A sound basis for effective record keeping will facilitate the understanding of lessons learned which supports continuous improvement, thus adding value to organisational aspirations and objectives.
- All relevant course materials are provided, which includes the APM Planning, Scheduling, Monitoring and Control Manual and the APMG Project Planning & Control Foundation Examination.
The course will cover the following syllabus areas:
DEFINITION (DE)
Delegates are introduced to the world of projects and capital expenditure. The following key areas are covered:
- Key definitions and concepts associated with Planning and Control
- Hierarchical Breakdown Structures - WBS, OBS, CBS, RBS
- Purpose of the Business Case
- Purpose of Scope Management, Requirements Management and Stakeholder Management
- Purpose and composition of the Works Information and Statement of Work
PLANNING (PL)
The following areas will be discussed:
- Facts, terms and concepts for: Planning, handover and closeout
- Purpose and benefits of successful planning
- Differences between Planning and Scheduling; Funding and Budgets
- Planning approaches and influencing factors for: top-down, bottom-up and rolling wave planning
- Purpose, characteristics and relationship and use of Breakdown Structures
- Approaches and principles of designing Breakdown Structures
- Purpose of the Work Package, WBS Dictionary and RACI Matrix
- Purpose of Dependency Management, cost estimating, budgeting and budget transfers
SCHEDULING (SC) SCHEDULING (SC)
- The definition and elements of scheduling
- Definition of key network analysis terms
- The three identified methods of presenting the results of scheduling
- Typical features associated with schedule density
- Purpose of different types of time phased schedules, including
- Purpose and use of key elements of schedule design
- Key features of the Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) for determining a critical path and the inputs into a Critical Path Analysis (CPA)
- Use and features of different methods of estimating durations
- Types of resources and the purpose of resourcing the schedule
- Typical composition of a Schedule Narrative
- Purpose and scope of Schedule Reviews
- Steps in the scheduling process and steps to prepare for monitoring and control
- The five steps necessary to construct a network, together with the activities of each
MONITOR AND CONTROL (MC)
- Definition of Earned Value Analysis (EVA) and its basic terminology
- Definitions of key monitoring terms
- Definitions of key risk management terms
- Definitions of key change management terms
- Purpose and use of a project baseline
- Purpose and use of Baseline maintenance and Change management together with the principles of change management and why change control is needed
- Purpose and use of performance reporting and features of a good control system
Characteristics of Variance Analysis Methods of Progress Monitor