Master in Project Management (ENG) - UB

• #4 Best Master in Project Management Spain.
• Top 5 project management master at ‘Mundo Posgrado 2019'.
• The best master in Project Management online according to the ranking Iberoamericano 2015.

Syllabus of the Master's Degree in Project Management

• The structure and duration of the Masters in Project Management allows us to ensure the attainment of the above objectives.
• Globalization, the emergence of new competitors, rapid changes in business strategies and other factors, mean that Project Managers, besides having to have very broad knowledge in project management, also must have developed extensively their personal skills and performance.
• The program analyzes all the knowledge areas defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the PMBOK^® Guide, but the Masters in Project Management also includes many additional topics that have been considered essential to incorporate in the program to guarantee a complete development competence of the project manager.

Strategic Project Management

The implementation of business strategies is carried out through project management, specifically, through the management of programs and portfolios, and with the help of governance mechanisms ('Project Governance') and PMO ('Project Management Office') structures. However, it is necessary to first understand some fundamental concepts such as: company, strategy, strategic planning, management styles, structures and cultures organizations.

• The organization and organization policy.
• Foundational Elements.
• Styles and organizational cultures.
• Organizational structures in projects.
• The Project Life Cycle.
• Project Management Knowledge Areas.
• Project Management Process Groups.
• Programs and portfolio management and their strategic alignment. OPM3.
• Strategic Project Governance. Project Management Office (PMO).
• Case studies.

Project Scope Management.

Reaching the project's objective is the first check of project management effectiveness and it is clear that this check is prior to the evaluation of the approved schedule and budget.

• Scope management processes. Scope project management plan.
• Compiling requirements.
• Defining the project scope.
• Creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Verification and control of the project scope.
• Case studies: Petronas Tower.

Project Finance

A Project Manager has to be able to understand the language, structure and processes that take place in the financial management of projects; to lead that management and / or to collaborate with financial managers in their development, both at the project level and at the organization level.

• Framework.
• Financial Plan.
• Formulation: business model.
• Evaluation: economic study.
• Modelling: financial analysis.
• Financial analysis and reporting.
• Categories of risk.
• Case studies.

Project Schedule Management.

An integral and current vision of the processes for the project time management is explained in this module. Project time management is not a trivial process; it has to draw the attention of the project managers, so a correct estimation of the activities of the schedule (their durations, necessary resources, deliverables, monitoring and control) will be key elements in the achievement of the objectives and goals of the project.

• Introduction and general aspects.
• Schedule management plan.
• Identification and definition of schedule activities.
• Sequencing of schedule activities.
• Estimating resource requirements of activities.
• Estimating the duration of activities.
• Development of the time planning.  
• Monitoring and control of time planning. Schedule control.
• Applications for Schedule Management: MS Project.
• Case studies: Practical exercises using MS Project. Application of ‘What If' technics.

Project Cost Management.
Cost management, together with scope and time management, is a part of the foundational pillars of project management. More specifically, the information related to costs is always very sensitive for the steering committee of the project. Besides from making a correct estimation of the project costs, a strict control and monitoring to ensure project success is required.

• Basic concepts.
• Cost plan management.
• Estimating project costs.
• Preparation and approval of the project budget.
• Cost control.
• Applications for cost management.
• Case studies: Earned Value Management (EVM) and What If technics.

Project Quality Management.

In this subject, in addition to trying to clarify what we should understand by "Quality", we will make a practical presentation of "Quality Management" in all aspects of the project, from planning, through execution and ending in monitoring and control. It will be studied current quality management systems and basic principles of Total Quality Management and several current quality models, including EFQM and ISO standards. The differences between the implementation of a Quality Management System in an organization and the development of the Quality Manual will be identified. This will lead to determining their differences with respect to the elaboration of a Quality Plan for project management.

• Project quality planning.
• Assuring the quality of the project.
• Project quality control.
• Quality Standards applicable in projects.
• The quality of products and/or services.
• The project quality management plan.
• Tools and techniques for improving the quality of processes.
• Case studies: Gasdem Ibética, S.A., Welz Business Machines, Titanic, Harley-Davidson and NASA.

Project Risk Management.
This module offers a very broad and detailed view of the current ‘state of the art' of the professional in charge of managing project risks. Specifically, the subject will provide guidance and sufficient resources to address the risk management side of any project that the student has to manage.

The course includes also specific sessions dedicated to quantitative risk analysis with Palisade @RISK tool. It is an application that allows risk simulation in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project through ‘Montecarlo' modeling.

• Introduction to project risk management.
• Risk management planning.
• Risks identification.
• Qualitative risks analysis.
• Quantitative risk analysis.
• Planning risk response.
• Implementation of risk response. 
• Risk controlling.
• Applications for risk management: @Risk
• Case study: Petronas Tower.

The human factor in project management. 

People are a key part of project management. In this subject you will learn topics related to project team management, interpersonal skills and leadership that a good Project Manager should have, as well as the main techniques of conflict resolution. You will know the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and its application in the Project Management profession.

• Planning and acquisition of project resources.
• Development and team management.
• Multicultural team management.
• The Project Manager: hard and soft skills.
• Leadership.
• Motivation.
• Emotional intelligence.
• Conflict and negotiation skills.
• Social and environmental responsibility.
• Case studies: Apolo 13.

Project Change Management.  

In each single project a change of state has to be managed (since it moves from an initial situation to a different one), so most of the projects fail because of a bad management of that change. While project management focuses on tasks, activities, scope and deliverables; change management is responsible for leading people to a change behavior in order to achieve the 'new state'. That is, the 'Project Manager' focuses on what, when and how much; while the 'Change Manager' in why, who, where and how.

• Change Management Concepts.
• Organizational Project Change Management.
• Project Change Management.
• Project People Change Management: communications management, stakeholder management, training management and team management.
• Case study: Petronas Tower.

Procurement Management and the legal aspects in projects.

This subject will give students the ability to develop the most correct contractual strategy in each single project, as well as to evaluate the most suitable types of contracts for each project deliverable and to elaborate the corresponding bidding documents. It will also acquire competencies to be able to raise and conduct negotiations, not only get to understand the structure of the contracts and the importance of each of them, but also learn to communicate with the legal services.
Students will learn how to use the contracts as tools for risk management, transfer and mitigation, as well as to perceive the importance of contract monitoring as a mechanism to avoid and resolve conflicts.

• Procurement management according to the PMBOK^® Guide.
• Contract Management.
• Legal aspects: the contract, types of contracts, drafting and interpreting contracts.
• Case studies: They will allow the development of the contractual strategy and the procurement management plan, including risk management strategies through contracts for a specific project.

Project Sales Management

If we are not successful in managing the sale of the project, the project will not even begin. In this subject students will learn the relevance of making a good offer, a good definition of the scope of the project, along with the rest of its aspects, so that our later management has options to be successful.
Throughout this module, students will analyze in which environment offers are developed, how to maximize their effectiveness, how to increase the sale options of the project, (always maintaining a solid basis for its execution), the role of the buyer and the aspects of negotiation and strategic sale.

• The project as a product to sell.
• The process of selling projects.
• Types of offers and contracts.
• The creation and content of offers.
• Strategic selling methodology.
• Case studies: sales optimization as Project Managers.

Project Integration and Knowledge Management.

Project integration management consists of processes and activities to identify, define, combine and coordinate project management activities as well as project phases. It also includes integrating actions of the unification, consolidation and coordination necessary to complete the project and manage the requirements and expectations of the stakeholders. In other words, it is the glue that unites the different parts of the project and turns them into a solid set.
Knowledge management in projects is a discipline whose definition emerged in the corporate world and its objective seems simple: to capture, evaluate, distribute and share the knowledge generated in organizations through project management.

• Integration management.
• Knowledge management.
• Case studies

Traditional methodologies.

This subject explains either methodologies or frameworks of projects aligned with the PMBOK^® Guide.

Both general methodologies, independent of the application sector, and those tailored for a specific sector will be covered in this module. Alternatives will also be learned to choose the most appropriate Project Management approach for each project, depending on the circumstances of the project and its complexity.

• Project Management methodologies and International ISO21500.
• PRINCE2.
• Case studies.

Agile methodologies: a change of mentality

This subject presents another way of managing projects and the products of high-performance teams comparing them with traditional methodologies such as the one developed in the PMBOK® Guide.
The application of Agile Methodologies requires a major change of mentality. To address them, it is necessary to know the fundamental concepts of this type of management and the differences they have with traditional process management, as well as the techniques and tools that are used.

• Project management agile methodologies and the differences with traditional ones.
• Agile as a response of digital revolution challenge.
• Change of mentality required for agile.
• Agile principles.
• Agile leadership.
• Lean Process management.
• Framework scrum.
• Agile technics and tools.

Application of agile methodologies

In this subject you will learn how to choose the most suitable project management approach for each project, having understood the need for the methodology based on innovative products, how they are managed and monitored, what roles are involved and how the high performance teams that are required are managed.

• Acceleration of the ‘time to market' and need to agile management.
• Agile project and products management.
• Agile estimation and metrics.
• High performance team management.
• Learning how and when an agile methodology has to be used.
• Choosing methodologies, produces and approaches: project tracking and project steering.
• Mitigation of risk in high complexity project by using agile.
• Continuum methodology ‘Traditional. – Bimodal – Multimodal'
• Agile management digital tools.
• Case study.

Advanced Project Management.

During this subject, the student will be able to do another step forward in the learning process by analysing specific types of project management.

• Bimodal and multimodal projects.
• Specific industry Project Management.
• International Project Management.
• The future of the Project Management.

WORKSHOPS

Besides from the abovementioned modules, the Masters in Project Management additionally includes several workshops:

Workshop: Advanced Project Planning Course: MS Project

The Microsoft Project version Professional application allows planning, scheduling and project control, and is a de facto industry standard. In this workshop and through videos, exercises and debates, the student will be able to obtain an advanced knowledge in the management of the project planning through the use of this tool.

Workshop: Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) and Tools

This workshop will allow students to obtain skills to analyze, select and apply PMIS (Clarity PPM, Planning IT, Cardinis, EnterpriseTrack, Power Steering, etc.) and Tools (Redmine, Remember The Milk, TeamViewer, etc.); and thus make the daily life of the Project Manager easier. It also explains how to work with the Gartner Magic Quadrant.

Workshop: Project Management Simulation. Simultrain

SimulTrain is a project management simulation tool developed by STS that provides simulation of calls, reception of emails and voice messages to create a realistic project management environment, through which attendees to the workshop can implement fundamental procedures, tools, and techniques of project management learned throughout the Master.
This workshop is organized by teams and allows to 'simulate' the role of Project Manager through the planning and management of the execution of a fictitious project, facing the most relevant events that occur in the real life of the management of a project: the customer requests some changes in the scope, difficulty in obtaining the necessary resources, technical difficulties during the development of the product, etc.
The workshop allows you to improve communication and develop problem solving skills, team decision making in certain situations and train some of the key competencies necessary to start, plan, execute, follow up & control and close any type of project.

Workshop: PMI-PMP certification preparation: Introduction.

The PMP certification is considered fundamental in the professional development of the specialists of different disciplines in diverse industries and it is every day more required in the labor market of the project management.
The program is structured in three areas: application, knowledge areas and process groups and practices.

• Application:

Application process, through guides and examples, how participants should prepare the documentation requested by the PMI.

• Knowledge Areas/Process:

It covers the areas of the PMBOK^® Guide emphasizing key aspects of the certification.

• Practices:

Multiple-choice exercises similar to those of the formal examination will be conducted, with the possibility of self-evaluation through one of the best simulators in the market (X-AM of STS Company).

Workshop: PMI-ACP certification preparation: Introduction.

The objective of this workshop is to support student in the preparation process of the PMI certification: Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®).

The program is structured in three areas: application, theoretical guide and practical guide.

• Application:

It is explained the application process, through guides and examples, of how the participants should prepare the documentation requested by the PMI.

• Theoretical Guide:

Guide for reading the Bibliography required for the exam.

• Practical Guide:

Practical guide that allows the understanding of the scenarios and application of the techniques analyzed.

FINAL PROJECT

The main objective is to carry out a project that allows students to apply the groups of learned processes throughout the program, and at the same time achieving a specialization in the management of a specific project. It focuses on applying best practices from different industries, understanding its benefits and exercising management skills that every Project Manager should have.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

The Master in Project Management is complemented with lectures and seminars which will be held in each of the blocks. These additional activities are performed by renowned professionals in the project management field who, through videoconferencing, will introduce students to their experiences and case studies.

Case studies

The practical component of the program is essential and complements the theoretical training. Therefore, during the course discussions are held of topics of current or particular interest in each of the subjects, simulations of decision-making applied to real situations or to resolve practical cases where problems and their proposed solutions are analysed from an academic point of view, as well as the criteria taken into account to carry them out.

Webinars

Most of the training is done asynchronously; it means that the exchange of knowledge is done through a software platform that allows sharing written texts without having people to be connected at the same time.

Additionally, in each of the subjects' synchronous sessions or 'webinars' are organized, in sessions in which all participants are connected at the same time through a program allowing the exchange of knowledge in' real time '.

Software tools

The Masters in Project Management offers a broad and open vision of project management, training students to be experts in project management methodology to ensure successful implementation. To achieve this goal, it is essential to support training through professional software tools that allow students to better understand the concepts and also to know some important and useful tools that surely they will have the opportunity to use in their professional environment

Throughout the course students will have the opportunity to master the following software tools:

• MS Project from Microsoft.  
• @Risk from Palisade. 
• WBS Chart Pro.
• PMPeople.  
• Mind Manager.
• Trello. 
• Draw.io

On the other hand, during the 'Project Management Information Systems' workshop, almost 100 very useful applications for Project Managers in the management of the different tasks will be explained.

Having an advanced knowledge of MS Excel and having it installed (a license is not provided) are required.

Simulation tools

During the course it will be delivered powerful simulators tools:

• SimulTrain is a Project Management Simulator that allows working as a Project Manager by doing simulation exercises that help the decision making process under real Project Management cases.
• X-AM is a simulator tool from STS that allows students to better prepare for the PMP and ACP certification exams by answering a sample of questions similar to the real examination.

PMI: Students membership

Thanks to an agreement between OBS and the PMI, at the beginning of the course all students will be enrolled as "PMI student members" with the same rights as any other PMI member.  

The advantages of this enrolment are:

• Access to digital editions of the main PMI standards, including the PMBOK^® (Guide of Project Management Body of Knowledge) and Agile Practice Guide.
• Access to knowledge sharing, networking opportunities, PMI Chapters and 'Communities of Practice'.
• Volunteering opportunities to increase experience.
• Access to library of webinars, guides, how-to's, etc.
• Significant discounts on international Project Management bibliography.
• Discounts on certification exams: 40% Project Management Professional. (PMP^®), 25% Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM^®) and 15% Agile Certified Practitioner.

Nota: OPM3, PMBOK, PMP,  Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) are resgistered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Requirements of the Master's Degree in Project Management:

• It is necessary to have a University Degree and work experience to be accepted into the programme. Work experience is most valued because it is important to share in the knowledge – gained from training and professional responsibility – which each participant contributes to the particular situations set out by the professor. In the event that someone does not have the abovementioned requirements, acceptance into the programme will be decided on by the Board.
• People who successfully complete the programme will earn the Private Master Degree from OBS Business School. And also, the people who pass the programme evaluation and comply with the academic requirements established by the University of Barcelona (UB), will receive the University Private Master Degree from the University of Barcelona (UB).
• In order to obtain the UB qualification, you need to have a University Degree (Engineer's Degree, Bachelor's Degree for four years or Bachelor's Degree for three years). If you do not have a University Degree, once you have passed the different evaluations you will receive an extension diploma from UB.