Course Overview
Plan and Monitor with Project Management Tools is a course designed to help project managers, schedulers, project engineers, and project team members keep projects on track, on time, and within budget by using scheduling tools such as MS Project.

This course also helps schedulers improve visibility into resource conflicts and task utilization within a project. Additionally, this module provides sound project management principles to shape the mindset of all project members in order to add value to a project.

What differentiates this program from regular MS Project training is its focus not only on the tool’s functionality, but also on how to apply that functionality in real project environments using best practices in project management.

Target Audience
This course is tailored for project team members, project leaders, and project managers who have some knowledge of scheduling tools (e.g., MS Project) and who use such tools in their day-to-day work.

Method of Learning
The course will be conducted in an interactive manner. The program is designed as a balanced mix of lectures, exercises, and hands-on practice using MS Project.
Participants are expected to have access to a computer with MS Project installed throughout the program.

Learning Outcome
At the end of this course, participants will comprehend:

• Project management life cycle and PMI®’s knowledge areas
• Importance of a comprehensive project plan
• How to develop a schedule in MS Project
• How to manage the schedule using MS Project
• How to set up and manage resources in MS Project
• How to develop a budget in MS Project
• How to manage the budget
• How to monitor and control projects effectively
• Project close activities including lessons learned

Course Outline
This course includes the following topics:

• Project management framework
• Importance of planning
• Project management tools
• Components of a plan
• Product and project scope
• How to gather requirements
• What is a work breakdown structure (WBS)
• Creating WBS (e.g., hierarchical or mind mapping)
• Sequencing activities
• Estimating durations
• Identifying the critical path and float
• Benefits of using critical path method (CPM) scheduling
• Identifying milestones
• Understanding people
• RACI matrix
• Developing a resource management plan
• How to estimate costs
• Estimating costs
• Preparing the budget
• Planning how to monitor cost through earned value analysis
• Identifying the project manager’s role in cost control
• Schedule and cost S-curves
• Creating a custom report