Advanced Project Management Incl. MS Projects Course

This 5-day project managementcourse aims to help participants take their project experience, knowledge, and management abilities to higher levels. If you have already completed ourbasic course in project management or have 2 or more years' experience of working on projects, this course is for you. You will be taught to place your experience within a framework of tools and best practices that are aligned with the knowledge areas of PMBOK. Our course will challenge you to become aware of your strengths and teach you how to deepen your knowledge of managing a group.You will learn how to operate in a leadership role by working on your specific skills combined with the correct management methodology and tools. The course also equips you to deal with medium to large projects across different sectors (private, government or NGO). Our facilitator will get you to focus on an actual project that your team is currently working on or will be working on in the near future, and then help you to create real-world strategies so that the whole team achieves better results.Each person will be expected to produce and present a scope statement, Gantt chart, stakeholder management plan, and budget and risk plan to the rest of the group. The facilitator will provide an introduction to the use of MS Projects and you will be shown how to apply this software in designing effective management tools as a presentation for the group.

Upon completing this course, the participants should:

• Learn and become familiar with advanced terminology, concepts, and definitions
• Gain an understanding of key project success and failure factors within their workplace
• Develop the mindset, key skills and processes to manage project teams
• Be able to refine the project scope statement
• Determine the approach for decomposing the work of the project to the required level of detail
• Be able to apply key project management system techniques and formulate a Gantt chart, work- breakdown structure, and budget
• Identify and solve problems when considering project alternatives and making the correct choice
• Work effectively with others when managing the implementation of a project plan
• Collect, evaluate, organize and critically assess information so that you can develop a clear and workable project solution.
• Learn how to thoroughly analyzethepreliminary scope statement and all other relevant inputs.
• Communicate effectively when including components and completion criteria into the Work Breakdown Structure dictionary
• Use science and technology when documenting the decomposed work in the Work Breakdown Structure format

Module 1: Advanced project managing in context, concepts, and tools

• The issues and opportunities that trigger the demand for projects
• The strategic context within which projects are developed
• The challenge of staying within scope, time quality and resource constraints
• The difference between projects and programmes
• The essential Knowledge areas
• Twelve steps to project Management success

Module 2: Project Team Management

• Why do we need to have teams?
• Why some teams don't work well together
• Why certain teams are more effective
• Differences in leading
• Team development stages
• Assembling a project team
• Team structures

Module 3: The Project Management Program Cycle

• The main phases of a project
• The main processes within and between project phases
• The management cycle from a project planning viewpoint

Module 4: Project Initiation Phase

• Problem analysis tools and techniques
• Project identification, project strategies, and project feasibility
• Preparing the business case
• The Project Charter - conclusion of the Initiation Phase

Module 5: Project Definition Phase

• Stakeholder identification and definition of roles
• Stakeholder Management
• Prioritising your stakeholders
• Understanding your stakeholders
• Project Scope definition
• Risk Management process and planning
• Organisational risks, business risks and

Module 6: Project Planning Phase

• Setting project objectives
• Identifying effective strategies for success
• Defining project activities/ the work breakdown structure
• Preparing a project schedule / the Gantt chart
• Resources and Cost Estimation
• Budgeting and Cost Control

Module 7: The Project Implementation Phase

• Project Monitoring
• Steps for successful project control
• Supervision of human resources
• Effective Conflict Management
• Time Management and goal setting
• Monitoring Project Quality
• Quality materials, quality events, quality plan, quality control and quality assurance
• Procurement
• Using external vendors and suppliers
• Discovering better problem-solving methods
• Types of contracts
• The tender process
• Project Reporting and project evaluation

Module 8: Project Closure

• Rationale for closure
• Steps for effective closure
• Closure Checklist
• Documentation of results
• Lessons learned and project evaluation
• New mindset shifts

Module 9: 1 day of MS Projects

• Overview of MS Projects
• How to use MS Projects
• Use of software to fill in a schedule of work
• Produce a Gantt chart on MS Projects for presentation to the group

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Introduction:

• Organisational Mission
• The challenge of project management
• Aligning internal objectives with context
• 12 steps to your team management success
• Project Team Management
• Team development stages
• Project Life Cycle
• Project Initiation Phase
• Problem Analysis
• Project Identification
• Project Charter
• Project Definition Phase
• Stakeholder Management and Scope
• Risk Management
• Project Planning Phase
• Work Breakdown Structure and scheduling
• Project Implementation and monitoring
• Project Quality
• Project Reporting
• Project Evaluation
• Project Closure