Description:

This two-day course is based on recommended reading by the Association for Project Management.

As project management has become better understood over the last three decades so did the limitations of a single role to fill all circumstances. It has become increasingly evident that there are roles to be identified within the client organisations which facilitate projects and their work is crucial to the successful implementation of projects. So the programme and portfolio roles have been documented and carefully articulated to establish the essential links between business (the client) and change management (the project manager).

The widespread use of projects, strategic or complex change, has also brought with it the need to marshal project based activities in some coherent, beneficial way. A programme is a framework for grouping projects and focusing all the activities required to achieve a set of major benefits. The management of this coordinated approach is Programme Management.

The vital need to connect business to the management of the change required to maintain the strategic and other goals is driving the development of Programme Management. This is an emerging process based upon an understanding of the business need to change and projects which are seen as a means to the desired results. Programme Management allows us to manage more than one change (a single project) at a time in an efficient manner which, as a result, can provide more benefits than the sum total of the project benefits.

The aim of this course is to gain an understanding of Programme Management as a business that effectively bridges the gap between strategy and projects while coping with change at the same time.

Further understanding of how programmes are utilised will also be gained along with different types of programme configuration, the implications of the process of Programme Management and an in-depth knowledge of particular techniques required for managing such programmes.

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

Vital Benefits:

Programme and portfolio management are the business end of change management. They are to do with the business perspective but based on the realities and limitations of project management in the business context. Programme and portfolio managers need to be people who have managed projects but have equal knowledge of business. They have two faces, one pointing towards the client and one towards the projects. This course provices the following vital benefits:

• A clear understanding of the differences of the two concerned environments: business and projects
• An understanding of the need of business and the manner in which those needs are derived
• The techniques for translating the needs of business into the requirements of projects
• A wider view of the risks of change in a business environment
• The understanding that decisions made will impact on the success of the projects
• Awareness of the need to manage resources across projects and to map the success criteria over many projects

Objectives:

This is an emerging role which appears vital in the development of sustainable change on a continuous basis. In this course, it is our objective to provide a good understanding of:

• The driving issues towards programme and portfolio management
• The analysis of the business need for long term change
• Business benefits analysis
• The development of suitable methods and processes used to monitor performance across projects to ensure success
• The constant change in business which can affect change, even the need for change

Topics:

Programme and portfolio management is at the core of successful project management. If the decisions made during this essential business evaluation period are aligned with the needs of projects, success will be assured. If not, uncertainty will dominate as it does so frequently on projects today. This course covers the following topics:

• Definitions and context, stakeholder analysis and management
• Business analysis and the need for change and the development of change programmes
• Programme configuration and the use of methods
• Organisations and strategic thinking
• Programme framework and culture and risk in a wider business sense
• Programme definition and development
• Programme planning and implementation
• Estimating and budgetary control
• Organisational governance and competency Issues
• Implementation and appraisal Issues

Who to Attend:

The course is designed for all programme personnel including project, programme and line managers requiring a deeper knowledge of programme management tools, techniques, concepts and principles. We recommend this course to:

• The client staff
• The project managers
• The project staff
• Line managers
• The professional services teams
• The senior supply chain managers
• Everyone who wants to know more about programme management
• Anyone who sees project management as a career