Category Archives: Training
Cost Management for Projects
Cost Management for Projects
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: Do you struggle to figure out what it will cost to execute a project? Does your organization lack effective techniques for estimating and controlling project costs? If you can answer yes to either of these questions, you should consider attending this course.
RefineM’s Cost Management for Projects course gives you the basics you need to perform effective cost management. You will learn how to put together a cost management plan, utilize proven techniques for estimating cost, assemble a project budget, and implement tight controls to guard against cost overruns. This course will help you understand the difference between management reserve and contingency reserve. You will leave this course able to perform the critical functions of cost management on your projects. This course is aligned with the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Fifth Edition.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Describe the components of a cost management plan.
- Understand and apply techniques for estimating costs and determining budget.
- Apply effective cost control techniques, including Earned Value Management.
Who Should Attend: Any project managers, PMO directors or members, or project team members who are involved with cost management in their organizations.
PDUs: 7 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
The Science of Project Management
The Science of Project Management
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: Are you a project manager or project team member looking for a course to help you understand the technical aspects of project management? If so, you will likely benefit from RefineM’s The Science of Project Management course.
The Science of Project Management covers basic technical topics in Project Management. This course is aligned to the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Fifth Edition to help attendees become familiar with the framework and terminology. You will have the opportunity to work on project examples and/or case studies and gain valuable hands-on experience to apply to your real projects. Topics covered include project charters, WBS, stakeholder management, risk management, project schedules, and performance reports.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Understand and describe the benefits of project management.
- Perform key technical project management processes.
- Differentiate among processes in the five project management process groups.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for anyone who is responsible for project delivery but never went through formal training on project management. Anyone working on a project, such as a project manager, project coordinator, project lead, team lead, senior project manager, or PMO director, will also benefit from this course.
In addition, organizations that want to adopt consistent project management practices should also benefit from sending their project managers to this formal training.
PDUs: 7 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
Essential Gear For Project Managers
Essential Gear For Project Managers
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: Even though A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Sixth edition describes 48 project management processes across 10 knowledge areas, have you seen anyone using all of them? Most project managers (PMs) use only a subset. Many times, it is hard for PMs to decide what to include or exclude in their subset of processes since they neither want to overdo nor miss out an important process.
RefineM's presentation on Essential Gear for Project Managers provides an insight to plan and implement the project with few processes that would be good enough to successfully implement a project.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Understand and describe the benefits of project management.
- Explain and perform key project management processes.
- Use essential project management processes on your real projects.
Who Should Attend: The tutorial is ideal for anyone in the project management role who would like to learn about key project management process to ensure successful completion of projects. This will help them to walk away with a toolkit that they can implement in their projects right away. For those who are part of a PMO, they can take the PM’s toolkit as suggestions for process improvements for the PMO.
PDUs: 7 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
Earned Value Management
Earned Value Management
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: Earned Value Management (EVM) is a well-known project management technique that can be used to track project progress. It is probably one of the most mature project management techniques that measures project performance in an objective manner. Early EVM research showed that the areas of planning and control are significantly impacted by its use. More recent research studies have shown that the principles of EVM are positive predictors of project success.
EVM is not new. The genesis of EVM occurred in industrial manufacturing in early 1900s. The concept took root in US Dept. of Defense in 1960. Its overview was included in PMI’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) in 1987. EVM received greater attention by publicly traded companies in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002. Now, it is a very well recognized project management tool to measure project performance.
Even though EVM is not a new project management technique, many project managers struggle to implement it successfully in their projects. The most significant challenges to implement EVM are:
- Gaining support from sponsors and stakeholders to implement EVM,
- Accurately gathering data for actual cost, and
- Determining earning rules to calculate Earned Value.
During this presentation, the instructor will share some of the simple but effective methods used to successfully implement EVM. This course also provides opportunity to learn several EVM metrics such as Schedule Variance, Cost Variance, Schedule Performance Index, Cost Performance Index, Estimate to Complete, Estimate at Completion etc., in an easy and fun manner. This presentation also offers tips for using EVM to communicate project status and key issues to stakeholders, thereby gaining their support rather than a barrage of questions.
In this dynamic course, experienced project managers will have an opportunity to share their personal experiences (both challenges and rewards) to implement EVM in their projects and analyze what worked and what didn’t. At the same time, this course would be a great learning experience for less experienced project managers who are looking for tips and tricks to implement EVM in their projects. The course will also provide several opportunities for attendees to participate in exercises and discussions.
Effective EVM is one of the most important project management tools a project manager can employ to increase the likelihood of project success. Since EVM is still not widely used, this could be a significant competitive advantage to those who implement it in their projects.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, attendees will be able to
- Explain the benefits and basic concepts of Earned Value Management (EVM).
- Gather data and apply earning rules for EVM.
- Learn how to gain support from sponsors and stakeholders to invest in EVM.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for a project manager or anyone on a project team. This may include project/program managers, portfolio managers, PMO leaders, executives, project sponsors, change agents, project team members, business/systems analysts and other project stakeholders.
PDUs: 7 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
Develop Project Schedule Using WBS
Develop Project Schedule Using WBS
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: Schedule management is one of the most critical parts of project management. Stakeholders expect to see a project schedule and receive updates on a regular basis. To effectively create and maintain a schedule requires a strong work breakdown structure (WBS). How do you create an effective WBS, and how do you use the WBS to create the project schedule?
In RefineM’s Develop Project Schedule Using WBS course, you will learn more about the key processes in scope and schedule management used to create an effective WBS and corresponding project schedule. You will learn how to create the WBS and validate it with stakeholders. You will learn how to use the WBS to define and sequence activities in order to build a network diagram and project schedule. Through individual and group exercises and hands-on instruction from a PMP-certified instructor, you will learn and reinforce the concepts of the course. You will leave this course with the knowledge and skills to build effective project schedules using the WBS.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Understand how the WBS contributes to the project schedule.
- Define and sequence activities from the WBS.
- Build effective WBS and schedule on your real projects.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for project managers, project team members, PMO leads/directors, and stakeholders.
PDUs: 7 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
The Art of Project Management
The Art of Project Management
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: Are you a project manager or project team member looking for a course to help you understand the people-centered aspects of project management? If so, you will likely benefit from RefineM’s The Art of Project Management course.
The Art of Project Management is designed to help you manage some of the most critical parts of the project: communication with team members and stakeholders, managing stakeholder expectations, dealing with conflict, and serving as a leader on your projects. This course is aligned to the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Fifth Edition to help attendees become familiar with the framework and terminology. You will have the opportunity to work on project examples and/or case studies and gain valuable hands-on experience to apply to your real projects. You will leave this course prepared to manage critical functions on your projects.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Understand and describe the benefits of project management.
- Perform key people-centered project management processes.
- Differentiate among processes in the five project management process groups.
- Lead your real projects.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for anyone who is responsible for project delivery but never went through formal training on project management. Anyone working on a project, such as a project manager, project coordinator, project lead, team lead, senior project manager, or PMO director, will also benefit from this course.
In addition, organizations that want to adopt consistent project management practices should also benefit from sending their project managers to this formal training.
PDUs: 7 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 7, Ways of Working: 0)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
A Model to Develop and Use Risk Contingency Reserve
A Model to Develop and Use Risk Contingency Reserve
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: Are you aware of the benefits of risk contingency reserve but unsure how to start? Do you know what an adequate level of contingency reserve is for your project? If you want answers to such questions about contingency reserve and more, this course is for you. As an attendee, you will take away knowledge of a model to develop risk contingency reserve using Expected Monetary Value that you can use to benefit your projects.
The contingency reserve is a critical part of project risk management. With a contingency reserve, project managers can address risks, communicate the level of risk exposure to stakeholders, and increase the predictability of project outcomes. Using the risk register and Expected Monetary Value (EMV) technique, project managers can easily develop a contingency reserve for their project and begin realizing the benefits of this powerful tool.
This course is an overview of project risk management with emphasis on developing and using the contingency reserve. You will learn more about how contingency reserve fits into the overall risk management process, how to calculate and use the contingency reserve, and how to communicate the contingency reserve to stakeholders to increase organizational participation in risk management. You will leave with a better idea about contingency reserve and the role it plays in keeping the projects on track. You will also walk away with tools and templates to effectively implement contingency reserve for your projects.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Understand how to create a risk contingency reserve using Expected Monetary Value.
- Communicate risks to stakeholders and team members using the risk contingency reserve.
- Use risk contingency reserve to improve predictability of your project outcomes.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for project managers, PMO leads/directors, and anyone performing risk management on projects in their organizations.
PDUs: 7 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
Advanced Project Management and Leadership Skills for Experienced Project Managers
Advanced Project Management and Leadership Skills for Experienced Project Managers
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 2 days
Description: Are you an experienced project manager, or new certification holder, looking for ways to take your project management to the next level? RefineM’s 2-day Advanced Project Management and Leadership Skills for Experienced Project Managers course is designed to help you elevate your project management skills. The advanced techniques included in the course are divided into two parts to build (a) Technical skills and (b) Leadership skills. The technical topics include stakeholder management, scope management, risk management, and Earned Value Management. The leadership topics include developing clarity/focus, communication, conflict resolution, negotiations, and stress management techniques. Attendees will leave this course with the knowledge and skills they need to enhance their project delivery capability.
"I thought [RefineM's] course was outstanding. The instructor was extremely knowledgeable and a master of his material. One of the best courses that I have taken."
—Linda Sampson, Project Manager
"Excellent offering for an experienced project manager."
—Jennifer Freeman, course attendee
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Increase stakeholder engagement using analysis and communication techniques.
- Better perform scope and change management to control scope on your projects.
- Control project cost and schedule using Earned Value Management (EVM).
- Analyze and prioritize risks using qualitative and quantitative risk analysis methods.
- Use more advanced risk management techniques, including risk contingency reserve.
- Display leadership skills such as communication, negotiation and conflict resolution.
- Manage stress levels on your projects to produce better outcomes.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for project/program managers, PMO leaders, and project team members who have been managing/leading projects and looking for advanced techniques to strengthen their career.
PDUs: 14 PDUs (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 7, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
A Roadmap to Agile Adoption
A Roadmap to Agile Adoption
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 or 2 days
Description: Many organizations want to adopt Agile to realize its benefits, including value-driven delivery and increased customer satisfaction. Successfully adopting Agile requires shifts in both the operations and the mindset of an organization. How can your organization make the leap to Agile?
In RefineM’s A Roadmap to Agile Adoption course, you will learn how you can start on the journey to adopting Agile in your organization. You will start by learning where Agile is a best fit. You will learn each step of the Agile adoption roadmap, best practices to follow at each point, and potential pitfalls that can delay or stop an Agile transformation in an organization. You will leave this course with a roadmap to implement Agile in your organization.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Identify the ideal conditions for adopting Agile in an organization.
- Understand the roadmap to Agile adoption, including best practices and pitfalls.
- Start on the journey to adopting Agile in your organization.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for Agile change agents and others interested in knowing how to adopt Agile in their organizations.
PDUs: 7 PDUs / SEUs / Contact Hours per day (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.
Top 5 Challenges in Agile and How to Overcome Them
Top 5 Challenges in Agile and How to Overcome Them
| Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site. |
Duration: 1 day
Description: There are many benefits of agile, including faster project delivery and greater team cohesion. To get the best of these benefits, companies and teams need to be able to overcome key challenges. Based on our agile coaching and training experience, we have identified five key challenges and developed ways to overcome them.
In RefineM's Top 5 Challenges in Agile and How to Overcome Them course, we will discuss the top five challenges in agile and how to overcome them. Attendees will learn more about how to communicate the value of agile, clarify roles and responsibilities, deliver consistent value and working software with each iteration, and avoid the difficult issue of “waterfalling iterations.” Attendees will walk away with strategies to overcome these challenges and make agile work for their teams.
Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to
- Identify critical challenges to successful Agile adoption and practice.
- Understand ways to overcome these challenges.
- Develop a plan to succeed with Agile in your organization.
Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for Agile change agents and others interested in knowing how to adopt Agile in their organizations.
PDUs: 7 PDUs / SEUs / Contact Hours per day (Business Acumen: 0, Power Skills: 0, Ways of Working: 7)
Course Delivery: Variable
Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.
About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.