PMI with MS Project 2007: George Mason Continuing Education

TOPIC HIGHLIGHTS

Project Management Overview: Students will receive an overview of the PMI PMBOK^® methodology and application of MS Project to PMBOK^® methodology. The course follows the main PMBOK^® Process Groups - Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring, and Closing a Project.

Initiating the Project: Students will develop a project charter and scope statement. Initially, students will set up a project (using a case study) to define resources, establish a calendar, and develop task units of measure (e.g., fixed duration versus fixed units of work). Advanced tools such as Mind Mapping will be demonstrated to show how they can aid in rapidly defining a project and achieving stakeholders’ “buy-in.” Students will learn how to integrate Project Charter and Scope Statements into MS Project.

Planning A Project: Based on the case study, students will develop a work breakdown structure and establish task dependencies including the concepts of lag and lead times. The students will also define milestones, identify recurring tasks, and develop cost and resource estimates. To fully understand the practical application of MS Project, students will learn to evaluate the effects of resource leveling and resource substitutions and to understand both fixed and variable costs. Students will apply MS Project to analyze and understand the relationship between critical path, float, and slack. Students will also learn how to shorten the critical path by using alternate resources and Schedule Compression.

Executing and Monitoring: Students will create scenarios for further analysis and use PMBOK^® compliant templates and tools provided by course instructors. The scenarios will include “what if” options to analyze alternate project developments, such as schedule slippage, resource substitution, changing task dependencies, and working calendars, etc. Students will learn how to work with project baselines, update and create interim plans, and implement Earned Value, including CPI and SPI which are not defined in MS Project. Students will apply MS Project to integrate the activities of a project in accordance with the Project Management Plan. The scenarios will include monitoring the project activities against the project baseline and evaluating project performance against quality standards. Through lecture and demonstration, students will observe the benefits of tools, such as Palisades @Risk^® for risk analysis, monitoring, and mitigation.

Closing a Project: Students will create PMBOK^® compliant tracking reports and tables in MS Project and Excel, and define/use project progress reports. Students will share project data with other programs; create data templates; import and export data from Excel; use resource pools; and use a master project to track sub-projects or project portfolios. Students will create a “lessons learned” file and learn how to share with other related projects. Final Project Closure, including administrative and contractual requirements will be covered.

Any professional who wants a good overall understanding of the application of project management methodology using MS Project to manage projects. Particular emphasis will be placed on the PMI PMBOK^® methodology, tools, and techniques. Basic understanding of project management process, project management terminology, and MS Windows and Office is recommended. Attendees should have working knowledge of MS Project through on-the-job use as part of proposal management, project management, program management, or portfolio management duties or responsibilities. For those individuals who lack a working knowledge of MS Project or desire a review of it, see our Microsoft Project course.

This course is also appropriate for students seeking the CAPM^® or PMP^® certifications by the PMI.

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