This practical course combines essential project management principles with structured risk management practices. Participants learn how to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control, and close projects while proactively identifying and managing risks throughout the project life cycle.
The course covers project scope, schedules, resources, costs, stakeholders, communication, quality, and risk management. It uses practical exercises, templates, case studies, and group activities that can be applied across different industries and project types.
Duration 3 Days – 21 hrs.
Objectives
- Explain the fundamental concepts and life cycle of project management.
- Define project objectives, scope, deliverables, assumptions, and constraints.
- Develop a practical work breakdown structure and project schedule.
- Estimate project resources, duration, and costs.
- Identify and analyze project stakeholders.
- Establish effective project communication and governance arrangements.
- Identify potential project risks using structured techniques.
- Perform qualitative and basic quantitative risk analysis.
- Develop appropriate risk response and contingency plans.
- Prepare and maintain a project risk register.
- Monitor project performance, issues, changes, and risks.
- Apply project and risk management tools to workplace projects.
- Close projects properly and document lessons learned.
Target Audience
- Project managers and assistant project managers
- Project coordinators and project team members
- Team leaders and supervisors
- Department and business unit managers
- Engineers and technical professionals
- Operations and administrative personnel
- Business analysts and process owners
- Risk, compliance, and quality personnel
- Professionals preparing to manage projects
- Employees involved in organizational initiatives and change programs
Prerequisites
- Basic experience participating in projects or organizational initiatives
- General knowledge of workplace processes and operations
- Familiarity with spreadsheets or basic project documentation
- A current or proposed workplace project that can be used during exercises
Course Outline
Day 1 — Project Management Foundations and Project Initiation
Module 1: Introduction to Project Management
- Definition and characteristics of a project
- Projects versus operations
- Project, program, and portfolio management
- Project constraints and competing priorities
- Factors affecting project success and failure
- Role and responsibilities of the project manager
- Predictive, agile, and hybrid delivery approaches
Module 2: Project Life Cycle and Governance
- Overview of the project life cycle
- Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing
- Project governance structure
- Roles of the project sponsor, steering committee, and project team
- Decision-making and escalation processes
- Project management documentation
Module 3: Project Initiation
- Identifying the business need or opportunity
- Developing the project business case
- Defining project objectives and success criteria
- Identifying high-level requirements
- Documenting assumptions, constraints, and dependencies
- Preparing a project charter
- Obtaining project authorization
Module 4: Stakeholder Management
- Identifying internal and external stakeholders
- Understanding stakeholder expectations and influence
- Stakeholder power-and-interest analysis
- Developing a stakeholder engagement plan
- Managing resistance and conflicting expectations
Workshop
- Prepare a project charter
- Identify and analyze project stakeholders
- Define project objectives, deliverables, and success criteria
Day 2 — Project Planning and Risk Assessment
Module 5: Scope and Requirements Management
- Defining project and product scope
- Collecting and documenting requirements
- Establishing project boundaries
- Creating a scope statement
- Developing a work breakdown structure
- Defining acceptance criteria
- Preventing and controlling scope creep
Module 6: Schedule, Resource, and Cost Planning
- Identifying and sequencing project activities
- Understanding dependencies and milestones
- Estimating activity duration and effort
- Developing a project schedule
- Introduction to critical path analysis
- Resource planning and responsibility assignment
- Estimating project costs
- Establishing schedule and cost baselines
Module 7: Introduction to Project Risk Management
- Definition of risk and risk management
- Difference between risks, issues, assumptions, and constraints
- Threats and opportunities
- Relationship between risk and project objectives
- Risk appetite, tolerance, and thresholds
- Roles and responsibilities in risk management
- Overview of the risk management process
Module 8: Risk Identification
- Sources and categories of project risks
- Technical, operational, financial, schedule, legal, and external risks
- Risk breakdown structure
- Risk identification techniques:
- Brainstorming
- Interviews and expert judgment
- Checklists
- SWOT analysis
- Assumption and constraint analysis
- Lessons learned
- Cause-and-effect analysis
- Writing clear risk statements
- Creating a project risk register
Module 9: Risk Analysis and Prioritization
- Qualitative risk analysis
- Assessing probability and impact
- Probability-and-impact matrix
- Risk scoring and prioritization
- Assessing urgency, proximity, and detectability
- Introduction to quantitative risk analysis
- Expected monetary value
- Decision-tree fundamentals
- Identifying overall project risk exposure
Workshop
- Develop a work breakdown structure and schedule
- Identify project risks
- Prepare a probability-and-impact matrix
- Complete and prioritize a project risk register
Day 3 — Risk Response, Project Control, and Closure
Module 10: Risk Response Planning
- Selecting appropriate responses for threats:
- Avoid
- Mitigate
- Transfer
- Accept
- Escalate
- Selecting appropriate responses for opportunities:
- Exploit
- Enhance
- Share
- Accept
- Escalate
- Assigning risk owners and action owners
- Developing preventive and contingency actions
- Understanding residual and secondary risks
- Establishing contingency and management reserves
- Identifying risk triggers and early-warning indicators
Module 11: Project Execution and Team Management
- Directing and managing project work
- Building an effective project team
- Delegating responsibilities
- Using a responsibility assignment matrix
- Managing communication and collaboration
- Resolving conflict and project challenges
- Maintaining stakeholder engagement
- Managing suppliers and external parties
Module 12: Monitoring and Controlling Projects
- Tracking project scope, schedule, cost, and quality
- Measuring progress against approved baselines
- Using project status reports and dashboards
- Managing issues and action items
- Monitoring identified and emerging risks
- Conducting project risk reviews
- Managing changes through change control
- Escalating risks and issues appropriately
- Implementing corrective and preventive actions
Module 13: Project Closure and Lessons Learned
- Confirming completion and acceptance of deliverables
- Administrative and contractual closure
- Transitioning project outputs to operations
- Closing outstanding risks and issues
- Conducting a post-project evaluation
- Documenting lessons learned
- Preparing the final project report
- Recognizing project achievements and releasing resources
Final Workshop and Action Planning
- Complete a project management plan
- Develop risk response and contingency plans
- Present the project risk register
- Analyze a project scenario
- Prepare an individual workplace application plan
