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Courses >
Business Administration > Project Management Fundamentals
 There
are more projects occurring today than at any time in history.
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 six-week course, an experienced Project
Management Professional will help you master the essentials of project
management. You'll 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'll learn
about project politics and ethics, project measurements, and project
closure. You'll be able to develop all sections of a project plan,
you'll become comfortable with the project management body of
knowledge, and you'll 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'll 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 followup (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.
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Recommended Courses:
Students who enrolled in Project Management Fundamentals were also interested in the following courses:
Introduction to Microsoft Project 2003
Project Management Applications
High Speed Project Management
PMP Certification Prep 1
Introduction to Microsoft Visio 2003
Syllabus:
All
courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two
lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course.
You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must
complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new
section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure
to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
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.
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| Friday - Lesson 02 |
This
lesson will set the stage for the remainder of the course by
introducing the major project management activities that establish it
as a formal field of study. You'll learn how to plan and control a
project and see how project tools help you work effectively and
efficiently. You'll see how human behavior affects your projects and
also determine the role of risk management, quality assurance,
purchasing, and politics.
|
| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
The
Internet is a storehouse of useful project management information.
Today you'll learn how to access and use project management resources
you'll find on the World Wide Web. You'll also discover how to use the
four phases of the project life cycle—conceptualization and definition,
planning, implementation, and completion and closure—in creating your
project plan and putting it into practice.
|
| Friday - Lesson 04 |
In
today's lesson, we'll discuss the planning activity as a key factor in
helping you succeed with project management. In any enterprise,
planning should be the first activity performed. It sets the stage for
the remainder of project management activities. We'll start off the
lesson with a review of the nature of planning. You'll learn about the
importance of strategic planning as a backdrop for your project plan.
You'll discover the elements of planning, understand why many people
are reluctant to plan, and learn how the 5 Ws and 1H can help you to
create a sound project plan.
|
| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
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.
|
| Friday - Lesson 06 |
Today's
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. Today, 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.
|
| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
Today,
we'll discuss two different sides (deliverables and stakeholders) of
the same coin, then you'll develop an understanding of methods that
will help you generate excellent ideas to provide project solutions
that satisfy expectations. You'll learn how deliverables are prone to
change and see how quality function deployment (QFD) identifies and
satisfies stakeholder requirements. You'll understand how
brainstorming, brainwriting, the nominal group technique, and affinity
diagrams lead to excellent project management ideas.
|
| Friday - Lesson 08 |
As
a project manager, you need to practice a high level of business ethics
and also be aware of organizational politics. Also, you must be aware
of conflict situations and take action to manage conflict at the right
time and in the right way. In this lesson, I'll provide an overview of
ethics, describe how ethics can be practically applied, and specify how
to establish an ethical tone in your organization. You'll learn the
nature of organizational politics, understand the nature of conflict,
and find out why some project teams experience more conflict than
others. Finally, I'll help you learn how to develop solutions to
effectively manage conflict.
|
| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
Today's
lesson is very important. Everything we've discussed so far comes
together in this lesson as we form a project plan. Project plans vary
in their amount of detail. The project plan that will be presented
today has 14 sections. Our project plan will begin with the
foundational elements (project strategy, executive summary, statement
of work, work breakdown structure, and project schedules), continue
through supporting elements (human resource plans, procurement plans,
interface plans, and configuration management plans), and conclude with
controlling elements (work control plans, quality control plans, cost
control plans, risk management plans, and reporting plans).
|
| Friday - Lesson 10 |
Earlier
in the course, you learned abut the basic ingredients associated with
project implementation. In this lesson, we'll expand upon these
fundamental elements so you can successfully implement your project
plan. We'll start off by identifying areas that will jumpstart your
project into action including key factors for a successful project, the
power of using a pilot, use of work packages, setup of project
accounts, and holding a project kickoff meeting. Next, we'll explore
the interpersonal aspects of project execution including empowering
your project team, creating team rules, using effective communication,
applying effective decision making, and solving problems. We'll finish
up by identifying and managing tradeoffs, discussing how to effectively
meet with stakeholders, and using a project notebook.
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| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
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. You'll learn the importance of project
control, project performance measurements, and project reporting.
You'll discover why Earned Value is an outstanding method to control
project cost and performance. You'll also find out how a periodic
project audit can keep your project on track.
|
| Friday - Lesson 12 |
In
our final lesson, we need to talk about what happens at the end of a
project. To help increase your understanding about this topic, we'll
work together to identify and discuss all the necessary activities that
you must follow to effectively close your project. You'll work through
the steps of project closure and also identify reasons why your project
may not be successful. After you finish this lesson, you'll be well
prepared to hold a formal project closure activity.
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To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
This
course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide
you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your
questions. The instructor for this course will be 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,
purchasing, continuous process improvement (CPI)/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 an MBA from California State University, Long Beach, and holds
professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project
Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management
Institute (PMI).
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Student Reviews:
"I had very little project management knowledge before
taking this class and thought that I might be overwhelmed by the course
content. However, I found that the course taught at just the right
level to introduce me to the concepts, tools & processes of project
management. I highly recommend the course to anyone wanting a taste of
the project management world!"
"I really enjoyed this class. It definitely filled the gaps
in my knowledge of Project Management. I also enjoyed being able to
attend class at my leisure from home."
"I thoroughly enjoyed this class and especially the teaching
style of the instructor. He gave enough information to make you
understand the subject. There was one question on a quiz that everyone
got incorrect and he explained very well the reason why he felt it
should be that answer and helped us to understand the correct answer. I
plan to take several other classes that he teaches. I am currently
taking another course and I enjoy these online courses because I have
problems with finding the time to attend classes at the campuses. Thank
you."
"I thoroughly enjoyed this class and especially the teaching
style of the instructor. He gave enough information to make you
understand the subject. There was one question on a quiz that I got
incorrect and he explained very well the reason why and helped me to
understand the correct answer. I plan to take several other classes
that he teaches. I am currently taking another course and I enjoy these
online courses because I have problems with finding the time to attend
classes at the campuses. Thank you."
"I was greatly impressed by this course. It was the correct
length and enabled me to print out the exercises. The supplemental web
sites are excellent. Great job."
"Thank you very much for two very, very good courses. I've
managed projects and programs for over 38 years and you have captured
the technical side and the life and soul of the personality and
political elements of project management. When I started, it was by the
seat of the pants and the the methods started to come into use: MBO;
MBWA, PERT, RA/PM, etc. I was sent to school for most of them at some
time. They all had good points to be used at certain conditions. Some
even faded from popularity, only to come back with a new acronym. What
I loved the best is that "management" (like 'military intelligence', a
mis-nomer) always learned the talk, spoke in acronyms, walked the walk,
but never implemented! It always boiled down to personality,
persuasion, and politics, and, of course, you better have the
deliverables. You covered it all, a great job."
"This course was very interesting and informative in
introducing a completely new area to me. Initially the assignments were
very frustrating as I did not have any formal experience. However they
encouraged me to identify informal project plans, and also to seek
sources who DID have PM experience! that lead to discussions on topics,
specific questions and clarifications etc. I now have the confidence to
contribute on something that I previously had no knowledge of in a
topic of conversation, or even as a project team member one day. Who
could ask for more? Thank you, Tony."
"This was a fantastic class and I really enjoyed it!"
"This was my first ever online course. I have enjoyed the
subject matter very much. I tried to read and do the quizzes in between
home chores and work schedule and I did it. I thought it is going to be
realy hard but it turned out to be easy and understandable."
"This was my first online class and I thought it was
excellent. The instructor gave me material that I can use in other
aspects of my job and I am planning on doing so shortly. If your other
instructors are as good as Tony, you will have a great program, and you
should be proud of it."
"This was my first project management course and I loved it.
It is very well written and easy to follow. This course should be
required to take for any level and field of management by any company.
I can say at least, for my current company. I will reference this
material for my current and future work projects. Actuality, it is
helping me to gain another job opportunity,(I hope.) Thank you!"
"Tony, as a final comment on the course, my major is in
Educational Technology and I've worked with technical institutes
setting up distance learning initiatives for some time. The way you've
organized this course is impressive. Also for the number of students
that you had enrolled the amount of individual attention that you
provided was spectacular. It takes a lot of time and committment to
maintain contact with a large class, however, from the student's
perspective it is extremely motivating.Good work."
"Tony, Thank you for this on line course. I found both the course content and your comments to be informative and interesting."
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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