Project Management   

Increase efficiencies and productivity by learning to apply the principles and concepts of manufacturing.

Learn to apply the principles and concepts of manufacturing. Discover the nature of strategy and learn how it leads to the development of manufacturing strategy. Understand the purpose of customer demand forecasting and find out what forecasting methods are suitable for which situations. Explore the nature of planning and learn how to effectively use Gantt charts and the precedence diagram method. Determine how purchasing, production and inventory control, and logistics support a manufacturing operation. Discover the basics of lean manufacturing and see how capacity management converts production plans into concrete products. Learn why manufacturing, industrial, and quality engineering are so essential to any firm. Understand the true meaning of productivity and how to improve it.

In this online course, you will learn how successful organizations effectively use master production scheduling (MPS), production activity control (PAC), material requirements planning (MRP), and inventory management. You'll also discover how the application of Six Sigma, and statistical process control (SPC) increase customer satisfaction, and you'll learn about the elements of a logistics system, including warehousing and receiving.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Manufacturing Strategy

You'll begin this lesson by exploring the essential area of manufacturing strategy. You'll consider a firm as a system, look at a few key strategic terms, and talk about market analysis. Then, you'll review the background of manufacturing strategy and discuss its foundation. Finally, you'll finish up by identifying what's involved in developing and implementing a manufacturing strategy and investigating strategic choices.

Demand Forecasting

If there's one area that's caused problems for manufacturers over the years, it's forecasting. In this lesson, you'll start with the characteristics of forecasting and see how you can use a qualitative, quantitative, or a hybrid approach that follows certain types of rules. Then, the lesson will discuss the requirements for developing and implementing a sound forecast, exploring how to forecast new products. You'll finish by examining various ways to control your forecasts.

Planning

Now that you have a good understanding of manufacturing strategy and demand forecasting, you need to perform manufacturing planning. Planning is a pervasive activity; it gives rise to just about everything. This lesson will talk about how planning and control work together, discuss the nature of manufacturing planning, and explore a few planning techniques, including Gantt charts and the network diagram scheduling method.

Purchasing

Purchasing employees contribute greatly to the success of manufacturing organizations. Every dollar saved by purchasing equals a dollar of profit. It's too bad that many firms don't realize the value of purchasing. They view it as a clerical function—simply a matter of sending purchase orders to suppliers. In this lesson, you'll take a whirlwind tour through the world of purchasing. The lesson will briefly discuss the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), look at the way for purchasing to be proactive instead of reactive, and explore the seven steps of the purchasing cycle.

Lean Manufacturing

This lesson will discuss lean manufacturing. This topic has an interesting history; it originated from Henry Ford's operations in the United States in the early 1900s. Japanese industry popularized it in the 1970s, and it was later introduced in the Western world as just-in-time (JIT) during the early 1980s. By the early 1990s, the terms lean production or lean manufacturing began to appear. Few firms use the JIT label these days. So, "lean manufacturing" it is. The lesson will discuss its benefits and the various elements of it, starting with good housekeeping (5S) and concluding with quality at the source. After that, it will close with a discussion on how to implement lean manufacturing.

Production and Inventory Control

Someone once called production and inventory control (P & IC) "organized foresight plus corrective hindsight." It begins with receipt of a sales order and ends with delivery to the customer. It requires knowledge of what should happen and what did happen. For many years, P & IC personnel have played a valuable role in completing manufacturing schedules and satisfying customers. So, in this lesson, you'll examine the primary duties of P & IC: master production scheduling, shop floor scheduling, production activity control, material requirements planning, and inventory management.

Capacity Planning

Of all the concepts that have been discussed so far, none is more important than capacity. After all, if you don't have sufficient capacity, you won't manufacture much! This lesson will start out with an overview of capacity and define a few terms, including design and effective capacity, and actual output. You'll explore how rough-cut capacity planning and capacity requirements planning (CRP) help measure available capacity. Then, you'll move on and examine a few capacity-use strategies as they relate to customer demand, technology, and other variables. You'll finish up by discussing three essential tools to help with capacity management: break-even analysis, decision trees, and decision theory.

Manufacturing Engineering

This lesson is the start of a three-part discussion on how engineering and manufacturing work together. Manufacturing engineering brings a certain level of sophistication to a production environment. You'll take a tour through the manufacturing engineering function, starting with its history, its relationship with other departments, and its major functions. Then, you'll explore the essential activity of process planning and review the various elements. You'll also examine key manufacturing engineering focus areas including computer-aided process planning (CAPP), value analysis, design for manufacturability (DFM), concurrent engineering (CE), rapid prototyping, and expert systems.

Industrial Engineering

Since you spent the entire last lesson discussing manufacturing engineering, it's only fair that you give equal time to the related field of industrial engineering (IE). IE joins people, machines, materials, and information to bring efficiency and effectiveness to a production operation. IE views human beings as a vital component of a system. You'll start out with a brief overview and history of industrial engineering. Next, the lesson will discuss work measurement while you explore ways to develop work standards. You'll determine how earned value performance measurement helps you control costs and performance. Then, you'll wrap things up by looking at flowcharts and examining their benefits.

Quality Engineering

In this lesson, you'll finish up the trilogy on engineering by tackling quality engineering. Quality engineers are responsible for assuring a high performing, quality system. To achieve this, they need a good understanding of quality costs, Six Sigma, and statistical process control (SPC), including its main components, which are run charts, control charts, and process capability. This lesson will discuss each of these topics.

Logistics

Manufacturing companies must know the ins and outs of physical transportation (otherwise known as traffic or logistics). Since your company either directly or indirectly pays for transportation, you need a good command of the basics. You'll start out this lesson with an overview of the logistics system and briefly review each element. Then, you'll move on to discuss warehousing and examine many transportation concepts such as tracing, carrier modes and types, and the receiving process.

Productivity

The topic for this last lesson is productivity. Quality and productivity form a potent one-two punch for manufacturers. When both are present to the right degree, your chances for success are high. Like quality, the journey for productivity improvement is never-ending. You'll begin with an overview of productivity, then look at the basic productivity calculation, learn about historical global productivity trends, and examine the experience curve. Next, you'll look at measurements of productivity and review how quality and human effort affect productivity. Finally, you'll explore the various productivity factors and discuss the elements of a productivity improvement system.

What you will learn

• Learn how to develop manufacturing strategy
• Understand the purpose of customer demand forecasting and find out what forecasting methods are suitable for which situations
• Learn how to effectively use Gantt charts and the precedence diagram method for planning
• Discover the basics of lean manufacturing
• Understand the true meaning of productivity and how to improve it
• Discover how the application of Six Sigma, and statistical process control (SPC) increase customer satisfaction
• Learn about the elements of a logistics system, including warehousing and receiving

How you will benefit

• Feel more confident in your role in the manufacturing industry as you learn management-level concepts
• Open the door to new opportunities and promotions in the manufacturing field
• Gain a higher-level understanding of the manufacturing process and how to be successful in the field

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)® and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)® from the American Society for Quality (ASQ)®.

Learn the basic skills required to work in the manufacturing field.

Learn the basic skills required to work in the manufacturing field. Discover the role of production design, process planning, and the heart of 13 different manufacturing processes. Understand why facility location and plant layout decisions are so vital and learn how job design helps you accomplish company goals and achieve worker satisfaction. Find out what makes up the physical work environment and learn how to characterize different types of production materials. Master product development concepts such as the voice of the customer (VOC), quality function deployment (QFD), and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). Learn how performance measurements and standardization improve manufacturing operations.

In this online course, you will learn how successful organizations use costs to communicate manufacturing progress and how to effectively develop short and long-term budgets. Also, you will discover how the application of technology turns an ordinary company into a high-performing organization. You will also find out how ISO 9000 and enterprise resource planning (ERP) make the most of a manufacturer's potential.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Overview of Manufacturing

This lesson will define manufacturing—looking at its history, identifying the various types of industries, and discussing different types of products. You'll survey the critical areas of design, materials, processes, technology, and systems. Then, you'll finish up by examining manufacturing capability, trends in the field, and manufacturing careers.

Production Design and Planning

Production design is a critical activity for any manufacturing firm because it plays a major role in defining overall costs. Once a production design is set, it charts the course for a product. Even the most expensive equipment and the best engineers can't offset the limitations of a production design. In this lesson, you'll examine the elements of production design and process planning. Then, you'll explore the vast number of processing types including metal casting, bulk deformation, sheet metal forming, material removing, polymer and plastic processing, rubber production, glass manufacturing, powder processing, surface processing, joining and fastening, electronics assembly, and chemical processing.

Facility Location and Layout

Before you can manufacture anything, you need some land, a building, and a layout. Your decisions about these elements are extremely important, especially the first two. Once you buy land and erect a building, it's usually too late to change your mind without incurring a stiff penalty. So, in this lesson, you'll explore the ins and outs of facility selection and layout. The lesson will begin by discussing the influence of forecasting, long-range planning, and capacity planning. Then you'll identify the numerous factors you need to consider for a general and specific location and look at a way to evaluate them. You'll also examine plant layout and review a few options for it.

Job Design

This lesson's topic is job design. Job design has changed dramatically over the years and the majority of manufacturing jobs now combine human labor and machines. While a few positions such as assembly or heavy labor may not involve equipment, it's difficult to think of work that doesn't involve mechanical aids or tools. The lesson will discuss how job design is made up of job content and work methods and how jobs relate to each other. You'll find out how machines relate to human beings and also how an operation chart helps define the steps a worker takes to complete a job. Then, you'll finish up with a discussion about work teams and a matrix organization, and see how job enlargement and job enrichment increase employee satisfaction.

Physical Work Environment

This lesson will add another essential layer to the manufacturing picture: how to create an effective and productive physical work environment. The physical work environment includes temperature, humidity, airflow, noise, lighting, and contaminant levels. It plays a major role in worker well being and productivity. You'll examine the elements of a manufacturing work environment starting with the physical building and moving on to temperature, humidity, airflow, and noise. The lesson will also talk about lighting, contaminants, and hazards. Then, it'll close with a general look at safety and the elements of an effective safety program.

Manufacturing Materials

If you let your imagination run wild, you can probably think of hundreds, perhaps thousands of manufacturing materials. Companies use all sorts of materials, including latex rubber, electronics, sheet metal, wood, human plasma, seaweed, titanium wire, and even alligator blood. That's some list! You won't be able to look at every material, but this lesson will cover the basic ones—metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites. It will start by discussing the nature of materials. Then, it will move on to their mechanical and physical properties and talk about dimensions, tolerances, and surfaces.

Product Development

New products are the lifeblood of manufacturing organizations. But did you know that it takes more than 50 new product ideas to generate a single successful one? Unfortunately, most new products don't satisfy customer or company objectives. A major reason new products don't succeed is because they aren't marketed well. This lesson will help make sure that this doesn't happen to you. You'll delve into the concept of customer orientation, starting with a brief overview of marketing. Then, you'll explore the voice of the customer (VOC). Finally, you'll see how failure mode, effects analysis (FMEA), and project management can lead to success.

Costs and Accounting

Cost is the price you pay to acquire, maintain, produce, or use materials or services. Since most firms account for their operations at cost, it's vital that you understand how costs are determined and used. In this lesson, you'll examine many different types of costs, including discretionary, relevant, variable, and standard. After you finish exploring these costs, you'll see how manufacturers reflect them in their accounting systems.

Investing and Budgeting

In this lesson, you'll look at investment decisions for items such as equipment and fixture purchase and replacement. You'll also spend some time on budgeting. The lesson will discuss the average rate of return (ARR), payback period, discounted cash flow (DCF), net present value (NPV), and internal rate of return (IRR). After you work through a few problems, you'll learn the basics of budgeting.

Manufacturing Measurements

In this lesson, you'll examine performance measurements as a way to keep track of progress. After all, you don't really know how your manufacturing operation performs unless you have an official scorecard. So, you'll identify the attributes of effective performance measurements and look at a few traditional and progressive methods. Then, the lesson will wrap things up by addressing physical measurements.

Standardization

This lesson is all about standards. They've been around for quite a few years, but it's just in the past few decades that they've stepped out into the spotlight, mainly because of the high profile of ISO 9000. The lesson will talk about how standards are used, identify where they came from, and discuss how they're developed. You'll also explore their benefits and discover how they're defined.

Technology and Manufacturing

In the final lesson, you'll focus on technology. You'll look at a few specific technological advances, namely computer aided design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), flexible manufacturing system (FMS), and bar coding. You'll finish the course by looking at a powerful software package used by manufacturers around the world: enterprise resource planning (ERP).

What you will learn

• Discover the role of production design and process planning
• Learn 13 different manufacturing processes
• Understand why facility location and plant layout decisions are so vital
• Learn how job design helps you accomplish company goals and achieve worker satisfaction
• Learn how to characterize different types of production materials
• Master important product development concepts
• Understand how performance measurements and standardization improve manufacturing operations

How you will benefit

• Learn the basic skills required to work in the manufacturing field
• Open the door to opportunities for new jobs and promotions with your new knowledge in manufacturing
• Understand management-level concepts specific to the manufacturing industry

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)® and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)® from the American Society for Quality (ASQ)®.

Learn how to maximize your project's chance of success and become proficient at recruiting and empowering your project's team members.

Increase your value to your employer by discovering and mastering essential quantitative and qualitative project management applications.

A successful project begins with process definition, data collection, and the scoping of project requirements. Every project ends with a motivated project team able to accomplish objectives on time and within budget. Winning projects rely on accurate cost and time estimates, identification of the critical path, and use of tracking and control tools.

In this course, an experienced Project Management Professional will teach you the same powerful tools and techniques that experienced project management professionals rely on every day.

You will increase the probability of project success by mastering the tricks of the trade: Earned Value Performance Measurement, Gantt Charts, Network Scheduling, Work Breakdown Structure, and Cost-Volume Analysis.

You will become proficient at recruiting project team members and empowering them to succeed. You will understand the stages of team development, and you will gain skills in developing and motivating team leaders. You will learn how to understand and relate to an organizational culture and the differing characteristics of its work groups.

The course also includes essential information that will help you prepare for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® and the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®) exams offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI)®. Certification Magazine recently identified PMP certification as "the highest-paying certification" of the year.

PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Professional (PMP), PMBOK, PgMP, PMI-RMP, CAPM, PMI-SP, PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) and the PMI REP Logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Basic Project Management Tools

In this lesson, you will learn how to use a variety of project management data collection tools including check sheets, histograms, performance charts, and process definition tools such as work breakdown structure (WBS) and flowcharts. After you master these tools, you will be able to increase your project management effectiveness by leaps and bounds.

Estimating

Estimating is a very important activity for every organization. It helps you calculate time and costs for your project. When you successfully use estimates, your actual cost of project work is very close to your projections. In this lesson, you will learn how to apply quantitative and qualitative estimating methods, such as historical analogy, the walk through and Delphi methods, expected value, and estimates under uncertainty.

Earned Value

Earned value is gaining in popularity in project management circles. Although some people view it as a new concept, they're often surprised to learn that it's been around for more than 30 years. This lesson will define earned value, describe its history, and discuss its benefits. You will learn about the overview of earned value and discover how to create a step-by-step earned value performance measurement (EVPM) system.

Gantt Charts

Gantt charts, along with work breakdown structure (WBS), earned value performance measurement (EVPM), and the precedence diagram method (PDM), make up the big four of project management. A Gantt chart may be the most popular tool associated with project management because it's an easy to follow timeline chart. In this lesson, you will learn about the history of Gantt charts, find out how to create one, and discover their benefits and limitations.

Precedence Diagram Method

Network scheduling, along with earned value, represents one of the most technical aspects of project management. If you enjoy working with charts and numbers, this lesson is right up your alley! As with earned value, the precedence diagram method (PDM) includes a fair amount of terminology and a little bit of tricky math. In this lesson, you will learn the basics of networks and see how they relate to project management.

Project Planning and Control Tools

In this lesson, you will take a break from using calculators and studying elaborate models. Instead, you will learn how resource planning, work flow diagrams, and storyboards can help you create and implement an effective project plan.

Data Analysis Tools

This lesson introduces a few more tools to help you with your projects. You will learn about the cost-volume analysis, a tool to help you optimize choices using costs, volume, and desired profits. You will also learn how to use and apply the Monte Carlo simulation, force field analysis, and the Pareto principle.

Project Management Software

This lesson focuses on the nature of project management software and identifying winning techniques. You will read two case studies to help you understand issues pertaining to software implementation. You will learn why some people are reluctant to use project management software and discover ways to evaluate and select a software supplier.

Statistics and Process Improvement

This lesson introduces the measures of location (median, mode, and mean), the normal curve, and measures of dispersion (range, mean absolute deviation, variance, and standard deviation). You will see how the Taguchi loss function is an alternative to traditional go/no-go inspection. You will also learn how to measure variation, use prevention, and apply statistical process control (SPC) to help you produce predictable and acceptable results.

Dimensions of the Project Team

For your project to succeed, you need a skilled project manager and committed capable project team members. This lesson will teach you how to identify the essential competencies of an effective project manager and how to establish a winning project team. You will understand what it takes to recruit, evaluate, and select project team members. You will also learn about the concepts of a core team, extended team, and the highly important project team.

The Project Team in Action

This lesson introduces work group theory. You will learn about the stages of team development, understand why change is so important for your project, and find out why people are reluctant to change. You will learn how to overcome resistance to change and empower your project team.

Organization and Motivation

This final lesson focuses on fundamental organizational concepts. You will discover the purpose of an organization chart and learn why a matrix organization is a common project management organizational structure. You will understand key coordinating principles such as authority, responsibility, accountability, and power.

What you will learn

• Master Earned Value Performance Measurement, Gantt Charts, Network Scheduling, Work Breakdown Structure, and Cost-Volume Analysis
• Become proficient at recruiting project team members and empowering them to succeed
• Understand the stages of team development
• Gain skills in developing and motivating team leaders
• Learn how to understand and relate to an organizational culture and the differing characteristics of its work groups
• Learn about project software, statistics, change management, processes, and estimating

How you will benefit

• Increase your value to your employer by discovering and mastering essential quantitative and qualitative project management applications
• Gain valuable experience with project planning, control and data analysis tools which will give you confidence in your ability to successfully manage projects
• Prepare for the Project Management Professional (PMP)? and the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM?) certification exams

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)® and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)® from the American Society for Quality (ASQ)®.

Gain the skills you'll need to succeed in the fast-growing field of project management.

Organizations initiate projects to create new computer applications, erect bridges and buildings, improve processes, develop new products, and reorganize company operations. Unfortunately, most organizations do not manage projects well, creating an unprecedented demand for project management practitioners.

If you're organized, perceptive, detail-oriented, and an excellent communicator, you just might have what it takes to succeed in the fast-growing field of project management.

In this course, an experienced Project Management Professional will help you master the essentials of project management. You will become an indispensable member of your project team by discovering and mastering the critical concepts you need to plan, implement, control and close any type of project.

You will learn about project politics and ethics, project measurements, and project closure. You will be able to develop all sections of a project plan, you will become comfortable with the project management body of knowledge, and you will develop a variety of powerful techniques to generate project ideas.

If you're new to project management, this course will provide you with the essential information you will need to prepare for and complete your first project. If you're an experienced project manager, this course will make you more valuable to your employer by increasing your skills and competencies.

This course and its follow-up (Project Management Applications) also include essential information that will help you prepare for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® and the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®) exams offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI)®. Certification Magazine recently identified PMP certification as "the highest-paying certification" of the year.

PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Professional (PMP), PMBOK, PgMP, PMI-RMP, CAPM, PMI-SP, PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) and the PMI REP Logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Applications must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Project Management Overview

In our first lesson, you'll learn why project management is necessary and find out how to differentiate projects from programs and tasks. When you finish with this lesson, you'll understand the temporary and unique nature of projects and discover why scoping a project is a critical activity. This lesson will also provide pathways for a career in project management using guidelines from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

The Power of Planning

In this lesson, you will learn how planning represents a key factor in helping you develop your project plan. We'll start off the lesson by discussing the nature of planning and discovering the benefits of planning. Next, we will move on to examine the various planning elements and identify the planning process. Then, we'll explore two planning constraints: the triple constraint and the limiting factor. We'll finish Lesson 2 by discussing how contingency planning can be beneficial, recognizing the power of the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) concept, and seeing how estimating is such an essential component of planning.

The Power of Control

We'll start off this lesson with an overview of the control process, and we'll review the reactions that many people have to it. You'll discover the characteristics and goals of effective control systems and be able to identify the benefits of control. You'll learn the prerequisites to use control, find out how to use steps of the control process, and identify problems with using control. You'll also discover the various types of control techniques.

The Project Manager and the Project Team

This lesson may be the most important one in the course: A highly functional project team and an excellent project manager are critical success factors for any project. In this lesson, you'll learn about a project manager's roles and responsibilities, and also required skills and competencies. To support your project manager, you'll discover the characteristics of a team, see how a team comes together, and find out how to use effective team building activities. Finally, we'll discuss a few project challenges that teams may face.

Stakeholder Interactions and Expectations

In this lesson, we'll discuss two different sides (deliverables and stakeholders) of the same coin. You'll learn about the concept of deliverables, identify how deliverables are prone to change, and examine the deliverables chain. You'll see how Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a wonderful tool to identify and satisfy stakeholders. Also, you'll learn how important it is to recognize and meet stakeholder requirements and how to minimize stakeholder conflict. You'll spend time learning the ins and outs of communication and change management. Lastly, you'll discover how you can use brainstorming and brainwriting, and describe the nominal group technique and affinity diagrams to help you create innovative project management ideas.

Project Management Soft Skills

This lesson focuses on the "soft skills" (activities related to interpersonal engagement) that you will certainly be able to apply in your future projects. You will get an overview of decision making, the behavioral aspects, and barriers that exist that influence decisions. A logical extension of decision-making is problem solving. You'll learn about root cause analysis, a problem-solving model, cost benefit analysis, and decision trees. You'll also get an introduction about organizational politics and examine the various political tactics. Then, you'll finish the lesson by exploring conflict management and how to improve your negotiation skills.

Project Cost Management

This lesson focuses on the various elements of project cost management. You'll start off by learning about several classification of costs. Then you'll discover the elements of project budgeting including bottom-up and top-down budgeting, the S-curve, and an assumption log. Next, you'll see how change requests and a change control board (CCB) assist with project cost control. You'll move on to explore activity-based costing (ABC) and learn how a focus on cost drivers is superior to traditional approaches. Finally, you'll examine variance analysis and earned value performance management (EVPM) as ways to help keep your project costs at or below budget.

The Project Plan (Part 1)

In this lesson, you'll learn how to develop the first part of your project plan. You'll start off by learning about the influence of external and internal environmental factors. Then you'll discover the importance of a project's strategic fit, structures used for project organization, and examine project selection criteria and models. Next, you'll learn about the project planning hierarchy and see how effective development of a project's statement of work (SOW), the project charter, the work breakdown structure (WBS), and the project schedule significantly increase the probability of having a successful project.

The Project Plan (Part 2)

This lesson is all about supporting plans for your project. You'll start off by reading about the role of human resource, supply management, interface, and configuration management plans. Then, we'll devote some time to discuss quality and how to implement a project quality plan. Next, we'll explore cost management, risk management, and reporting plans. Finally, you'll discover the ins and outs of project management software and determine the requirements for successful implementation.

Project Implementation

In this lesson, we'll expand upon the fundamental elements so you can successfully implement your project plan. We'll start off by describing the elements of a successful project. This will help you determine if your project is headed in the right direction. Next, you'll discover why it's beneficial to implement a pilot before launching your project. Then, you'll see why it's important to review work packages and establish project accounts. We'll move on to examine what takes place with a project kick-off meeting. Finally, you'll finish the lesson by exploring the interpersonal aspects of a project and discover how to keep your project moving in the right direction.

Project Control

Project control is the most important activity for your project. Regardless of how much time and effort you invest into your project plan, it's likely that your actual results will differ from what you expect. If you don't effectively control your project, the chances of meeting your project objectives are very slim. In this lesson, we'll expand on what we discussed earlier in the course. We'll start off by describing the principles of project control. Next, you'll discover the nature of project performance measurements and move on to discuss project reporting and the frequency and responsibility for project control. Then, you'll see what is involved with project progress monitoring before moving on to examine earned value performance management (EVPM) and identify its benefits. Finally, you'll finish the lesson by exploring the nature of a project audit.

Project Closure

In our final lesson, we will talk about what happens at the end of a project. We'll start off by describing the importance and value of project closure. Next, we'll identify the reasons why project closure is skipped, and discuss a process plan for project closure. Then, we will move on to discuss runaway projects and the reasons why project fail. Finally, you'll finish the lesson by discussing how to deal with premature project termination.

What you will learn

• Learn about project politics and ethics, project measurements, and project closure
• Gain the knowledge to develop all sections of a project plan
• Become comfortable with the project management body of knowledge
• Develop a variety of powerful techniques to generate project ideas
• Master the concepts you need to plan, implement, control and close any type of project

How you will benefit

• Learn the essential information you need to prepare for and complete your projects
• Become more valuable to your employer by increasing your skills and competencies
• Begin prepping for the Project Management Professional (PMP) and the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) exams offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI)
• Increase your career opportunities and income potential

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)® and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)® from the American Society for Quality (ASQ)®.

Learn how to prepare for the Project Management Institute's (PMI)® prestigious Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification exam and what to expect after you complete it.

Stand out to future employers or acquire a potential promotion with your existing employer with a globally recognized project management certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)®. This comprehensive online course will prepare you for the PMI's® prestigious Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification exam and what to expect after you complete it. You will learn about the eight project performance domains and what is new in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) 7th edition.

Expand your knowledge of important industry-related methodologies, including predictive and agile project management. Raise your project management IQ by exploring project management tools and techniques. Throughout the course, use proven learning strategies to help absorb key terminology, concepts, and processes while preparing for your online project management certificate.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 10 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Word Online
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are not included in enrollment:

• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 7th Edition

PMI and PMBOK

This lesson explores the structure of the PMP® exam and the tools and techniques that will help you prepare for the exam. You will examine the value of the PMP® certification and the requirements to apply. You will learn about the PMBOK® 7th edition differences from previous editions and strategies to help prepare you for the exam.

Understanding Projects

This lesson will acclimate you to the project environment by defining a project and exploring the project manager's roles and responsibilities. You will identify basic project management terminology and learn about the differences in project management concepts.

Stakeholder Performance Doma

This lesson covers the stakeholder performance domain, the first of eight performance domains discussed in this course. You will learn about the activities and functions of project stakeholders and identify strategies to engage and analyze stakeholders and sponsors. The leadership structures in waterfall and agile projects are also compared.

Team Performance Domain

This lesson covers the team performance domain and focuses on the activities and functions of those responsible for delivering project deliverables. It identifies ways you can empower stakeholders to work on a project. You will learn about the unique advantages of diverse projects and teams and compare the roles and responsibilities in waterfall vs. agile teams.

Development Approach and Lifecycle Performance Domain

This lesson is about the development approach and lifecycle performance domain. It focuses on the activities and functions associated with the development approach, the delivery cadence, and the phases of the life cycle of a project. You'll learn about how to apply this domain to both waterfall and agile projects and how to track your project's progress.

Planning Performance Domain

This lesson is about the planning performance domain. During the lesson, you will focus on the work you and the project team do to plan for project coordination. You'll learn about defining the project scope and objectives and the documentation needed for a project. You also identify how to incorporate scope changes into a project. Differences in project planning for predictive and agile methodologies are discussed.

Project Work Performance Domain

This lesson covers the project work performance domain, which addresses the work effort associated with creating team norms, processes, and managing resources. You will learn about the processes in a project and identify project constraints. You will also examine project deliverables and cadences.

Delivery Performance Domain

In this lesson, you will review the delivery performance domain, ensuring the project deliverables' quality and scope are achieved. You will learn how the project benefits the stakeholders and receivers and how to communicate when unexpected outcomes need resolution. You will also examine how to measure project progress using various methodologies.

Measurement Performance Domain

In this lesson, you will review the measurement performance domain, which assesses the project's performance and what actions you can take to ensure that the performance meets stakeholder expectations. You will identify measures for projects and analyze team progress and performance. You will also explore how to present project progress to stakeholders.

Uncertainties Performance Domain

In this lesson, you will review the uncertainties performance domain, which is definitely risky business. You will learn about risks and issues and risk mitigation processes. You will identify how uncertainties appear on different project types.

Models, Methods, and Artifacts

In this lesson, you will review the models, methods, and artifacts. It covers the tools and techniques a project manager would typically have for a project and are used throughout the lifecycle, not limited to one performance domain. You will identify project management models and commonly used methods and artifacts.

Post- PMP Certification

In this lesson, you will review common transitions, working with other PMs, and life after the PMP. You will learn to work with a project management office to evolve projects and programs. You will explore how organizational change impacts projects. You will also examine post-exam requirements to maintain your certification and grow your skillset.

What you will learn

• Identify what's new in the PMBOK® 7^th edition and the PMP® exam
• Recall key terminology, concepts, and processes
• Describe the eight project performance domains
• Expand your knowledge of project management methodologies, including agile and predictive
• Describe the necessary preparation for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification exam

How you will benefit

• Prepare yourself to sit for the updated PMP® exam
• Memorize key terminology referenced in the PMP® exam
• Gain insight into new concepts introduced in the PMBOK® 7^th edition
• Broaden your understanding of development approaches and the principle of tailoring
• Be prepared before, during, and following the new PMP® exam

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)® and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)® from the American Society for Quality (ASQ)®.