University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Learn practical strategies, tools and methods to successfully plan, schedule, budget and execute projects. Using a real project, you and several team members will apply methods and tools to improve the organization and management of your selected project.  The course also helps you learn how to use MS Project software to manage projects.

Course Topics

Project Evaluation and Selection

• Methods to evaluate and prioritize projects
• Organizational project portfolio management

Project Organization

• Organizational breakdown structure
• Work breakdown structure, project scope
• Matrix organizations and task assignments

Project Leadership and Team Management

Project Scheduling, Planning and Analysis

• Team dynamics

Leadership Principles

Task Definition

• Precedence relationships and networks
• Critical path analysis
• Total and free float
• Early and late schedules
• Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Resource Allocation and Management

• Identifying and managing project critical resources
• Allocating resources among several projects

Project Budgeting

• Methods of establishing project budgets and their relative advantages
• Identifying and managing budget uncertainty
• Communicating and managing the project budget

Project Monitoring and Control

• Data collection and analysis
• Earned value analysis
• Detection of deviation
• Development of corrective plans

Project Termination

• Determining whether to terminate a project early
• Best practices for wrapping up a project and capturing lessons learned

Project Risk Management

• Understanding and assessing sources of risk
• Strategies for reducing and managing risk

Project Audits

• Improving projects through effective audits
• Strategies for leading productive project audits

Organizing Project Maturity

• Assessing and improving an organization's project management capabilities