Training Corporate Course Content

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES:

MAIN PROGRAM SCOPE:

The development of an organizational culture based on PROJECTS that will improve the company’s managerial performance and market competitiveness.

The training program proposed by our company is developed around the following OBJECTIVES:

1. Understanding the role of PROJECT MANAGER by the trainees in the context of a PROJECT MANAGEMENT orientated organizational structure.
2. Acquiring modern knowledge, methods and tools to obtain a better performance in project management.
3. Understanding the firm’s departments by the complex SERVICES they offer to their clients; understanding these services in a PROJECT context.
4. Abilities formation for project managers and members of the project team.

The training’s specific objectives are:

• Defining the project notion in the organizational context
• Identifying projects organizational structure
• Activities planning and efficient use of resources
• Identifying and evaluation risks during project development
• Efficient reporting within project activities
• Project situation follow-up and control
• Team work in projects

MONITORED BEHAVIORS:

• Realizing the importance of the PROJECT MANAGER ROLE
• The formation of specific abilities vital to team work
• Exercising roles inside the team (assumed or required)
• Developing relations between teams and team members
• Communication in projects
• Identifying potential neuralgic points in the way the team acts and acting towards their removal
• Developing the capability to apply in practice the various conceptual models regarding project management, budget creation, team work, utilization of various techniques and tools specific to the project management field
• Understanding the way in which participants can contribute, following this training, to increasing their performance in project management.

RESULTS:

The study of this training program will allow the participants to be able to:

• Realize their own involvement in a project
• Improve own, activities and collaborators’ time management
• Analyze the current situation and problems
• Specify the objectives, the actions and the results
• Adopt the best approach to collaborating with the involved groups
• Identify the available resources
• Prioritize the current activities
• Create a project team
• Negotiate and communicate
• Manifest leader abilities
• Identify fast methods of integration into a project team
• Analyze project risks and plan risk minimizing activities
• Identify the critical road and follow-up on the execution of activities the road contains
• Follow-up and control project activities and costs

STRUCTURE, CONTENT AND DURATION:

According to the information supplied and your specific needs, the proposed program can offer you:

Module I – Project initiation

• Strategic planning. Objectives and strategies
• Feasibility study
• Financial feasibility: evaluation methods – PayBack, Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return
• Project life; project phases
• Project constraints
• Project success factors
• Project charter

Module II – Project organization

• Work breakdown structure (WBS)
• Statement of work (SOW)
• Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)
• Cost and duration estimation

Module III – Project planning

• Main activities identification
• Establishing necessary resources
• Activities planning
  • Phases, reference stages
  • planning techniques
    • the Gantt diagram
    • network techniques: arrow networks, node networks
  • Project duration reduction techniques
• Identifying the critical road through graphic methods
• Resources and resource planning
• Project plan: content, realization

Module IV – Risk management

• Project risk management
  • risk identification techniques
  • risk quantitative and qualitative analysis
  • evaluation scales
  • evaluation methods: the Impact-Probability matrix
  • risk management strategies
  • risk management plan
  • risk control and follow-up

Module V – Team and communication management

• Project team formation
• Team organization – the usual team structure
• Task distribution: responsibility matrix (RACI)
• Team leadership. Project manager interpersonal skills:
  • influencing
  • delegation
  • negotiation
  • team spirit
• Motivational theories. Maintaining team motivation
• Communication management
• “The actors” – organizations and participants: stakeholders
• 4-way management
• Communication plan

Module VI – Project execution

• Cost monitoring and control: Earned Value
  • cost deviation
  • cost performance index
  • finalization cost evaluation
• Time monitoring and control
  • respecting the work graph
  • graph update
  • reference event follow-up
  • deviation calculation
  • avoiding time lags
• Progress reports
• Control loop, progress analyzing meetings, reporting
• Controlling change: configuration management
  • configuration diagram
  • change control committee
  • change control system
• Project audit

Module VII – Project finalization

• Formal project closure – administrative closure
• The future of project personnel
• Delivery and maintenance insurance
• Documentation
• Contract closure
• Financial accounting
• Project analysis
• Project result maintenance
• Final report: lessons learned

Module VIII – Project management office (PMO)

• The need for PMOs.
• The role of PMOs in organizations.
• Program – definition, characteristics, examples.
• Portfolio – from organizational strategy to project implementation
• Project Portfolio management

Module IX – Follow-up
The follow-up session will take place at a 4-6 week interval after the course’s completion.

• A 1-day workshop for practical evaluation of the impact and for result adjustment. Working on the data provided by the Action Plan; simulations and role-play.
• The utilization of the Action Plan found in the training material – work frame for follow-up implementation.

COURSE PACKAGE:

• Theoretical training material (150 pages)
• The brochure “The guide to project management terms”
• A set of 15 extra bibliographical materials (70 pages): form examples (templates), notion explanation
• A 21 case-study set (60 pages)
• An 11 self-evaluation tests set (project management knowledge, the Belbin test, sensory preference evaluation)
• The course synthesis in electronic format (PowerPoint presentation) – 86 pages

THE STRUCTURE OF 1 TRAINING DAY:

Session 1: 9.00 – 10.30
Coffee break: 15'
Session 2: 10.45 – 12.15
Lunch break: 1+1/2 h
Session 3: 13.45 – 15.15
Coffee break: 15'
Session 4: 15.30 – 17.00

FORMATION METHODS USED:

LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE – The training program is orientated towards result generation in day-to-day practice.

The training program is structured in order to cover 30-40% of informational level and 60-70% practical level (case studies).

The assimilation of knowledge and the development of skills will be insured through:

• Interactive face-to-face training by using exercises, case studies, own company analysis;
• The modular structure of the training allows a precise monitoring of recapitulation and conceptual– LEARNING POINTS.

The formation methods used during the training will be backed up by the trainees’ performance evaluation and monitoring system – used before and after the training.

KNOWLEDGE / ABILITIES EVALUATION. TRAINEE PERFORMANCE TRACKING

Knowledge / abilities evaluation is composed of:

• tests for verifying knowledge throughout the training
  • at the end of each module, the trainees will undertake a short test, to verify their acquired knowledge level
• written papers evaluation
  • during the training the trainees will have to complete 3 written papers, covering a project’s life cycle. The projects will be chosen from the current activity. The papers will be evaluated by trainers, which will provide written feedback.
  • final test
  • at the end of the training, the trainees will undertake a 2-hour written exam.

COURSE EVALUATION METHODS

The evaluation of the course’s evolution will have the following sources:

• The trainees’ feedback at the end of the program – feedback form.
• The data resulted from the application of knowledge evaluation tests.
• The data resulted from the observation of behavior displayed during role-play and simulations – feedback form.
• The training report: the trainer’s feedback at the end of the program. The trainers will elaborate a report in which they will present the course evolution, conclusions and recommendations resulted from the course.