IT Project Practicum

Course Overview

IT Project Practicum is the capstone course for completion of the Master's Certificate in IT Project Management from PM College. This four-day capstone course takes students on a journey through the entire life cycle of an information technology (IT) project using the initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing processes of project management.

Participants will be given a sophisticated case study, which will require them to utilize the knowledge gained from the previous courses. The case will take students through the team building process, analysis and development of project tools and documents, execution of their plans, and close of the project.

Participants will experience the real-life challenges of meeting deliverables with tight timelines, dealing with group development issues, managing conflict, and meeting customer expectations. Participants are strongly encouraged to complete all of the other required Master's certificate courses in the program prior to enrolling in this course.

Key Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Prepare an in-depth analysis of an information technology (IT) project opportunity
• Develop and implement an approach to build and maintain a high-performing project team
• Develop a solid project plan to deal with all aspects of an IT project
• Identify and implement strategies for managing conflict
• Identify and implement effective negotiation strategies
• Implement an effective customer management approach

Course Outline

Building the Project Team

• Explain the identifying characteristics of high-performing teams
• Describe the impact of individual behavior styles on team development
• Identify team behaviors related to team development
• Explain the role of the team charter in establishing the team guidelines
• Explain the importance and contents of the project notebook

Initiating the Project

• Identify the components of a project overview document (POD)
• Describe the key components of a communications plan
• Explain the importance of stakeholder analysis

Requirements Validation

• Define project scope
• Explain the process of refining requirements
• Explain the best practices of developing and using work breakdown structures

Developing the Project Budget

• Explain methods of developing quality estimates
• Describe components of a good estimate
• Identify resources to use when creating an estimate
• Explain techniques to validate the estimate            

Developing the Project Schedule

• Define schedule terminology
• Describe schedule views and their uses
• Explain network construction and calculations
• Identify network issues 

Developing the Risk Management Plan

• Describe the components that constitute the risk management process
• Explain the process of identifying, analyzing, prioritizing, mitigating, and controlling risks

Project Implementation

• Describe the various metrics used to establish a project baseline
• Define components used to track project progress
• Define the components of schedule management
• Define the components used to track risk
• Define the elements of a change control process
• Describe the principles of interest-based negotiation approach

Project Closeout

• Describe the benefits of conducting a project closeout
• Describe organizational and customer project closeout activities