Technical Project Management Essentials

Introduction

Project management is crucial for business success, especially during times of uncertainty and operational disruption. As projects grow in complexity and organizations increasingly adopt project-based management, the demand for skilled project managers rises. Despite this, many projects fail not due to their scale or complexity, but because of inadequate project scope definition, planning, or control. Effective planning and control can prevent such failures.

Technical skills are vital in project management. While leadership is important, success often hinges on making informed decisions based on solid data. Unfortunately, many managers lack formal training in decision-making and project control. This technical project management course equips learners with the skills to create and implement effective project control plans, enabling them to turn data into actionable strategies that lead to project success.

Objectives

By the end of this technical project management course, participants will be able to:

• Appreciate project economic evaluation and cash inflow.
• Estimate and budget the project accurately.
• Perform project planning and scheduling using network-based approaches.
• Understand and apply effective project control systems and cost management methods.
• Employ Earned Value Management for project supervision and control.
• Develop practical skills for effective project reporting.

Training Methodology

• Case Studies
• Simulation Exercises
• Interactive Workshops

Course Outline

Unit 1: Overview of Project Management

• Projects in contemporary organizations.
• Project delivery and management modes.
• The subject and content of project management.
• Power, influence, and leadership.
• Control processes in projects.

Unit 2: Project Estimating

• Preparation of a work breakdown structure.
• Universe of risk terms.
• Subjective and objective methodologies of risk assessment.
• Measures for dealing with risks.
• Basics of cost estimation.
• Estimation of costs: preliminary and complete.
• Overhead and operating expenses.

Unit 3: Project Planning

• Basic principles of project planning.
• Network analysis techniques.
• Scheduling through the critical path.
• Timing of resources.
• Leveling resources.
• Shortening project schedules.
• Networks for monitoring and control.

Unit 4: Project Control

• Understanding control systems.
• Use of variance analysis.
• Time and cost trade-offs.
• Cash flow management.
• IT control considerations using Earned Value Management.

Unit 5: Project Reporting and Advanced Issues

• Project valuation: Financial aspects of performance.
• Creating excess profit: Interest & bid unbalancing.
• Components of control: Planning and estimation.
• Lean principles of project management: Theory and practice.