In the Microsoft Project® portion, you'll master one of the most popular project management scheduling software products available today. Whether you're an occasional user or a full-time scheduler, your understanding of Project is vital to your ability to plan, manage, and track your projects effectively. This program is the essential Microsoft Project® training. You'll become familiar with how to really plan and track projects using Project’s many features.

This online certificate program is offered in partnership with major colleges, universities, and other accredited education providers.

Project Management Section:

Project management as a profession has grown exponentially over the last 30 years. Many organizations recognize the value of project management as an effective way to achieve business results. Project management standards and practices can be found in all industries (i.e. construction, manufacturing, aerospace, and telecommunications) and all disciplines (i.e. engineering, information technology, human resources, and product development) worldwide. As the interest and demand for project management standardization increases, so does the demand for highly qualified project management practitioners.

The purpose of this training is to improve your knowledge and skills in project management and prepare you for the next step in your professional development. You'll learn the terminology associated with this profession and the practical application of these concepts in the day to day planning and execution of projects. The training material is presented in 10 separate modules covering all of the essential aspects of project management such as:

◦Initiating a new project and developing the project scope

◦Identifying work efforts and developing the schedule

◦Defining measurable quality metrics for the project

◦Understanding how procurement applies in the project framework

◦Identifying, assessing and mitigating project risks

◦Creating a project management plan

◦Identifying resource requirements and negotiating for team members

◦Developing a communications plan to meet the stakeholders’ needs

You'll have reading assignments followed by online training materials. The online modules present the material by following a story about a project. The story shows how project management is applied in the real world. As with any real project, you will be presented with situations or problems that you will deal with and solve, letting you test your project management knowledge.

Interested in getting certified in project management? The Project Management Professional® (PMP) certification, offered through the Project Management Institute, is the industry standard. It requires formal project management education as a prerequisite to sitting for the examination. This training will meet or exceed the educational requirement and is compliant with the current edition of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) ®. To learn more about the requirements for the PMP certification, please visit the Project Management Institute’s Web site: http://www.pmi.org.

Microsoft Project Section:

This training is designed for beginners through advanced users of Microsoft Project. It includes a full module and project management scheduling concepts to ensure that you and Project are making the same assumptions as you build your project schedule. If you have dabbled with Project before, you're probably aware that it's not like any of the other Microsoft suite software. With Project, you must have some knowledge of project management in order to use the software effectively.

This training program combines online presentations, reading assignments, and hands-on practice, which you'll work offline with provided practice files. Quizzes and short case studies will confirm your understanding of the topics discussed. Each module builds on the previous one in a logical progression from entry level to very advanced level skills. You'll also get lots of tips and hints from the instructor, who is a project manager and has worked with Project for many years.

In addition, this training will help you prepare to take Microsoft’s Exam 70-632 for MSProject 2007 standard or professional certification and provide the prerequisite training hours for Project Management Institute’s Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP®) credential.