Gaining Business Acumen for Project Managers

To be a successful project professional, you must constantly evaluate the project efforts and key decisions to ensure that they are aligned with and support the organizational goals at the same time, meeting compliance requirements set by the organization and/or external entities.

Linked to the Strategic and Business Management skill area of the PMI Talent Triangle®, this course will highlight the connection between projects and organizational strategy. Learners will need to demonstrate knowledge of and expertise in the industry/organization, so as to align the project goals and objectives to the organizational goals and enhance performance to better deliver business outcomes. Additional topics in this module will include compliance management and an understanding of how internal and external factors impact project outcomes.

In a complex business environment, the project manager must be aware of the external landscape and internal requirements that can impact the project activities and outcomes:

• Have a strong understanding of macro and micro influences

• Interpret trends from both the macro and micro perspectives in order to factor these elements into the planning and delivery of business value

• Identify compliance requirements and ensure their project efforts and execution adhere to compliance standards.

• Learn how to structure the project in a way that makes it both strategic and compliant.

• Consider how compliance can impact the cost, risk, and timeline of your project.

• Learn strategies that make sure you are in accordance with regulations

Learners will gain insight into the strategies and tools to ensure the project is on track, while continually surveying internal and external factors. When considering changes in scope, you must consider how these could impact multiple project constraints. Additionally, course participants will discover how the adaptive environment enables the team to streamline modifications to the project direction to account for changing priorities.

By the end of the course, you will be exposed to the tools and techniques to ensure your projects are compliant and support your company's mission. By thinking about project management as an integrated whole, you can better align your activities and projects to the overall goals of your organization. Additionally, upon successful completion of this course, learners can earn 8 contact hours of project management education which are recognized by the Project Management Institute (PMI). A total of 35 contact hours in project management education are a requirement to those looking to achieve the Project Management Professional (PMP®)certification. Learners will finish this course with increased knowledge of the better practice tips to engage stakeholders and be more than ready to continue their project management and PMP® journey, which we hope completes your certificate with us.

Week 1: In the first week, participants will learn that good project management is about ensuring that the goals of projects closely align with the strategic goals of the business. One of the greatest challenges in projects is the need to comply with certain rules and regulations, both internal and external to the organization executing them.

Week 2: The second week will review the importance of benefits management to include, defining and investigating benefits, documenting agreement on ownership of benefits, establishing a measurement system to track benefits, evaluating the delivery options to demonstrate value, and keeping stakeholders apprised of the progress of the project to deliver value.

Week 3: The third week entails surveying changes to the external business environment, assisting and prioritizing the impacts on project scope, recommending options for project scope changes, and continually reviewing external business environment for impacts on the project scope.

Week 4: The fourth and final week puts a spotlight on the strategic focus of the project manager. Learners will grasp the concept that their project work supports the strategic goals of the organization and that change management is an important element of this. This course will also address how the selection of the choice of project management approach impacts organizational change efforts as well.