Managing Scope, Schedule and Cost

Course overview

Be proactive and in control of your project. Effective cost and schedule management are cornerstone activities of projects. Determine how best to plan the execution of a project scope, considering stakeholder budget and schedule constraints. Establish the performance measurement baseline (PMB). Gain proficiency in the tools and techniques used to compare actual work accomplished against established plans. By identifying early warning indicators, you will gain greater insight into potential risk areas and take the necessary corrective action to keep the project in control.

Prerequisites

• A comprehensive introductory project management course such as Project Management Fundamentals (HC577S)

Audience

This course is intended for project managers interested in best practices that apply to diverse projects in multiple industries. It is especially suited for people seeking project management certification.

Course objectives

• Perform a requirements analysis and develop a deliverable breakdown
• Identify work packages and establish the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Perform cost roll-up and scheduling techniques
• Balance the triple constraint
• Negotiate project scope, schedules, and budgets
• Establish an integrated cost/schedule performance measurement baseline
• Monitor project status and take corrective action

Next steps

• Managing Project Quality (HE546S) or other advanced Project Management topics leading to recognition of your knowledge and skill by passing the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification appropriate to your country or region

Benefits to you

• Negotiate and balance the project scope to the budget
• Determine resource requirements to complete work by the due date
• Negotiate and balance the project scope to the due date based on resource availability
• Establish the performance measurement baseline
• Control changes to the project baseline
• Monitor project status using earned value analysis
• Develop project control charts
• Identify issues at the component levels and determine corrective action for project success
• Properly close out sub-deliverables and the project as completed

Course outline

Key concepts

• Describe the critical components of a project
• Define the triple constraint
• Identify key project planning documents

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Identify the flow of requirements to deliverables
• Define a deliverable-based WBS
• Determine S.M.A.R.T. work packages

Estimating

• Define the types and levels of estimating
• Establish range estimates with PERT
• Establish estimating guidelines and best practices

Balancing Scope to Budget

• Translate work estimates to cost estimates
• Balance scope to the customer’s budget
• Establish scope and cost baseline

Scheduling

• Establish the duration of work packages
• Identify task relationships and establish a network schedule
• Determine the critical path and add milestones

Balancing Scope to Time and Resources

• Resolve time and resource conflicts
• Calculate probability of project time completion
• Identify when re-prioritization and re-scope is necessary

The Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB) and Change Management

• Establish the PMB
• Define and establish control tolerances
• Identify when to submit a change request and reset the PMB

Controlling Project Execution

• Establish what data to collect
• Calculate the earned value of the project
• Forecast project schedule and cost at completion

Closing the Project

• Identify closeout activities
• Determine the role of the project manager during closeout
• Identify lessons learned and document project history