PROJ ECT

1
MA N AGEM ENT
Online Certificate Program

OVERVIEW
Earn 50 project management education hours towards your PMP (Project Management
Professional) certification and exam when you complete Cornell’s Project Management
certificate program.

Most projects, even at successful companies, tend to go over budget and take longer
than projected—even with formal training, specialized tools and automated software.
The courses in this project management certificate program teach proven strategies
and practical, hands-on tools to drive successful project outcomes. You’ll learn how to
scope projects effectively, set key milestones, improve time budgeting and resource
allocation, and get the project done on time and within budget. Processes covered
within the project management certificate program include agile methodologies and
earned value management (EVM).

The concepts, tools, and language of project management in this program can
be applied to any size or type of project. Familiarity with the language of project
management is helpful, but not required.

COURSES COURSE LENGTH FORMAT

6 2 weeks 100% online

COURSES
• Organizing the Project and Its Components
• Planning and Managing Resources
• Assessing, Managing, and Mitigating Project Risk
• Using Earned Value Management for Project Managers
• Agile Project Management Approaches
• PMP Study Group

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7 COURSES

2 INSIDE the PROGRAM

100% ONLINE

KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Examine the project management life • Recognize shortcomings in computation
cycle and key project characteristics • Identify sources of uncertainty in task
• Develop a work breakdown structure durations
• Construct a project network to identify • Examine PERT computations
task durations • Study the PMBOK and complete practice
• Construct a Gantt chart exams to prepare for the PMP exam
• Use float information for decision
making
• Identify the critical path

WHO SHOULD ENROLL

• Team leaders • Project management professionals
• Managers preparing to take the PMP exam
• Anyone responsible for the success of
team projects and initiatives
• Professionals with exposure to project
management efforts or tools but no
formal training

WHAT YOU’LL EARN

• Project Management Certificate from Cornell
Engineering
• 50 Professional Development Hours (5 CEUs)
• 50 Project Development Units (PDUs) toward PMI
recertification

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7 COURSES

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COURSE
DESCRIPTIONS
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ORGANIZING THE PROJECT AND ITS COMPONENTS

On the surface, project management seems straightforward. However, at best, only

80% of projects end up being economically successful. The remaining 20% of projects
usually cost more than estimated, run late, or fail to satisfy goals or meet objectives.

In this course, Linda Nozick, Professor and Director of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at Cornell, shares clear, understandable, and practical methods for
achieving better results. You will practice breaking down a project into pieces that can
be scheduled, tracked, and controlled.

While this is not a prep course for a project management certification, it will be quite
valuable for anyone who is interested in pursuing one. This program will equip you
with the concepts, tools, and language of project management that can be applied to
any size and type of project.

The course is not specific to any formal project management software (e.g. Microsoft
Project), but will require that learners have Microsoft Excel with its free Solver add-on
installed.

PLANNING AND MANAGING RESOURCES

Research shows that a high percentage of projects take significantly longer than
expected and cost more than anticipated. Moreover, if you ask people for an estimate
of how long a task will take them to complete, their estimate will usually be overly
optimistic.

Sometimes, if you bring in extra people to help with a task, that actually slows down
progress instead of accelerating it. Why is this so? And what can you do about it? In
this course, from Linda K. Nozick, Director and Professor of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at Cornell, you will examine these questions. Students will identify
strategies to integrate resource availability constraints into project planning,
scheduling, and control.

This course is designed for project managers who seek better practical results for

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aligning available resources with tasks and bringing activities to completion on time.
Students will examine compression strategies for bringing a project that’s running late
back on track and will explore how to handle common types of project creep, such as
handling customer requests that require extra time, and working with team members
who decide independently to invest extra effort in a task.

This course combines a focus on formal project management mechanisms with an

emphasis on the human element: what can project managers do to resolve issues
brought about in the normal course of working with customers, team members, and
stakeholders?

It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components prior to this
course or have equivalent experience.

ASSESSING, MANAGING, AND MITIGATING PROJECT RISK

Risk management is a key function in project management. Project managers should

be able to apply a variety of risk-management tools in their work, including performing
risk identification, quantification, response, monitoring, and control.

In this course from Professor and Director of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Linda K. Nozick, you will examine the nature and types of project risk and learn to
apply specific mitigation strategies.

You’ll have an opportunity to analyze a past project you’ve worked on and assess what
the risks might have been and why. Then you’ll analyze the outcomes: Did the known
risks come to fruition? What were the leading indicators? What could they have done
for contingency planning at the beginning? By asking these questions, you’ll then
be able to perform several calculations to compute the probability that a project will
finish on time.

It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components and Planning
and Managing Resources prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

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USING EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT FOR PROJECT MANAGERS

Project managers need to keep things on track by keeping a close eye on the scope of
and resources invested in a project. Forecasting, adjusting, and applying corrective
measures during the project lifecycle are also key functions of a project manager. This
set of processes and protocols that help ensure project success is called earned value
management (EVM). Every project manager should have at least a working knowledge
of EVM and its theoretical underpinnings.

This course is designed for project managers who seek an introduction to EVM to
achieve better practical results for implementing project controls, including financial
controls and schedule controls. The calculations presented here are meant for any
experienced project manager, including those who are not engineers, to apply to any
size project. Students in this course will be most successful if they have a foundational
understanding of standard project management tools and processes including project
networks, project budgets and schedules, and work breakdown structures.

It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components, Planning and
Managing Resources, and Assessing, Managing, and Mitigating Project Risk prior to
this course or have equivalent experience.

AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

In traditional project management, we tend to make assumptions: the customer knows

precisely what they want, or the team’s workflow and tasks will go according to plan
and in sequence.

Practically speaking, this is rarely the case. Sometimes the customer doesn’t know
what they need until they see an early iteration of your team’s work and can provide
feedback. Because of this, work is usually done incrementally. We must build
flexibility, even agility, into the model in order to succeed.

This course is designed for project managers who want to get better practical results

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with adaptive approaches to projects. Students in this course will be most successful
if they have a foundational understanding of traditional project management tools and
processes including project networks, budgets and schedules.

It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components, Planning

and Managing Resources, Using Earned Value Management for Project Managers,
and Assessing, Managing, and Mitigating Project Risk prior to this course or have
equivalent experience.

PMP STUDY GROUP

Join an instructor-led study group where you will work together to study the PMBOK,
discuss practice problems, and learn tips to help you prepare for the PMP exam.
Required accompanying study books:

• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 6th Edition. Project

Management Institute.
• Agile Practice Guide, 1st Edition. Project Management Institute.
• Rita Mulcahy’s PMP Exam Prep, 10th Edition. Rita Mulcahy, PMP.

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