Introduction:

Successful project management requires strong planning skills. Those skills can be gained through a combination of on-the-job experience and formal learning. The course will show you all the essential techniques you need to understand in order to be an effective and efficient planner from top-down and detailed planning, to baselines and the planning checklist. If you’re an existing project planner, project controller, or anyone whose role requires them to produce and maintain detailed project plans, this course will enhance your current planning ability. Designed for project planners and controls looking to enhance their existing skills, this course delivers the planning skills needed for successful project management. It will explore the vital importance of effective project controls and their role in commercial project success during each phase of the project from bidding to contract close. Then, it will explain how these principles can be applied in a flexible way to match the level of control to the complexity of the project.

This course is not just about processes but also the behaviors and culture needed to deploy an effective project controls framework. For this reason the course is appropriate for the entire project management team including project managers, planners, quantity surveyors, cost estimators, risk analysts and project controls staff. This course is based on the widely acclaimed guide Planning, Scheduling, Monitoring and Control. The course outlines the key techniques needed for effective and efficient planning, from top-down planning to baselines and the planning checklist. With a practical focus, the program will enable delegates to:

• Use a structured approach to project planning
• Outline the key project constraints that affect planning
• Develop realistic project plans
• Maintain plans to allow project schedule and cost control
• Incorporate risk management in schedules
• Describe how to establish a high quality project controls system
• Explain how to establish a robust planning system
• Explain the use of scheduling, cost control and risk management systems
• Describe how to rigorously monitor a project that enables proactive project control
• Analyze the effectiveness of a project plan
• Establish a record keeping system that facilitates feedback and the learning cycle

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

• Implement a structured approach to planning projects
• Describe the key project constraints that influence planning
• Produce realistic plans
• Update and maintain plans to allow project cost and schedule control
• Include risk management within schedules

Who Should Attend?

IT Engineers, IT Professionals, IT Directors, Engineers, IT Project Managers, IT Auditors, IT Compliance Managers, IT Coordinators, IT Support Managers, IT Officers, IT Support Specialists, IT System Administration, Technical Support Professionals, Chief Information Officers, Chief Risk Officers, Information Assurance Officers, Program Managers, Network Systems Analysts, Government Program Managers, R&D Project Managers, Software and System Developers, Chief Security Officers, Security Specialists, Chief Information Security Officers, Directors of Security, Security Architects, Security Operation Center Managers, Security Consultants, Security Managers, Security Auditors, Security Directors, Systems Administrators, Incident Response Analysts, Business Owners, Security Analysts, Security Systems Engineer, Network Architect, Operations Managers, Risk Management Professionals, Network Administration Professionals, Application Developers, Application Support Analysts, Application Engineers, Associate Developers, Technology Officers, Information Officers, Help Desk Specialist, Help Desk Technician, Database Administrators, Network Architects, Network Engineers, Network System Administrators, System Analysts, System Architects, System Designers

Course Outline:

Project Management Basics

• Project lifecycles
• Role of the planner
• Scope management and success criteria

Project Top-Down Planning

• Project level WBS
• Responsibility assignment matrix
• Project milestones
• Cost breakdown structure

Detailed Project Planning

• Activity level WBS
• Work packages
• Dependencies and activity networks
• Estimating activities
• Critical path analysis
• Resourcing the plan
• Realistic Gantt charts
• Cost planning
• Schedule and cost optimizing techniques

Risk Management in Planning

• The risk management process
• Qualitative risk analysis
• Quantitative risk analysis
• Building risk management into plans

Baselines

• What to baseline
• Managing baselines

Updating and Maintaining the Project Plans

• Monitoring schedule progress
• Controlling schedules and cost
• Earned value management overview
• Change management and planning
• Updating schedules
• Forecasting
• Project dashboards and reporting

The Planning Checklist

• Critical points to cover in producing a schedule
• Critical points to consider in updating plans

COURSE LOCATIONS