Project Management Certificate Program

Most projects require products, services or results from suppliers outside the organization, a process known as procurement management. The outcomes of projects are in part determined by the scope, quality and timeliness of the supplied deliverables. This course is for project management professionals seeking guidance in the details and management of the logistics of procurement and use of resources and services used in projects. Through online, interactive learning with real-world examples, students will explore procurement management processes such as make-or-buy analysis, identifying qualified vendors, writing a procurement statement of work, selecting a contract type, evaluating proposals and managing change requests, as well as ethical issues and negotiation strategies. At the end of this course, students will know how to integrate procurement management concepts with broader project management practices in order to produce better project outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

• Prepare a procurement statement of work (SOW)
• Explain when to use each contract type
• Categorize mandatory and desirable qualifications and identify the source selection criteria that will be used to evaluate potential sellers
• Plan an effective negotiation strategy and identify the steps required to closeout a procurement contract
• Apply techniques for controlling a vendor-led project

Skills You Will Gain

• Procurement management
• Contract type selection
• Source selection and evaluation
• Forecasting project performance
• Negotiation

Organizations are constantly implementing quality management programs to improve the quality of their goods and services, reduce costs and increase productivity. This course is intended for project management professionals and anyone interested in learning the latest tools and methods for ensuring project quality. Through online lectures and interactive examinations of real-world case studies, students will learn how quality management concepts integrate with project management practices to create a system that delivers on three key concepts: customer satisfaction, prevention over inspection and continuous improvement. Students will explore a variety of quality management processes, such as identifying customer requirements, cost- benefit analysis, benchmarking, cause and effect diagrams and more. By the end of the course, students will be able to apply these concepts in order to achieve better results for their projects.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply quality management concepts and processes
• Create a quality management plan to implement project quality
• Apply quality planning, assurance and control concepts

Skills You Will Gain

• Project quality management
• Quality control
• Quality assurance
• Project processes analysis

Risks are bound to occur on any project, and can have serious consequences for a project’s scope, schedule, cost and quality. Designed for current and aspiring project management professionals, this course will teach students how an effective project manager identifies, analyzes, plans and controls project risks. Through interactive lectures and real-world case studies, students will interpret and analyze how project risk management integrates into project management methodology, techniques, tools and artifacts such as the project charter, project management plan and the stakeholder register. Furthermore, students will also gain a comprehension of how to draft and actively monitor a risk management plan and risk register over the course of a real project. By the end of this course, students will understand how to construct a change management plan, project closure workbook and other key project artifacts, and be able to apply these tools to their projects.

Learning Outcomes

• Define, identify and create a system for implementing project risk management
• Implement project risk management monitoring and control to projects
• Utilize tools and techniques for managing project risks
• Identify and create a system for implementing project change management in a project
• Apply project integration management techniques by using the PMBOK project integration management framework

Skills You Will Gain

• Risk management
• Project integration management
• Change management

Project management is a high-value skill that is in demand across all industries. This course is designed for anyone interested in learning the foundational skills of project management. This may include current project coordinators, business analysts, or anyone who finds themselves overseeing special assignments in their daily work. Through pre-recorded lectures and interactive, instructor-led webinar sessions, this course lays the foundation for creating a project plan, work breakdown structure (WBS), schedule, budget and communication plan. Learners will also practice resource management, identifying and managing risk, and understanding the project quality and procurement processes. Course curriculum is based on the project lifecycles, standards and methodologies developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI^®). At the end of this course, students will understand the core fundamentals of project management from project initiation to project scope.

Learning Outcomes

• Develop plans to initiate and manage a project
• Describe and plan a project scope and collect project requirements
• Identify organizational structures and define the project lifecycle
• Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) to organize the team's work into manageable sections
• Manage constraints of the project scope, budget and schedule to ensure smooth management of the project and expected outcomes

Skills You Will Gain

• Project management plan development
• Project scope development and requirement gathering
• Work break down structure (WBS)
• Risk and resource management
• Analytical thinking and problem solving

Projects are accomplished by human resources, and effective project managers must know how to manage people to develop the best teams to accomplish an organization’s goals. Intended for anyone who wishes to learn how to effectively manage project teams, this course addresses the PMBOK knowledge areas of Human Resource Management, Communication Management and Stakeholder Management. Through interactive lectures, hands-on assignments and real-world case studies, students will learn the skills required to successfully run a project, including leadership, emotional intelligence, communication and more. By the end of this course, students will be able to develop comprehensive human resource and communication plans, manage stakeholder expectations, and analyze and report on individual and team performance to achieve project success.

Learning Outcomes

• Use four communication styles to effectively manage a cross-functional project management team
• Motivate a project team by creating a culture that breeds team building, decision-making and success
• Use emotional intelligence to assess yourself and project team members, and overcome team adversity, conflict and setbacks
• Develop a communication plan and manage communication across project teams and stakeholders
• Analyze, report and improve project team performance

Skills You Will Gain

• Human resource management
• Communication
• Facilitative leadership
• Stakeholder management

Time and cost are the two near-universal constraints organizations face when initiating and managing projects, which makes the effective supervision of these factors a required skill for any project manager. This course is for professionals who plan, manage and control projects and anyone interested in learning the latest project management tools and methods for developing and monitoring project schedules and budgets. Through an interactive, online learning environment, students will learn how to estimate activity durations, dependencies between activities, estimating resource requirements, and how to define the critical path and chain to enable you to develop a realistic project schedule. Students will also learn how to use Earned Value Management (EVM) to understand schedule and cost variances, and design recovery techniques to get projects back on track. By the end of this course, students will have the tools necessary to complete projects successfully within allocated time and costs.

Learning Outcomes

• Estimate project activity durations and costs
• Establish resource requirements
• Perform network diagramming techniques, determine the critical path and critical chain
• Determine project schedule status, schedule and cost variances
• Apply project schedule and budget recovery techniques

Skills You Will Gain

• Scheduling and time management
• Cost estimation, management and budgeting
• Earned Value Management
• Forecasting project performance