Courses in the Caltech Project Management Certificate Program

Courses in the Caltech Project Management Certificate Program

Project Initiation, Costing, and Selection

Project Initiation, Costing, and Selection teaches you how to develop essential elements required to initiate a project, including the business case and the project charter. You will learn how to use selection criteria and models to evaluate project economic returns and the project portfolio.

You will also practice using different estimating techniques that are appropriate for specific phases of the project life cycle.

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Establish the business case for your project
• Develop the needs analysis and the project charter initiating the project
• Understand how estimated project costs and risks impact the decision regarding whether or not to approve a project
• Apply cost estimation techniques for each phase of the project
• Understand the basic concepts of present value analysis and Life Cycle Costing (LCC)
• Utilize project selection models, both numeric and qualitative, to evaluate the project portfolio

Project Organization and Leadership

As a project manager, your ability to conduct projects within a matrix-type organization is critical. You must be able to provide leadership, motivational skills, and conflict resolution on a continuous basis. By attending this course, project managers and the project management team will learn how to move ahead when conflicting business needs arise.

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Identify the project manager’s key roles and responsibilities
• Survive and thrive in a matrix organization
• Build and manage effective cross functional project teams
• Build key leadership competencies and skills
• Resolve conflicts within the team and with other constituencies
• Avoid pitfalls that cause projects to fail

Detailed Project Planning

Detailed Project Planning examines the key elements of project planning and integration. The project elements include the relationship of plans to corporate business goals, project objectives and constraints, and project scope. You will learn to define project objectives and develop detailed project plans based on the project scope and Statement of Work (SOW), work through a detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), effectively plan, integrate, and accomplish tasks, and review the key tools of project time planning, (including Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and the Critical Path Method (CPM)). Additional tools include precedence analysis, activity duration estimating, cost planning techniques, and other project plan elements.

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Break large or complex efforts into manageable assignments, including the proper use of WBS
• Use planning and scheduling work tools, including PERT and CPM techniques
• Understand cost planning and estimating elements and contract management processes essential to complete project planning
• Integrate project scope, time, cost and resources plans

Project Monitoring and Control

As a project manager, you must be able to measure the status of the project and resources consumed. Equally important is your ability to compare measurements to projections and standards and utilize this information for diagnosis and re-planning. Project Monitoring and Control will help you analyze your monitoring and control data so you can begin corrective action before it’s too late.

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Understand trending and forecasting in a project environment
• Monitor project progress and problems, utilizing data identification and collection techniques, and measurement and analysis tools such as earned value
• Exercise project control over resources, time, cost, and risk
• Report project performance and results in an effective way to project stakeholders
• Manage changes and re-plan work when necessary

Risk and Opportunity Management

Given all of the uncertainties associated with projects, your ability to manage the many different types of risk is critical to the project’s success. Attend Risk and Opportunity Management to recognize the different types of risk you will encounter and how to appropriately respond to that risk. You will participate in classroom simulations and interactive exercises during this course.

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Identify what can go wrong on a project
• Determine what risks are important and warrant mitigation
• Prepare an effective risk statement
• Generate strategies to deal with critical risks
• Determine the expected value of a mitigation strategy
• Determine the size of the contingency reserve for the project
• Make decisions under uncertainty and risk