Courses
  • Date(s)

  • Offered
    • In-Person
    • Online
    • On-Site

Tuesdays and Thursdays, October 6 & 8, October 13 &15, October 20 & 22, October 27 & 29

2-3 p.m. ET | 1-2 p.m. CT

November 1-8, Independent Work/Final Project. Due date: November 8

Overview

We are no longer accepting registrations for this online course. Please contact Christine Miller (Christine.Miller@nreca.coop) with any questions.


The Planning, Scheduling and Control (PSC) course provides a new channel for cooperative leaders and their project teams to access additional education for their workforce to increase their project management skills. Cooperatives are continuously starting new projects, and leaders within the co-ops need the knowledge, skills, and ability to successfully lead projects. Projects are the concrete actions that a cooperative take to execute its strategic plan. With limited resources, project management is critical to deliver an on-time project, on budget and to accomplish the goals of the cooperatives strategic plan. Join us beginning October 6 for this five-week online course for a deep-dive into project management, featuring classwork along with independent assignments.

This course is designed for:

  • CEOs
  • MIP Graduates

How you will Benefit:

  • Immediately apply project management principles back at work
  • Learn how to use a step-by-step, phase-based approach for successful projects
  • Complete multiple project tasks on time
  • Improve estimation of project costs, resources, and time
  • Improve your overall project management tracking
  • Manage the scope change that often occurs in projects through special methods, tools, and techniques
  • Effectively initiate, plan, execute, control, and close out projects
  • Apply or customize the course framework for project management to your cooperative needs
Learn more in this video from instructor, Robert Stone from the Center for Professional and Executive Development, Wisconsin School of Business.
what you will learn

A Project Management process in alignment with the Project Management Institute® is used as the framework for this course. The PSC course provides the learner with a variety of tools and techniques to successful deliver a project.

Upon course completion students will be able to:

  • Recognize and be able to describe how projects contribute to an organization
  • Identify the role and responsibilities of the project manager and project team
  • Write a project scope statement outlining the key elements of a project and listing the project deliverables
  • Create a work breakdown structure at a level of detail appropriate for task assignments, realistic cost and time estimating,
  • Develop a project schedule that displays Early Start, Late Start, Early Finish, Late Finish, Critical Path, and Float Time
  • Identify project stakeholders, prioritize them to define key stakeholders, and develop methods to work effectively with key stakeholders
  • Perform a basic project risk assessment using the elements of Impact, Probability, and Triggers
  • Estimate durations and costs on a project
  • Define the key elements needed to measure and report on project scope, schedule, and cost performance
  • Monitor project progress and spending using Earned Value Management


Assignments

There are assignments throughout the course that will utilize a project of each individual participant’s choosing .

Prior to each virtual group meeting, there will be one or more pre-class assignments to work on before the group meeting. Each assignment may have articles, readings, simulations, cases, or videos that help the learner with the assignment. Each group meeting will review questions from the assignment(s), how the concepts could be applied in real-work scenarios, share best practices, and prepare them for the next topic module. All group meetings will be recorded as a review tool, or as a backup if a participant is unable to attend the group meeting. After each group meeting there will be 1 or more review/reflection exercises to help make sure that learners are prepared for any question that might be asked in the final exam related to the now-completed module.

These assignments will be compiled into one final report or presentation. Learners are encouraged to complete the review questions; however, they are optional and not required for program completion.


Program Modules

The course spans five weeks, including a total of 16 hours of classroom time and five hours out of the classroom to complete assignments and a final project. The instructor-led portion of the program will include 8 virtual group meetings over 4 weeks using the video conferencing platform Zoom. There will be one final week with NO meeting that is included for participants to complete required coursework. Registrants MUST attend all classes in order to successfully complete the course.

Week 1: Foundations and Initiating

  • Introduction and Course Overview
  • Foundations and operational definitions
  • The project life cycle
  • Relationship Triangle
  • Project selection
  • Initial Charter
  • Stakeholders
  • Collecting requirements
  • Initial Scope Statement
  • Risk identification, analysis, and management

Week 2: The WBS and Schedule

  • Creating the WBS
  • Defining deliverables and work effort
  • Deciding appropriate levels of detail for work effort
  • Creating the Project Schedule
  • Sequencing project activities
  • Calculating start and finish times
  • Defining the Critical Path of the project and float time

Week 3: Estimating, Assign Human Resources, Communication, Quality, Procurement

  • Estimating
  • Identifying human resource needs
  • Assigning resources
  • Applying the requirements of (1) Skill, (2) Willingness, (3) Availability
  • Communication planning
  • Quality Planning, Quality Assurance, Quality Control
  • Typical types of procurement contracts in projects

Week 4: Leading the Team, Working Effectively with Stakeholders, Controlling the Project, Change Requests, Closing the Project

  • Leading and managing the project team managing stakeholders
  • Requesting and managing scope changes
  • Monitoring and controlling a project
  • Closing a project

Week 5: Final Coursework

This week contains no new content. It is dedicated to the completion and submission of all remaining coursework and taking and submitting the Final Quiz.


Credit

2.0 CEUs

21 PDHs

By attending, you may be eligible for 2 CEUs, or Continuing Education Unit. You may also be eligible for 21 PDH’s, or Professional Development Hours. Learn more about credits and how to qualify.


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Fees

$1800

Competencies

CORE COMPETENCIES
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ROLE-SPECIFIC
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SUPERVISORY, MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
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