This course is offered by the Caribbean Infinity Institute as a learning aid to students who would like to pursue a career in Project Management and also further their studies to become specialists in this field. The curriculum follows closely the requirements of the Prince2 guidelines which the established guidelines for project management in most regions of the world as well as the Project Management Professional Guidelines which is the accepted methodology for Project Management in North America. Students will also be exposed to Lean Six Sigma business optimization system as an adjunct to these curricula.

Course breakdown

Projects in Controlled Environments Themes

Module 1

Business Case

This part of the project starts with an idea or the “why” which is considered to have potential value for the organization concerned. This sectioned theme addresses the development of the idea  as to its value to the organization and how it is to be maintained through out its life. References will be made here to determining the value of projects in terms of overall business strategy and tactics.

Organization (The science of Alignment)

This part of the curriculum determines the “who” of the project in terms of the project management team, how this is determined and the sponsoring organization’s responsibilities as well as establish the roles of the individuals in the project team. Students will learn about cross functional and matrixes project teams in this section.

Quality

This part of the curriculum introduces students to the concept of managing the “what” of the project management cycle, such as what is to be delivered at what quality, how quality is determined and how it is controlled.

Plans

This part of the project deals specifically with planning how the project is to be accomplished, what is to be produced in what quantities and at what scale and the “how” of which this is all accomplished. The approval process of planning and the allocation of tasks to personnel working on the project will be explored here.

Risk

This class explores how risk is managed and it is the “what if” section of project management. Here, members of the project team determine what constitutes acceptable risk and how risk is to be mitigated within the organization and in the project environment.

Change

Change describes the impact which project management processes may have on the overall project in terms of it’s viability, and what structures if any should be put in place to manage unforeseen circumstances or situation.

Progress

This theme addresses the ongoing viability of the plans. The theme explains
the decision-making process for approving plans, the monitoring of actual performance and the escalation process if events do not go according to plan. Ultimately, the Progress theme determines whether and how the project should proceed.

Project in Controlled Environments Processes

Module 2

Starting a Project

This class dictates all the requirements of starting a project in terms of preventing poorly conceived projects from ever being initiated as it is about approving the initiation of viable projects. As such, Starting up a Project is a lighter process compared to the more detailed and thorough Initiating a Project process. The aim is to do the minimum necessary in order to decide whether it is worthwhile to even initiate the project.

Directing a project

The purpose of the Directing a Project process is to enable the Project Board to be accountable for the project’s success by making key decisions and exercising overall control while delegating day- to-day management of the project to the Project Manager.

Initiating a project

The purpose of the Initiating a Project process
is to establish solid foundations for the project, enabling the organization to understand the work that needs to be done to deliver the project’s products before committing to a significant spend.

Controlling a stage

The purpose of the Controlling a Stage process is to assign work to be done, monitor such work, deal with issues, report progress to the Project Board, and take corrective actions to ensure that the stage remains within tolerance.

Managing Product Delivery

The purpose of the Managing Product Delivery process is to control the link between the project manager and the team manager(s), by placing formal requirements on accepting, executing and delivering project work.

Managing a Stage Boundary

The purpose of the managing a stage boundary process is to enable the project board to be provided with sufficient information by the Project Manager so that it can review the success of the current stage, approve the next Stage Plan, review the updated Project Plan, and confirm continued business justification and acceptability of the risks.

Closing a Project

The purpose of the closing a project process is to provide a fixed point at which acceptance for the project product is confirmed, and to recognize that objectives set out in the original Project Initiation Documentation have been achieved (or approved changes to the objectives have been achieved), or that the project has nothing more to contribute.

Project Management Process groups (a scientific approach)

Module 3

Initiating Process Group

The initiating process group formally starts a project after considering the business case and establishing the feasibility of the project. Typically, the initiating processes will result in the authorization or official approval for a project or a new phase within that project to begin.

Planning Process Group

The planning process group determines if the objectives established in the project charter can be achieved, and it prepares a blueprint for how the project is to be accomplished.

Executing Process Group

The purpose of the executing processes is to complete work detailed in the project management plan and to meet the project objectives. The focus of this group is on people management, following processes, and ensuring everyone in the project possesses the same information about the project objectives. The stakeholders are also updated

Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

The purpose of the monitoring and controlling process group is to measure project performance as per the project management plan and take appropriate actions. This process group tracks, reviews, and regulates the progress and performance of the project. It also identifies any areas in which changes to the plan are required and initiates corresponding changes. The appropriate action can be in the form of corrective or preventive actions.

Closing Process Group

A project is considered complete only when all closing formalities have been completed, not when the project’s product is delivered. The closure process includes administrative activities such as collecting and finalizing all paper work needed to complete the project. It also involves performing the technical work to verify that the product of the project is acceptable. Remember that PMI expects a mature organization and a certified project manager to be diligent about bringing projects to an orderly closure. It is also expected that the collected performance data and lessons learned will be used for planning future projects.

The Project Management Knowledge areas

Module 4

Project Integration Management

Project Integration Management involves unification, consolidation, articulation, and integrative actions that are crucial for successfully completing a project. Project integration management is high level work performed by a project manager. It involves managing interdependencies among the other nine knowledge areas which involve detailed work in a specific area.

 Project Scope Management

Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that a project comprises all and only the work required to complete the project successfully.

Project scope management is concerned with the scope of a project; what is not in the scope is also clearly identified.

Project Time Management

The purpose of project time management is to ensure that projects get completed on time.

This knowledge area is primarily concerned with developing a project schedule and ensuring that a project goes as per the formulated schedule. If there is a need to change the project schedule, the change should occur by following a proper change control procedure.

Project Cost Management

Project cost management involves activities such as estimating the cost of each of the project activities and adding the cost estimates of the related activities to arrive at the cost budget. It also involves controlling the cost to ensure that project activities are completed within the defined budget.

Project Quality Management

The project manager is responsible for quality in a project. However, it is also the responsibility of each and everyone involved with the project to ensure that whatever work s/he does meets project quality expectations. Quality management involves performing activities such as creating standard policies and procedures and ensuring that those standard procedures are being followed properly on the project. It aims to ensure that the project meets all initial agreed upon requirements without any deviation and that the specified approach to quality is implemented on the project.

Project Human Resource Management

Project human resource management includes the processes that organize, manage, and lead the project team. One of the key elements of human resource management is ensuring that each of the project team members clearly understands his/her role and responsibilities.

Project Communications Management

A project manager is responsible for ensuring proper communication to and from the project. In fact, a project manager spends nearly 90 % of his or her time on communication. Thus, it is extremely important for a project manager to plan his/her communications well. Communication can be best defined as a two-way process of exchanging information between two entities.

Project Risk Management

Risk is an uncertain event or condition that can affect a project positively or negatively. Although most of the time this uncertainty is considered a negative, sometimes it can have a positive outcome. An example of a negative uncertainty is the swine flu. For example, if the government declares a mandatory cessation of work to check for flu spread, it could negatively affect your project work.

Project Procurement Management

A contract represents a mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specified products, services, or results. It also obligates the buyer to provide the monetary or other valuable consideration in return. A contract can also be called an agreement, understanding, undertaking, or a purchase order.

There are at least two parties involved in a contract. The party that provides the goods or services is called the seller and the party that buys the goods or services is called the buyer. The compensation can be monetary or in another form.

Project Stakeholder Management

This lesson will examine the tenth knowledge area, Project Stakeholder Management and its processes. A stakeholder is anybody who has stake in the project. A stakeholder can be an individual, a group, or an organization which may affect or be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project. An entity is still a stakeholder even if the risk of being affected is simply perceived.

Module 5

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Concepts

Lean Six Sigma is an industry-neutral discipline and can be applied to different sectors. Some of the examples are IT, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Defense, Radio and Telecommunications, and Banking and Finance. Lean methodology focuses on value creation for customers with minimum processes and reduced wastes. Six Sigma is a highly disciplined management tool with a statistical, analytical, and data-driven approach. It focuses on developing a process, eliminating the defects, and consequently delivering quality products and services consistently. Lean Six Sigma brings together the best of both, the world of Lean’s waste elimination projects and the Six Sigma based process improvements, reducing variation, and improving quality.

Define Phase

Define the problem statement and plan for improvement. Six Sigma project team is formed.

Measure Phase

Collect data from the process to determine current quality or operational performance levels.

Analyze Phase

Study the business process to understand the root causes of the problem.

Improve Phase

Identify, prioritize, test, and finalize the improvement action plan.

Control Phase

Implement improvement action plan and set up controls to monitor the system.