Project Management

With increasing technological and scientific advances, the efficient and effective planning and implementation of major projects is becoming increasingly complex and critical. This course is aimed at providing both basic and some advanced exposure to project management, so as to enable the manager of tomorrow to successfully complete sophisticated projects within the constraints of capital, time, and other resources.

The rapid changes in technology and reduced product life cycles have brought about revolutionary changes in the way business organizations are structured. Businesses are moving away from the conventional functional structures towards project driven set-ups. As a result, Project Management has become a “Buzz Word” in modern day organizational management.

This course attempts to provide an insight into the holistic approach adopted in project management. The course content has been organized so that the students get to learn various aspects of project management that are normally applicable in the business organizations. Although project management is not restricted to the private sector, but the same principals apply to public sector and social events. This course has been structured in a manner similar to the style adopted by “The Project Management Institute”.

At the end of the course, the participants should be able to independently apply project management principals and tools in most of the project work they may encounter in the future. The students will also be familiarized with the software; Microsoft Project which is currently the most popular and user-friendly software in use in the area of project management.

The course aims at the following learning targets:

– To understand the concepts of project definition, life cycle, and systems approach
– To develop competency in project scooping, work definition, and work breakdown structure (WBS)
– To handle the complex tasks of time estimation and project scheduling, including PERT and CPM
– To develop competencies in project costing, budgeting, and financial appraisal
– To gain exposure to project control and management, using standard tools of cost and schedule variance analysis
– To appreciate the elements of risk in projects
– To appreciate and understand the use of computers in project management, especially a tool like MS Project