Thursday, January 15, 2015

Practical PMP (PMBOK) with MSP (MS Project) - Updates Post Mumbai, India and Mexico City, Mexico Sessions





Practical PMP with MS Project is quite different than the 'usual' PMP Prep program. Of course, it prepares you for PMP Program and by doing it, the PMP aspirants are eligible to get 35 PDUs from PMI, which meets the criteria number -1.  The key part however is the Practicals, which prepares you with Microsoft Project 2010 or 2013 (MSP 2010/2013) reflecting on the theories of various knowledge areas, processes of PMBOK Guide. If you are keen, you can also go for the MS Project certification from Microsoft as that this program prepares you for that, too. 

There has been many sessions conducted on "Practical PMP with MSP". However, few of them are available as blog posts here, which might give you certain understanding on it: 
In classroom sessions, it is not only Time Management from PMBOK Guide which is covered with MS Project 2013 (or MS Project 2010), but also other knowledge areas - Scope Management, Cost Management, Human  Resource Management, Communication Management, Quality Management et al - are covered as well. Also, there will be a number of practicals, which are built on from the very beginning. 

As Year 2015 begins, the course material has been updated, for both "Practical PMP with MSP 2010" and "Practical PMP with MSP 2013". The earlier edition of "Practical PMP with MS Project" has been used in many places in India and abroad, but decided to write this post on what exactly the updates have been in 2015 - for the New Edition.


Practical PMP (PMBOK Guide 5th Ed) with MSP (Project 2013) in Mumbai, India

In the last quarter of 2014, Practical PMP with MSP session was conducted at BlueDart Express, Mumbai, India.


At Mumbai, the team ranged from fresh management trainees to highly experienced management professionals. As Practical PMP program takes a strong collaborative discussion with practicals and white board sessions, the most heartening part was to see very senior management professionals not only took a strong hands-on approach to the program, but also came forward to all the white board discussions.  

The questions were numerous from the team and in the end the team succeeded in building the main process flow for the entire PMBOK Guide and learned how to apply MS Project 2013 in many knowledge areas of PMBOK guide.

To have an introductory understanding on how to use PMBOK with MS Projet, from Time Management Perspective, you can refer:
Post session, based on feedback and also to have a best of content, I decided to have certain updates, which are (primarily with respect to MS Project):
  • Scope Management:
    • WBS related advanced techniques are added, which are quite a few in MS Project
  • Time Management, Human Resource Management:
    • Calendars updated including addition for Task Calendars in Project
    • Calendar concept is available in PMBOK, however in a real world practical life of a manager, more are needed. 
  • Cost Management:
    • EVM related practical examples with MS Project
    • More TCPI related calculations are added
  • Communication Management:
    • BurnUp Reports, BurnDown Reports and other Important Reports (includes customized) in MSP
  • Stakeholder Management:
    • How to add/modify/update stakeholder register in MS Project
  • Professional and Social Responsibility:
    • Added inline with the latest one
Note: As per latest Exam Content Outline (ECO), the "Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct" has not been explicitly noted in percent based segmentation. Hence was not available earlier. However, it has been added in this new edition, for a complete professional experience.


Practical PMP (PMBOK Guide 5th) with MSP (Project 2010) in Mexico City, Mexico:

Practical PMP with MSP program was conducted in Mexico City, Mexico in the 2nd week of December, 2014.  

To have an initial understanding on how to use PMBOK with MS Project, from Time Management Perspective:
In December 2014, Practical PMP with MSP was conducted in Mexico City, Mexico.In North America, the traction for MS Project 2010 is still quite high, though the latest release of Project is 2013. Considering it, the material for Practical PMP with MS Project 2010 has been updated. The updates are primarily with respect to MS Project sections:
  • Time Management, Cost Management, Scope Management:
    • How to manage multiple baselines in MSP
    • Single baseline related information was already available.  
  • Human Resource Management:
    • Multiple Resource Graphs in MSP for resource related analysis 
    • Team Planner View in MSP further elaborated
    • Utility of Team Planner View with Activity Resource Requirements phase in Time Management
  • Professional and Social Responsibility:
    • Added inline with the latest one
Other than the new graphical reporting features of MS Project 2013, which are part of Communication Management, all updates of "Practical PMP with MS Project 2013" are also available in "Practical PMP with MS Project 2010" and vice-versa.


Updated Course Content: Practical PMP with MS Project 2013:

For the updated details, you can check at - Practical PMP with MSP. It has Course Objective/Overview, Frequently Asked Questions, Certification Process and the Complete Course Details for both PMP on PMBOK Guide 5th Edition and MS Project 2013 built step by step for each module. 

Updated Course Content: Practical PMP with MS Project 2010:

For the updated details, you can check at - Practical PMP with MSP. It has Course Objective/Overview, Frequently Asked Questions, Certification Process and the Complete Course Details for both PMP on PMBOK Guide 5th Edition and MS Project 2010 built step by step for each module.


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