Project Management Essentials

Prerequisites:

No previous knowledge of project management is assumed other than a basic awareness of project work in the delegates own business environment

Course Description:

IT professionals are increasingly required to operate within a project environment or even to manage IT projects. Projects bring together resources, skills, technology and ideas to deliver business benefits – but all too often they fail to deliver or overrun on time and budget. Methods such as PRINCE2 provide an effective framework for the management of any project but rely on members of a project management team applying a wide range of business and interpersonal skills and techniques.

This course aims to develop the core skills and techniques required to deliver today's IT projects on time, within budget and to the required quality. This includes those mentioned in the PRINCE2 manual but not included in the examination syllabuses. The course is therefore a perfect complement to our PRINCE2 certification courses. It is also an ideal starting point for those who wish to develop the core skills of project management outside a PRINCE2 environment.

Extensive use is made of case study material and a practical workshop which covers the life of a project from Startup to Closure.

Delegates will learn how to:

• Describe the key phases of an IT project
• Describe the key phases of an IT project
• Define the scope of a project
• Implement planning and estimating techniques
• Manage the project team
• Control change
• Approach risk management
• Track the project's progress
• Execute project Closure

This course forms part of the following certification track(s):

• PRINCE2 Foundation
• PRINCE2 Practitioner

This course includes the following modules:

Day One (Startup)

• The nature of projects and project work
• The IT project management life cycle
• Identifying Business Requirements
• Stakeholder Analysis
• Creating a Scope Document
• Risk Management
• Structure, organisation and responsibilities

Day Two (Planning)

• The need for project planning and control
• Outline and detailed planning techniques
• Work Breakdown Structures
• Identifying resource requirements
• Estimating effort, duration and cost
• Adjustments, allowances and contingency
• Activity networks and Critical Path Analysis
• Schedules and Gantt charts

Day Three (Execution & Closure)

• Managing Quality
• Change control procedures
• Collecting and analysing progress information
• Earned Value Analysis
• Dealing with Issues
• Taking corrective action
• Managing the Project Team
• Managing Project Closure