Advanced Contract and Project Management
About Course
Course Overview
This Advanced Contract and Project Management training course will help you develop the advanced skills required to implement projects in a contractual context. Organisations frequently use projects to implement change and to achieve benefits, and increasingly we do this by contracting the project activities out to others. This can simplify management, but it introduces additional risk, which, unless managed properly, can increase the probability of project failure. This training course will cover the skills required in both of these areas to maximise the probability of delivering successful projects in this environment.
You may have experience in managing projects, contracts, or both. This training course will build on that knowledge in an easily understandable way so that you expand your capability and effectiveness. More importantly, it will give you some practical tools and techniques that you can apply, which will give a tangible increase in the benefit that you will gain from this training course.
This RTI course will highlight:
- The key stages in managing contracts and the critical skills required
- The crucial interface between project and contract management
- The importance of post-award contract management
- How to implement strategy via programmes and portfolios
- Putting in place the conditions for project success
- Understanding project financing
- Alternative project delivery methods and when to use them
This training course is split into two modules:
MODULE I – Advanced Contract Management
MODULE II – Advanced Project Management
Each module is structured and can be taken as a stand-alone training course; however, delegates will maximise their benefits by taking Modules 1 and 2 back-to-back as a 2-week training course.
This training course will equip you with all of the knowledge that you need to be effective when managing projects in a contractual environment.
At the end of this Advanced Contract and Project Management training course, you will understand:
- Methods for improving contract performance
- How to deal with common issues including slippage, scope creep and cost growth
- How to handle claims and disputes successfully
- Key “soft” skills to help you solve problems and get the best out of people
- How to utilise alternative project strategies and methods of implementation
- Ways to increase organizational project capability and maturity
- Advanced project financing concepts
- Programme and portfolio management techniques to implement strategic change
The Advanced Contract and Project Management training course is full of practical techniques and examples, intended to enhance knowledge and give practical benefit. The worked examples, case studies, and team exercises will make applying the knowledge gained much easier. Often, helpful insight can be gained from discussion with other delegates, and the training course delivery style will provide opportunities to do this.
By sending delegates on this Advanced Contract and Project Management training course, organisations will maximise the value that they gain from implementing projects via contractual means, and reduce the risk of poor performance, financial loss, reduced value and reputational damage. The organisation will also gain:
- Increased capability to deliver strategic change
- Greater predictability in the benefits produced
- Increased confidence in returning value
Delegates who attend this Advanced Contract and Project Management training course will learn how to ensure that contracts deliver the results required, that the relationship between contract parties remains good, and that difficulties and adverse events can be overcome. Importantly, they will learn how to manage risk and change, and how to get the best out of everyone involved. In addition, they will:
- Understand how to create the conditions for project success
- Deepen their knowledge of project financing
- Learn how to implement strategic change for their organisations
Implementing project activities through contracts is commonplace, and will touch a range of people working in project management and related disciplines. This Advanced Contract and Project Management training course is suitable for a wide range of professionals, but will greatly benefit:
- Contract holders
- Contract & procurement team members
- Project managers
- Project team members
- Project Management Office (PMO) staff
- Project Directors
- Project Sponsors
- Senior Management
- Assurance and quality management staff
Module 1: Advanced Contract Management
Day One: Introduction and Review of Basic Principles
- Why contract management?
- Benefits of doing it right and problems with doing it wrong
- Overview of overall contracts & procurement cycle
- Relationship to project management
- Developing effective procurement strategies
- Common contract types – pros, cons, and risks
- Key roles and responsibilities
Day Two: Post-Award Management
- Preparation for the contract post-award phase
- Handover from contract award
- Process overview, including inputs and outputs
- Initiation stage
- Planning stage
- Delivery stage
- Change management
- Risk management
Day Three: Contract Closeout
- Closeout process overview, including inputs and outputs
- Contract closure
- Handover and transition
- Operations and support
- Handling premature closure
Day Four: Key Management Skills
- Relationship and stakeholder management
- Communication
- Performance management
- Negotiation
- Conflict management
- Leadership
- Documentation and record keeping
Day Five: Encountering and Solving Problems
- Common issues and risks, and how to deal with them
- Disputes
- Claims
- Completion, sign off and payment problems
- Recap of material
- Reference material
- Things you can do when you return to your desk
Module 2: Advanced Project Management
Day Six: Implementing Strategy via Projects, Programmes and Portfolios
- What is strategy, and how can the project world help to deliver it?
- The increasing velocity of change and how we handle it
- Delivery of change – common vehicles, when to deploy and how to manage them
- Projects
- Programmes
- Portfolios
- Managing for benefits and value
Day Seven: Advanced Project Delivery
- Determining and managing the project environment
- Setting the conditions for project success
- Alternative delivery models, including Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid, and Evolving
- Change management and transition to BAU
- Project procurement strategy
Day Eight: Doing the Right Projects and Doing the Project Right
- Governance – methods
- Effective sponsorship
- Supporting the project organisation
- Gaining and maintaining assurance
- Focus on people and leadership
Day Nine: Project Finance and Project Maturity Models
- Understanding project funding
- Comprehending project accounting
- Effective investment appraisal
- Getting better at projects – using maturity models
- Organisational considerations
- Why project maturity matters
- Common models
Day Ten: Ethics and Professionalism
- Project professionalism
- Ethics
- Competence
- Learning and development
- Communities of practice
- Recap of material
- Reference Material
- Things you can do when you return to your desk