Introduction to the Project Management Life Cycle
Course: PMLC
Duration: 3 Days
Level: I
Course Summary
Today's project managers and teams must deliver under great pressure. Organizing scarce resources, managing tight budgets and deadlines, controlling change throughout projects and generating maximum team performance are key aspects of effective Project Management.
The focal point of this workshop is to enhance the IT project manager's project planning skills to ensure successful completion of small and large IT projects on time, within budget, within scope.
Focusing on "best practices" as outlined by the Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK, you will learn how to successfully plan, manage and deliver projects. You are provided with guidelines, forms and checklists that are ready for use immediately upon return to your work.
Projects are typically divided into several project phases to improve management control. The phases are referred to as the project life cycle. Project life cycles may have four or five phases, which vary in the customized life cycle versions that different organizations may adopt. During the initial phase, the project's general scope and timing are determined. During the intermediate phases, detailed planning occurs along with the activities required to produce the product or service of the project. In the final phase, project-closing activities occur. Each phase has certain requirements that must be met before the team can move onto the next phase. Each phase has output or documentation requirements.
Particular emphasis is given to the documentation components required as output within each phase of the Project Life Cycle. Sample reports are reviewed with participants, and appropriate exercises help reinforce the required content of each report. Additional documentation examples are provided by the instructor.
The instructor will provide various templates the participants can use for documentation when they return to their offices.
This workshop offers you a standards-based, practical approach to successful project management across application areas and industries.
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Topics Covered In This Course
Initiating a Project
- Definition of a Project
- Definition of Project Management -Role and expectations of the Project Manager
- Communicating with the requestor and appropriate levels of management
- Project phases and gates
- Organizational structures (functional, matrix and project organizations)
- Project Management process groups
- Project Management knowledge areas (PMI PMBOK)
- Review of sample project for team exercises
- Select a Project
Successfully Launching a Project: The Project Charter
- Reasons for doing projects
- Understanding project financial terms
- Understanding the business case for a project
- Understanding the role of project stakeholders
- Use of a project charter to ensure alignment
- Review of Project Charter Template
- Team exercise - determine the business case for a project
- Team exercise - developing a project charter and Preliminary - Scope Statement
Planning Your Work
- Develop an Initial Project Plan
- Review the purpose of the Integrated Project Plan
Developing the Project Definition - The Scope Statement
- Create a Scope Statement
- Determining major project deliverables
- Understanding the relationship between scope, cost and schedule
- Project objectives: criteria for success
- Elements of a project plan
- Use of a scope statement to document major deliverables & objectives
- Review of Project Scope Template
- Team exercise - develop a scope statement
The Work Breakdown Structure
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - basis for project planning
- Decomposition of deliverables
- Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Sample WBS's
- Review of WBS Template
- Class exercise - develop a WBS
- Team exercise - develop a WBS
Developing Project Schedules
- Create an Activity Definition List
- Activity sequencing
- Create a Project Network Diagram
- Acquire Activity Duration Estimates and Determine Safety Factors
- Identify the Critical Path
- Critical path and float concepts
- Develop a Project Schedule
- Schedule compression techniques
- Determine Resource Requirements
- Review of Project Schedule Template
- Team exercise: develop a project schedule
Cost Estimating & Budgeting
- Estimate Project Costs
- Developing a project estimate and budget using various techniques
- Review of Project Budget Template
- Establish a Cost Baseline
- Use of risk analysis to determine contingency
- Project performance measurement
- Methods to report costs and progress
- Schedule and cost performance indices
- Team exercise - analyze project cost report
Planning Project Quality, Staffing, and Communications
- Documentation requirements for Quality, Staffing and Communications
- Review of Project Quality, Staffing and Communications Templates
- Create a Quality Management Plan
- Document Roles, Responsibilities, and Reporting Relationships
- Assign Project Staff
- Create a Communications Management Plan
Identifying and Analyzing Risks and Planning Risk Response
- Understanding the nature of risk
- Impact of stakeholders risk tolerance on project plans
- Understanding your risk tolerance level -Types of risk
- Risk identification techniques
- Difference between risk causes, risk events and impacts
- Review of Project Risk Template
- Create a Risk Management Plan
- Identify Project Risks and Triggers
- Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
- Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
- Determining the probability and impact of risks
- Use of decision trees for risk analysis
- Develop a Risk Response Plan
- Team exercise - identifying risks on a sample project
- Team exercise: decision tree example
- Team exercise: determining risk factors & developing risk response plans
- Team exercise: Document Risk
Planning Project Procurement
- Develop a Procurement Plan
- Review of Project Procurement Template
- Prepare a Statement of Work
- Prepare Procurement Documents
Establishing an Effective Control Process
- Setting the baseline schedule
- Monitoring actual task progress
- Analyzing progress against the baseline
- Correcting the project plan to achieve the objectives
Implementing and Working the Plan
- Execute the Project Plan
- Getting the information you need
- Picking up warnings of trouble ahead
- Avoiding creeping commitments
- Knowing when and how to replan
- The role of the baseline plan
- Implement Quality Assurance
- Develop the Project Team
- Distribute Project Information
- Solicit Proposals, Quotes, or Bids
- Select a Seller
- Administer a Contract
Managing Project Changes
- The Nature of Changes on a Project
- Control Project Scope Changes and Scope Creep
- The Change Management Process: Procedures, Forms, Approvals
- Review of Project Change Templates
- Class Exercise: Dealing with a Project Change
- Team Exercise: Dealing with a Project Change
- Team Exercise: Documenting a Project Change
Tracking and reporting progress
- Reading information from the Gantt chart
- Tracking costs, head count and resources
- Planned vs. actual project performance
- Avoiding the 90-percent-complete trap
- Paper vs. PC tools
- Classroom Demonstration: The documentation abilities of - Microsoft Project and other Project Management Tools
Monitoring and Controlling the Project
- Monitoring and controlling project work, schedules, costs, - risks, and contracts
- Manage Changes to Performance Baselines
- Review Deliverables and Work Results
- Control the Project Schedule
- Control Project Costs
- Control Project Quality
- Report Project Performance
- Monitor and Control Project Risk
Closing the Project
- Managing project closure and maintenance
- Obtain Formal Acceptance
- Create Project Close-out Documents
- Lessons Learned
- Close Out a Contract
Effective Project Communications
- Planning for effective project communications
- Developing an effective project team
- Running effective meetings with concise meeting notes & action items
- Project status reporting
- Effective use of email
- Leadership styles
- Dealing with project conflicts
- Team exercise: developing a communications matrix
- Team exercise: dealing with a project conflict
Adapting to the project manager's role
- Getting commitment from the team
- Designating team member roles
- Accepting ownership and responsibility
- Designing your management role
Best Practices for Managing Projects
- Communication
- Documentation
- Project Manager
- Project Team
- Other Stakeholders
What You Can Expect
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Discuss PMBOK Guide's five process groups and nine knowledge areas.
- Initiate a project.
- Develop a project charter
- Define project scope.
- Create a project plan
- Develop schedule and cost performance baselines for a project.
- Plan project quality, staffing, and communications.
- Build a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
- Use a network diagram to display a Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) chart.
- Use the Critical Path Method (CPM) in the network diagram to ensure the correct project duration.
- Develop cost estimates and budgets.
- Plan project quality, staffing, and communications.
- Analyze project risks and plan risk responses.
- Define project procurement requirements and Plan project procurement.
- Manage project procurement.
- Execute project work.
- Monitor and control project work.
- Monitor and control project schedule and costs.
- Monitor and control project quality, staffing, and communications.
- Monitor and control project risk and contracts.
- Close the project.
- Provide appropriate documentation for each phase of the project.
- Explore different personality types and learn how they affect project management.
- Use Best practices for keeping everyone engaged and the project on track
- Understand Standardization of reporting and documentation
- Utilize electronic templates making project documentation more standardized and easier.
Who Should Take This Course
This course is valuable for those interested in learning the latest techniques used in project management to effectively manage their projects. It is also for experienced project managers who desire to increase their project management skills and apply a standards-based (PMI PMBOK) approach to project management.
Recommended Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites. This course is for people just becoming formal project managers and team leaders and team members wanting to do a better job at project management.
Training Style
Instructor led, group-paced, classroom-delivery learning model with structured hands-on activities. Various reporting templates will be provided to participants in paper form in the classroom and in electronic form for use back in their offices.
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