Bringing Order to Global Projects
with Microsoft Project Online
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How much control do you have over your global projects?
What are your project team members doing at the moment?
What progress has your team made towards the next milestone?
How often are you caught off guard by project issues and risks?
You and your team have probably developed workarounds for these complex issues. Your internal workarounds may be
improved on by process enhancements combined with some of the functionality in Microsoft Project Online. This workshop will
give you a chance to test drive various solutions and decide which are the most suitable for you and your organization.
PMI Japan Chapter is very proud to announce a series of workshops titled, Bringing Order to Global Projects with Microsoft
Project Online. The first workshop in the series - Project Initiation and Analysis, will be held in May 2014.
This workshop series will provide attendees with the knowledge and
experience of managing projects in a global context supported by the
use of Microsoft Project Online. Microsoft Project Online is a
subscription based version of the desktop application, and as a result
is a financially logical choice for project organizations with tight
budgets or for those who wish to test the functionality without
making a big up-front investment.
Each session stands alone, and focuses on a particular
part of the project lifecycle. If there is sufficient
interest, the series of four workshops will be repeated
next year so people will have a chance to attend all
four with minimum inconvenience.
The full series includes the following:
1. Project Initiation and Analysis
2. Project Planning
3. Project Execution
4. Project Closure
Project Initiation and Analysis
The first workshop provides strategies and tools to deal with a range of common
challenges relating to project initiation. Approaches and answers to fundamental
questions will be addressed, including:
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Can we do the project we have been given?
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What if we don’t have enough resources?
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Do we have a business case?
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Are our projects aligned with our corporate strategy?
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How to select the highest value projects?
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Can we do it with internal resources?
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How busy are our people?
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Is the client deadline achievable?
Project Planning
The second workshop addresses issues of how to build a project team and manage
cross border collaboration on global projects, where team members may be located in
different countries and different time zones and have different concepts of quality,
time and accountability. The workshop will provide tools and strategies for answering
the following questions:
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How to create the project plan?
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How do we estimate project costs?
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How will our global team work together?
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Who is responsible for what work?
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What are the stakeholder expectations and how do we manage?
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How do we build and develop the team?
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How can we share and agree on a common project vision?
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How do we manage different ways of working?
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What steps can be taken to ensure a common project team culture?
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Do your project team members have the same concept of quality and timeliness?
Project Execution
The third workshop will address common issues experienced by project managers
during project execution, such as
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Are we going to meet scope / budget / timeline?
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Are you frustrated by trying to manage complex projects using only an excel spreadsheet?
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How to deal with change requests?
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How much time do you spend every month on generating reports?
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How to support negotiations with data?
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How do we demonstrate to management and the client our progress?
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How to manage risk and issues?
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How can we deal with differing attitudes towards risk?
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What can be done to gain common agreement on quality?
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How to ensure that users are onboard and supportive?
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How can we manage differences in perception with regards to
accountability?
Project Closure
The fourth workshop will address common issues experienced by project managers during project closure,
such as
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How to support the transition to operations?
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Did the project meet the stated objectives?
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How to extract and communicate meaningful lessons learned from a globally dispersed team?
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How to plan and facilitate a project post mortem meeting?
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How can we ensure that lessons learned on this project are implemented
on the next one?
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How can we support and manage organizational change issues related
with business process improvement projects?
Collectively, the four workshops provide answers to questions addressed by Project Managers from
end to end of the project lifecycle. And participants will take away tools and methods that are
repeatable and reusable on any project.
Course Overview
Organizer
PMI Japan Chapter
Managing Global Projects with Microsoft Project Online
Dates
Note
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Project
Project
Project
Project
Initiation and Analysis – May 2014
Planning – July 2014
Execution – Sept 2014
Closure – November 2014
Each of the four related workshops tied to the project lifecycle are designed to be
completed independently. Applicants can take any number of courses from one to four.
Example: Take three courses (Project Initiation and Analysis, Planning and Closure) or
Take only one course (Execution), etc.
9:00 - 10:00 Reception / Confirm connectivity to MS Project Online
Time Table
10:00 – 12:30 Morning Session
13:30 – 17:30 Afternoon Session
Mark Beresford, MBA, PMP®, CBAP®
Instructor
Michael Treasure, MBA, MCTS
Trevor Warner, MBA, PMP®, MCTS
Please refer to "Instructor Profile” for further details.
Language
Target
Venue
Access Map
Capacity
All the courses will be conducted in English and Japanese with teams given the option
to do their group work in Japanese or English, depending on the members and their
preference.
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Leaders or candidates who manage global projects or global programs
The management or executives who are in charge of global business
Project Managers
Strategic Planning Managers
Center Bldg.3F,3-15, Nihonbashi-Nakasu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 103-0008 Japan
By subway (Hanzomon Line) : About 5 minutes walk from Suitengumae Station.
PMI Japan Chapter
Twenty applicants will be accepted for each course in the order of application. (Any
course may be cancelled when its number of applicants is less than six.)
● Each one day workshop is good for 7 PDUs for PMP®
Participants who attend the whole series of 4 workshops will qualify for:
Certificate
● Maximum 28 PDUs for PMP®
● Maximum 28 Contact Hours for PMP® Exam Application
● Maximum 28-hour ITC Practitioner Points for IT Coordinator
Course Description
The course makes extensive use of the case study method as used in the major MBA programs. Each
course will follow the same basic learning cycle. A series of realistic case studies and simulations have
been prepared that highlight a wide range of real project management challenges. These cases are
presented to the attendees, putting them in the role of Project Managers, Program Managers, Portfolio
Managers or other people concerned with projects, who must find a solution to the challenges
presented. They will compare their usual method of resolving the issues with new methods as
presented by the trainers using various analytical tools and techniques including MS Project Online.
1) Problem Introduction
The trainers present a scenario in the case study with an issue that needs to be resolved. Each
team will study the case and discuss how the problem would normally be resolved in their
organization, using their usual tools and information. They will then identify the key questions
that need to be answered and the information required to answers those questions.
2) Demonstration
The trainers will demonstrate how PM process supported by Project Online could help to resolve
these issues. Processes and technology (based on Microsoft’s Project Online) are demonstrated
to highlight some possible approaches to the challenges presented.
3) Team Work
Teams work together to develop a strategy and course of action to resolve the issue.
The objective is to develop creative solutions to the challenges presented. This would typically
be in the form of a discussion between team members. Each team member will have access to
an MS Project Online account with the case information pre-loaded. At the end of the Team
Work discussion a workable solution should be produced. Trainers will coach the teams as
needed, to ensure that a workable solution is achieved.
4) Presentation
Each team presents their team’s solution and highlights of their discussion back to the wider
group. This will be followed by a short Q&A opportunity to allow each team to learn from the
other teams.
5) Lessons Learned
Finally the Trainers provide analysis on the presented solutions, as well as any other potential
solutions to the challenges. Lessons learned will be captured and distributed to all participants
for future application.
Following this cycle, attendees are presented with additional information in the case, with new
challenges to address. Over each day, this cycle of case analysis is repeated several times.
Instructor Profile
Mark Beresford
MBA, PMP, CBAP
Mark Beresford, is the Managing Director of Innova Solutions, Inc., a project management
and human capital consulting company based in Tokyo, Japan.
He has spent the past 13 years helping Japanese (and foreign) companies and project teams
to successfully cross borders and cultures.
More information
Michael Treasure
MBA, MCTS
Michael Treasure is the CEO of Arbutus Solutions KK, a project and portfolio management
consulting company based in Tokyo, Japan.
He has 10 years of experience in implementing Project Management solutions based on
Microsoft Project Server and related technologies.
More information
Trevor Warner
MBA, PMP, MCTS
Trevor Warner is the COO of Arbutus Solutions KK, a project and portfolio management
consulting company based in Tokyo, Japan.
A longtime resident of Japan, Trevor has extensive experience integrating project
management processes with technology.
More information