Project Management

Monitoring and Controlling Project Change and Risk

• Traditional Classroom: 3-day
• Virtual Instructor-led: Six 3-hour sessions

This is one of four courses in the CEG Project Management Certificate Program. It is aligned with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide). The course begins by covering risk planning, then focuses on monitoring and control from a variety of perspectives, including scope, schedule, cost, communications, and risk.

As part of a case study, participants develop a risk register and risk response plans. Then, participants respond to scenarios in which status reports indicate variances from the project plan. Participants must analyze variances in scope, cost, and schedule and then prepare change requests to bring the project back under control. In a simulated change control process, change requests are evaluated for approval or rejection based on an impact assessment. Participants then learn how to update project baselines to reflect change control decisions.

Target Audience

The Project Management Certificate Program is designed for:

• Project team members, project managers, and managers of project managers who are looking to establish a solid command of project management concepts and techniques.
• Experienced project managers who are looking to formalize their project management knowledge and sharpen their current skill sets.
• Individuals interested in entering the field of project management.
• Individuals whose goal is to take the Project Management Professional (PMP^®) Exam offered by the Project Management Institute as part of its standards and credentials programs.

Prerequisites

• MDP975B Managing Your Project and Its Stakeholders or experience developing a project charter, stakeholder register, and communications management plan.
• MDP976B Planning Project Scope and Schedule or experience using decomposition to develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) and the critical path method (CPM) to develop a project schedule.
• MDP977B Managing Project Resources, Cost, and Quality or experience developing a resource management plan, a time-phased project budget, a quality management plan, and quality metrics.

Learning Objectives

• Describe how project status information supports project monitoring and control.
• Demonstrate how to assess individual and overall project risks based on probability and impact.
• Develop and implement appropriate risk response strategies to address positive and negative risks.
• Analyze a risk event and determine what impact, if any, it may have on scope, schedule, and cost baselines.
• Explain the difference between scope control and scope validation.
• Analyze work performance data using the earned value management (EVM) technique to determine the cause and degree of variance from project baselines.
• Analyze a variance to determine if corrective or preventive action is required and if a change to cost, scope, or schedule baselines is necessary.
• Describe the main features of a configuration management system and explain its importance in project monitoring and control.
• Describe what steps are necessary in a change control procedure in order to ensure that only authorized changes are made to project baselines.

Course Outline

Module 1: Overview of Monitoring and Control

• Controlling the Project Baselines
• Project Tools

Module 2: Risk Assessment

• Overview
• Process: Identify Risks
• Process: Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
• Process: Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
• Process: Plan Risk Responses
• Process: Plan Risk Management

Module 3: Controlling Resources and Schedule

• Process: Control Resources
• Process: Control Schedule

Module 4: Controlling and Validating Scope

• Overview
• Process: Control Scope
• Process: Validate Scope

Module 5: Controlling Cost with Earned Value

• Overview of Control Costs
• Earned Value Basics
• Forecasting with Earned Value

Module 6: Managing Risk and Communication

• Overview
• Process: Implement Risk Responses
• Process: Monitor Risks
• Process: Manage Communications
• Process: Monitor Communications

Module 7: Monitoring Project Performance and Managing Change

• Overview
• Process: Monitor and Control Project Work
• Process: Perform Integrated Change Control

Exercises

• Another Day on the Project
• Identify Project Risks
• Analyze and Respond to Project Risks
• Assess Schedule Performance
• Scope Control and Validation
• Analyze Earned Value Measurements
• Perform Reserve Analysis
• Prepare a Work Performance Report
• Perform Integrated Change Control

MDV978B Course Code