Description

This course is designed for individuals who are responsible for managing or coordinating workplace projects and require an understanding of the principles, processes and responsibilities involved in taking a project from initiation through to successful completion and review. The course introduces the principles of project management and the role and responsibilities of the project manager. Learners consider how projects differ from routine business activities and explore the importance of clearly defined objectives, appropriate resources, effective stakeholder communication, budgetary control, monitoring and project team leadership. Learners explore the four main phases of the project life cycle: initiation, planning, execution and closure. During the initiation phase, the course considers establishing a business case, conducting feasibility studies, developing a Project Charter, defining project goals and objectives, identifying scope, deliverables and milestones, determining stakeholder roles and responsibilities and assembling an appropriately skilled project team. The planning phase develops understanding of the documentation and processes required to establish an effective project framework. Learners consider Work Breakdown Structures, resource planning and project scheduling, including the use of tables, Gantt charts, Critical Path Analysis and Program Evaluation and Review Technique. The course also examines project budgeting, quality management and systematic approaches to identifying, assessing, managing and monitoring project risks. During the execution phase, learners consider the project manager’s responsibilities for supporting and developing the project team through appropriate learning opportunities, feedback, supervision, mentoring and coaching. The course examines effective project recordkeeping, monitoring actual performance against planned costs, quality requirements and risk controls, and communicating progress to stakeholders through project status reporting. Finally, the course examines effective project closure and review, including closure meetings, outstanding actions, sponsor approval and final sign-off. Learners consider how project outcomes can be evaluated against the original business case, objectives, scope, quality requirements, schedule and budget, and how achievements, failures, lessons learned and recommendations can be documented to support continuous improvement and future projects. Overall, the course provides learners with a structured understanding of how to plan, administer, monitor, support and review workplace projects throughout the complete project management life cycle.

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