Project Initiation

Overview/Description
 In today's fast-paced business environment, successful project management is the equivalent of fiscal power. All major U.S. corporations, and many foreign companies as well, have recognized that the future of their corporate success lies in senior managers' abilities to effectively manage overlapping, complex projects. This course will introduce you to the generally accepted knowledge and practices surrounding the field of project management and equip you with skills used during project initiation.

Target Audience
 Business professionals and business managers across all business functional areas and industries who believe that basic project management skills will help them perform their job responsibilities more effectively

Expected Duration
6.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

The Project Management Context

  • recognize the benefits of being able to manage various elements within the project management context.
  • recognize the common characteristics of project life cycle graphs.
  • choose the graphic representation of a project life cycle that best depicts a given project.
  • identify examples of strategies that ensure success with stakeholders.
  • use strategies that ensure success with stakeholders, given a scenario.
  • match categories of organizational influences with examples of their effects on a project.
  • identify examples of key external influences.
  • perform a PEST analysis on a given project.

    • Establishing Project Parameters

  • recognize the benefits of establishing project parameters.
  • label given project variables as assumptions, exclusions or constraints.
  • determine appropriate assumptions, exclusions, and constraints for a given project.
  • perform a cost-benefit analysis, given a scenario.
  • sequence examples of the steps to performing a decision tree analysis.
  • use decision tree analysis to choose the best among given project alternatives.
  • sequence examples of the steps for obtaining sponsor signoff for a given project charter.
  • obtain sponsor signoff for a given project charter.

    • Course Number: PROJ0001