Advanced Project Management

What do many of today’s projects have in common? The resounding answer is schedule slippages and cost overruns. This is because of both poor planning and management of project schedules and costs. Today’s complex projects require sophisticated tools and techniques to finish on target. This three-day seminar presents practical tips and advanced tools and techniques to plan, manage, and successfully complete projects on time and under budget meeting customer expectations. Microsoft Project will be used to demonstrate how quickly and easily these techniques can be applied. Several hands-on examples and mini-case studies will also be used for illustration. Furthermore, you’ll apply and practice what you learn in this course using a proprietary game developed by Dr. Prasad Kodukula, PMP, PgMP, that simulates different project life cycle phases including initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing. With the hands-on experience you gain from this course, you will be able to apply immediately what you have learned to get fast results on your projects.

Who Should Attend

• Senior project managers
• Decision makers
• Portfolio managers
• Program managers
• Project Management Professionals (PMPs®)

What You’ll Learn

• A four-step schedule planning/control method applicable to any project.
• Why any task takes four times longer than you expect.
• The three most frequently ignored factors in estimating project schedules.
• How to develop, understand, and apply various schedule estimation and management tools.
• How to plan for time-constrained vs. resource-constrained projects.
• Specific strategies to compress project schedules, manage the critical path, and achieve lower cycle times.
• How to estimate the probability of project completion for a given time duration and vice versa.
• Top-down and bottom-up cost estimation methods for different levels of accuracy desired.
• How to set up accounting systems for easy and effective cost management.
• Create a performance measurement baseline that integrates project scope, schedule, and budget which you will use to manage project performance.
• How to apply Earned Value Management (EVM) to real world projects to control and manage costs.
• The most important metrics that will help you monitor and stay on track with project schedules and budgets.
• Calculate variances and performance indexes to determine the project status on schedule and budget.
• Forecast future budget and resource needs by analyzing different possible future scenarios.
• Simple and easy ways to use Microsoft Project for planning and managing of project schedules and costs.
• How to apply what you learn in this course on real world projects using a game that simulates a project through its life cycle phases.

Seminar Outline

Introduction
Project Management: 20th Century
Project Management: 21st Century
Why You Need More Sophisticated Tools and Techniques

Scope Management
WBS: The Foundation
How to Build WBS for Effective Schedule and Cost Management
Managing Change

Schedule Management
A Four-Step Process
Advanced Task Duration Estimation Methods
Precedence Diagram Method
Critical Path Calculation
How to Account for Critical Path Variability
Probability of On-time Project Completion
Merge Bias and Path Convergence
Monte Carlo Simulation
Strategies to Accelerate Critical Path

Cost Management
Cost Estimation Accuracy Levels
Cost Estimation Methods
Performance Measurement Baseline
Why Earned Value Management
EVM Metrics
EVM Performance Indicators
EVM “Bull’s Eye” Chart
Likely Causes of Significant Variance
Corrective Action
Forecasting Future Resource and Budget Needs
Challenges with Implementation of EVM