Project Management - Online Courses

These online courses are 6 weeks long, followed by a 2-week period to complete the final exam (online, open book). Lessons are released on Wednesdays and Fridays of each week. You are not required to be online at any specific time. You register and pay on our website and instructions on how to access your course will be emailed to you immediately after registration.

High Speed Project Management
Project Management Applications
Project Management Fundamentals

High Speed Project Management

With accelerated schedules driving many technology projects today, the smart project manager must rapidly retool their skill set. This course offers a breakthrough model for dealing with the realities of managing projects at supersonic speeds. Learn to meet and win the challenges of truncated timelines, short-staffed project teams, skimpy budgets and crippling risks.

Week 1 Wednesday - Lesson 1

Manage at High Speed: Why the Rush?

What’s the big hurry? Don’t be kept in the dark about why you’re required to manage your project at such a fast pace. In this lesson, you’ll learn the reasons. Then you’ll be in the driver’s seat and ready to focus on running a successful project.

Week 1 Friday - Lesson 2

The Race Is On: Three Critical Factors

Three factors are always critical to the success of any project. In this lesson, we'll take a close look at each factor. You’ll also learn what speed indicators are and how to use them to stay on top of a fast-moving project.

Week 2 Wednesday - Lesson 3

Factor One: The Team Is Always First

In this lesson, we'll look at Factor 1: The team. The project team members are the keys to your success. You’ll learn techniques to motivate and keep a team focused while working at high speed.

Week 2 Friday - Lesson 4

Factor Two: Time Versus Money

This lesson is all about Factor 2: Time vs. Money. We’ll look at actual case studies to illustrate new ways of adjusting project speed and increasing overall productivity.

Week 3 Wednesday - Lesson 5

Factor Three: It's Always About Risk

This lesson addresses Factor 3: Risk. Managing risk at the speed of light is not for the fainthearted, but it can work to the advantage of the well-prepared manager. In this lesson, we'll explore the risks that are most prevalent and learn how to plan for them when and if they occur.

Week 3 Friday - Lesson 6

Fast-Track Planning: Steps 1 Through 5

In this lesson, you’ll learn the first five steps of fast-track planning. Quickly creating a comprehensive project plan is crucial to staying on target. We'll look at ways to abbreviate the process from developing a scope statement to finalizing the project team.

Week 4 Wednesday - Lesson 7

Fast-Track Planning: Steps 6 Through 10

Today’s lesson continues the planning process by addressing when and if you should use network diagrams and critical path analysis. You'll learn how to estimate time and costs that are in sync with an e-speed project. And we'll review the pros and cons of the critical chain management theory.

Week 4 Friday - Lesson 8

Fast-Track Planning: Steps 11 Through 13

We'll continue the planning process in this lesson. Here, you'll look at templates and real-world examples that will demonstrate how to speed up the development of plans for project procurement, quality management, and risk management.

Week 5 Wednesday - Lesson 9

Fast-Track Planning: Steps 14 Through 19

Today, we'll take a look at the final steps in the planning process. You’ll examine templates and real-life examples for rapid development of change control plans, communication and management plans, and the final project plan. You'll also learn the importance of obtaining plan approval sign-off and when and why to use a kickoff meeting.

Week 5 Friday - Lesson 10

Plan Execution: Full Acceleration

In this lesson, you’ll see that the project plan is finalized and primed to provide a roadmap and navigational aides for the e-speed project. You'll learn how to allocate time and effort to achieve the greatest advantages for the project. We'll pay special attention to applying the best practices for managing tasks, quality assurance, team development and verification, and progress meetings.

Week 6 Wednesday - Lesson 11

Project Control: The Power of Process

Projects developed at e-speed require strict processes for managing changes in performance, scope, quality, risk, schedule and cost. In this lesson, we’ll take a close look at the value of management toolkits that are simplified and easy to use.

Week 6 Friday - Lesson 12

Closeout: Cross the Finish Line

The project is not over until you cross the finish line and throw all the shutdown switches. This lesson is designed to walk you through the final seven steps to end the project on a positive and professional note.

Course Details
This course is fully online, you require internet access and an email account. The course duration is 6 weeks, followed by a 2-week period to complete the final exam (online, open book). Lessons are released on Wednesdays and Fridays of each week, for a total of 12. You are not required to be online at any specific time.

In addition to the specific lesson content, there is a discussion board with each lesson and often there is an optional assignment to apply the learning.

Following each lesson, there is a short multiple choice quiz. Your score on these quizzes does not count towards the final mark but completing these helps solidify your learning as well as prepare you for the final exam.

The final exam is an open-book, multiple choice exam and you need to achieve a minimum of 65% on the final exam to pass the course. There is only one opportunity to pass the exam. A certificate of completion from Ed2Go is available for printing immediately upon successful completion of the course and a certificate from the University of Waterloo will be emailed typically 1-2 weeks later.

Certificates
Many of the Ed2Go courses are eligible towards the various online certificates offered by WatSPEED.

Choose your course start date:

Jun 14, 2023 Jul 12, 2023 Aug 16, 2023 Sep 13, 2023 Oct 18, 2023

Project Management Applications

Increase your value to your employer by discovering and mastering essential quantitative and qualitative project management applications.

A successful project begins with process definition, data collection, and the scoping of project requirements. Every project ends with a motivated project team able to accomplish objectives on time and within budget. Winning projects rely on accurate cost and time estimates, identification of the critical path, and use of tracking and control tools.

In this course, an experienced Project Management Professional will teach you the same powerful tools and techniques that experienced project management professionals rely on every day.

You'll increase the probability of project success by mastering the tricks of the trade: Earned Value Performance Measurement, Gantt Charts, Network Scheduling, Work Breakdown Structure, and Cost-Volume Analysis.

You'll become proficient at recruiting project team members and empowering them to succeed. You'll understand the stages of team development, and you'll gain skills in developing and motivating team leaders. You'll learn how to understand and relate to an organizational culture and the differing characteristics of its work groups.

You'll also learn about project software, statistics, change management, processes, and estimating. And you'll gain valuable experience with project planning, control and data analysis tools.

The course also includes 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 learn more about PDUs and how they may fit into your continuing education needs, please visit pmi.org.

Week 1 Wednesday - Lesson 1

Basic Project Management Tools

In our first lesson, you'll learn how to use a variety of project management data collection tools including check sheets, histograms, performance charts, and process definition tools such as work breakdown structure (WBS) and flowcharts. After you master these tools, you'll be able to increase your project management effectiveness by leaps and bounds.

Week 1 Friday - Lesson 2

Estimating

Estimating is a very important activity for every organization. It helps you calculate time and costs for your project. When you successfully use estimates, your actual cost of project work is very close to your projections. In today's lesson, you'll learn how to apply quantitative and qualitative estimating methods, such as historical analogy, the walk through and Delphi methods, expected value, and estimates under uncertainty.

Week 2 Wednesday - Lesson 3

Earned Value

Earned value is gaining in popularity in project management circles. Although some people view it as a new concept, they're often surprised to learn that it's been around for more than 30 years. In today's lesson, I'll define earned value, describe its history, and discuss its benefits. You'll learn about the graphical and mathematical overview of earned value, and discover how to create a step-by-step earned value performance measurement (EVPM) system.

Week 2 Friday - Lesson 4

Gantt Charts

Gantt charts, along with work breakdown structure (WBS), earned value performance measurement (EVPM), and the precedence diagram method (PDM), make up the big four of project management. A Gantt chart may be the most popular tool associated with project management because it's an easy to follow timeline chart. In today's lesson, you'll learn about the history of Gantt charts, find out how to create one, and discover their benefits and limitations.

Week 3 Wednesday - Lesson 5

Precedence Diagram Method

Network scheduling, along with earned value, represents one of the most technical aspects of project management. If you enjoy working with charts and numbers, this lesson is right up your alley! As with earned value, the precedence diagram method (PDM) includes a fair amount of terminology and a little bit of tricky math. Today you'll learn the basics of networks and see how they relate to project management. You'll discover activity-on-arc (AOA) and activity-on-node (AON) network scheduling methods and understand how to use task dependencies, dummy activities, and float time.

Week 3 Friday - Lesson 6

Project Planning and Control Tools

In today's lesson, we'll take a break from using calculators and studying elaborate models. You'll learn how resource planning, work flow diagrams, and storyboards can help you create and implement an effective project plan. I'll also show you how to define and implement a project change control system and to how control project costs.

Week 4 Wednesday - Lesson 7

Data Analysis Tools

Today, we'll discuss a few more tools to help you with your projects. We'll begin with cost-volume analysis, a tool to help you optimize choices using costs, volume, and desired profits. We'll move on to Monte Carlo simulation, a sophisticated tool you can use when you deal with completely random conditions. You'll learn how to use force field analysis, a tool that helps you evaluate a decision based on pros and cons, and apply the Pareto principle, a 200-year-old concept that helps you to focus on what's important.

Week 4 Friday - Lesson 8

Project Management Software

I believe that too many people in the project management field place too high of an emphasis on the role of project management software. While it has an important role to play as a tool, software is not a substitute for sound planning, effective implementation and control, and positive leadership. In today's lesson, I'll discuss the nature of project management software and help you identify winning techniques and processes. You'll read two case studies to help you understand issues pertaining to software implementation. You'll learn why some people are reluctant to use project management software, and discover ways to evaluate and select a software supplier.

Week 5 Wednesday - Lesson 9

Statistics and Process Improvement

Many project managers and team members struggle to improve their projects' output. Despite their best efforts to improve customer satisfaction, project personnel are often unable to make much progress. The best way to succeed is to use statistics and a data-driven approach to characterize and improve your projects. Today, you'll learn about the measures of location (median, mode, and mean), the normal curve, and measures of dispersion (range, mean absolute deviation, variance, and standard deviation). You'll see how the Taguchi loss function is an alternative to traditional go/no-go inspection. You'll also learn how to measure variation, use prevention, and apply statistical process control (SPC) to help you produce predictable and acceptable results.

Week 5 Friday - Lesson 10

Dimensions of the Project Team

Today, we'll discuss the dimensions of the project team. For your project to succeed, you need a skilled project manager and committed capable project team members. You'll learn how to identify essential competencies of an effective project manager, and how to establish a winning project team. You'll understand what it takes to recruit, evaluate, and select project team members. And you'll also learn about the concepts of a core team, extended team, and the overly important project team.

Week 6 Wednesday - Lesson 11

The Project Team in Action

I believe a potent combination of a high-functioning project team and a capable project manager is essential for your success in project management. Effective project teams come together through careful planning and action. In today's lesson, we'll discuss work group theory, contrast formal and informal work groups, and identify informal work group characteristics. You'll learn about the stages of team development, understand why change is so important for your project, and find out why people are reluctant to change. You'll learn how to overcome resistance to change and empower your project team.

Week 6 Friday - Lesson 12

Organization and Motivation

Today, we'll discuss fundamental organizational concepts. You'll discover the purpose of an organization chart and learn why a matrix organization is a common project management organizational structure. You'll understand key coordinating principles such as authority, responsibility, accountability, and power. And you'll gain insights into organizational culture by developing a deeper understanding of values and beliefs, the elements of successful delegation, and various theories of motivation and leadership.

Completion of Project Management Fundamentals (or equivalent experience).

Choose your course start date:

Jun 14, 2023 Jul 12, 2023 Aug 16, 2023 Sep 13, 2023 Oct 18, 2023

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.

Week 1 Wednesday - Lesson 1

Introduction to Project Management

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.

Week 1 Friday - Lesson 2

Project Management Activities

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 2 Wednesday - Lesson 3

Project Management Resources; Project Life Cycle Phases

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.

Week 2 Friday - Lesson 4

High-Performance Planning for Project Management

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 3 Wednesday - Lesson 5

Introduction to the Control Process

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.

Week 3 Friday - Lesson 6

The Project Manager and the Project Team

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 4 Wednesday - Lesson 7

Deliverables, Stakeholders, and Idea Generation

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.

Week 4 Friday - Lesson 8

Ethics, Organizational Politics, and Conflict Management

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 5 Wednesday - Lesson 9

The Project Plan

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).

Week 5 Friday - Lesson 10

Implementing Your Project Plan

Earlier in the course, you learned about 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.

Week 6 Wednesday - Lesson 11

Controlling Your Project

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.

Week 6 Friday - Lesson 12

Closing Your Project

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.

Choose your course start date:

Jun 14, 2023 Jul 12, 2023 Aug 16, 2023 Sep 13, 2023 Oct 18, 2023