Principles of Project Management

Course details

The job of the project manager is one of the “hottest” in business today. Successful companies and organizations use project management to achieve breakthrough results.

Project managers are faced with demanding schedules, difficult specifications, and limited budgets. They should effectively plan, organize, control, and lead a project throughout its entire life cycle.

In this course, participants learn the concept of project planning and scheduling. They get to know the project management cycle and the project phases. They also learn how to define a project scope, build a project schedule, plan the project budget and manage project risks.

All concepts are introduced in compliance with the project management standards depicted in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), published by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Course Objectives

Upon attending this workshop, participants will learn how to:

• Demonstrate underlying knowledge of the project management framework as defined by the Project Management Body of Knowledge
• Prepare a project charter
• Define a project scope and prepare a Work Breakdown Structure
• Define project activities and describe the relations between project activities
• Prepare a project schedule including project milestones
• Crash and fast forward a project schedule to meet a target deadline
• Conduct a project risk assessment and compile a risk management plan
• Define a project’s cost elements and prepare its budget
• Use software applications to develop project schedules
• Develop the project's communication plan

Course Outline

Introduction to project management

• Why do we need project management
• Project Life Cycle
• PM Process groups and Knowledge Areas
• The Triple Constraints
• What Project Planning Answers
• The Integrated Project Plan
• Project Management Office (PMO)
• The role of the project managers
• Project Stakeholders

Project Initiation

• Project Integration Management
• Project Initiating Processes
• Developing Project Charter
• Project selection methods

Project Planning - Scope Management

• Project Scope Management Processes
• Scope Definition
• Collecting Requirements
• Scope Statement and Deliverables
• Constructing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Benefits of using WBS

Project Planning - Schedule Development

• Project Time Management Processes
• Activity Definition: Tasks and Milestones
• Sequencing Activities and developing a Network Diagram (PERT Chart)
• Estimating Activity Resources
• Estimating Activity Duration
• Developing Project Schedule (GANTT Chart)
• Critical Path Analysis (CPA)
• Actions to reduce/compress the critical path
• Planning Project Resources

Project Planning – Cost Planning

• Estimating Costs
• Direct and Indirect costs
• Determining Budget

Project Risk Management

• Defining and Managing Risk in projects
• Project Risk Management Processes
• Identifying Risks by assessing Risk Sources
• Performing Qualitative Risk Analysis
• Calculating the project risk value
• Planning Risk Response

Project Communication Management

• Communications Methods, Channels and Blockers
• Project Communications Management Processes
• Identifying Stakeholders
• Planning Project Communications
• Developing Action Item List
• Distributing Information
• Managing Stakeholder Expectations
• Reporting Performance