Course: ISEB Foundation - IS Project Management

This course is intended for anyone involved in an IT project and individuals who are new to the project management discipline. The Foundation Certificate provides visible evidence that the individual concerned understands the basics of IT project management.

Candidates who pass the Foundation Certificate should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the principles of project management including those that relate to project planning, monitoring and control, change control and configuration management, effort estimation, quality and risk management and communications between stakeholders.

Who will the course benefit?

Project staff and IS staff who are relatively new to the management of projects and who wish to demonstrate their professional interest in project management by obtaining the ISEB Introductory Certificate in Project Management.

Course Objectives

To provide an introduction to the management and professional skills necessary for successful management of IS projects.
To prepare delegates to achieve success in the ISEB foundation examination.

Skills Gained

This course will enable delegates to:

    * Explain the difference between projects and Business As Usual.
    * Specify terms of reference for a project.
    * Identify the typical activities in a system development life-cycle.
    * Explain the purpose and content of a Business Case.
    * Participate in the project planning process.
    * Explain and differentiate between the product and activity based approaches to planning.
    * Produce an Activity on Node (AoN) network diagram, identify the critical path and calculate the earliest and latest start and end dates of activities and the resulting float.
    * Explain the project control life-cycle.
    * Identify methods of collecting progress information and presenting that information.
    * Explain the difference between tolerance and contingency.
    * Explain the reasons for change and configuration management and define a suitable process for managing change.
    * Explain common quality management terms and the principles of ISO 9001:2000.
    * Apply common estimating techniques.
    * Define the term ‘risk’ and take part in the risk management process.
    * Identify stakeholders and their concerns.
    * Describe the roles and responsibilities of the Project Board, Project Manager, Team Leader and Project Support Office.

Pre-Requisites

There are no formal entry requirements for the course or the examination, but it is assumed that delegates will have a basic level of knowledge of IT.

Course Content

Projects and Project Work

Projects and Project Management.
System and project life cycles.
Implementation strategies.
Purpose and content of business case reports.
The use and significance of discounted cash flows.
Post implementation review.

Project Planning

Project deliverables and intermediate products.
Work and product breakdowns.
Product definitions.
Check points and milestones.
Activity networks.
Resource allocation, smoothing and leveling, including the use of resource histograms.
Work schedules and Gantt charts.

Monitoring and Control

The project control life cycle.
Collecting progress information.
Presenting progress information.
Content of progress reports.
Use of earned value analysis.
The reporting cycle.
Reporting structures in projects.
Tolerance and contingency.
Exception reports and plans.

Change Control and Configuration Management

Reasons for change and configuration management.
Change control procedures.
Role of change control boards.
Configuration management.
Configuration items and product baselines.

Quality

Quality control versus quality assurance.
Detection of defects during the project life cycle.
Quality procedures.
Types of testing.
The inspection process, peer reviews.
Principles of IS0 9001:2000 quality management systems.

Estimating

Effects of over and under-estimating.
Effort versus duration; relationship between effort and cost.
Use of expert judgement.
The Delphi approach.
Top-down and bottom up approaches to estimating.
Use of analogy in estimating.

Risk

Definitions.
The risk management process.
Risk responses and actions.
Typical risks associated with information systems development.
Assessment of the costs/benefits of risk reduction activities.
Maintenance of risk registers and risk logs.

Project Communications and Project Organisation

Identifying stakeholders and their concerns.
The project sponsor.
Establishment of the project authority.
Reporting structures and responsibilities.
Desirable characteristics of project manager.
Role of the project support office.
The project team and matrix management.
Management styles and communication.
Team building and team dynamics.

Review of ISEB Syllabus

Examination Technique and Sample Examination.


Examinations

ISEB Foundation Certificate in Project Management.