Defining Projects [PROJ0101]

Overview/Description
 If the concept of Project Management sends you into a panic and the thought of working with Gantt Charts, PERT Charts, Weighted Averages and Critical Paths makes your head spin, then this course is for you. Written in everyday language, this course is both comprehensive and easy-to-use. It was carefully designed by project management professionals to give you a clear introduction to effective project management. With more and more businesses moving to project-focused work teams, the ability to successfully manage complex projects is now a required skill-set for individuals who have the desire to achieve. However, knowing and doing are two vastly different things. In order to lead a project, or even work on a high-energy project team, you need to understand the essence of project management. This includes recognizing the key differences between a project and a job, along with the five phases that every project goes through. By mastering this course, you will also gain insight and understanding about how to work with your client to discover what their real needs are (and it's not always what they say they want) and then establish the all-important Project Scope. At the completion of this course, you will have gained the skills necessary to create the first in a series of critical project documents... the Project Charter.

Target Audience
 Anyone who works on a project team, including managers, supervisors, project managers, team members.

Expected Duration
3.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Defining Projects

  • recognize the key characteristics that successful projects share in order to successfully run your own project, no matter how big or small.
  • identify the essential elements that make projects very different from "work" or even "a job".
  • identify three key characteristics that all successful projects share.
  • recognize the benefits that traditional project management gives to you, your work and your career.

    • Level One Terminology

  • recognize the fundamental terms necessary for utilizing project management tools.
  • recognize the definition of the word "goals" as used in project management.
  • recognize the critical relationship between objectives and deliverables as used in project management.
  • recognize the use and meaning of the terms "scope and charter" as used in project management.

    • Project Phases

  • recognize how the appropriate phases of project management match described activities.
  • recognize the key activities that take place during the initiation phase of a project.
  • recognize the key activities that take place during the planning phase of a project.
  • recognize the key activities that take place during the production and monitoring phases of a project.
  • recognize the key activities that take place during the completion phase of a project.

    • Working with the Client

  • demonstrate appropriate behavior for each type of client, including an appreciation of the constraints and level of risk required.
  • recognize the three different roles that clients play during a project, along with their needs, requirements and interests.
  • differentiate between the three types of project constraints, and learn how to select a project's primary constraint.
  • apply what you have learned in this section in order to work through a case study involving setting risk limits.

    • Project Scope and Charter

  • recognize the elements that are necessary for creating the Project Scope and Project Charter documents.
  • recognize the key reasons for constructing a detailed Project Scope document.
  • recognize how to gather the necessary information needed to construct project documents such as the Scope and the Charter.
  • recognize the elements that go into creating a Project Charter and how critical it is to get full client sign-off before starting the project.

    • Course Number: PROJ0101