PM-012: Change Order Management
This course presents proactive change order management and the use of the ACID methodology. Proactive Change Order Management is a key opportunity to improve project margins, and when handled properly (using the ACID Methodology) it increases customer satisfaction and strengthens the relationship. Projects will always undergo some amount of change during the project lifecycle and this course prepares the project manager to leverage those opportunities to the benefit of the project.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-015: Forecasting and Reporting Using Performance Trend Analysis
This course presents a methodology to simplify and significantly improve project forecasting & reporting skills. Key Performance Indicator Curves are combined into KPI Charts to demonstrate the power & simplicity of using Schedule, Cost, and Productivity performance trends to forecast future Operational & Financial performance. Operational Performance Management using KPI Charts is presented in detail along with a brief discussion of advanced project management terminology such as earned value, cost performance index (CPI), and schedule performance index (SPI).
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-017: Recovery Planning & Performance Management
This course presents the process of analyzing Recovery Planning and its integral role in the Operational Performance Management Cycle, including a detailed discussion of Complete, Partial, and “Wishful Thinking”/No Recovery options. The use of KPI Charts and trend analysis to anticipate the impacts of performance issues is explained including developing & implementing Recovery Plans to proactively adjust & correct project performance. The “ripple effect” progression that occurs when performance issues are left untreated is discussed, as well as how to formulate quick response plans to prevent further impact and erosion of project margin.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-006: Risk Response Strategies & Establishing Basis For Project Contingency
Strategic Risk Response Plans help you develop a competitive edge, present educated well-constructed Project Proposals, and protect your Company from accepting blind risk. Every good manager should know how to develop a Risk Response Plan and use contingency as a tool to protect projects from schedule slippage and/or cost overruns from unexpected events. In addition to guidance on crafting Strategic Risk Response Plans, this course also examines ways in which Contingency can be identified, quantified, and used during the project – including a methodology to release unused contingency in a controlled manner after risk events have passed.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-002: PreBid Risk Assessment: Establish Proper Level of Project Control Detail
This course presents a consistent, repeatable, and transparent process to easily perform an objective analysis of potential project risk – ideally performed prior to the project initiation phase. The process graduates from a qualitative management discussion to a quantitative risk assessment tied to a preliminary risk response strategy that makes project proposals more accurate, informed, and competitive. This process simultaneously establishes the recommended level of project control detail necessary to efficiently manage and effectively control the project.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-016: Managing Subcontractor Performance
Subcontractor performance directly impacts a Project Manager’s ability to successfully deliver a project, and as such, Subcontractors should be managed similarly to and with the same level of detail as self-perform labor. This course examines simplified means and methods to measure and monitor subcontractor progress, analyze performance, and direct Performance Recovery Actions to achieve successful project delivery. The elements of a Subcontract are also discussed, including commercial risk management items such as insurance certificates, performance & payment bonds, etc.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-014: Tracking Physical Progress & Financial Performance
This course presents an in-depth discussion of key cost drivers, selection of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and mapping KPIs to the Cost Budget to simplify Operational Performance Management. Special attention is given to developing and using Key Performance Indicator Charts to provide early detection of project conditions that could adversely impact future project performance. The proven power of KPI Charts to effectively monitor physical production progress, financial performance, and field productivity performance is presented using real-life project examples. Prudent use of these tools, which can be scaled up or down depending on project size, provides greater response time to make proactive performance adjustments crucial to maintaining a healthy and profitable project.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-013: Financial Risk Management: Managing & Using Contingency
This course re-examines the flow of risk through the project lifecycle and explains how to optimize Financial Performance using the Risk Matrix tool and the different Risk Response Strategies available to manage risk. The ties between progress tracking and financial risk management are explored. The use of contingency as a “soft” job cost to control financial risk exposure and levelize reporting is discussed in detail as part of the project’s overall Risk Management plan. The Risk Matrix tool and its different variations are presented in detail to simplify managing Risk Response & Contingency at the different project control levels.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-021: Leadership & Management Supervision Skills
This course provides an understanding of the distinction between Leadership and Management. Leadership is an integral and essential element of successful Project Management. Understanding the difference between Leadership functions and Management functions is explored as a part of presenting Leadership tools and techniques that improve Project Team Performance & Profit Margins. Recognizing individual personality traits and matching motivational approaches to achieve better results is covered in detail along with an in-depth discussion of the role of successful communication to achieve results and build solid project teams.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-008: Establishing the Project Baseline
This course focuses on building a solid project foundation – the Project Baseline Package. Without properly documenting the original contractual Project Plan, Change Order Management becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, because identifying progress performance & proving changed conditions require measuring against the Contract Plan. The steps to creating a proper Project Baseline Package, what it means to “Baseline” the project, and using the Baseline to establish a starting point to measure progress & performance against are discussed in detail.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-009: Project Execution Planning: Creating the Job Book
Project Execution Planning takes the Project Baseline Package and adds the remaining logistical elements necessary to physically build the project. The Project Execution Plan (PEP) is used & updated throughout the project execution phase and is reviewed during the Project Closeout Lessons Learned session. This course discusses the PEP process in detail and generates an understanding of each of the various elements and the level of detail that must be captured and documented in the Project’s Job Book.
Recommended for all project team personnel, including Owners, Engineers, Contractors, Estimators, Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Project Engineers.
PM-003: Scope, Assumptions & Contract Risk Analysis
This course explores the role that scope definition and interpretation of Customer requirements play in the project risk management process. An in-depth commercial discussion of the different types of Contract formats and their associated Risks leads into the analysis of bid documents to identify risks, extract key terms & conditions, and apply the appropriate risk response strategy.
Specific contract language recommendations are presented that Project Managers can use to quantify deliverables and craft technical & commercial assumptions, clarifications, and exceptions to define the contractual scope of supply in a manner that increases favorable evaluation by the Customer, prior to contract signature.
Recommended for all Owners, Contractors, and Construction Managers, optionally available for all others or anyone looking for advanced knowledge or to move into one of these roles.
PM-004: Scheduling: Purpose, Process, and Fundamentals
This course provides a Project Manager with the knowledge necessary to understand the fundamentals of scheduling including how to build a bid schedule; how to expand the bid schedule with the appropriate level of additional activity detail (Graded-Approach) during the project planning & job set-up phase; and how to use the schedule during the project execution phase to manage projects to increased profitability. Finally, the value in resource-loaded and cost-loaded schedules is presented along with an understanding of the various types of schedule reports available that can useful.
Recommended for all Owners, Contractors, and Construction Managers, optionally available for all others or anyone looking for advanced knowledge or to move into one of these roles.
PM-005: Estimating: Process Flow vs. Art Form
An accurate Cost Estimate is an essential building block of every project’s foundation. A balance is required between a consistent, repeatable, and transparent estimating process and the art of generating a series of sophisticated educated guesses using historical cost data and experience. Estimating can be a very subjective and personalized process and this course takes some of the mystery out of estimating by breaking the process down into generic repeatable elements. The focus is on understanding each step in the process and its role in generating the overall cost estimate.
This course is not tool-specific, it is applicable across all industries, and also presents how risk response strategy can be used to craft a proposal that presents pricing in such a way to increase the probability of favorable evaluation by the Customer – i.e. Success is being the low evaluated bidder, NOT having the lowest price.
Recommended for all Owners, Contractors, and Construction Managers, optionally available for all others or anyone looking for advanced knowledge or to move into one of these roles.
PM-010: Optimizing Resources and Completing the Gap Analysis
This course presents a methodology for optimizing manpower and equipment resources on a project. Learn to apply manpower and equipment data from the bid estimate to construction activities in the bid schedule and generate a Resource Usage plan. Analyze the Resource Usage plan to identify schedule constraints that produce non-productive “GAPS” in the construction schedule, and then Re-sequence & Re-crew activities to eliminate those productivity GAPS, Levelize total resource usage needs, and Optimize the Work Plan.
Use of the Optimized Manpower & Equipment Plan to finalize Key Performance Indicator Charts and the Construction Execution Plan represents the first opportunity to improve project margins by ensuring that project resources are used as efficiently as possible.
Recommended for all Owners, Contractors, and Construction Managers, optionally available for all others or anyone looking for advanced knowledge or to move into one of these roles.
PM-011: Project Management Safety: An Attitude
Safety requires Leadership – and the role of the Project Manager is to set the proper safety attitude on a project. This course recognizes that the Project Manager is accountable for all jobsite work practices and must lead the project team Safety Performance by example. Accidents affect productivity, project momentum, job cost, and overall project progress and are always preventable. Discussion includes understanding Safety Management tools and the value in an Integrated Safety Management Plan to achieve Proactive Safety Management.
Recommended for all Owners, Contractors, and Construction Managers, optionally available for all others or anyone looking for advanced knowledge or to move into one of these roles.
PM-007: Work Breakdown Structure & Charge Codes
This course examines the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as a method to organize the total scope of a project into a hierarchy of Work Packages. Participants will learn how to build a project WBS to the proper level of detail based on the project Control Level, how to map the WBS to Job Charge Codes to generate a Cost-Coded Budget, the value in using a standardized WBS to create historical project performance data, and that establishing Cost Control using a WBS simplifies project management while simultaneously improving the accuracy of physical progress & financial forecasting.
Recommended for all Owners, Contractors, and Construction Managers, optionally available for all others or anyone looking for advanced knowledge or to move into one of these roles.
PM-018: The Job Closeout: Capturing Lessons-Learned
This course examines the Operational, Contractual, and Financial closeout requirements to properly shut-down all the elements of a project. Special emphasis is given to Demobilization as another key area to improve project margins. Conducting productive Lessons-Learned Project Closeout meetings is discussed in detail to positively impact the performance of future projects within the organization and maximize Company-wide Profitability.
Recommended for all Owners, Contractors, and Construction Managers, optionally available for all others or anyone looking for advanced knowledge or to move into one of these roles.