Projects in many industries are increasingly being performed on a global basis by virtual teams. The lack of direct personal contact between project team members, who may or may not have the same employer and almost certainly operate in different cultural and work environments, can lead to project execution issues.

 
This situation emphasizes the criticality of sensitizing project managers to the nuances of the various cultural environments in which the project is being executed. For example, different cultures place varying emphases on important factors such as age and gender. While in an ideal world such factors would not matter, in the real world they do, especially when managing a culturally-diverse project team.

 
This class will address both the problems associated with managing projects across cultures, as well as provide some insights into how to address common issues that emerge when executing projects globally.

• Present case studies regarding specific situations commonly encountered by project managers with global, virtual teams, and explore the various options for resolving the situation in the most productive and amicable manner.
• Summarize the learnings from the case studies, and present some general “rules of the road” for managing global, culturally-diverse project teams.

Biography:

Mr. Gurbaxani has 20+ years of experience as a technology project manager and consultant. He has worked for the past 10 years as a program manager and consultant in the customer service / technical support areas. He has worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies in a wide variety of industries to help them implement state-of-the-art contact center technologies and improve operational efficiencies. His most recent experiences have been with customers in the digital broadband (telecom/cable), hospitality, and professional services industries.

His specialty is helping these managers measure their organization’s baseline performance, use those measures to suggest tactical and strategic improvement initiatives, implement new technologies and processes aimed at realizing operational improvement, and establish as well as achieve targeted improvement metrics. During the past eight years working for leading customer service software vendors, he has successfully delivered multiple implementations making extensive use of offshore development resources (primarily in India). He has written numerous articles in the technology area, most recently “Measuring Global Project Performance and Value” for the Atlanta PMI Professional Development Day meeting (August, 2006).

Mr. Gurbaxani has a MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School and a MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He has been a certified PMP® since 2001. He is also a member of Atlanta Telecom Professionals (ATM), MIT Enterprise Forum, and CRM Association of Atlanta.

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Managing Risk: A Question of Balance – Rich Maltzman, PMP®

Some contend that a project manager’s core work is as the risk manager of the project. Even if you don’t believe that, it’s clear that as a PM you constantly deal with risk. Using the concept and theme of balance throughout, this course takes the participant through the processes of risk management – risk planning, risk identification, risk analysis, risk response, and monitoring and control of risk – never losing sight of the project context. Peppered with class discussions to get the most from the attendees’ varied backgrounds (and to provide more balance!) it is also enhanced with interactions that engage all participants. This journey through the world of uncertainty will reinforce basic risk courseware you may have had and will leave you with some thought-provoking concepts but also with down-to-earth tools to use on real projects.

At the end of this course, class participants should be able to:

1. Gain a deeper, more integrated understanding of how risk affects a project

2. Translate this into how this affects the planning of their projects

3. Collect, understand, and use advice and tools for risk identification

4. Improve their capabilities in risk analysis

5. Expand their capabilities of developing effective risk responses

6. Reaffirm the importance of continuing, ongoing risk management

Biography:

Rich Maltzman, PMP, has been an engineer since 1978 and a Project Management supervisor since 1988, including a recent 2-year assignment in The Netherlands in which he built a team of PMs overseeing deployments of telecom networks in Europe and the Middle East. His project work has been diverse, including projects such as the successful deployment of the entire video and telecom infrastructure for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, to the 2006 integration of the PMOs of two large merging corporations.  As a second, but intertwined career, Rich has also focused on consulting and teaching, having developed curricula and/or taught at:

• Boston University's Corporate Education Center
• Merrimack College
• Northern Essex Community College
• University of Massachusetts - Lowell

Rich has also professionally developed PMP-exam prep courseware, including exams and books.  He even edited and was "the voice" for a set of 8 Audio CDs - a major part of a PMP prep course for an international company, for whom he has also facilitated PMP exam study groups.  Rich was selected for the Modeling Team for the 4th Edition PMBOK Guide to be published by PMI in 2008, and contributed to the chapters on Quality and Risk.

Currently, Rich is Senior Manager, Learning and Professional Advancement, at the Global Program Management Office of a major telecom concern.

Rich’s educational background includes a BSEE from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MSIE from Purdue University.  In addition, Rich has a mini-MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and a Master's Certificate in international business management granted jointly from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and INSEAD of France.  From a Project Management standpoint, Rich received his PMP in 2000 after earning the Stevens Institute's Master's Certificate in 1999.  He has presented papers on Project Management at conferences in Huizen, The Netherlands, Mexico City and Long Beach, California.

Rich is currently co-authoring a book with Ranjit Biswas, PMP, entitled "The Fiddler on the Project", a portion of which is being collaboratively written on the web via a wiki, and posts regularly on his blog, Scope Crêpe.

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Two Highly Effective Tools to Successful Project Results! – Kathleen King, PMP®, CPM

Overview: There are many projects within a corporation that must be managed by personnel that do not have Project Manager training. This seminar will show how the individuals tasked with managing a project to its successful conclusion can use two tools that will effectively increase the success rate by 50% at least! Taken directly from Project Management “Best Practices”, these tools are easy to use and implement within the structure of any project.

Agenda: In this highly interactive workshop we will cover

• Understanding why these tools will increase effectiveness
• The 5 key pieces information that MUST be known prior to beginning a project
• How to deal with specific challenges in getting the information needed
• Hands on development of the work papers required
• A “never fail technique to get teammates to work together on planning and owning the details of the project
• Resource, Task and Time requirements ready for input into your tracking tool

Biography:

Kathleen King, PMP, CPM, is the owner of SpiritForce, LLC. SpiritForce, LLC, offers a broad range of Project Management topics, with emphasis on the “Soft Skills” of leadership skills, team building and organizational development as well PMP Exam Prep courses and boot camps. Kathleen held the position of Director of the Project Management Office, which she founded, at a $700M multi-national corporation for a number of years. She was personally responsible for many corporate-wide projects such as acquisitions, corporate websites, Sarbanes Oxley compliance, Global Y2K readiness and many others. Through these experiences, she has honed her skills of people management to assist teams to work better together, help organizations realize the full benefit of the deliverables that are produced and leverage employee growth. As a licensed neutral in the state of Georgia, Kathleen is a professional mediator for all types of cases.

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How to Turn Conflict into Collaboration – Kim Freedman, PMP®

Course Description:

Every project has stakeholders, and when you have stakeholders with competing needs, you are going to have conflict. Conflict is not "bad," in fact it can be beneficial if seen as an opportunity for improving project communication and leading to better problem solving. However, conflict does need to be recognized, managed effectively, and resolved. This class examines the causes of conflict, typical responses, and the process of conflict resolution. Through lecture and exercises, you'll learn how to turn conflict into collaboration by surfacing the issues creating the conflict, promoting a win-win scenario, and obtaining a commitment to action. The Knowledge Area and Processes covered in this course are: Project Human Resource Management, Develop Project Team, and Manage Project Team.

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course, class participants should be able to:
• Define conflict
• Discuss the impact of conflict on a project
• Identify your preferred conflict style
• Describe the primary causes of conflict
• Name the conditions and skills needed to mediate conflict effectively
• List the steps in conflict resolution

The cost of the course includes a $15 independent assessment fee.

Biography:

Kim Freedman has over 20 years of experience managing people, projects, and business operations - primarily within IT companies such as EDS, Sapient and ACS. In addition to the PMP® designation, Kim has a professional certification in Human Resource Management and has worked as an HR Director and corporate trainer. She earned an undergraduate degree in Nursing from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA degree with a concentration in Management and Organization Development from Georgia State University. She also received professional coach training through the Coaches Training Institute (CTI). Kim is the owner of Catalyst Leadership Coaching, LLC, which uses customized training programs and one-on-one coaching to help businesses develop effective leaders and productive teams. Kim also offers personal development coaching to professionals who want to make more conscious choices and achieve their career and life goals through deliberate and inspired action. Kim is a member of the International Coach Federation and serves on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Coach Association. She is also an active member in the following professional organizations: Technology Association of Georgia, Women In Technology, and the Society for Human Resource Management—Atlanta chapter.

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Managing Stakeholder Expectations- The Key to Project Success– Diane D. Miller, PMP®

Using a combination of information sharing and relevant exercises, we will review the foundational project management skills needed to effectively manage stakeholder success. Each participant will build their own stakeholder analysis and stakeholder management plan based on a current real-world challenge or a challenge faced in the past. Using this same scenario, we will explore and practice techniques to effectively execute your plan. Then we will discuss ways to make sure you stay on track. You will leave this class armed with an actionable plan and the skills needed to successfully execute.

And just to keep us honest…
For those studying for the PMP exam (or that need a little refresher), the materials that we cover will be cross referenced back to the PMBOK.

By the end of this class, participants will:

Biography:

Diane D. Miller is a Principal at Satori Consulting, Inc. where she plays an integral part in the development of this innovative business. In this role, Diane is responsible for planning major projects, managing client relationships and establishing project standards for Satori. Diane also actively consults on process improvement engagements and works closely with clients to effectively manage organizational change.

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Project Managers are from Mars, Project Resources are from Venus– Andrew Gurbaxani, PMP®

Biography:

Mr. Gurbaxani has 20+ years of experience as a technology project manager and consultant. He has worked for the past 10 years as a program manager and consultant in the customer service / technical support areas. He has worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies in a wide variety of industries to help them implement state-of-the-art contact center technologies and improve operational efficiencies. His most recent experiences have been with customers in the digital broadband (telecom/cable), hospitality, and professional services industries.

His specialty is helping these managers measure their organization’s baseline performance, use those measures to suggest tactical and strategic improvement initiatives, implement new technologies and processes aimed at realizing operational improvement, and establish as well as achieve targeted improvement metrics. During the past eight years working for leading customer service software vendors, he has successfully delivered multiple implementations making extensive use of offshore development resources (primarily in India). He has written numerous articles in the technology area, most recently “Measuring Global Project Performance and Value” for the Atlanta PMI Professional Development Day meeting (August, 2006).

Mr. Gurbaxani has a MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School and a MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He has been a certified PMP® since 2001. He is also a member of Atlanta Telecom Professionals (ATM), MIT Enterprise Forum, and CRM Association of Atlanta.

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Unlock Your Project Team's Potential Through Coaching - Kim Freedman, PMP®

Do you want to maximize the productivity and efffectiveness of your project team? Try coaching them! The best Project Managers use coaching skills to guide individual team members to achieve extraordinary results. In this class you'll learn more about this thing called coaching and discover how it is similar and different from mentoring. You'll be introduced to coaching models, explore the basic skill set for coaches and mentors, get an opportunity to practice some coaching/mentoring skills, and much more. You'll also leave the class with practical strategies for coaching others to set goals, develop action plans, and obtain desired results.

Biography:

Kim Freedman has over 20 years of experience managing people, projects, and business operations - primarily within IT companies such as EDS, Sapient and ACS. In addition to the PMP® designation, Kim has a professional certification in Human Resources and has worked as an HR Director and corporate trainer. She earned an undergraduate degree in Nursing from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA degree with a concentration in Management and Organization Develoment from Georgia State University. She also received professional coach training through the Coaches Training Institute (CTI). Kim is the owner of Catalyst Leadership Coaching, which uses customized training programs and one-on-one coaching to help businesses develop leaders who deliver outstanding results. Kim also offers personal coaching to professionals who want to achieve their life and career goals in the quickest time possible.

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Managing Project Risk - Manny Rodriguez, PMP® , C.P.M

This course is designed to give the participant a thorough understanding of risks in projects. The course will take the participants through the process of risk identification, evaluation and mitigation planning for each risk identified. This seminar will serve as a footing and guide to manage an effective project, keeping within the confines of the triple constraints. In addition, this course visits financial impacts as the result of negative and positive risk outcomes.

Biography:

Manny's focus is the transformation of business needs into successful ventures through the use of proven project management tools and techniques. He is an experienced instructor, consultant and advisor, having done work in the US, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico. His experience expands 20 plus years in the interralated disciplines of telecommunications engineering, project management, procurement, organizational design and development, process engineering, quality management and project team facilitation. He has held numerous management positions including Senior Director of Operations with responsibilities ranging from multi-disciplilne, multi-million dollar projects utilizing internal and external resources. Manny's accomplishments include:

• Teaching over 4,000 students, maintaining an overall satisfactory rating greater than 90 percent
• Negotiating, formulating and managing contracts with extraordinary requirements, capital budget purchases and system enhancements

Manny has a BS in Management from Barry University and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP® ) and a Certified Prchasing Manager (C.P.M).

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Project/Program Metrics and Dashboards – Mike Hayes, PMP® , M.S.

During a large project/program, a vast amount of project data is collected. It is the project manager’s responsibility to collect the appropriate project data and display the information that paints the correct picture of the project/program.

Biography:

Mike Hayes has over 19 years of experience in software development life cycle processes, including project and program management. Mike has successfully delivered large projects for a wide range of customers, including the USAF and State of Georgia. In addition to his government industry experience, Mike has experience within the Telecommunications and HealthCare industries. One of Mike’s proudest achievements was his development and delivery of the Accreditation Badging System for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

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The BA Versus PM Struggle – Robin Tracy, PMP®, CBAP

How many times are we, as Project Managers, asked to wear multiple hats? In today's business environment company's expect more than just one skill set for their money. This class will help those who are asked to wear the hat of Business Analyst and Project Manager by clearly defining what each role is in an IT project, as well as provide useful templates for participants to use in their daily jobs. The class includes a demonstration using MS Project and Requisite Pro that shows shortcuts to creating project schedules. The attendees will leave this interactive class understanding both the BA and PM roles as well as when to "wear which hat" to be most effective.

Biography:

Robin Tracy is the President of Advanced Solutions Consulting, Inc. currently on assignment at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA managing multiple projects for the National Center for HIV, STD, TB, Prevention Informatics Office. She is also working with the CCID Informatics Workgroup in establishing roles and responsibilities for the newly organizing CCID Informatics Office.

Robin is one of 200 Certified Business Analysis Professionals (CBAP) and is uniquely qualified to discuss the struggles between the Project Manager and Business Analyst on a project team.

Robin has many years of project and program management experience in private as well as the public sector. Her education includes a BBA from Georgia State University as well as numerous certifications. Robin achieved her Project Management Professional (PMP® ) designation in 2004 and is actively involved in the Project Management Institute serving as Program Director for Education in 2006 and currently on the bylaws committee for the Atlanta Chapter.

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Earned Value Analysis – Eric Hughes, PMP®

A workshop for mastering an understanding of the key elements of earned value analysis as it pertains to scope, cost, schedule and optimum planning and control. This workshop will teach you how to predict future project performance based on historical data as well as how to display and interpret Earned Value Analysis results in graphical form.

Course Objectives:

“Excellent class on a very difficult subject - Eric was very good, knew his subject and answered all questions” – Class Attendee

Biography:

A graduate of West Point, Eric Hughes enjoyed a 20-year career as an officer in the U.S. Army. He held progressively demanding assignments in Systems Analysis and Personnel Management throughout the United States and Europe.

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Saving Troubled Projects - Manny Rodriguez, PMP® , C.P.M

This seminar presents the "nuts and bolts" about taking a failing project and restoring it to a meaningful conclusion. The driving concept in this fast-paced course is based on the concept that the project must be saved. It will give the participant the foundation in which to apply experience, tools and techniques as means of salvaging the project in a tight time frame. The course not only explores the planning and recovery, but the student will develop a clear understanding of constraints and what is required in order to deliver customer satisfaction.

Biography:

Manny's focus is the transformation of business needs into successful ventures through the use of proven project management tools and techniques. He is an experienced instructor, consultant and advisor, having done work in the US, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico. His experience expands 20 plus years in the interralated disciplines of telecommunications engineering, project management, procurement, organizational design and development, process engineering, quality management and project team facilitation. He has held numerous management positions including Senior Director of Operations with responsibilities ranging from multi-disciplilne, multi-million dollar projects utilizing internal and external resources. Manny's accomplishments include:

• Teaching over 4,000 students, maintaining an overall satisfactory rating greater than 90 percent
• Negotiating, formulating and managing contracts with extraordinary requirements, capital budget purchases and system enhancements

Manny has a BS in Management from Barry University and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP® ) and a Certified Prchasing Manager (C.P.M).

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Lessons Learned Best Practices – Lisa A. Grant, MBA, PMP®

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” – Unknown

Today’s companies are increasingly projectized. Valuable education and experience is achieved with each project undertaken by an organization. However, those experiences are often lost and not leveraged to improve future projects of the organization.

By definition, a project is a temporary endeavor. Once it is over the team is usually assigned to other projects, and all of the lessons learned go with them. It is the project manager’s responsibility to collect this valuable information and archive it in order for it to be leveraged in similar projects.

Biography:

Lisa A. Grant is a Professional Project Manager. Not because she achieved the PMP® certificate from the Project Management Institute in 1996, but because she has committed her career to the advancement of the project management discipline through consulting, training, coaching and volunteering. She has influenced and improved project management processes in various industries and functional areas such as Knowledge Management, Healthcare, e-Learning, State and Federal Government, Automotive, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Human Resources, Payroll, Textile, and Beverage verticals.

“Providing handouts allowed attendees to take back to their jobs a working instrument" – Class Attendee

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Measuring Global Project Performance and Value – Andrew Gurbaxani, PMP®

Projects in many industries are increasingly being performed on a global basis by virtual teams. The lack of direct personal contact between project team members, who may or may not have the same employer and almost certainly operate in different cultural and work environments, can lead to project execution issues. This situation emphasizes the need for increased coordination by project managers, and the critical need for real-time project reporting against standardized project metrics. In addition to these internal project performance measures, there is a real need to establish external (customer-facing) measures of the value provided by the project. This presentation will address both internal and external measures of project performance and value.

Biography:

Mr. Gurbaxani has 20+ years of experience as a technology project manager and consultant. He has worked for the past 10 years as a program manager and consultant in the customer service / technical support areas. He has worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies in a wide variety of industries to help them implement state-of-the-art contact center technologies and improve operational efficiencies. His most recent experiences have been with customers in the digital broadband (telecom/cable), hospitality, and professional services industries.

His specialty is helping these managers measure their organization’s baseline performance, use those measures to suggest tactical and strategic improvement initiatives, implement new technologies and processes aimed at realizing operational improvement, and establish as well as achieve targeted improvement metrics. During the past eight years working for leading customer service software vendors, he has successfully delivered multiple implementations making extensive use of offshore development resources (primarily in India). He has written numerous articles in the technology area, most recently “Measuring Global Project Performance and Value” for the Atlanta PMI Professional Development Day meeting (August, 2006).

Mr. Gurbaxani has a MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School and a MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He has been a certified PMP® since 2001. He is also a member of Atlanta Telecom Professionals (ATM), MIT Enterprise Forum, and CRM Association of Atlanta.

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Overview of Six Sigma – Eric Hughes, PMP®

This class is for the PM who wants to know what the fuss is all about when it comes to Six Sigma, and how it relates to project management. It will answer the following questions:

• What is Six Sigma?
• Where did Six Sigma come from?
• What are the Key Elements of Six Sigma
• What is the Six Sigma Methodology
• What tools does Six Sigma use?
• What is the Six Sigma Team Structure?
• Where can I get more information?
• What type of training is available

Biography:

A graduate of West Point, Eric Hughes enjoyed a 20-year career as an officer in the U.S. Army. He held progressively demanding assignments in Systems Analysis and Personnel Management throughout the United States and Europe.

After his military career, Eric joined Byers Engineering Company in 1998 as a Business Process Manager and was responsible for promoting project management principles and standards throughout the company. As a Director for operations and planning his responsibilities included oversight of program management throughout the data services and software development organizations. He developed a quality control process based on the American National Standards for Sampling Attributes and was responsible for the overall Quality Assurance Compliance Audit Program.

Eric currently works with local companies as a private consultant to develop project management and process improvement capabilities. He is also an Adjunct Professor in Shorter College’s School of Business.

Eric has an advanced degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Penn State. He has his Project Management Professional (PMP® ) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and his Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Georgia Tech College of Management.

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Managing Project Risk - Manny Rodriguez, PMP® , C.P.M

This course is designed to give the participant a thorough understanding of risks in projects. The course will take the participants through the process of risk identification, evaluation and mitigation planning for each risk identified. This seminar will serve as a footing and guide to manage an effective project, keeping within the confines of the triple constraints. In addition, this course visits financial impacts as the result of negative and positive risk outcomes.

Biography:

Manny's focus is the transformation of business needs into successful ventures through the use of proven project management tools and techniques. He is an experienced instructor, consultant and advisor, having done work in the US, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico. His experience expands 20 plus years in the interralated disciplines of telecommunications engineering, project management, procurement, organizational design and development, process engineering, quality management and project team facilitation. He has held numerous management positions including Senior Director of Operations with responsibilities ranging from multi-disciplilne, multi-million dollar projects utilizing internal and external resources. Manny's accomplishments include:

• Teaching over 4,000 students, maintaining an overall satisfactory rating greater than 90 percent
• Negotiating, formulating and managing contracts with extraordinary requirements, capital budget purchases and system enhancements

Manny has a BS in Management from Barry University and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP® ) and a Certified Prchasing Manager (C.P.M).

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Supplier Management Principles for Project Managers - Manny Rodriguez, PMP® , C.P.M

Understanding supplier management is a key factor in achieving effective results in projects. This course will teach the participants the basics of planning, forming, negotiating and managing contracts. You will learn the rules taht govern commercial transactions and how to structure the relationship with suppliers in order to achieve desired results. Further, we will examine the contracting process in terms of make or buy decisions, the solicitation process, the evaluation, supplier selection and contract administration.

Biography:

Manny's focus is the transformation of business needs into successful ventures through the use of proven project management tools and techniques. He is an experienced instructor, consultant and advisor, having done work in the US, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico. His experience expands 20 plus years in the interralated disciplines of telecommunications engineering, project management, procurement, organizational design and development, process engineering, quality management and project team facilitation. He has held numerous management positions including Senior Director of Operations with responsibilities ranging from multi-disciplilne, multi-million dollar projects utilizing internal and external resources. Manny's accomplishments include:

• Teaching over 4,000 students, maintaining an overall satisfactory rating greater than 90 percent
• Negotiating, formulating and managing contracts with extraordinary requirements, capital budget purchases and system enhancements

Manny has a BS in Management from Barry University and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP® ) and a Certified Prchasing Manager (C.P.M).

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MS Project Advanced Topics – Chuck Magee, PMP®

The advanced Microsoft Project class will cover the most challenging of topics often faced by experienced project managers using this tool. More specifically we will go inside Microsoft Project. We will:

• discover new ways to more quickly build effective and complex project schedules;
• learn advanced tips & techniques;
• see how to dynamically level multiple resources;
• find new ways to manage multiple projects with Master Projects; and
• leverage the advanced reporting /analysis methods integrated with other Office products such as InfoPath, SharePoint, Integrated Excel spreadsheets, etc.
This class is for advanced users who want to “make this tool work for you vs. you working for the tool.”

Biography

Chuck Magee is the Managing Principle of Technology Project Mentoring Group http://www.techpmg.com. He is a senior Project Manager with extensive experience in business development, program management, and services delivery focused on software implementations and technology consulting. He is also a recognized expert in Enterprise Project Management, partner based solution sales/delivery, and multi-industry management consulting. Mr. Magee’s previous business experiences include consulting for Microsoft Business Solutions, Manager and Executive Consultant for IBM Global Services and a manager at KPMG consulting.

Mr. Magee’s education includes an MBA from Georgia State University, a BS in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University and Graduate level courses in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky. He was awarded One Divisional Team Sales designation, three IBM “Top Gun” Achievement awards and one IBM Innovation award. In July 2000 he spoke at the Manugustics User’s Conference on “Supply Chain Planning and eBusiness Solutions.”

Additionally, Mr. Magee is a Six Sigma Green Belt, PMP® by PMI, Production & Inventory Mgmt by APICS (CPIM), Manufacturing Technologist by SME, Information Technology Specialist by IBM. He is also the Director of Programs for Microsoft Project User’s Group, a member of the Project Mgmt Institute (PMI) and APICS, has been listed in the “Who’s Who” National Registry, and serves on the Council of Logistics Mgmt.

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Understanding the Secrets of MS Project – Lisa Grant, MBA, PMP®

Whether you've been using MS Project for years, you are just beginning or simply need a brushup, you'll walk away from this class with a valuable tidbit or two. Students follow along with the instructor as she builds a sample schedule from the bottom up. Several times students have remarked, "I've been using Project for years and just realized I've been doing it all wrong." The class focus is on building a dynamic schedule and using the powerful scheduling engine of MS Project. The instructor walks through the "secret formula" and demonstrates the changes to the schedule as the task types are changed and the 3 variables of the formula are recalculated. This is where schedules often go awry and seem to take on a life of their own.

This class is for people who are actively using MS Project, and would like to understand the tool better. It is for the beginner to intermediate user and will be taught on MS Office Project 2003 not 2007. Some aspects will seem like basic review, however, it's impossible to teach bottom up schedule development without covering a few things people may already know.

Students will receive a hardcopy of the presentation as class materials.


PM best practices for building dynamic project schedules are also incorporated.

Requirements:

A laptop with at least MS Project 2003 is required for this class. Each participant is expected to bring his or her laptop and power cord to the class.

“I have been to a few classes over the years on MS Project and my use, again, over the years --- until recently --- has been somewhat sporadic. I thought this class was very well presented and a lot of things clicked for me this time to really help me understand how Project actually works and how to best use it to your advantage. No one before in any class I have taken took the approach that Lisa did to really get across how Project functions.

I believe it is good to have some experience under your belt, to have struggled with getting it to work and setting up and managing workplans. Lisa was a very good instructor, she obviously understood all that she was teaching from an actual use standpoint and not just an academic one. It was well worth the day spent going through the class. “

Biography:

Lisa A. Grant, MBA, PMP®, AC-Bronze

Lisa A. Grant is a Professional Project Manager. Not because she achieved the PMP® certificate from the Project Management Institute in 1996, but because she has committed her career to the advancement of the project management discipline through consulting, training, coaching and volunteering. She has influenced and improved project management processes in various industries and functional areas such as Knowledge Management, Healthcare, e-Learning, State and Federal Government, Automotive, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Human Resources, Payroll, Textile, and Beverage verticals.

Her consulting value proposition stems from 20+ years of Information Technology experience including full life-cycle application development (SDLC), software implementations, e-learning product launches, Program Management Office creation, Business Process Mapping, and process improvement business consulting.

Her tactical training experience includes e-learning, instructor-led programs and involvement in communities of practice. She is also a fervent blogger and podcaster of Project Management topics and war stories. Personal improvement is Lisa’s passion and she regularly coaches new project managers, and is an official mentor for Toastmasters Club 8708.

She has serviced PMI in various volunteer roles such as a participant on Global PMP® exam writing committees, as the Program Manager for the Certification and Education Committee of the Atlanta Chapter, and is currently the President of the Atlanta Chapter. Additionally, she performed the role of Secretary for Toastmasters Club 8708 in 2005, and was Program Director for the Atlanta Microsoft Project Association in 2006.

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Financial Concepts for Project Managers- Manny Rodriguez, PMP® , C.P.M

This course is a must for project managers. It focuses on the critical importance of understanding financial management concepts for the individual success of projects whether they are internal to the corporation or external to the client. In addition, it will enable the participant to fulfill the financial responsibilities of the job and will provide the knowledge and tools to successfully assume the financial responsibilities of the project management environment. This course is designed to provide a fundamental understanding of corporate financial management, and reinforce project cost management and communications as learned in other project management courses.

Biography:

Manny's focus is the