BUS605: Strategic Project Management

Welcome to BUS605: Strategic Project Management

Specific information about this course and its requirements can be found below. For more general information about taking Saylor Academy courses, including information about Community and Academic Codes of Conduct, please read the Student Handbook.

Course Description

In this graduate-level course, learn how to manage a project from beginning to end by focusing on project integration management across the PMI ten knowledge areas: project integration, scope, schedule, cost, human resource, communication, stakeholder, quality, risk, and procurement management.

Course Introduction

Businesses undertake projects for many reasons, such as solving business problems, creating a competitive advantage, or delivering value to the consumer. There are as many types of projects as there are businesses, products, processes, and operations. Thus, every business must decide what methods to use for various projects.

Most companies will have more than one project going at the same time. The process that it uses for each project may differ. A software project may use an agile method, whereas product development may use a traditional method. Some projects are small and do not need a long time or financial commitments. Others can rise to the scope of a mega project requiring vast resources and budgets.

Regardless of the type of project, having a definitive process for achieving the project's goals can be the difference between failure and success. The field of project management is so important to businesses that the PMI has developed professional standards and a certification process for people who specialize in project management and are at different stages in their careers. This course will follow the principles and practices of the PMI, which defines five key project process groups and ten knowledge areas.

Ultimately, how a company undertakes and completes projects can be a competitive advantage that allows them to deliver business value.

This course includes the following units:

• Unit 1: What is Project Management?
• Unit 2: The Project Lifecycle
• Unit 3: Initiating Projects
• Unit 4: Planning Projects
• Unit 5: Executing Projects
• Unit 6: Monitoring and Controlling Projects
• Unit 7: Closing Projects

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• analyze the organizational context in which projects are planned, managed, and implemented;
• compare the five distinct stages in a project's life cycle: initiating, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing;
• appraise project management tools, techniques, and skills;
• apply methods and best practices in careful time management of project schedules and critical-path dependencies;
• evaluate project cost, quality, and delivery;
• select and prioritize critical resources for effective project implementation;
• explain effective approaches for managing communication strategies;
• assess the schedule, cost, and scope elements of projects to develop different techniques for managing risks;
• determine strategies and actions that promote productive stakeholder involvement in decision-making and execution of the project; and
• identify risk mitigations for risk to schedule, scope, and budget via documentation, risk reporting tools, and risk response/mitigation planning.

Throughout this course, you will also see learning outcomes in each unit. You can use those learning outcomes to help organize your studies and gauge your progress.

Course Materials

The primary learning materials for this course are readings, lectures, and videos.

All course materials are free to access and can be found in each unit of the course. Pay close attention to the notes that accompany these course materials, as they will tell you what to focus on in each resource and will help you to understand how the learning materials fit into the course as a whole. You can also see a list of all the learning materials in this course by clicking on Resources in the navigation bar. 

Evaluation and Minimum Passing Score

Only the final exam is considered when awarding you a grade for this course. In order to pass this course, you will need to earn a 70% or higher on the final exam. Your score on the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you may take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt. Once you have successfully passed the final exam, you will be awarded a free  Course Completion Certificate.

There are end-of-unit assessments in this course. These are designed to help you study and do not factor into your final course grade. You can take these as many times as you want to until you understand the concepts and material covered. You can see all of these assessments by clicking on Quizzes in the course's navigation bar.

Tips for Success

BUS605: Strategic Project Management is a self-paced course, which means that you can decide when you will start and when you will complete the course. There is no instructor or set schedule to follow. We estimate that the "average" student will take 44 hours to complete this course. We recommend that you work through the course at a pace that is comfortable for you and allows you to make regular progress. It's a good idea to also schedule your study time in advance and try as best as you can to stick to that schedule.

Learning new material can be challenging, so we've compiled a few study strategies to help you succeed:

• Take notes on the various terms, practices, and theories that you come across. This can help you put each concept into context and will create a refresher that you can use as you study later on.
• As you work through the materials, take some time to test yourself on what you remember and how well you understand the concepts. Reflecting on what you've learned is important for your long-term memory and will make you more likely to retain information over time.

Technical Requirements

This course is delivered entirely online. You will be required to have access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and have consistent access to the internet to either view or download the necessary course resources and to attempt any auto-graded course assessments and the final exam.

• To access the full course, including assessments and the final exam, you will need to be logged into your Saylor Academy account and enrolled in the course. If you do not already have an account, you may create one for free here. Although you can access some of the course without logging in to your account, you should log in to maximize your course experience. For example, you cannot take assessments or track your progress unless you are logged in.

For additional guidance, check out Saylor Academy's FAQ.

Fees

This course is entirely free to enroll in and to access. Everything linked in the course, including textbooks, videos, webpages, and activities, are all available for no charge. This course also contains a free final exam and course completion certificate.