Duration
2 days
Overview
Project management teams face increasing demands to deliver stakeholder expectations on schedule, within budget at the required quality. In facing these demands, the project management team has to manage the challenges of scarce resources, an ever-expanding project scope that threatens to overwhelm the project and, of course, the uncertainties inherent in any public sector project.
A structured and effective planning phase then becomes critical for the project management team to execute the project in a controlled manner. Monitoring and control techniques during both the planning and executing phases become essential to the achievement of project objectives and the timely delivery of results.
This course provides participants with a structured approach to the planning, monitoring and control of public sector projects, including globally-recognized good practices. This approach will ensure the minimization of threats to effective project performance and maximize the chances of project success.
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, participants will:
- Obtain a valuable set of tools and techniques for the effective planning, monitoring and control of public sector projects.
- Have an awareness of a structured approach and good practices in project planning, monitoring and control.
- Be able to develop effective project strategies, as well as establish project planning baselines for subsequent monitoring and control.
- Gain knowledge of useful techniques to monitor and report project progress in a valid and accurate manner.
- Have the ability to forecast project schedule and budget performance to meet the expectations of key stakeholders.
Module 1 Introduction
- Breaking the ice, course administration, feedback on participants’ specific public sector work environment and expectations of the course.
- Course objectives and agreement on learning approach and outcomes.
- Course overview, including public sector risks.
Module 2 Planning Methodologies
- Planning approaches and strategies appropriate to the scale and complexity of specific public sector project: A project planning framework.
- An integrated planning model as the foundation of effective planning, starting with scope definition and the Work Breakdown Structure.
- Techniques for estimating activity durations and sequencing these activities.
- Estimating resource requirements for the identified activities.
- Cost estimating and the development of a project budget.
- Developing a resource and cost-loaded project schedule.
Module 3 Monitoring and Control as Applied to Public Sector Projects
- An effective risk management foundation for identifying risk reserves in both the schedule and the budget, which will be monitored as the project progresses.
- Critical path analysis and its application in public sector projects.
- Earned value analysis and its support to the project in evaluation of the project status as well as the forecasting of schedule and budget performance.
- The reality of changes in the project execution phase leading to gaps between the project management plan and the situation on the ground during project execution.
- A effective change control system and its application in public sector projects.
Module 4 Review and Summary of Project Planning, Monitoring and Control in Public Sector Projects
- Project reporting in accordance with stakeholder expectations and the regulatory environment in public sector projects.
- The key role and support of software systems in both the project planning and execution phases to ensure compliance with the Project Management Plan.
- Project governance and its influence on the effective performance of project planning, monitoring and control.
- Documentation associated with effective project planning, monitoring and control.
- Hands-on practice with a project simulation case study:
- Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Create a Schedule Network Diagram and perform a Critical Path Analysis
- Understand and utilize Earned Value Management for cost and schedule monitoring and forecasting.
Course Benefits
Participants will be able to better understand project planning, monitoring and control principles and good practices and will be in a better position to manage public sector projects. Project performance, both at the individual project level and the organization’s project portfolio level, will be enhanced as a result of consistency in the approach to project planning, monitoring and control.
Who Will Benefit
This course is designed specifically for public sector professionals at all levels. Participants are assumed to have some degree of project management experience, and could be intending to fulfil a near-term project support role in the planning phase, or graduate to a project management role in the longer term.
Programme scope, delivery arrangements and suitability are confirmed during enquiry.