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Bringing Your Career Plan Together With MS Project Training

There are so many advantages to good Project Management. A career in this profession will provide you with opportunities to really make a difference to an organisation's bottom line. The role is excellent for those who have good spatial skills, and enjoy working through tasks. It's also useful to have good interpersonal skills as the work often requires quite detailed communication with others.

...Smoothly And Efficiently!

For businesses to be profitable margins are often tight, hence controlled project management is often essential. Shareholders want profits and customers want value and convenience. Unless production is managed with a fine toothcomb, that's not going to happen easily! Project Management is establishing itself not only as a professional career path, but also as a most effective way to control business.

Training courses in Project Management can be sought from various different companies. You will learn skills that include preparing project plans; initiating projects; executing, monitoring, controlling and closing projects, cost estimations and planning and performing quality assurance.

Terminology

Project Management has a good deal of terminology that students need to comprehend. Along with learning about the essential characteristics of each project, you'll need to get in tune with modern accepted wisdom. Not all project managers use the same approach, but introductory programmes will equip you with a certain amount of flexibility to join most teams.

It's Been Around A While...

It sounds like a very modern application, but in fact you could say project management is as old as the pyramids! Architects like Sir Christopher Wren in the seventeenth century and the great engineers of the early nineteenth century actually did their own style of project management.

Henry Gantt and Henri Fayol were born in the mid-nineteenth century and are considered to be two of the key forefathers of project management. Gantt was called the father of planning and control techniques.

Frederick Winslow Taylor could be regarded as one of the first management consultants, and was one of the leaders of the Efficiency Movement in the US. He maintained there was always one best way to fix a problem.

The Beginnings Of PM As We Know It Today

Fast forward to the 1950's, and we see the beginnings of Project Management as we know it today - with the systematic application in the USA of PM tools and techniques to complex projects. The US Navy started on the project to build the Polaris Missile, and it became apparent that more sophisticated planning structures would need to be implemented. The PERT technique, developed by Booz-Allen & Hamilton was the answer. Along with later developments this led to mathematical techniques being used to find the critical path through a project. In 1956 the American Association of Cost Engineers was formed as technology for cost control was developed.

International Project Management Association (IPMA)

The International Project Management Association was formed in 1967. Over forty thousand people are now members of this Swiss registered alliance. Member associations promote project management and provide information about trends and developments.

The Project Management Institute

Two years after the IPMA was formed, the PMI (Project Management Institute) was founded in America. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge has been published by the PMI. This covers project management procedures that are common to "most projects, most of the time." Anyone looking to get into or further their career in Project Management today would do well to have a thorough understanding of this set of guidelines and best practices. Specialist colleges provide training on each of the processes covered in the guide. Once trained, you will be ready to take the global standard PMI certifications, which come under the headings of Project Management Professional and Certified Associate of Project Management.

PRINCE2 (Derived from PROMPT and PRINCE)

You will discover many training organisations offering various courses in PRINCE2 - a generic project management method that was released in 1996. It offers a structured approach, combining the original PRINCE program with IBM's MITP (managing the implementation of the total project) methodology.

It's a process-based approach for project management providing an easily tailored and scalable method. The model ensures that the focus is always on the viability of the project in relation to the overall business objectives. It's the sum total of over 20 years of industry experience.

Other training options include degrees that incorporate project management modules, and also of course pure project management degrees. Essentially your training needs to cover skills and techniques that you can perfect as you build your real life experience in industry. Take time to go through all the training options available to you.