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Advanced Project Management
Course Description
Overview
For experienced project managers who would like to take on more responsibility, or who would like to work in more challenging areas, this course covers more advanced project management concepts and techniques. It aims to give the student the knowledge required to manage more complex projects, and to deal with the strategic and other issues that may present themselves. Delegates will benefit from increased capability, and organisations will benefit from a more effective, efficient and mature approach to achieving their business goals through project implementation.
What You Will Learn from This Course:
- How to “step up” a level in your project career
- How to take responsibility for more and different projects, and over several project teams
- Understand the way projects are financed and the options available
- Understand issues surrounding project professionalism
- Enhance your organisation’s project delivery capability
- Understand alternative methods for delivering projects
- Be able to manage other types of business change vehicles
Why Should You Attend this Course?
This course covers more advanced concepts and techniques than either the introductory or the practitioner course.
It aims to give the student further knowledge in order to be able to manage more complex projects, and to deal with the strategic and other issues that may present themselves
Delegates will learn how to manage, oversee and improve the classic stage-gate that is common in many project processes. For those who have maybe previously participated in the process, this course will enable the knowledge to govern the process, see where it should be adapted and where a different technique can be used.
Although project cost and budget control is taught in the practitioner course, this event will discuss how projects are financed, and how this can make a different to the decisions that are made relating to the project. This is particularly relevant to project directors, and those who have board and perhaps P&L responsibility in their organisations. The way an organisation finances its project may be key and understanding the issues and options that surround this can be critical.
Although the “waterfall” model of project execution is common, other techniques such as agile, or hybrid methods may be more appropriate in certain circumstances. This course will look at some of the options and when they might be deployed.
Like most other professions, project managers bear responsibility for what they do, and increasingly, this is being underlined by law. Issues of ethics, responsibility and other concepts are covered. This course will discuss some of the key drivers behind this, and how an organisation’s staff can grow and maintain their professional capability, standing and standards.
As an organisation grows and does more projects, it learns to do them better. This maturity can be measured and deliberately enhanced. Here we look at various models of project maturity and how to implement them in an organisation.
Sometimes, change cannot be achieved in an organisation by projects alone. Programmes and portfolios combine projects and other change initiatives to implement significant change and bring benefit. We will examine some of the key characteristics of these vehicles and how to manage and oversee them.
Those who have been project managers for some time will benefit from this course, as it will deepen their knowledge. Those who have been given or are seeking more advanced assignments will also benefit, as it will equip them to overcome these challenges.
The course is full of practical techniques and examples, with the intention of turning knowledge into practical benefit and the worked examples, case studies and exercises are intended to make applying the knowledge gained much easier.
Finally, the instructor will include opportunities to discuss the real-world problems and issues and questions that are affecting delegates in their own projects and working lives, so that improvements and solutions can be implemented as soon as delegates return to their desks.
Often, helpful advice can be gained from the experience of other delegates, and the course setting provides opportunities to do this.
Who Should Attend This Course?
- Project Managers
- Project Directors
- Senior Project Management Office Staff
- Project Sponsors
- Senior Management
Outcome of this Course
- By the end of this intensive 5-day course, attendees will be able to:
- Understand the detailed operation and requirements of each of the project stages
- Apply some more advanced project financing concepts
- Utilise alternative project strategies and methods of implementation
- Understand issues surrounding project professionalism
- Describe concepts of project maturity and some project maturity models
- Deploy programme and portfolio management techniques and contrast them with their project counterparts
Course Length
5 days
Course Content
An interactive mix of lecture, case studies, group discussion and activities will be used to illustrate and apply the methods, tools and techniques needed to manage projects. The following topics will be covered:
Project Strategy
- Definitions
- Relationship to projects
- Implementation in a project environment
Project finance
- More advanced concepts and terms
- Project funding
- Project accounting
Project maturity models
- Organisational considerations
- Why project maturity matters
- Common models
Project professionalism
- Communities of practice
- Competence
- Ethics
- Learning and development
Programme and portfolio issues
- Recap of definitions
- Programme and portfolio issues relating to governance, people and delivery
Project lifecycle worked example
- Material will be presented on each of the key stages of a typical project lifecycle. Students will be encouraged to work together through an example that takes them on a journey through each stage, these being: Appraise (or feasibility); Select; Define (or develop); Execute.
Case Studies
- Presentation of real-life examples and case studies of how advanced project management is deployed in a variety of projects
Practical Exercises
- Worked examples, where delegates participate in groups or teams to manage some fictitious but realistic projects.
Summary And Next Steps
- Summary
- Things you can do next
- Reference Material