Projects and Project Work
- Projects and Project Management
- System and Project life cycles.
- Implementation strategies.
- Purpose and content of Key Project Documentation.
- The use and significance of Discounted Cash Flows as a method of Investment Appraisal.
- Post Implementation Review.
Project Planning
- Project deliverables and intermediate products.
- Work and product breakdowns.
- Product definitions.
- Check-points and Milestones.
- Activity-on-Node Networks.
- Resource Allocation, smoothing and leveling
- 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 Vs. 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 QMS.
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.
Sample Examination & Exam Technique
- Questions are given, from an approved BCS list, following each Learning Session in order to consolidate learning
