Applied Project Management in an Information Technology Environment (70467)

This short course on software project management is intended for first time project managers and project managers wanting to expand and formalise their knowledge.

The course aims to provide students with the basic skills, knowledge and competence to effectively understand and manage information technology projects.

There is a need for a project management course focusing specifically on the management of Information Technology (IT) projects. Most similar courses focus less on IT, form part of a curriculum for a formal degree, and are less skills oriented.

Given the growth of the IT industry, a need exists for computer specialists, as well as project managers, to gain a practical and theoretical foundation for managing IT projects, as this area has been grossly neglected over time.

There is a definite need for courses which do not require the employee to interrupt their work schedule for an extended period to obtain a formal qualification. This certificate course fills this need as it focusses on sensitising the prospective student on concepts, techniques and strategies available to the IT project manager.

Content:

Each topic below will be approached specifically from an Information Technology perspective:

• The context of the management of information technology projects; the environment, project management framework, process groups and knowledge areas.
• The information technology project management profession: its history, professional organisations such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), certification and ethics.
• Information technology project integration management: the strategic planning process, the project charter, the project management plan, as well as project execution, management and monitoring.
• Software project scope management, requirements elicitation, the work breakdown structure and change control.
• Software project time management: activity scheduling, various tools and techniques, activity duration estimation and schedule management.
• Software project cost management: cost management principles, concepts, types of cost estimates and methods.
• Software project risk management: qualitative risk analysis, risk management plan, risk monitoring and controlling.
• Case studies are used throughout to illustrate software project management techniques, and project management software assisting with project management tasks are delineated.