65694 Courses

Project Accounting and Finance Skills: On-Demand Do you manage both project schedules and budgets, but do not have insight into how actual results relate to the approved budget? Do you desire to have more clarity about the relationship between your project's performance with the accounting and financial systems in your organization? Do you need to understand financial and accounting terminology to bridge the gap between the 'world of finance' and the 'world of project management? Organizations have a need to manage-by-projects, because projects are the means to deliver on strategic goals and objectives. Therefore, the project manager must have an understanding of the financial world of investments to ensure the organization will realize expected business value. This requires a foundation in the principles of accounting and finance to comprehend how the project's contribution provides an organization with a competitive advantage. Learn what you must do to give your organization the assurance it needs that its investment in your project will realize business value. Learn what you must do to give your organization the assurance it needs to know that its investment in your project will realize business value. What You Will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain the aspects of classical corporate accounting and finance effects on managing projects Determine how your project fits into the corporate income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement Analyze the financial aspects of managing projects Use earned value management as the basis for decision making throughout the project life Recognize the importance of the project manager's financial responsibilities Focus on what PMs do and should be doing, in support of accounting and finance Use financial information within a project environment to meet financial results Track and analyze the project's financial status and forecast with the goal of realizing benefits Generate work performance data to ensure a project's outcome aligns with financial metrics Foundation Concepts Accounting and Finance Terms and Concepts Accounting and Finance Essentials Financial Terms and Concepts Projects as Financial Investments Overview of 'Two Worlds' Project as Investments Accounting and Finance World: Standards, Principles and Practices Accounting and Finance Standards and Principles Accounting and Finance Practices Capital Budgeting Corporate Budgeting Accounting and Finance World: Economic Project Selection Methods Economic Project Selection Methods Economic Project Selection and the Business Case Project Management World Project Management and Financial Controls Project Management and Work Performance Data Project Management and Earned Value Management Project Management and Work Performance Reporting

Strategic Thinking and Decision Making: On-Demand The goal of this course is to provide you with the building blocks and the motivation to develop the critical skill of strategic thinking. The participants will consider a four-part model that distinguishes strategic thinking from strategic planning and managing. With that understanding, you will investigate the critical components of strategic thinking and how to apply it effectively. What You Will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Define strategic thinking and distinguish it from strategic planning and management Explain a high-level approach to gaining strategic thinking skills Integrate other interpersonal skills, such as self-awareness, systems thinking, leadership, constructive conflict, and collaboration, into the fabric of strategic thinking skills Select appropriate techniques to apply strategic thinking in specific situations Recognize and emulate effective strategic thinking behaviors Foundation Concepts Strategic thinking versus strategic planning, decision making and management Strategic thinking attributes Strategic Thinking Critical Success Factors Strategic thinking competency and tools at an organization level Strategic Thinking Tools and Techniques at an Individual Level Interpersonal and Team Emotional Intelligence Team Leadership and Trust Constructive Conflict and Collaboration Applying the Critical Skill of Strategic Thinking Team versus client Trusted Advisor

Agile Sprint Planning: On-Demand The goal of the course is to provide you and your team with the ability to develop effective and realistic Sprint plans. Without effective Sprint Plans, iterations are set up for failure. But Sprint Planning cannot be improved on its own, in isolation. The Scrum processes are highly intertwined and influence each other. The surrounding artifacts, events, and roles must be examined closely, and enhanced, in order to improve Sprint Planning. This course will remind you of the theory to reinforce the principles, but will concentrate on next-level skills, so that you and the team are able to create realistic and usable Sprint Plans. This course is not introductory. You are already aware of the Scrum framework and have been implementing Scrum on your projects. Now is the time to improve efficiency and effectiveness, to facilitate successful Agile projects. What you will Learn You'll learn how to: Identify and correlate the key symptoms and root causes of ineffective sprint plans Improve key Product Backlog elements Evaluate Agile roles in sprint planning Appraise key product practices Enhance project transparency The Product Backlog User stories Acceptance Criteria Backlog Refinement Supporting Roles Product Owner (the Backlog) Development Team Stakeholders and SMEs Supporting Product Practices Roadmaps and release plans and story maps Definition of Done Technical Debt Transparency Daily Scrums Information radiators Retrospectives Sprint Planning Capacity and Velocity Sprint Planning Meetings The Sprint Backlog Summary What did we learn, and how can we implement this in our work environments?

Effecting Business Process Improvement - The Proactive Business Analyst: On-Demand Business analysts facilitate the solution of business problems. The solutions are put into practice as changes to the way people perform in their organizations and the tools they use. The business analyst is a change agent who must understand the basic principles of quality management. This course covers the key role that business analysts play in organizational change management. What You Will Learn You will learn how to: Define and document a business process Work with various business modeling techniques Perform an enterprise analysis in preparation for determining requirements Analyze business processes to discern problems Foundation Concepts Overview of business analysis and process improvement Defining the business process Introducing the proactive business analyst Focusing on business process improvement for business analysts Launching a Successful Business Process Improvement Project Overview of the launch phase Understanding and creating organizational strategy Selecting the target process Aligning the business process improvement project's goals and objectives with organizational strategy Defining the Current Process Overview of current process phase Documenting the business process Business modeling options: work-flow models Business modeling options: Unified Modeling Language (UML) model adaptations for business processes Analyzing the Current Process Process analysis overview Evaluation: establishing the control group Opportunity techniques: multi-discipline problem-solving Opportunity techniques: matrices Building and Sustaining a Recommended Process Overview of the recommended process and beyond Impact analysis Recommended process Transition to the business case Return to proactive state

Strategic Thinking: On-Demand The goal of this course is to provide you with the building blocks and the motivation to develop the critical skill of strategic thinking. The participants will consider a four-part model that distinguishes strategic thinking from strategic planning and managing. With that understanding, you will investigate the critical components of strategic thinking and how to apply it effectively. What you Will Learn Define strategic thinking and distinguish it from strategic planning and management Explain a high-level approach to gaining strategic thinking skills Integrate other interpersonal skills, such as self-awareness, systems thinking, leadership, constructive conflict, and collaboration, into the fabric of strategic thinking skills Select appropriate techniques to apply strategic thinking in specific situations Recognize and emulate effective strategic thinking behaviors Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Foundation Concepts Interactive event: Define Strategic Thinking (ST) Interactive event: Discuss relationship of ST with Strategic Planning, Management and Decision Making Strategic Level Framework - Tying it all together Strategic thinking attributes Strategic Thinking Critical Success Factors Strategic Thinking Critical Success Factors - 5-part model Strategic Thinking and the Organization Critical Success Factors Model applied to an organization Tools Introduction (5): Environmental, 5 Forces, SWOT, Value Proposition, Integral Theory of Worldview Video: Fog of War Strategic Thinking and the Individual Critical Success Factors Model applied to an individual Tools Introduction (5): Thinking Styles, Six Thinking Hats, Reverse Thinking, Systems Thinking, Integral Theory of Worldview Strategic Thinking at the Interpersonal and Team Levels Emotional Intelligence - Self Awareness and Working With Others Team Leadership and Trust Constructive Conflict as the Gateway to Collaboration Interactive event: Testing the Models - Challenge Perspective; What's Missing Applying the critical skill of Strategic Thinking Worldview: Team versus client Trusted Advisor Interactive event: Doing what is asked (Case study, wherein participants review the default case scenario prepared for this workshop and add specific details to make the scenario more relevant to their experiences / needs. Teams develop an action plan for applying ST concepts and techniques they have learned here to the situation, then compare and contrast results.)

Assuring Quality Through Acceptance Testing - Making Sure that the Business Problem is Solved: On-Demand It is the business analyst's job to define the business problem to be solved by IT. It is also the business analyst's responsibility to confirm that the resulting solution developed by IT does, in fact, solve the defined problem. This is done first through testing, especially acceptance testing, and then through monitoring of the installed solution in the user community. The business analyst is not only concerned with the testing itself, but also with the management and monitoring of the users doing the acceptance testing, and recording, analyzing, and evaluating the results. What You Will Learn Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to: Create a set of acceptance test cases Manage and monitor an acceptance test stage where users perform the testing Work with the development team in the systems testing stage Assess the solution once it is in the business environment Foundation Concepts The role of the business analyst An introduction to the BABOK® Guide BA roles and relationships through the project life cycle Introduction to assuring software quality through acceptance testing The Scope of IT Testing Overview of testing stages The testing process Testing documentation Pre-Acceptance Testing The BA's role in testing Early development testing stages (unit and integration) Late development testing stage (system) The Acceptance Test Stage - Part I (Planning, Design, and Development) Overview of user acceptance testing Acceptance test planning Designing user acceptance tests Developing individual user acceptance test cases Building effective user acceptance test scenarios The Acceptance Test Stage - Part II (Execution and Reporting) Operating guidelines Execution Reporting Post-Acceptance Testing Overview Project implementation Project transition (project closure) Production through retirement Testing Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Software Overview Selecting the software Implementing the software Summary What did we learn and how can we implement this in our work environments?

Vendor Relationship Management: On-Demand A successful project is dependent upon the contribution of vendors. After the selection and procurement of a vendor has occurred, the project manager assumes the responsibility for managing the vendor relationship. Managing vendor performance and the vendor relationship can make or break a project. Through case scenarios and an interactive workshop approach, this program deals with the challenging task of delivering a successful project involving significant vendor contributions. What You Will Learn You'll learn how to: Determine stakeholder interests, impact on the project, and requirements Explain the process of planning for and preparing a contract Describe best practices for managing the quality of products and services Identify key techniques for managing vendor relationships Take proactive steps to ensure good working relationships with third parties Emphasize quality in the work performed by external resources Engage in requirements gathering and management Understand Agreements, Statements of Work, Letters of Intent and Contracts Develop an effective contract change control process Discuss the steps for closing a contract Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Stakeholder Relationships Identifying stakeholders Planning stakeholder management Managing stakeholder engagement Controlling stakeholder engagement Event: Worksheet: What Are Your Issues with Stakeholders? Understanding the Procurement Process Planning procurement management Conducting procurements Controlling procurements Closing procurements Event - Discuss the project's outsourced scope and qualities of an ideal vendor and customize a set of criteria for this project including descriptions and weightings Requirements Gathering and Management Requirements gathering Requirements management Managing relationships Contract change control Change management Event - Small Group Activity: Identifying Gaps in the Requirements Process Agreements, Statements of Work, Letters of Intent and Contracts Contract controls Agreements Contracts Negotiations Closing the contract Contract termination Procurement Audits and Lessons Learned Event - Class Activity: Win-Win Negotiating Summary and Next Steps What did we learn, and how can we implement this in our work environments?

Conflict Resolution Skills (On-Demand) Many organizations have assumed that workplace conflict is always destructive. So, they have often believed that conflict is best dealt with by managers or even via policies and procedures. After all, conflict creates workplace stress and leads to many performance problems, generating very real organizational costs! However, savvy organizations have embraced the fact that when conflict is understood and harnessed, it can be leveraged to add value to teams and even enhance performance. With the right knowledge, skills, training, and practice, conflict can be productive and make organizations better! In this highly interactive course, learners will discover the connection between individual conflict response and team-empowering conflict resolution skills. Participants will explore conflict's visceral dynamics and the nuanced behaviors we individually engage in to communicate and respond to conflict. Learners will apply techniques for transforming unproductive conflict responses into productive ones. Additionally, learners will use a systematic method that prepares them to objectively dissect real-world conflict, while practicing many strategies for resolving it. They will also develop proactive conflict approach plans, which they can transfer back to their own workplaces. At the end of this program, you will be able to: Recognize the organizational costs of conflict Explain our physical and mental responses to conflict Communicate proactively and effectively with different types of people during conflict Replace unproductive conflict responses with productive ones Use the Conflict Resolution Diagram (CRD) process and conflict resolution approaches Relate team stages of development to shifts in conflict Develop a proactive conflict approach for your organization Create a conflict resolution plan for a real-world scenario Getting Started Introductions and social agreements Course goal and objectives Opening activities Conflict Facilitation Readiness Conflict responses and perceptions Conflict basics Conflict and organizations Dynamics of conflict Conflict Styles and Communication A look at the color energies model Conflict through the color energies and DiSC® lens Communication with opposite color energies Individual Response to Conflict The anatomy of conflict Recognizing unproductive conflict responses 4 steps to productive conflict Choosing productive conflict responses Team Performance and Conflict High-performing team relationships Conflict and project team performance Conflict Resolution Diagram (CRD) and process Conflict Facilitation - Preparation Recognizing context and stakeholder needs Using team conflict resolution approaches Preparing for Crucial Conversations® Conflict Facilitation - Clarity Exposing assumptions and biases Defining the conflict and using the CRD Conflict Facilitation - Action Proactive conflict management Conflict facilitation practice Summary and Next Steps Review Personal action plans

Work Breakdown Structures - Français: On-Demand It's amazing how often project managers start the project planning process by making a list of all the tasks they think will be needed to complete a project, then proclaiming that they've created the breakdown structure. (WBS) for the project.The result is a list of hundreds or even thousands of tasks, many of which have a duration of a few days or a few hours. Essentially what they did was create a 'to do' list, which they then use as a 'checklist' to measure progress.This approach leads to, and even encourages, the micromanagement of resources working on the project without considering the more critical aspects of project management such as: requirements management, risk management, procurement management, estimating , planning, execution and control.Moreover, it is impossible to see the big picture, at detailed levels, in line with the needs of sponsors, customers, project and functional managers, team leaders and project implementers. Join us for this exciting program and learn how to use the WBS to make more informed business decisions. What You Will Learn You will learn how: Describe the need for a WBS project Describe the role of WBS in the project Gain hands-on experience in developing, decomposing, and using WBS Determine the appropriate level of detail in the WBS. Explain how the WBS integrates with project requirements, risks, procurement, estimating, planning, and overall project execution. Provide the basic tools to improve the effective reuse of key information in your future projects Getting started Concepts de base WBS & Perimeter WBS & Risks WBS & Estimations WBS & Echéancier WBS & Execution and Mastery Summary and Next Steps

Portfolio Management Skills: On-Demand Project Management Institute (PMI)® Charter Global Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) International Institute for Learning (IIL) has been reviewed and approved as a provider of project management training by PMI®. Become a strong, effective change advocate for meaningful portfolio management. This course is designed to equip and enable you to effectively and efficiently support the Executive Leadership and Operational Management to plan, implement, manage, and evolve portfolio management in your organization. It focuses on helping you become a strong and effective change advocate for meaningful portfolio management that delivers objective measurements of benefit contribution towards the strategic objectives to lead, manage, and continuously improve portfolio management governance, processes, and frameworks with and through the direction of a portfolio practice, principles, and delivery boards. What you Will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Articulate the benefits of portfolio management Link the initiatives in an organization with its strategic objectives Participate in the introduction of portfolio management in an organization Create or improve the portfolio governance structure Lead the inventory of ongoing and new initiatives Assist the executives in the prioritization of initiatives through the use of Multi-criteria Analysis and other selection tools Support the executives in balancing the portfolio based on the optimal use of resources and priorities Create a portfolio delivery plan Define thresholds and variance reporting criteria Assist the executives and the financial team in the definition of Stage Gate Funding Lead the Stage Gate reviews Analyze the benefits that are being realized by the initiatives Foundation Concepts Definitions Benefits of Portfolio Management Objectives of Portfolio Management Portfolio Life Cycles Governing the Portfolio Portfolio Governance structure Roles and responsibilities Initial activities when starting portfolio management Prioritizing Initiatives Prioritize purpose Multi-Criteria Analysis Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Strategic alignment Balancing the Portfolio Allocating resources and budgets Communicating decisions of initiatives status Planning the Portfolio Planning review cycles Using Stage Gate Funding Setting thresholds and variance reporting Tool examples Managing the Portfolio Delivery Project and Program Life Cycles Stage Gate Reviews Loop back to Prioritize, Balance and Plan Interaction with the Portfolio Delivery Board Project, Program and Functional Managers' roles and responsibilities