The Advanced Skills for Project Managers

Introduction

The overall aim of this course is to provide participants with the necessary skills required to plan their projects by creating project scope statements and project work breakdown structures. Additionally, participants will learn how to develop key performance indicators for monitoring and controlling their project schedule and budget. The course also aims at assisting participants in appraising the feasibility of their projects by applying capital budgeting techniques. Finally, the course will cover how to effectively plan project stakeholders’ engagement and manage their expectations.

Course Objectives of The Advanced Skills for Project Managers

• Plan projects using the statement of work and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Schedule project activities and build the project network model.
• Calculate project budgets and schedule variances using Earned Value (EV) techniques.
• Select the right projects using capital budgeting techniques.
• Relate to project stakeholders through better negotiation and communication skills.

The Advanced Skills for Project Managers Course Outlines

Day 1

Planning projects

• Project management definitions.
• Projects versus operations.
• Managing project constraints.
• Applications of project management.
• Potential benefits of project management.
• Definition of the project life cycle.
• Defining project requirements
  • Statement of Work (SOW).
  • Project specifications.
  • Milestone schedule.
  • Work breakdown structure.
• WBS decomposition problems.
• WBS guidelines and checklists.

Day 2

Scheduling projects

• Linking activities and WBS sequencing.
• Forward and backward scheduling.
• Critical Path Method (CPM).
• Slack management.
• Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT).
• Schedule compression techniques.
• Myths and realities of schedule compression.
• Resource planning and leveling.

Day 3

Organizing and controlling projects

• Project organization and project control.
• Mastering earned value management.
• Schedule and budget variances.
• Project forecasting.
• Project management reporting.
• Auditing a project.
• The role of software in project management.

Day 4

Selecting projects using capital budgeting techniques

• Definition of capital budgeting.
• Cost of capital.
• Accounting Rate of Return (ARR).
• Payback Period (PP).
• Net Present Value (NPV).
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR).

Day 5

Managing project stakeholders

• Identifying stakeholders.
• Types of stakeholders.
• Stakeholder power and interest grid.
• Planning stakeholder management.
• Managing stakeholder engagement.
• Controlling stakeholder engagement.