Project Schedule and Budget Control


Course Duration: 3 days

COURSE OVERVIEW

Project Schedule and Budget Control Training Course

The success of projects and the project management team is often measured through achieving the targeted projects’ time, cost and scope which have been set or estimated during the initiation of the projects. Therefore, it is critical to know the basic knowledge, tools and techniques for developing a proper project scope, scheduling and budgeting that scope, and finally control that schedule and budget over time.

This course introduces attendees to the underlying principles and practice of managing project schedule and budget. It covers the body of knowledge needed for effective management of projects addressing techniques for project planning; project scheduling including critical path method, variations, and mitigation techniques; project budgeting including financial analysis; managing resources; project progress reporting and project control such as earned value management (EVM).

The course includes a number of practical exercises to reinforce attendees’ understanding of the relevant concepts and techniques and to allow application of the gained knowledge to real-life projects. The exercises are conducted as a combination of tutorials and activities that step through the various activities, focusing on schedule, resources and budgeting management for instance identifying and tracking critical path issues. The course is ideally suited to those who are new to project scheduling, budgeting and control methods; no prior knowledge or experience is assumed.

By completion of this course, participants shall be able to:
  • Know various techniques for project planning
  • Develop project schedule and analyse the critical activities
  • Manage and optimise required resources
  • Analyse the financial aspects of projects and develop a time-phased project budget.
  • Analyse and control the progress of the project over time

COURSE OUTLINE

This course covers the following topics:

    Introduction to Project Management
    Reviewing project management concepts and frameworks
    Scope Management
    Initiation | Scope planning | Scope definition | Scope verification | Scope change control
    Time Management 
    Activity definition | Activity duration estimating | Activity sequencing | Schedule development | Schedule control
    Critical Path Method 
    Schedule Network Analysis | Activity of Node | Activity on Arrow
    Project Scheduling Exercise 1
    An exercise with a simple scope to reinforce schedule management and CPM.
    Resource Management 
    Resource Optimisation Techniques | Resource levelling | Resource smoothing | Schedule Compression Techniques (e.g., Crashing)
    Project Resource Management Exercise 2
    An exercise with a simple scope to reinforce resource management and resource levelling and smoothing techniques.
    Cost Management 
    Financial Analysis | Cost Benefit Analysis | Cost estimating | Cost baseline | Budgeting | Cost control
    Project Budgeting Exercise 3
    An exercise focussed on project cost management, development of cost baseline and project budget.
    Project Control 
    Earned value management (EVM) | Earned Schedule (ES)
    Project Control Exercise 4
    An exercise to reinforce project control techniques such as EVM and ES.
    Project Management Exercise 5
    An integrated exercise to reinforce all the concepts and techniques in a logical and sequential manner by applying them to manage a real simple project.

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

Dr Alireza Abbasi is the Coordinator of Project Management programs at UNSW Canberra. He also holds a graduate certificate in University Learning and Teaching from UNSW. His research and teaching interests include project management, management science, information systems management and network science. He has written a book, three book chapters and over 80 technical journal and conference papers.

Dr Abbassi has had several appointments and been involved in different projects in IT/Software, Oil, Education and R&D sectors. He is an active member of several professional bodies including Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), Project Management Institute (PMI), and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM).

For further information on the Project Schedule and Budget Control course, please submit your details in the contact form below, and we will contact you very soon.