Overview of the PMI PMBOK including all 9 knowledge areas, all 5 process groups and professional & social responsibility

Complete review of all pertinent elements typically covered on the PMP examination including the entire PMI PMBOK, the 9 knowledge areas, the 5 process groups, and professional & social responsibility

Designed for swift coverage of pertinent points enabling executives to positively impact project & program success in their organizations

In-depth look at all of the steps necessary for a solid launch of any project including: alignment with business goals, sponsor support, stakeholder management, charter development, requirements, initial scope statement and the project management plan

Careful coverage of common methods for advancing projects & programs including: resource management, leadership, team development, project reporting, procurement, and quality assurance

Integrating change control and management of project elements including: risk, scope, stakeholders, contract administration, quality, schedule, budget and closing the project

Combines all of the PMI PMBOK basics with detailed discussions of common practices for addressing: risk, requirements, scope, budget, leadership, quality and contract administration in an intense, fast-paced delivery for more experienced participants

Introduction to core project management concepts & terms useful for team members; enables team members to play a more productive role in project activities

Learn about three levels of customer expectations:

• Implicit
• Explicit
• and "above and beyond"

Next, explore who are the other important “owners or stakeholders” of a project?

• Primary
• Operational
• and Strategic Ownership

Once you have learned to identify who holds important expectations, and what exactly are those expectations, you will learn tangible (process) and intangible (political) approaches to managing your stakeholders’ expectations.

This course is for procurement officials, project managers, and project team members responsible for identifying, analyzing and managing the business risks and pure risks of a project. The participant will be guided through a detailed seven step process that incorporates and goes beyond the PMI® PMBOK risk management process. By understanding concepts and the application of risk and risk management the participant will be able to greatly increase the probability of project success and minimize threats of failure. Use of case studies, exercises, and “war story” examples will allow the participating to fully appreciate the course materials and master the concepts and methodologies.

Measuring progress is vital to good project management.  Earned Value Management (EVM) is one solid method for measuring progress in terms of task completion, cost variances, schedule variances and overall project progress.  Participants will learn ways to implement varying levels of Earned Value Measurement Systems (EVMS) complexity in keeping with their projects (simple to very complex).  Participants seeking to earn the Earned Value Professional (EVP) certificate will be well served by completing this foundational course.

Change is the constant. Whether you are engaged in continuous improvement inside the organization or you are anticipating the need for change dictated by the environment (and probably both are true), you will be required to lead the multiple facets of the change process. Two-day program engages participants in understanding the nature of change, their individual capacities for change, and effective approaches to leading change in their organization.

Procurement Procedures will cover the processes required to acquire goods and services, from outside the organization, to attain project scope. Since solicitation planning interacts with each other and with the processes in the other PMI knowledge areas, it is important for students to understand that the process may involve effort from one or more individuals or groups.

The importance of Project Management from an executive’s point of view is the focus of this course.  Participants will explore, as a management team, the discipline of Project Management.  In other words, everyone needs to be speaking the same language, envisioning the same work requirements and having the same expectations.

Recognizing that Project Management is an asset within any organization, a project management mindset and methodology are core components that need to be integrated.  Learn what the executives and the management team needs to do in order to create an environment in which Project Management can succeed than on what is project management.   Some of the topics to be addressed are:

•     Endorsing a Culture for Successful Projects

•     Constructing an Infrastructure of Support

•     Establishing the Executive’s Role

•     Orchestrating the Cultural Change

As leaders and project practitioners, it is our job to orchestrate a project culture, set customer expectations, and understand our stakeholders.  Only with a clear understanding of the project culture, customer expectations and stakeholder needs can we ensure that the discipline of project management is soundly in place and is ultimately successful.  We’ll look at three levels of expectations, implicit, explicit, and "above and beyond". Next, we’ll examine who are the stakeholders? We will consider the Primary, the Operational and the Strategic stakeholders and we’ll try to isolate other categories of stakeholders.  We'll talk about the challenges of working in a project-driven environment, and more importantly, we'll ferret out the resolution to some of the challenges.

One of the hottest topics today is how to measure the success (or lack thereof) of the project management discipline within an organization.  This presentation suggests that there are four plateaus and a process that allows us to measure the return on the investment companies make in the implementation and maintenance of project management.  A brief description of the four plateaus follows:

Overview of the Four Measurement Plateaus

Measurement Plateau 1: Comprehension and Acceptance

This plateau is often evaluated by “seeing”, “hearing / talking”, “feeling”, “smelling” (the five senses) that project management is being used.

Measurement Plateau 2: Application

This plateau is judged by the frequency and accuracy with which the technical and socio-components of project management are applied.

Measurement Plateau 3: Influence on the Business

This plateau is assessed by quantifying the business results which have been produced by the existence of the discipline of project management.

Measurement Plateau 4: Return on Investment (ROI)

This plateau is appraised through the use of a standard return on investment series of calculations.

•     Apply a generic estimating process and employ standard estimating terminology

•     Select and apply appropriate estimating techniques

•     Document an estimate in a professional manner, listing assumptions, accuracy factor, and confidence level

•     Cite five organizational building blocks important for better estimating

•     Choose the appropriate influence technique depending on the situation and the person with whom you are negotiating

A project plan is only as good as the estimates it is based on and only as good as the influence skills of the person presenting the estimate and of the person requesting the estimate.

Because of the many difficulties in developing accurate estimates, however, many project managers and team members dread being asked, “How much will this cost?” or “How long will this take?”  But these questions must be answered—and consequently project professionals can only benefit from improvements to their estimating skills and processes.

But what happens when the requestor of the estimates says, "I need it faster, cheaper and better"; while the estimator says, "My original estimate is the best that I can do."  This is when the soft skills of influencing and negotiating come into play.

This workshop will present standard Project Management theory from a pharmaceutical point of view and will be beneficial to those working in the life sciences. The class discussions will be supported by a clinical trial-oriented case study complete with example solutions. Concepts of leadership in a team environment will also be covered in the class.

After completion of this course the attendee will have a strong understanding of the principles and practices of Project Management, including how to:

• Become a better project leader and lead a team through all phases of the project lifecycle
• Plan a project and identify the requirements, schedule, and budget
• Identify risks and plan for risk mitigation
• Monitor the project performance and progress and recognize when to take corrective action to keep the project on track
• Manage changes to the project baselines
• Close out a project and collect lessons learned to benefit future projects

The managing of projects and work processes is a fundamental practice needed for career advancement and job satisfaction. This course delivers strategies on how to effectively manage project objectives, budgets, timelines, resources, and monitor and control the project to meet stakeholder expectations.

Instruction for senior managers, directors and agency heads on how to guide and supervise project managers for best performance. Participants will learn what project managers must achieve; how to coordinate resources to optimize project performance; and, how to maintain morale and motivation of project managers. Topics addressed will include:

• selecting project managers
• evaluating performance
• compensating and rewarding successful project managers
• how to manage project managers and their teams for effective & efficient performance.

The term “cohesive global project teams” almost sounds like an oxymoron especially when you add the word “global”. Project managers may be so preoccupied with the schedule and the production of a quality deliverable that they forget the nuances required when managing a remote team.

The universe is becoming smaller every day – not less complicated just smaller.  In fact, the smaller the world is getting the more complicated it seems to become.  Trying to work with team members around the world adds a level of complication created by different time zones, varied cultures, and inability to create that personal "relationships' which make teams synergistic.

Start with a discussion about the difficulties when the team members come from different cultures.  Then expand the scope of discussion to include third party suppliers, consultants / subcontractors, alliances / partnerships, and clients who live in different parts of the country or in different parts of the world.

Organizations are not prepared to assimilate a centralized Project Office having total authority and accountability over night. This course will suggest an implementation plan designed to allow the project discipline to evolve into an accepted and viable Project Office.

This course is for project managers, project team members and newly assigned project schedulers responsible for the allocation of time and scheduling projects.  The Critical Path Method (CPM), PERT and Monte Carlo simulation techniques of project scheduling will be taught. All three are powerful and increasingly sophisticated tools that are indispensable for scheduling and managing projects ranging from the straightforward to the complex. These tools were developed in the 1950s to control large defense projects, and have been used routinely since then in a large variety of industries and disciplines. In the course, the participant will learn much more than just how to utilize software. The participant will build a work breakdown structure, learn how to assign durations to each work package, and then, develop a Critical Path Method network with the software of the participant's choice. We will show the participants how to accelerate project times at the lowest cost, analyze a schedule for claims support and defense, and provide appropriate scheduling clauses for insertion into the project contracts and task orders. At the end of the two full days of interactive instruction, the participant will be fully prepared to use current scheduling techniques and systems to bring predictability and control to project schedules.

This fast-paced, five day course is designed to teach the attendees the best practices (as used by leading American construction companies) of construction management at the project level thus assisting them to organize, perform and close out construction projects on time, within budget and meeting quality standards. At the conclusion of the course, the attendee will have the knowledge to lead a group of construction professionals, supporting consultants and senior field technical personnel in the performance of all major aspects of a construction project.

Understand the full life cycle of construction management. Master the techniques and best practices used by leading US construction firms. Know the tools and measures available for automated construction management. Learn how to use sample forms and documents and be prepared to take a comprehensive examination at the end of the course.

This course is for procurement officials, lawyers, senior architects and engineers that procure architect-engineer services and develop architect-engineer contracts. It explains how retaining the professional services of architects and engineers differs from contracting with other service providers and teaches the government approved system for doing so. We use the Federal Acquisition Regulations coupled with years of practical experience in demonstrating how to procure commercial architects and engineers. We begin with the pre-solicitation planning and how to prepare a solicitation for FedBizOpps. The solicitation phase is followed by pre-qualifications, preparing a request for proposal, conducting the pre-proposal conference, receipt of proposals, evaluations, oral presentations and evaluations, and signing the contract. This comprehensive three-day course enables the participant to deal effectively with the numerous issues associated with A-E selection and achieving the optimal use of these commercial service providers. This course can be adapted to meet the special needs of an agency and local procurement rules.

This course is for procurement officials, attorneys, senior project architects, engineers, and project managers responsible for procuring and managing design-build construction projects. Participants will learn to deliver construction projects 33% faster and at lower cost than traditional design-bid-build contracting by learning how to develop the design-build project, form the necessary government teams, evaluate the proposals and presentations, draft the contract, and manage the design and build process, and close out the project from cradle to grave.

• Manage the “paradigm shift” necessary to move from design-bid-build to design-build and satisfy concerns of the in-house design and build managers.
• How to develop the entire procurement process for the design-build project
• Insurance, bonds and indemnity needed for design-build
• Shifts in design and construction liability from the owner to the design-builder
• New skills needed to successfully employ the design-method