Course description
Project Scheduling and Controls - In House
Learn how to create and use one of the most valuable project management tools: a project schedule. Defining project success often involves completing on time and on budget, and project budgets are often driven by resource costs and the scheduling of those resources. This intensive 5-day course prepares participants to create realistic schedules, resource load those schedules, and update and track project progress. With this valuable skill, project managers and planners will have improved control of their projects as they will be able to identify and build in risk responses, understand the full impact of scope changes on their projects, and identify trends early in the project life cycle.
Our instructors are seasoned project scheduling professionals, who have experience in a wide variety of industries and with a number of scheduling software packages. Examples used will include construction, IT, and telecommunications. In addition to scheduling theory, practitioners’ tips and tricks will be demonstrated.
This is a hands-on course, in which participants will use a “live” project to create a schedule, update it, manage it and report on its performance. Participants will use their own laptops with a scheduling software package loaded to create and update the schedule, although many of the exercises will use prepared files.
This professional-level course is appropriate for those seeking to obtain a professional credential in planning and scheduling, such as PMI-SP® (PMI’s Scheduling Professional®) or PSP (AACE International’s Planning & Scheduling Professional).
Upcoming start dates
Who should attend?
Project Scheduling & Controls is appropriate for individuals who:
- Want to pursue a career in project planning and project controls.
- Want to enhance their resume and marketability in project management.
- Work in a project management environment, in any industry or discipline, and want to increase their scheduling knowledge.
- Want to prepare for the PMP-Scheduling Professional®, or the AACE Planning & Scheduling Professional credentials.
Prerequisite
Participants should have a university degree, or a technology or business diploma. A minimum of two years experience in a project environment is also highly recommended along with an introductory course in project management such as Project Management Essentials is advisable.
It is expected that you have taken an introductory course in scheduling software or have hands-on experience with Microsoft Project, such as our course Microsoft Project Essentials, or Primavera, or another project scheduling software tool.
Training content
Context of Project Planning & Scheduling
- Role of the project scheduler
- Scheduling credential requirements
- Principles of schedule development & control
- Workshop: Developing case study WBS
- Logic diagrams & dependencies
- Critical path, float, constraints, milestones, baselines
- Crashing, fast-tracking
Creating a Project Schedule
- Workshop: Create case study schedule
- Duration & effort
- Analyzing the bar (Gantt) chart
Performance Reporting
- Adding constraints
- Project health check
- Workshop: Communicating case study schedule
- Fast-tracking the schedule
- Basic fixed duration tracking
Resource Management
- Assigning resources
- Crashing the schedule
- Identifying resource conflict
- Workshop: Resource levelling 101
- Manpower loading curves
Earned Value
- The theory
- Information gathering
- Workshop: Applying earned value to the case study
- Performance reporting
- Organizational behaviour
Change Control
- Identifying full impact of changes
- Workshop: Taking corrective action
- Performance reporting
- The schedule and cost control
Risk Management
- Scheduling the unknowns
- Workshop: Monte Carlo analysis of case study
- Adding quantitative data to assumptions
- Sensitivity analysis
- Claims management
Advanced Scheduling Techniques
- The short-term look-ahead schedule
- Workshops: Schedule analysis
- Alternatives to CPM scheduling
- Critical chain
- Software trends
- Final assignment
Wrap Up
- Wrap Up
- Course Evaluations
Certification / Credits
Learning Objectives
Participants will gain practical skills to:
- Create effective project schedules
- Implement project schedule and corresponding cost controls
- Evaluate project metrics and prepare project performance reports
- Use earned value management
- Apply best practices in scheduling projects
- Prepare to sit for the scheduling examination from PMI® or AACE.
Contact this provider
Procept Associates Ltd.
Since 1963, Procept (and its subsidiaries) have trained over 1 million people from over 17,000 organizations. We focus on developing competencies in project management, change management, agile management, leadership, business analysis, IT and data management, as well as soft skill...