Project Management Course

Do you want to upgrade your project management skills? This course covers everything you need to know to make project management a breeze. You will learn how to keep records and develop detailed project plans with milestones and dependents. A thorough understanding of project management will stand you in good stead for any career.

Distance Learning Support

At Start Learning we pride ourselves on our friendly and supportive tutors. Your tutor support will start as soon as you receive your course and will be valid for 12 months. All our tutors are highly qualified with extensive experience in supporting distance learning students. You contact your tutor via email and they are responsible for marking assignments answering your questions and guiding you through the course.

Home Study Entry Requirements 

At Start Learning we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and study further, so we try to keep our entry requirements to a minimum.      

Recommended Hours of Study

We recommended you spend approximately 110 hours of your time studying for the Project Management course. The pace of study is completely up to you. To give an example, if you dedicate 2 hours a week to the course it would take you a year to complete but if you could spare 4 hours a week you could complete it in six months.

Course Contents

Management Principles: The environment and Ecology of Management - Management Applied & Process - Organisational theory - The Five Keys of Management  - The External Environment - The Internal Environment - The Evolution of Management - Management as an Internal Administrative Process - Management as an Applied Social Science - Qualifications, Duties and Responsibilities of Managers - Strategic versus Functional planning - The Dynamics of Organising - Centralisation Vs Decentralisation - Authority and Power – Delegation – Division of Labour

Module 1 - What is project management?: Why use project management? - Benefits of project management - What do project managers actually do?

Module 2 - History of PM: Project management old and new - Modern scientific project management - Gantt charts - The Fayol management model - Network diagrams - Critical path method (CPM) - Program evaluation and review technique (PERT)

Module 3 - Organisational Structure: The four basic organisational structures

Module 4 - Project Life Cycle: The four stage project cycle model - Milestones and hold points - Project close-out

Module 5 - Feasibility Studies: The client’s feasibility study – Stakeholders - The client - Define the constraints on the project - Value management - Financial models for project selection - Payback period - Return on investment - Discounted cash flow - Net present value

Module 6 - Project Estimating & Scope Definition: Ball-park cost estimate - Feasibility study – Costing - Subdivision of project costs - Direct costs - Indirect costs - Time related costs - Labour & staff costs - Material & logistics costs - Miscellaneous costs – Initiation - Project charter - Defining the scope - Changing scope - Scope Management - Project closeout - Project closeout report

Module 7 - Project Procurement Plan: What is required? – Sourcing - Communication of requirements to potential suppliers - Evaluation & selection of supplier - Review & evaluate tenders - Manage the Contract - Closeout

Module 9 - Work Breakdown Structure: Presentation - Producing a WBS - WBS numbering system - WBS and costing - Further breakdown of WBS

Module 10 - Critical Path: Network diagrams - WBS and critical path – Logic - Activities in series - Activities in parallel - Generation of logic

Module 11 - Resource Planning: Estimating – Forecasting - Resource availability – Constraints on the project - Use of resources - Resource overload & under load - Resource adjustment - Increasing project resources - Reducing resources

Module 12 - Controlling the Project: Why control projects? - Scope of control - Scope management - Technical backup - Time management - Resource & procurement management - Commercial management – QHSE - Gathering information - Applying project control - Dealing with people

Module 13 - Quality Management: Definitions - Cost of quality - Right first time costs - QA costs - Internal cost (of failure) - External cost (of failure) - Quality circles - Quality auditing - Conduct of an audit - Why audit? - Quality control plans

Module 14 - Risk Management: Hierarchy of control - Controlling risk - Risk assessment - Identify the hazard - Decide who might be harmed - Evaluate the risks and decide upon precautions - Record and implement your findings - Review and update your risk assessments

Qualification

At the end of this course successful learners will receive Level 3 Award in Project Management.

Awarding Body Information

NCFE is recognised as an awarding body by the qualification regulators ('regulators') for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The regulators are the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) in England, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS) in Wales and the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland

Assessment

This course is marked through a process of continuous assessment guided by your tutor following NCFE guidelines. This means that your qualification will be awarded according to your performance on assessments rather than by taking an exam.

Language of Course

English