Project Scheduling and Budgeting

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need this course? A key component of business success is the ability to deliver projects on time and within budget. Project managers must balance resources, budget and schedule constraints, and ever-increasing customer expectations. This course builds the practical skills in scheduling and budgeting that are essential to successful project delivery. What is this course about? Working in a simulated environment, you gain solid budget- and schedule-management skills. You learn how to establish realistic project plans by identifying resource needs, allocating costs, defining the work and calculating the Critical Path. You also learn how to track and report project status to stakeholders using EVA. After class, you have access to sample templates and spreadsheets for your own use in developing estimates, budgets and tracking information. What background do I need? Project management knowledge at the level of Course 296, Project Management: Skills for Success, or Course 340, Project Management for Software Development, is recommended. A background in project management is strongly recommended; experience within a project environment is helpful. How is this course structured? This course is structured around a dynamic style of learning created by Learning Tree called RealityPlusTM - an immersive experience that engages you in authentic tasks within a simulated real-world context. Through media-rich case studies, role playing, and video/computer-based activities, you are immersed throughout this course in an evolving scenario that develops and refines your scheduling and budgeting skills. The RealityPlus learning method is presented in a safe environment where you gain new skills and practice the most effective techniques to bring back to your job. At the end of your course, you are prepared to immediately and successfully apply these new skills within your organization! Who will benefit from this course? This course benefits those responsible for managing project time and cost and those who wish to enhance their scheduling and budgeting skills. In addition, this course is particularly valuable to practitioners following the PMBOK® Guide or working within a structured methodology, such as PRINCE2TM. How is this course different from Course 296 and Course 340? Both Course 296, Project Management: Skills for Success, and Course 340, Project Management for Software Development, cover project management fundamentals. Course 340 is geared for software development projects. Course 296 is not tied to any specific project type and provides key skills for planning, executing and closing out projects. Course 248 focuses on specific time and cost management skills necessary for successful project scheduling and planning. It details estimation and earned value techniques essential for delivering projects by deadline and within budget far beyond the basic skills touched upon in Course 296 or Course 340. Will I be using any project management tools or other software tools in this course? Yes. You use spreadsheets and a word processor, and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) creation tool is demonstrated. You also apply a flexible framework of techniques for use in any project management environment and with a variety of project management tools. However, Microsoft Project is not used. This course emphasizes the implementation of key skills rather than using specific project management software tools. If you are interested in using project management software tools, you may consider Course 299, Microsoft® Project: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, or Course 538, SharePoint® Technologies: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction. Do I need any accounting knowledge or experience? No. While this course covers estimation, Critical Path and Earned Value calculations - which can all be performed with a simple calculator - you learn all of the techniques within class necessary to perform these calculations. What is parametric estimating and how will it benefit me? Parametric estimates express a statistical relationship between historical data and variables in your project environment. Parametric estimating helps you formulate realistic schedule and cost estimates, giving you an advantage over your competitors. What do I gain from doing Critical Path analysis? Critical Path analysis allows the project manager to make informed decisions relative to project resources and schedules. You gain focal points for your management efforts as well as identifying the duration of your entire project. I've heard of EVA. Is this something I should incorporate in my projects? Absolutely! Earned Value Analysis (EVA) allows you to state specific information about actual progress against the planned project schedule and current project status in financial terms that are relevant to management and project stakeholders. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Introduction 1.0 Best practices for project planning 2.5 Developing realistic estimates 2.5 Integrating the schedule and Critical Path 3.0 Building a budget 2.0 Realistic resourcing 2.0 Measuring and improving performance 3.0 Communicating with stakeholders 2.0 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. What kinds of activities are covered in the workshops? In this course, you spend approximately 60 percent of class time in activities and are immersed in a progressively elaborate case study. Experiential activities include: Building an activity-on-node network diagram Determining your task durations using 3-point estimates Reviewing and improving the estimating process and presenting the results Calculating Critical Path Finding and fixing errors in the Gantt chart Determining the project costs, total budget and resource requirements Employing EVA to assess your project status, reforecast schedule and costs and prove project status reports Adapting to sudden change Reviewing project team estimates, costs and status for accuracy and consistency What additional benefits do attendees gain from the course workshops? By working in small groups, attendees can share and exchange ideas from many different businesses. Attendees also gain confidence in identifying and extracting information from real-world inputs and presenting project management issues and reports to a critical audience. Finally, attendees manage the schedule and deliverables of a short workshop session. Is this course applicable to a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification? Yes. Although this course is not designed as preparation for the exam, it is beneficial to anyone working toward PMI's PMP certification. In particular, this course aids PMP practitioners by matching the course topics to specific PMBOK® Guide knowledge areas. For those who are currently certified, completion of this course counts as 17 professional development units (60 units must be completed every three years to maintain certification). For more details, please see the Learning Tree PMI Registered Education Provider Q&A. If you are an experienced project manager intending to take the PMP exam, you should take Course 276, Preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Exam. In this course you learn essential PMBOK® Guide terminology, tools and techniques. You gain practical test-taking experience through PMI-style practice exams and create your own personal study plan for continued use after the course. How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? In addition to the previously mentioned Course 296 and Course 340, you may be interested in the following related project management courses: Course 286, Project Risk Management, expands on the concepts of schedule and budget contingency covered in Course 248 to include risk analysis and build plans that take risk into account. Course 287, Strategic Project Management: Achieving Organizational Goals, expands on many of the topics covered in Course 296. Course 287 is geared toward project managers who are responsible for managing large, complex projects involving substantial budgets and cross-functional teams. Course 299, Microsoft® Project: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, aligns key Course 248 techniques to MIcrosoft Project Professional. In Course 299, you learn how to solve typical project and business problems using the planning, control and reporting features of Microsoft Project. 919, SharePoint® for Project Management  349, Project Quality Management  249, Hands-On Microsoft® Project: Managing Multiple and Complex Projects  196, Introduction to Statistics: Making Better Business Decisions  346, Project Leadership: Building High-Performance Teams  195, Power Excel®: Analyzing Data to Make Business Decisions

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