The courses in this Certificate prepare candidates to lead and manage enterprise-wide digital initiatives. The courses go beyond the basic/traditional project management frameworks by focusing on advanced project management techniques/approaches and leadership skills.
After successful completion of this program, candidates will also receive ICCP Certification and be more than prepared for the PMI Certification!!!
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), almost 10% of every dollar generated in business is wasted due to poor project performance. Staying competitive requires managing IT projects in which schedules, budgets, and quality intersect with the non-IT organizational goals.
- With only 35% of IT and non-IT executives believing that their organizations currently have the required digital leadership skills, the opportunities for digital management education are growing exponentially.
- The success rate of today’s digital initiatives resembles the traditionally low success rate of IT projects. We continue to make the same mistakes.
Powerful new techniques and methods can vastly improve your organizational environment and help achieve bottom-line success. With this Certificate participants learn how to develop effective IT (and non-IT) project plans that incorporate risk analysis, cost control and performance objectives. In addition, they gain an understanding of how to plan, budget and control multi-project programs that may involve legal and ethical issues, conflict resolution, and the application of project software.
While going well beyond the traditional tools and tactics, this certificate will also prepare attendees to complete their Project Management Certification (PMP) successfully, as well as for more senior level Program Management responsibilities. With our candidates largely coming from IT, this Certificate focuses on the important IT project and program management considerations.
The emphasis is on project leadership. A project manager’s work is accomplished by working with and through others. The key to success is the ability to influence constructively, build commitment, and demonstrate support. In addition, today’s workplace is increasingly global and multi-functional. To embrace the benefits of diversity, one must understand individual differences and how to connect with others.
Candidates will be primed to lead transformational, large-scale projects and project teams across units, enterprises and multiple organizations. The focus of this certificate is to help candidates:
- Gain insight and skills pertaining to leadership, cultural and behavioral project environment
- Lead change and span boundaries across complex enterprise systems
- Bridge cultural and organizational gaps
"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan."
Select at least 4 courses from the following:
(All courses are available live/synchronously
face-to-face & online)
1. Introduction/Overview of IT Project Management
Basic tools and concepts defined by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®) plus other generally accepted practices for project excellence are introduced. The emphasis is on understanding and analyzing the inter-dependencies among the core processes for initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and terminating projects. The dynamics of managing unique temporary endeavors within the context of routine permanent organizations are critically evaluated. Industry examples demonstrate and reinforce effective use of learned concepts by course participants. The course also describes more agile approaches to managing IT initiatives with a focus on software development projects to accommodate the dynamic and changing aspects of IT projects.
This course or its equivalence is a prerequisite for all other Project Management courses.
2. Strategic Perspectives in IT Project and Program Management
Candidates will receive a theoretical and practical perspective to appreciate the implications generated by the introduction of effective and efficient project management into modern organizations for strategic IT initiatives, where IT is having a profound impact on every business. Participants will come away appreciating that success in project management and leadership depends more on having an effective managerial style and attitude, than on the deployment of specific tools/techniques used for planning and control. Focusing on developing conceptual thinking, candidates will learn how to consider the entire landscape of a project to ensure long-term project success, especially when these strategic initiatives have a more significant impact on organizations. The different project management considerations for strategic IT initiatives, in relationship to the more traditional projects, will be the focus of the course, especially as it pertains to project initiation, organization, governance, management, and leadership.
3. Project Analytics
Candidates will acquire essential knowledge of procedures, tools, and techniques needed to conceptualize work requirements and make detailed project plans, in light of emerging data analytics and AI tools and techniques. They will learn how to organize the structure of projects to improve accuracy of forecasts using analytics for project cost and duration. Understanding how to leverage data to estimate and manage progress against plans for internal and external projects is an essential requirement, as are building the critical skills to formulate effective responses to risk events. Participants will develop a sharpened expertise in analogous and parametric estimating, project selection, project scheduling, variance analysis, and cost management, while gaining high-level skills in WBS and RBS development, resource loading, and earned value management.
4. Human Resource Considerations
Skill in motivating employees/workers, organizing and leading teams, communicating and sharing information, and conflict resolution are key ingredients critical for project success. Because many project leaders are drawn from technical areas, they often assume that these qualities are reserved for functional managers and that they can ignore their value and importance. The focus is on preparing technical personnel to become sensitive to the human side of management to achieve project success. Participants are introduced to the theory and practice of leading project workers and teams.
5. Analysis & Development of IS Services/Applications
This course presents and analyzes various approaches to managing IT projects focusing on information analysis and development of organizational information systems within a system development life cycle (SDLC), e.g. the waterfall, concentric, agile, and prototyping approaches. Topics include strategic planning for SDLC, front-end and back-end phases of SDLC, project management, CASE methodologies, and balancing user, organizational, and technical considerations.
6. Project Portfolio Management and Program Management Office
This course cover the concepts of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and Program Management Office (PMO). It focuses on a framework of PPM, including portfolio planning, monitoring and control. Tools and techniques off PPM are covered. The course also addresses different considerations for implementing a PMO. Steps for implementing PPM and PMO in an enterprise are also discussed.
7. Trends & Directions in IT Project and Program Management
Attendees will acquire a global appreciation for the implications of emerging project management theory and practice from the perspective of top management in today’s enduring dynamic business and IT environment, where complex IT initiatives are having a profound impact on the success of every organization. Dealing with these multifaceted challenges, and considerations for organization structure and governance, behavior, and leadership driven by changes in technology and markets, attendees will have an expanded understanding of concepts and themes introduced in previous courses in the project management program at the highest and most sophisticated levels. Candidates will come away with knowledge and skills acquired from experienced project managers and executives in meeting these challenges.
Project Management Game: Challenge of Egypt (optional)
This 1-day business simulation is a dynamic business simulation in which IT (and preferably non-IT) managers can come together to enhance their project management skills. In this simulation, a group of participants plays the management team responsible for building the pyramids of Egypt.
To do that, the group goes back in time where they meet the Pharaoh. The Pharoh has given his project leader instructions to build a pyramid, so that he can make the journey to the hereafter along with everything that is precious to him. The project leader finds a suitable location for the pyramid, a quarry for the stone, and a village for the workers. He also arranges the infrastructure between these locations. It is the teams’ responsibility to get the job done. The team will have to set up a project organization, analyze risks, and create a plan.
During the four rounds of this interactive workshop, the most important aspects of best practices for project management will be experienced. This is done interactively. The building process for a pyramid will actually be simulated letting the participants experience the control elements of effective/efficient project management. During the building process all team members have a role within the project management environment. The project team is given the task of building the pyramid within a fixed time. The process is affected by real-life events that actually occurred during that period of time. Throughout the building process there will be several reflection moments to learn from the Egyptians and from the teams own experience. At the end of the project, when the pyramid has been built, there will be a project evaluation and all the instructive points will be described.
Depending on ones background and career objectives, candidates should also consider courses from GIIMs:
