Project Management Applications - Pass Christian University

Increase your value to your employer by discovering and mastering essential quantitative and qualitative project management applications.

A successful project begins with process definition, data collection, and the scoping of project requirements. Every project ends with a motivated project team able to accomplish objectives on time and within budget. Winning projects rely on accurate cost and time estimates, identification of the critical path, and use of tracking and control tools.

In this course, an experienced Project Management Professional will teach you the same powerful tools and techniques that experienced project management professionals rely on every day.

You'll increase the probability of project success by mastering the tricks of the trade: Earned Value Performance Measurement, Gantt Charts, Network Scheduling, Work Breakdown Structure, and Cost-Volume Analysis.

You'll become proficient at recruiting project team members and empowering them to succeed. You'll understand the stages of team development, and you'll gain skills in developing and motivating team leaders. You'll learn how to understand and relate to an organizational culture and the differing characteristics of its work groups.

You'll also learn about project software, statistics, change management, processes, and estimating. And you'll gain valuable experience with project planning, control and data analysis tools.

The course also includes essential information that will help you prepare for the Project Management Professional (PMP) and the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) exams offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Certification Magazine recently identified PMP Certification as "the highest-paying certification" of the year.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

In our first lesson, you'll learn how to use a variety of project management data collection tools including check sheets, histograms, performance charts, and process definition tools such as work breakdown structure (WBS) and flowcharts. After you master these tools, you'll be able to increase your project management effectiveness by leaps and bounds.

Friday - Lesson 02

Estimating is a very important activity for every organization. It helps you calculate time and costs for your project. When you successfully use estimates, your actual cost of project work is very close to your projections. In today's lesson, you'll learn how to apply quantitative and qualitative estimating methods, such as historical analogy, the walk through and Delphi methods, expected value, and estimates under uncertainty.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Earned value is gaining in popularity in project management circles. Although some people view it as a new concept, they're often surprised to learn that it's been around for more than 30 years. In today's lesson, I'll define earned value, describe its history, and discuss its benefits. You'll learn about the graphical and mathematical overview of earned value, and discover how to create a step-by-step earned value performance measurement (EVPM) system.

Friday - Lesson 04

Gantt charts, along with work breakdown structure (WBS), earned value performance measurement (EVPM), and the precedence diagram method (PDM), make up the big four of project management. A Gantt chart may be the most popular tool associated with project management because it's an easy to follow timeline chart. In today's lesson, you'll learn about the history of Gantt charts, find out how to create one, and discover their benefits and limitations.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Network scheduling, along with earned value, represents one of the most technical aspects of project management. If you enjoy working with charts and numbers, this lesson is right up your alley! As with earned value, the precedence diagram method (PDM) includes a fair amount of terminology and a little bit of tricky math. Today you'll learn the basics of networks and see how they relate to project management. You'll discover activity-on-arc (AOA) and activity-on-node (AON) network scheduling methods and understand how to use task dependencies, dummy activities, and float time.

Friday - Lesson 06

In today's lesson, we'll take a break from using calculators and studying elaborate models. You'll learn how resource planning, work flow diagrams, and storyboards can help you create and implement an effective project plan. I'll also show you how to define and implement a project change control system and to how control project costs.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Today, we'll discuss a few more tools to help you with your projects. We'll begin with cost-volume analysis, a tool to help you optimize choices using costs, volume, and desired profits. We'll move on to Monte Carlo simulation, a sophisticated tool you can use when you deal with completely random conditions. You'll learn how to use force field analysis, a tool that helps you evaluate a decision based on pros and cons, and apply the Pareto principle, a 200-year-old concept that helps you to focus on what's important.

Friday - Lesson 08

I believe that too many people in the project management field place too high of an emphasis on the role of project management software. While it has an important role to play as a tool, software is not a substitute for sound planning, effective implementation and control, and positive leadership. In today's lesson, I'll discuss the nature of project management software and help you identify winning techniques and processes. You'll read two case studies to help you understand issues pertaining to software implementation. You'll learn why some people are reluctant to use project management software, and discover ways to evaluate and select a software supplier.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Many project managers and team members struggle to improve their projects' output. Despite their best efforts to improve customer satisfaction, project personnel are often unable to make much progress. The best way to succeed is to use statistics and a data-driven approach to characterize and improve your projects. Today, you'll learn about the measures of location (median, mode, and mean), the normal curve, and measures of dispersion (range, mean absolute deviation, variance, and standard deviation). You'll see how the Taguchi loss function is an alternative to traditional go/no-go inspection. You'll also learn how to measure variation, use prevention, and apply statistical process control (SPC) to help you produce predictable and acceptable results.

Friday - Lesson 10

Today, we'll discuss the dimensions of the project team. For your project to succeed, you need a skilled project manager and committed capable project team members. You'll learn how to identify essential competencies of an effective project manager, and how to establish a winning project team. You'll understand what it takes to recruit, evaluate, and select project team members. And you'll also learn about the concepts of a core team, extended team, and the overly important project team.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

I believe a potent combination of a high-functioning project team and a capable project manager is essential for your success in project management. Effective project teams come together through careful planning and action. In today's lesson, we'll discuss work group theory, contrast formal and informal work groups, and identify informal work group characteristics. You'll learn about the stages of team development, understand why change is so important for your project, and find out why people are reluctant to change. You'll learn how to overcome resistance to change and empower your project team.

Friday - Lesson 12

Today, we'll discuss fundamental organizational concepts. You'll discover the purpose of an organization chart and learn why a matrix organization is a common project management organizational structure. You'll understand key coordinating principles such as authority, responsibility, accountability, and power. And you'll gain insights into organizational culture by developing a deeper understanding of values and beliefs, the elements of successful delegation, and various theories of motivation and leadership.

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This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Tony Swaim.

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, purchasing, continuous process improvement (CPI)/Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned an MBA from California State University, Long Beach, and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

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Requirements:

Completion of Project Management Fundamentals (or equivalent experience). Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:

Student Reviews:

"Great Course...I look forward to the next. This course made you use your brain to its fullest. Thank you very much."

"I feel that the instructor was one of the best I ever had. I like his style of posing a question and after the answer was given he answered it with an explanation. He was Great!!"

"If you're thinking of becoming a classmate--this instructor is fantastic and he will respond to your questions in the discussion area so make sure you use this great feature. Tony also provides excellent links in the supplementary material so check those out also. I have taken Tony's Supply Chain Management and Project Management Fundamentals course and both were terrific! Next I will be focusing on my area of expertise, distribution."

"I had taken a PMP pre-test on my own before these two courses, I flunked, couldn't even reach 40 %. I have been a darn good estimator and project manager for 20 years, but lacked an understanding of the terminology and methodology. Now that I am familiar with the terminology and methodology (thanks to your classes), I scored close to 80 % on a PMP Pre-test. Couldn't have done it without you. Thanks, I feel more confident now for the real PMP test."

"I have absolutely no project management background, however this course has enlightened me and further increased my interest in the subject matter."

"I have really enjoyed this course. There was so much information that is immediately useful and that I will use in the future. It has given a new perspective on how projects are handled at my company There are also so many great sites to explore. I want to go back to several and take my time and review many of them. This course not only educated, but also piqued my interest for furthere study. I will be certified one day. Thanks for a great experience, Tony."

"I took your Project Management Fundamentals course and thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned so very much. I just finished taking a Business Requirements course, which your course really helped me with. That course was very informational but the instructor was nowhere near as good as you are. Your teaching style is fantastic."

"Thanks again for another interesting project management class, Tony. Very useful information that was well presented."

"Thank you. This course gave me a good understanding of the project methodologies. The samples used provided a good perspective of how these principles are applied in the work place."

"The instructor was an excellent insructor I found his lessons very useful. His way of teaching is excellent. I will be taking the next 2 PMP Prep classes with him. I am sure it will land me my certification. I will be sitting for the exam in September. Thanks so much Mr. Swaim."

"This was a great course! I am taking the PMP in a week, and this course provided excellent real world information as a supplement to my studies! Thanks!"

"Tony, having completed Project Management Principles 1-4 and now Project Management Applications I would like to thank you for your insight into Project Management and for teaching me the principles. I would also like you to know that I have thoroughly enjoyed participating in the forums as well as learning the lessons. I would recommend this method of learning to anyone who, like me, lacks the time to attend a more traditional classroom. Don’t think you can get rid of me this easily because one day I will again take your courses when I feel I have sufficient experience to take the PM exam. Once again, thank you."

"Very good course. Lots of information. The supplemental information was very interesting and helpful. I liked that the final did not mirror the quizzes and really made me think things through."

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