Project Management Simulation
"Knowledge is power!" Proclaimed, Sir Francis Bacon. On today’s projects, you get results only when you exercise that power. An advanced project management course, this workshop will help you sharpen your project management skills by exercising the knowledge acquired in previous courses. The workshop basically involves a project simulation and is designed to give you hand-on experience on "best practices" used by "best-of-breed" organizations. Considered the capstone of our project management curriculum, this workshop will prepare you to select the right project first and then successfully launch, manage, and complete it.
In this workshop, you and your project team will compress and manage a one-year project in less than five days by simulating different real-world situations faced by project managers. The simulations represent five key phases of the project life cycle: Concept, Planning, Execution, Control, and Completion.
First, you will build a business case for the project. You will apply strategic, economic, and risk assessment tools to decide whether or not to "fund" (or pursue) the project. Next, you will simulate a project kick-off meeting and develop an integrated project plan using estimation tools and Microsoft Project. During the execution/control phases of the project, you will manage scope changes, deal with difficult sub-contractors, assess project status, meet for progress reports, and handle human resource conflicts. Finally, you will simulate project closure activities and capture lessons learned.
Format
This is an advanced workshop where the participants are divided into small teams, each consisting of 3-4 members with a maximum of four teams. The teams work independently on the simulation exercises and make presentations at the end of each exercise. Each exercise builds on the previous ones maintaining a continuity through out the whole project simulation. The participants are encouraged to bring their own lap tops loaded with MS Project and general word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. If necessary, each team will be provided with a desktop PC carrying the necessary software.
Prerequisites
Working knowledge of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
Basic skills with Microsoft Project
Duration
5 days
Who should attend?
- Portfolio Managers
- Program Managers
- Marketing Mangers
- Project executives
- Project managers
- Project team members
Course Materials
In this workshop, you will receive:
A notebook containing the background material on the project simulation
Handouts on additional information for the simulation exercises
Solution to appropriate simulation exercises
Several generic templates that can be used on most projects
What You Will Learn
- Apply economic forecasting methods to build your business case.
- Use risk assessment tools to identify and mitigate future risks
- Kick off a project meeting and focus on creating a shared vision.
- Build a highly motivated, creative, results-oriented project team.
- Establish clearly-defined project baselines (scope/schedule/cost).
- Get the customer/project sponsor buy-in on the project baselines.
- Utilize MS Project for planning and tracking purposes.
- Assess project status with respect to scope, schedule, and cost.
- Process, negotiate, and manage scope change requests.
- Forecast future resource and budget needs and project completion time.
- Create and maintain a Project Control Book (PCB)
- Close out a project effectively and document lessons-learned.