Course Category

Introduction to Project Management

• Explain what a project is and how it can advance organizational goals
• Understand the role of the project manager in an organizational setting
• Understand how enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets can affect project management processes
• Explain the concept of a project management office (PMO)
• Explain the relation of projects to sub-projects, programs, and portfolios
• Distinguish between functional and projectized organizations and explain how the structure of the organization can affect project processes and activities
• Understand the role of stakeholders such as the project sponsor in determining general and specific details of the project charter
• Understand the project life cycle and its common trends and patterns
• Define and explain fast tracking
• Identify key characteristics of successful project managers

Project Processes and Project Integration Management

• Understand the role of the five process groups: Initiating Process Group, Planning Process Group, Executing Process Group, Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, and Closing Process Group
• Understand the role of the knowledge areas: Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, and Project Procurement Management
• Understand that each of the 42 processes identified by PMI® as being universal to project management can be classified into one knowledge area and one process group
• Understand the overlapping nature of the interaction between the processes and process groups
• Understand the ways in which inputs and outputs of various processes determine the relationship between the processes
• Understand the processes of the Project Integration Management knowledge area
• Understand the inputs, tools and techniques, and the outputs of the various component processes of the Project Integration Management knowledge area

Project Scope Management

• Understand scope and how to create a project scope statement
• Explain the different methods, tools, and techniques for collecting requirements
• Assess the work that needs to be completed for a project to successfully fulfill its objectives and create a work breakdown structure and WBS dictionary
• Use a requirements traceability matrix to trace project requirements throughout its life cycle
• Understand where scope baselines and performance measurement baselines come from and how they are used to evaluate the success of a project through its life cycle
• Complete project review reports and lead meetings
• Update stakeholders

Project Time Management

• Understand the Project Time Management knowledge area component processes
• Define activities using an activity list, activity attributes, and a milestone list
• Explain various techniques for estimating duration and know when to apply them
• Understand how project activities can be sequenced
• Understand how to estimate the resources required for a project and how limited availability of resources can affect the scheduling of activities
• Understand how to read and create a project schedule network diagram
• Understand schedule network analysis and how it can help to determine the critical path for a project
• Understand how to control a project's schedule by initiating change requests or employing techniques of schedule compression or buffering.

Project Cost Management

• Define cost management and its associated cost management plan
• Explain the various inputs of and methods for estimating activity cost
• Understand how to aggregate activity costs in order to determine budget and both periodic and total project funding requirements
• Understand the cost performance baseline and performance measurement baseline and their importance in earned value management
• Calculate planned value, earned value, actual cost, schedule variance, cost variance, the schedule performance index, and cost performance index
• Understand how baselines, planned value, earned value, and actual cost can be represented in graphic form
• Calculate the budget at completion, estimate at completion, estimate to complete, and the to-complete performance index and use these concepts to forecast the cost requirements of a project
• Identify the warning signs that a project is falling behind schedule or overrunning its budget and explain the various possible responses
• Explain performance-reporting techniques and updates to project documentation
• Understand the various approaches to project selection, including return on investment and internal rate of return

Project Quality Management

• Define quality, quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control
• Explain what aspects of quality assurance and quality control need to be decided on and budgeted for in the planning stage
• Explain how the project management team should balance the cost of quality with its benefits
• Distinguish between quality assurance and quality control
• Explain how Perform Quality Assurance identifies ineffective processes and how the process improvement plan allows for their improvement
• Understand how Perform Quality Control uses statistical sampling, inspection, and visual representations of data to identify defects in products or processes
• Understand the similarities and differences among quality tools, and when and why each can be applied in quality management

Project Human Resource Management

• Understand how staffing is planned for and acquired in an organization
• Understand how internal and external staff will have different management needs
• Understand and manage for constraints and limited availability of human resources
• Understand and apply resource leveling techniques to deal with limited human resources
• Identify and choose between the various techniques for visually representing the roles and responsibilities of individuals, teams, and organizations.
• Understand what makes a successful team and how project managers can assess and develop their teams and individual workers
• Employ effective people management, including how to motivate and manage teams and how to resolve team conflict
• Understand the general approaches to decision-making, and how they might be applied to project scenarios

Project Communications Management

• Understand basic communication models and how these models can be applied to project communications management techniques
• Understand the various inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs of Project Communications Management activities
• Understand the basics of effective communication in the context of project management
• Identify stakeholders that should be listed in the stakeholder register, conduct stakeholder analysis, and create stakeholder management strategies to maximize positive stakeholder impacts and minimize negative stakeholder impacts
• Understand the importance of the communications management plan
• Conduct communication requirements analysis to determine how communications will be planned for in the communications management plan
• Understand the different methods and technologies of communication, and explain under which circumstances specific methods and technologies are more likely to be successful
• Understand how stakeholder expectations can be managed so that the project maintains its planned performance baselines and satisfies its acceptance criteria
• Understand the conventions of creating performance reports that use variance analysis and forecasting techniques to update stakeholders on the progress of the project

Project Risk Management

• Define risk and explain how it can impact a project
• Understand the components of the risk management plan and risk register and their relationship to the project management plan
• Understand the techniques involved in risk identification and analysis
• Explain how the probability and impact of risk can be assessed and how risk events can be prioritized
• Understand the difference between qualitative risk analysis and quantitative risk analysis and explain when either or both should be used
• Understand how to make project decisions when outcomes are complex and are affected by uncertainty
• Explain how risk planning, risk analysis, risk response planning, and risk monitoring and controlling are related
• Understand the various management responses to positive and negative risks
• Explain the Monitor and Control Risks process and understand that risks must be monitored throughout the project life cycle

Project Procurement Management

• Define procurement within the context of a project
• Understand the elements of the procurement management plan
• Explain the various roles and responsibilities of buyers and sellers
• Understand the various options for project procurement decisions: make-or-buy decisions, decisions about contract types
• Understand the techniques that contribute to effective project procurement documents
• Identify common criteria for selecting sellers
• Understand the activities involved in administering procurements and ensuring that sellers are on track to complete deliverables that conform to project requirements
• Explain the importance of negotiating for a suitable contract and ensuring that any changes to the procurement requirements are well-documented
• Understand the circumstances under which project procurements can be closed

Project Management Team Leadership

• Define a team and identify six common types of teams
• Explain Bruce Tuckman's model of group development
• Describe how the project life cycle is relevant to team issues
• List the three sources of power for project management team leaders
• Describe ways to manage stakeholder expectations
• Explain different types of team building activities
• Define reflective listening
• Identify the challenges of virtual teams and how they relate to the project management team leader's roles
• Compare and contrast voting and consensus as methods for decision-making
• More effectively identify and resolve team problems
• Explain the different characteristics of effective and open team communication
• Identify the best practices for using email and telephone among team members
• Identify several common team problems and apply methods for resolving these issues

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