Student Handbook & Prospectus

Post Graduate Certificate in

Project Management (PGCPM)

School of Engineering and Technology

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi – 110 068
Guidance : Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU

Support & Cooperation : Prof. Ajit Kumar, Director, SOET

Information Compilation : Dr. Manoj Kulshrestha, Project Coordinator, IPC Project

Dr. Ashish Agarwal, Project Coordinator, IPC Project

CRC Management : Mr. Praveen Chauhan, DEO, SOET

Print Production : Mr. A. S. Chhatwal, Assistant Registrar (Publication), SOET

October, 2010

 Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means,
without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the
University’s office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110 068.

Printed and published on behalf of the Indira Gandhi National Open University by Director, SOET.

Laser Typesetting by School of Engineering and Technology, IGNOU, New Delhi-110 068.

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 CONTENTS

1. The University 4
2. School of Engineering and Technology 4
3. IGNOU-PMA-CEPM Collaboration for Online Project
Management Training 7
4. Post Graduate Certificate in Project Management (PGCPM) 8
5. The Courseware 9
6. Programme Delivery 10
7. Term End Examination 11
8. Evaluation Methodology 12
9. Other Important Information 13
10. Guidelines for Filling-up the Application Form for Admission 14
11. Application Form for Admission

RECOGNITION
IGNOU is a Central University established by an Act of Parliament in 1985 (Act
No. 50 of 1985). The Degrees/Diplomas/Certificates awarded by IGNOU are
recognised by all the members of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU)
and to be treated at par with Degrees/Diplomas/Certificates of all Indian
Universities/Deemed Universities/Institutions vide UGC Circular No. F. 1-8/92
(CPP) dated February 1992 and AIU Circular No. EV/B(449)/94/176915-
177115 dated January 14, 1994.

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 THE UNIVERSITY

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was established in 1985 by an Act of
Parliament with a view to democratise education and improve the quality of life of our
people. IGNOU has now emerged as the largest University in the world. It is mandated
to cover large segments of population across the length and breadth of the country
particularly the disadvantaged groups of society engaged in various vocations and
professions. The primary emphasis is on innovation, flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
The University follows a learner-centric approach. It has successfully adopted a policy of
openness and flexibility in terms of relaxed entry qualifications and provision for
multiple entry and exit, pace, place of study, etc.

At present, IGNOU is offering more than 400 programmes and has over 3.2 million
students on its roll. The University operates through a strong network of 68 Regional
Centres. There are over 3000 Study Centres/Programme Study Centres across the
country, which provide individualised support to the learners. Most of these centres are
equipped with the state-of-the-art tele-conferencing facility. The University produces
high quality and rich content courseware for its learners for which the IGNOU was
conferred an Award of Excellence for Distance Education Materials by the
Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada.

Objectives of the University

The University has the following major objectives :

 Promoting the educational well-being of the community;

 Democratising higher education by providing easy access to all those who
desire to improve their qualifications, skills and competence by taking
education to the door-steps of people living even in remote areas;
 Offering need-based innovative academic programmes by giving professional
and vocational orientation to the course curriculum;
 Disseminating learning and knowledge through an innovative multiple media
teaching-learning system.

In addition, IGNOU also has the responsibility of promoting and developing distance
education system in India.

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

The School of Engineering and Technology has the responsibility of initiating academic,
continuing and extension education programmes in the areas of engineering and
technology. The School has developed several programmes aimed at increasing job
potential and economic advantage to the learners. To fulfil its mandate, the School

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regularly interacts with employing agencies, professional bodies and industry so as to
reflect educational and training needs of the targeted learner group in the curriculum.
The school practices participative and collaborative strategy by inviting different
industries.

The instructional packages are designed and developed with the help of experts drawn
from various institutions of acknowledged expertise : IITs, National Institutes of
Technology (NITs), reputed Universities and Engineering Colleges and Industry. The
School has forged alliances with the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC),
Directorate General of Shipping (DGS), Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC),
Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), Aeronautical Engineering &
Research Organisation (AERO), Ministry of Power (MoP), and Hero Honda Motors Ltd.
(HHML), etc. to design, develop and conduct tailor-made courses to meet the specific
needs of respective employment sectors.

The programmes launched by the School range from a competency based non-credit
vocational qualification certificate to doctoral degree in engineering and technology.
The school has successfully launched its programmes at various levels in the areas of
Civil Engineering (Construction Management and Water Resources Engineering),
Mechanical Engineering (Computer Integrated Manufacturing), Nautical Science, Art and
Craft (Pottery), Footwear Technology, Power Distribution Management, and Motorcycle
Servicing and Repairing, etc.

Under our innovative mechanism of Competency based Vocational Qualification System

jointly designed, developed and monitored with partnering organisations, trade level
workers are trained and certified.

Programmes on Offer

At present, the School has following programmes on-offer:

 Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering & Technology

 M Sc in Footwear Technology
 M Sc in Fashion Merchandising & Retail Management
 M Sc in Creative Design & CAD/CAM
 M Sc in Leather Goods & Accessories Design
 M Sc in Visual Merchandising & Communication Design
 Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Safety, Health & Environment
Management
 Post Graduate Certificate in Project management
 Bachelor of Technology in Aerospace Engineering
 Bachelor of Architecture
 B Sc in Footwear Technology
 B Sc in Fashion Merchandising & Retail Management

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  B.Sc. in Leather Goods & Accessories Design
 Diploma in Industrial Safety, Health & Environment Management
 Vertically Integrated Engineering Programmes in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical,
Electronics & Communication and Computer Science & Engineering
 Advanced Certificate in Power Distribution Management
 Certificate in Craft and Design (Pottery)
 Certificate in Shoe Upper Cutting
 Certificate in Shoe Upper Stitching
 Certificate in Shoe Lasting and Finishing
 Certificate in Leather Goods Making
 Certificate in Energy Technology Management
 Certificate in Motorcycle Service and Repair
 Competency Certificate in Power Distribution

Ongoing Collaborative Projects in the School

 IGNOU-CIDC Construction Education and Training Project (IC-CETP)

(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Construction Industry Development Council)
 IGNOU-KVIC Project
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Khadi and Village Industries Commission)
 IGNOU-FDDI Project
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Footwear Design and Development Institute,
NOIDA)
 IGNOU-DGS Project
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Directorate General of Shipping)
 IGNOU-MoP Project
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Ministry of Power, Government of India)
 IGNOU-AERO Project
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Aeronautical Engineering & Research
Organisation)
 IGNOU-HHML Motorcycle Technicians Competency Development
Project (IH-MTCDP)
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Hero Honda Motors Ltd.)
 IGNOU-IIMSHE Project
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Institute of Industrial Management for Safety,
Health and Environment, Bhopal)
 IGNOU-ISTE Collaboration
(Collaborative project of IGNOU and Indian Society for Technical Education)
 IPC Collaboration for Online Project Management Training
(Collaborative project of IGNOU, Project Management Associates (PMA), NOIDA and
Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM), NOIDA)

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 IGNOU-PMA-CEPM COLLABORATION FOR ONLINE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRAINING

This project is a collaborative venture among Indira Gandhi National Open University
(IGNOU), New Delhi, Project Management Associates (PMA), NOIDA and Centre for
Excellence in Project Management (CEPM), NOIDA directed towards the dissemination
of knowledge and skill upgradation in the area of project management.

Project Management Associates (PMA)

Project Management Associates (PMA) established in 1993 with the main objective of
propagating project management ideas and practices in India. Its other objectives are
to create awareness amongst all the stakeholders, the imperatives of sound project
management methodology as the backbone for the growth of the society; to conduct
examinations or tests in one or more aspects of project management and to promote
certification in the field of project management. Project Management Associates, a
vibrant non-profit national body of project managers in India, is a member of
International Project Management Association (IPMA), Netherlands. IPMA was formed
in 1965 to create a fraternal body of Project Management - National Associations.
International Project Management Association, a body comprising 44 National PM
Associations from all over the world, is providing the visionary direction to the project
management profession and facilitating the pooling of national experiences to form a
global depository of knowledge. As a member of IPMA, India has access to the latest
concepts and methodologies related to PM through the literature of IPMA and by
participating in its programmes. IPMA's 4-Level Certification (4LC) scheme which is
globally recognised, is administered only through PMA in India.

Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM)

Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM) Pvt. Ltd., established in 2003, is in
the forefront in developing the world class training material on the varied aspects of
project management and related to various certification schemes. Over the years, CEPM
has evolved world class online training contents to prepare students to have access to
the contemporary project management topics and trends. CEPM's experience in
delivering consultancy, training and Project Management software solutions is highly
rated by the industry. CEPM provides project management training through in-company
and public seminars and supports both critical path and critical chain based enterprise-
wide project management solutions. CEPM is a leader in training professionals in the
effective use of Project Management tools such as Sciforma's Project Scheduler &
Communicator and Microsoft's MS Project.

Thus, all the three project constituents have distinct areas of expertise which has been
effectively used in programme design and development of PGCPM.

The course delivery mechanism for PGCPM programme will be based on Online
Education through Internet based URL, http://www.ignou-cepm.org.

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 POST GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT (PGCPM)

IGNOU offers Post Graduate Certificate in Project Management (PGCPM) in

collaboration with Project Management Associates (PMA) and Centre for Excellence in
Project Management (CEPM) with specific responsibility of constituents in respective
expert area.

Objectives

Education and training in the area of Project Management is an important and effective
means of transforming India into a project oriented society. In fact, it should be
encouraged in the national interest so that the application of Project Management
concepts can improve our ability to keep pace with the international happenings.
Keeping this in view to fulfil the above defined needs PGCPM has been designed.

Admission Eligibility

Candidates eligible for admission to PGCPM should possess following qualifications :

 Graduate in any discipline.

 Besides graduate candidates from other Universities, this programme may also
be taken by existing IGNOU students enrolled in programmes where minimum
entry qualification is graduation. One can pursue both the programmes
concurrently.

Programme Structure

There are four courses in the programme. The total credits of a course have been
worked out on the basis of course content and their weightages. Following table gives
the details of the courses.

Programme Structure of the PGCPM

Sl. Course
Name of the Course Credits
No. Code
1. MPM-001 Project Fundamentals and Appraisal 4
2. MPM-002 Project Planning and Organization 6
3. MPM-003 Project Implementation and Control 4
4. MPM-004 Project Closeout 4
Total 18

The course delivery mechanism for the program will be based on Online Education
through Internet based URL (Programme Website) www.ignou-cepm.org

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Details of the Programme

Some pertinent details of the programme are given as under :

Post Graduate Certificate in Project Management (PGCPM)

Programme Duration 6 Months (Minimum) and 2 Years (Maximum)

Programme Fee Rs. 7,200 + Rs. 100 (Registration Fee)

Eligibility Graduate in any discipline

Age No bar

Medium of Instruction English

THE COURSEWARE

MPM-001 : Project Fundamentals and Appraisal

(Credits : 4)

Project Fundamentals: Project -- What is a Project ?, Operations vs. Projects, PM

Characteristics, Why modern PM is the key Discipline ?, Historical Perspective,
Project Management, Triple Constraints, Project life cycle, Uncertainties vs. life
cycle, Value addition vs. life cycle, Cost of change vs. life cycle, Amount at stake
vs. life cycle Appraisal: Stakeholders--Stakeholder Requirement, Business Case,
Need Analysis Cycle, Business Case Concepts, Contents of Business Case,
Investment Appraisal, Project Charter, PESTLE Analysis

MPM-002 : Project Planning and Organization

(Credits : 6)

Project Planning: Planning Management--Why Plan ?, Types of Plan, Start Up,

Need for proper start up, Success Criteria, Success Criteria, Scope Definition,
Scope Philosophy, Product/Service Description, Scope Planning, Scope Statement,
Scope Definition High Level, Work Breakdown Structure, Work Package, Scope
Management Plan, Time Management--More about WBS, Overview of Networks,
Project Network Diagrams, What is an Activity ?, Arrow Diagramming Method
(ADM), Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM), Program Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT), Duration estimates, Logical Relationships and Dependencies,
Lead and Lag, Early Start and Early Finish, Late start and late finish, Critical path,
Float, Project Network Analysis, Gantt Charts, Cost & Finance: Cost Estimating,
Cost Baseline, Estimate at completion, Quality Considerations: Quality Philosophy,
What is Quality ?, Cost of Quality, Communication: Communication Concepts.
Project Organization: Internal & External Interfaces--Role of Interfaces, Roles &
Responsibilities--What is HR ?, Roles, Duties and Responsibilities, Responsibility
Assignment Matrix, Organization Structures - Types of Organization Structures,
Information System--Communication Process

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MPM-003 : Project Implementation and Control
(Credits : 4)

Project Implementation: Risk & Opportunity - Risk vs Project Life Cycle, Risk
Identification, Risk Assessment. Teamwork - Types of Teams, Characteristics of
Teams, Team Building, Barriers to Communication. Issue Management - Issue
Logs. Procurement--The need for procurement, Procurement Planning, Contracting,
Project Control: Issue Analysis - Issue Analysis. Quality-Flow Chart, Histogram,
Pareto Diagram. Control-Change Management Concepts, The need for change
control, Formal Change control procedures. Information Management & Reporting-
Meetings, Information Management Fundamentals, Schedule and Cost Monitoring.
Team Performance-Motivation Theories, Conflict Resolution

MPM-004 : Project Closeout

(Credits : 4)

Project Integration : Conformance-Ensuring conformance. Problem Solving -

Problem Solving. Project Integration-Project Definition, Manage Project Plan,
Manage Project Execution, Monitoring and Control. Product Integration-
Integration Platform, Sequence for Integration, Evaluate Products. Integration
Effectiveness-Documentation, Priority Setting, Issue Histogram. Project Delivery :
Contract Administration - Contract Administration, Project/Product Warranties,
Close Out-Purchase Order Close out, Legal Close out, Contract Close Out,
Resource Close out, Project Close out report. Project/Product Delivery - Delivery
Checklist, Project Acceptance. Post Project Evaluation-Project Evaluation. Video
Viewing. Full Length Test (FLT).

PROGRAMME DELIVERY

The programme delivery mechanism for the Post Graduate Certificate in Project
Management (PGCPM) shall be as follows :

 The programme will be delivered online to all the enrolled students. All students
will be provided the user ID and password to access the courseware of the
programme. With the given user ID and password, one has to log-in to
www.ignou-cepm.org. In fact, in this programme, the students will not be
attached to any study centre. They have to study themselves on the basis of
online contents available with them. However, for their query redressal, some
sessions of teleconferencing as per requirements may be organised on
Gyandarshan-2 during the programme duration. A prior intimation in this regard
would be sent to all students through E-mail.

 Every student enrolled in this programme will have sequential access in the
courses in the order, namely MPM-001, MPM-002, MPM-003 and MPM-004. To
start with, one will have access to only MPM-001 till (s)he finishes the course in
terms of content grasping and opts for Continuous Assessment Check (CAC) for
the course. For completing MPM-001 which is a 4-credit course, one has to
spend at least 15 hrs. with the online contents in order to properly grasp the

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 concepts covered in the course. Once the student clears the CAC for MPM-001,
(s)he will move to MPM-002 failing which (s)he will not be able to access
contents of further courses, i.e. MPM-002, MPM-003 and MPM-004. In this case,
(s)he has to spend another 5 hrs. with the online contents of MPM-001 and
clear the CAC for the course. A student will be given a maximum of three
attempts to clear the CAC for any course in the programme.

 After qualifying in CAC of MPM-001, (s)he is authorized to get access to the

online contents of MPM-002. This being a 6-credits course, one has to spend at
least 20 hrs. with the online contents in order to properly grasp the concepts
covered in the course before opting for the CAC of MPM-002.

 Similarly, after completion of MPM-002, a student will be able to access MPM-

003 and then has to qualify its CAC for accessing the contents of MPM-004.
Finally, after completing MPM-004 course contents and qualifying its CAC, the
students shall be allowed to access video viewing and final examination practice
test.

 A student switching over to next course after qualifying the CAC of previous
course(s), (s)he will have access to all the previous course(s). For example, at
the time of studying MPM-004, (s)he will have access to MPM-001, MPM-002
and MPM-003.

 Once a student qualifies the CAC of MPM-004, (s)he becomes eligible to appear
in the Term End Examination (TEE) of the programme.

TERM END EXAMINATION

Apart from CACs of different courses, Term End Examination (TEE) is another
evaluation tool in the PGCPM programme which is conducted in June and December for
the students enrolled in January and July respectively.

In order to appear in the Term-end-Examinations, the students are required to fill in the
Term-end-Examination form. The Examination Form is to be submitted to the
Programme Coordinator (PGCPM) along with an examination fee of Rs. 60 per course.
(Rs. 240 for four courses of PGCPM). The last dates for submitting the filled-in
examination forms are as follows :

Examination Dates for Submission of Examination Forms

Months
Without Late With a Late Fee With a Late Fee With a Late Fee
Fee of Rs. 300 of Rs. 500 of Rs. 1000
June 1st February to 1st April to 21st April to 21st May to
31st March 20th April 20th May 28th May
December 1st August to 1st October to 21st October to 21st November to
30th September 20th October 20th November 28th November

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After receiving the examination form, the University will upload the Hall Ticket before
the commencement of TE Examinations. After downloading the Hall Ticket, paste your
recent passport size photographs. If you do not find your Hall Ticket on IGNOU Website
(www.ignou.ac.in), you must contact Programme Coordinator (PGCPM) at the HQs

Your enrolment number is your Roll Number for examinations. Be careful in writing it.
Any mistake in writing the Roll Number will result in non-declaration of your result.

It is the duty of student to check whether (s)he is registered for the course(s) (s)he
intends to appear for the examination. If you neglect this and take the examination
without being eligible for it, your result will be withheld.

Final term end examination will be conducted at selected IGNOU examination centres
located in selected cities of IGNOU Regional Centres. Examination will be divided into
two sessions of 3.5 hours duration each. Both sessions will have two papers, i.e. Paper
1 and Paper 2 of 1 hour 30 minutes duration each with 30 min break between the
papers. Both sessions may be held in a day or two different days in morning (1000
Hrs.-1300 Hrs.) and/or evening session (1400 Hrs.-1700 Hrs.), preferably on the last
week of June/December.

EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

The weightage of CAC and TEE for all the courses is 30% and 70% respectively in the
overall evaluation scheme of the programme.

A student will be awarded marks for Continuous Assessment Checks (CACs) and for
Term End Examination (TEE) part for each course. To clear a course, a student will
have to clear both the segments of the course. Following table gives minimum
percentage of marks required for the clearance of a course:

Evaluation Component’s % of marks for

part for the Course Clearance
Continuous Assessment Check (CAC) ≥ 50%
Term-end Examination (TEE) ≥ 50%
Overall Performance ≥ 60%

To facilitate statement of overall performance at the end of the programme, the

calculation of overall percentage will be based on the weighted average system and the
precision will be up to the one point after the decimal. Calculations will be carried out
using the following scheme :

C1 P1  C 2 P2  C3 P3  . . .
Overall Percentage 
C1  C 2  C3  . . .

where C1, C2 … denote credits associated with courses taken by the student, and
P1, P2 … denote the percentage of marks awarded in respective courses.

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The divisions will be decided as follows :

Distinction with First division 75% and above.

First division 60% and above but less than 75%

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Admission Schedule

The University offers admission to PGCPM programme twice in a year, i.e. July and
January. The separate admission schedule is published in the newspapers as well as
displayed in IGNOU website. Accordingly, one may apply in the months of April-May
and October-November for July and January session respectively.

Programme Fee

The programme fee of PGCPM is Rs. 7,200. Over this, the registration fee of Rs. 100 is
to be paid by students of all programmes of the university. The fee is to be paid in the
form of a Demand Draft (DD) amounting Rs. 7,300 (Rs. 7,200 + Rs. 100) drawn in
favour of IGNOU payable at New Delhi along with the APPLICATION FORM FOR
ADMISSION and I-card.

How to Apply ?

The APPLICATION FORM FOR ADMISSION, I Card and the GUIDELINES FOR
FILLING-UP OF APPLICATION FORM FOR ADMISSION are to be downloaded
from the IGNOU website: http://www.ignou-cepm.org and go through the
instructions carefully before filling-up the Application Form.

The duly completed Application Form for Admission (Two pages on separate sheets)
and Identity Card (One page) in all respect along with the prescribed fee, i.e. Rs. 7,300
payable to IGNOU, New Delhi, should be sent to the following address :

Programme Coordinator (PGCPM)

IGNOU-PMA-CEPM Project (IPC Project)
School of Engineering and Technology
Visvesvaraya Bhawan (Block C), New Academic Complex
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi - 110 068

Phone No. : 91-11-29532092, 91-11-29536443

E-mail : [email protected]

The last date of submission of Application Form

for Admission is May 31, 2011.

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