What are the course objectives?

This course will enable you to understand the principles of high value, and highly valued, project and programme support offices (PPSOs). It will help you to ensure that the investment made in these functions is repaid and that they meet both the needs of senior managers charged with maximising the value from the company’s project portfolio and the needs of project and programme managers as they carry out their delivery responsibilities. You will be given the knowledge, and more importantly the understanding, of how you can establish and run the type of PPSO most suitable to your organisation.

What content is covered?

The course looks at the approaches to adopt, and the traps to avoid, when establishing and positioning a project or programme office. It builds on CITI research into the most successful styles and levels of project and programme support offices and demonstrates how they can add value to portfolio management. You will learn to distinguish between project and programme support offices, identifying the different expectations, tools, techniques and roles they play. We also cover what needs to be done to convert a project office to a programme office and how that approach varies in different organisational structures. A working model of a PPSO with exemplar tools is used to illustrate how some of the ideas can be translated into effective actions for when you return to your workplace. This will help you to establish and run the ‘right’ type of PPSO for your organisation.

What are the key topics?

• Stakeholder analysis and management
• Types of support offices
• Best practice examples
• Monitoring & control functions
• Analysis of your PPSOs and identification of improvements
• Methods & quality assurance
• Portfolio planning & monitoring
• Programme and project support offices – the differences
• Tracking benefits
• Managing interdependencies in portfolios and programmes

What are the course objectives?

From attending this workshop participants get a clear set of directions on how to build and critique a benefit case for a project – an invaluable aid for sponsors and project managers, both before and during a project, and absolutely fundamental for programme managers.

Participants also get a set of techniques for modelling and proving (testing) whether the proposed project can deliver the changes and values sought. This workshop leads to a clear direction on how to track benefits both during and after projects with insights into how to develop a benefits realisation plan.

What content is covered?

Participants on this course analyse the components and purpose of a business case in the context of making choices about how to invest the funds and effort of the organisation for maximum strategic benefit.

The business case forms the basis, not only for the project and its planning, but portfolio management, and the implementation of change in the business. Each component is considered: benefits – their evaluation and role in the benefits management cycle, costs – and the risks associated with a chosen solution, and stakeholder engagement – how that creates opportunities and risks in building the business case.

What are the key topics?

• Establishing the project mission
• Building a benefits case
• Developing the business case
• Financial analysis techniques
• Tracking value
• Stakeholder engagement

What are the course objectives?

This key techniques course covers the process and approach of health checks in five components – beginning with the purpose and philosophy supporting health checks.  This includes the attitude and rationales that support the delivery of successful health checks.

The course then moves on to communications, how to translate the under-pinning models into the health check environment and how to overcome the barriers that arise.

The tutor will then cover the key techniques, including a detailed explanation of the critical models and hints on their application.  Finally the outputs of the health check process are covered and how to provoke effective action as a result of the report/feedback given to the recipient(s).

What are the key topics?

• The purpose and philosophy
• Communications
• How to overcome barriers
• Techniques
• Critical models
• Outputs of the health check process
• How to provoke effective action

What are the course objectives?

Most project managers contract in, or outsource, an element of their project but this adds additional complexity.  In this master class you will learn the additional disciplines and gain experience necessary to successfully run or supply into contractual projects.

Through course work you will examine the whole project lifecycle and understand where contracting is appropriate and how it may be developed from project inception to close-out. In particular, you will gain an understanding of the commercial and contractual issues that often sit awkwardly with the traditional time, cost and quality focus of the project manager, and how you can best work with the legal and procurement functions to ensure project success.

What are the key topics?

• Internal and external contracting implications
• The project and contractual lifecycle
• Defining the requirements
• Partitioning the work – the risks and reward syndrome
• Relationship management
• The communication conundrum
• The procurement lifecycle and best practices
• Contracting language and its true meaning
• Contract management, behaviours and success factors
• Contractual vehicles and their effect on the project