaluating changes
• Updating the project plan
• Communicating change  

• Project Closeout
• Scope verification
• Customer acceptance
• Administrative closure
• Contract closeout
• Lessons learned