IT Project Management

Course Description

Learn the fundamentals and best practices of project management methodology as applied to IT initiatives, and practice and master the skills you need to deliver IT projects on time, within budget, and to specification. Examine all aspects of IT projects, including hardware, software, vendor relationships, communicating with different audiences, and working with local and remote teams. Learn to determine project scope, set and management stakeholder expectations, identify and manage IT risks, and meet quality standards. Learn how to overcome the most common pitfalls of IT project success.

Students pursuing a university-recognized and/or accredited certificate in Canada or continuing education units in the US must attend at least 90% of class time, participate in class exercises and section-knowledge checks, and score at least 70% on an end-of-class, mult6iple-choice assessment.

What You’ll Learn in Class

• Examine the IT project life cycle
• Understand project management methodologies
• Build an IT project business case, schedule, and budget
• Estimate IT project costs
• Procure human and capital resources
• Understand typical risks for IT projects
• Identify, assess, and manage risk
• Establish quality metrics
• Monitor project progress

Hands-On Exercises

• Create Business Case
• Identify the Stakeholders
• Establish Project Mini-Charter
• Develop Work Breakdown Structure
• Create Network Diagram and Critical Path
• Estimate Schedule and Budget
• Identifying Resource Requirements
• Creating Resource Calendar
• Establish Risk Management Plan and Matrix
• Create Risk Response Strategies
• Create Communication Plan
• Inform Stakeholders through Status Reports
• Using a Decision Tree to Select Vendors
• Analyze Contract Types for Deliverables
• Manage Change Control
• Create Final project Report

Who Needs to Attend

IT professionals, IT project managers, IT managers, IT project team members, associate project managers, project managers, project coordinators, project analysts, project leaders, senior project managers, team leaders, product managers and program managers.

NOTE: If you’ve taken Project management Fundamentals (p. 127), you should not attend this course since there is a significant overlap in course content.

Course Content

1. IT Project Failure and Success
   • Reasons for IT Project Failure and IT Project Success
   • How to plan for IT Project Success
   • IT Projects: What makes them Different?

2. Project Management Foundation
   • Project Management Institute’s (PM) framework
   • Project Management Basics
   • Project Management Life Cycle
   • Project Management Knowledge Areas
   • Triple Constraints of project management
   • Types of Project Organizations

3. Project Initiation
   • Project Selection and Prioritization
   • Business Case Development
   • Stakeholder Analysis
   • Project Charter
   • Constraints and Assumptions
   • Project Objectives

4. Project Scope Definition
   • Scope Statement
   • Requirements: Defining and Gathering
   • Work Breakdown Structure

5. Time Management and Scheduling
   • Activity Definition and E=Sequencing
   • Estimating Activity Duration
   • PERT
   • Critical Path
   • Network Diagramming
   • Float and Lag

6. Resource Planning
   • Identify Required Project Resources
   • Roles and Responsibilities
   • Resource Assignment Matrix
   • Staff management
   • Resource Constraints

7. Cost management an Control
   • Cost Estimating Techniques
   • Types of Estimates
   • Contingency and Management Reserves
   • Controlling and managing Costs
   • Earned Value Analysis
   • Typical IT Expenditures

8. Communications management
   • Manage Stakeholder Expectations
   • Considerations for Effective Communication
   • Communication Management Plan
   • Project Status Report

9. Project Risk Management
   • Risk Sources for the IT Project
   • Stakeholder Risk Tolerance
   • Risk Identification, Ranking, Triggers, and Response Strategies

10. Procurement and Sourcing
    • Role of the Project manager in Procurement
    • Build or Buy
    • Sourcing Management
    • Procurement of Life Cycle
    • Procurement Documents
    • Contract Requirements and Legal Terms
    • Contract Types

11. Project Management Methodologies
    • Stage-Gate
    • Organizational Project management Maturity Model
    • Critical Chain
    • IT Project management Methodologies

12. Controlling and managing Change
    • Causes of Change
    • Change Control Framework
    • Integrated Change Control
    • Change Control Process and Tools

13. Quality Assurance and Control
    • Creating Project Quality
    • Quality Management Theories
    • Quality Tools and Techniques
    • IT Project Testing

14. Phase and Project Closure
    • Contract Closeout and Administrative Closure
    • Lessons Learned
    • Phase and Project Reports