Description:

This one-day course covers an important business skill.

Business relies on essential bureaucracy to retain structure, information and work flow, quality, discipline, sound management systems and for many other reasons. Over years this bureaucracy can become clogged with out of date information and this has the effect of making the business more sluggish. But there is another impact of a bureaucracy which is that it can resist beneficial change, after all “this is how we do things around here”. Whilst a bureaucracy is safe there are times when business needs to be more responsive and so it is common to occasionally review the way things get done.

Whilst it is easy to see why a business process needs to change, it is not easy to see how it should be changed without losing some current benefits. In recent years project management has been seen as a solution to this problem. The project manager primarily works in an environment of constant change and is focused on more robust, clearer, simpler toolsets which demonstrate continuous short term value. This alternative experience puts the project manager in an excellent position to see opportunities which are difficult to see from inside the business.

Project management may therefore be an excellent catalyst to change within a business where change, innovation, responsiveness is essential and competition is fierce. The need to constantly change is felt in many businesses but it may not be change that is required, just a fresh approach. Project management is a vital and dynamic role played in the main by people motivated by success and achievement. Clearly this type of manager has a role in business.

This course is an important business concept today when change is already part of the business process. Understanding how project management can help business will provide a strong strategic business advantage.

An Attendance Certificate will be provided at the end of this skill course.

Vital Benefits:

Project management is all about success through capability and skills. Project management is about getting things done effectively and efficiently. Sometimes business bureaucracy stands in the way of doing thing better and so we need to find alternative ways of proceeding. The course provides the following vital benefits:

• A clear understanding of what project management is, how it works and why it may benefit the business
• A reliable starting point based on proven knowledge from decades of experience by people willing to learn and challenge the status quo
• An understanding of the language of project and change management
• A clear understanding of the need to recognise the need for change and the best way to bring it about - ensuring satisfaction
• Developing a clear strategic business advantage

Objectives:

The complex nature of change requires capability and skill to achieve success. In this course, it is our objectives to provide:

• A clear understanding of the knowledge of project management as it is documented by the Association of Project Management (APM)
• A good understanding of the skills required in project management
• The information necessary to work knowledgably in the management of internal change
• An environment where learning is enjoyable and effective
• Good examples in the history of projects to support the learning
• An advantage over your peers based on solid project management knowledge

Topics:

The course is based on current best practice as documented by the APM, IPMA and PMI. The course covers relevant knowledge from these documents in order to create a practical understanding of project management. The topics covered are:

• Development of a statement of needs
• Project context, life cycle, and roles and responsibilities
• Success and benefits analysis, stakeholder analysis, project management plan and risk>/li>
• Scope management, scheduling, resource management, information flow and problem management
• Estimating and managing changes
• People issues including communication, teamwork and leadership
• Reporting and handing over the completed change and review

Who to Attend:

This course is an excellent course for all those who find themselves responsible for improving business efficiency, market advantage and general management. Project management is not a new concept, but applying it to business may be. This course is an excellent introduction to project management and so would be most useful to:

• Business managers, marketing managers, organisational managers
• People involved in updating systems, processes and methods
• Those who want to know more about project management in business
• All those within the business who simply want to know more about project management and how it may be used in other areas of business