Program Management

Projects are about specific deliverables. Focusing on that outcome is the project manager’s main goal—but a program manager coordinates a number of related projects and operations that will benefit his or her organization. As an integral part of the organization's strategic business, you, as program manager, must apply very specialized skills, knowledge, and tools to exercise a degree of control that would not be possible by managing projects individually. In this course, you will build the skills and best practices needed to successfully manage a program. Learn how to align multiple activities to reach a strategic goal, report to and engage stakeholders, and satisfy all of the very specific and exacting demands of the program manager’s role.

• Explore strategic program management and identify opportunities to achieve the organization’s strategic objectives
• Identify the program manager’s communication needs and ensure consistent dashboarding and reporting
• Recognize how program management is utilized at each point in the program life cycle
• Define, create, maximize, and sustain the benefits provided by programs
• Capture stakeholder needs and expectations, gain their support, and mitigate opposition
• Understand the importance of program governance

• The business case, program assessment, and program mission statement
• Five interrelated and interdependent program management performance domains: program strategy alignment; program benefits management; program stakeholder engagement; program governance; and program life cycle management
• Components of the program lifecycle and its phases
• Resource management, risk management, schedule management, and scope management needs unique to program management
• Elements of a benefits register, benefits realization plan, and the concept of value delivery
• Key stakeholder engagement, stakeholder maps, and emotional profiles 
• Program governance and the activities that support program management 

Learning Objectives

• Foundation terminology and concepts: Understanding Program Management and its relationship with and differentiation from project and operations management
• Understand strategic program management, including how to identify opportunities and benefits that achieve the organization’s strategic objectives
• Identifying the communication needs of a program manager and ensuring consistent dashboarding and reporting
• Explain how program management fits into and is utilized at each point in the program life cycle
• Explain the importance of defining, creating, maximizing, and sustaining the benefits provided by programs
• Explain techniques to enable to capturing of stakeholder needs and expectations, gaining and maintaining stakeholder support, and mitigating/channeling opposition
• Explain the importance of program governance related to proactively overseeing programs and providing decision-making support for applicable policies and practices throughout a program life cycle

Foundational Terms

• Understand  the difference between Project, Program, Portfolio, Operations
• Understand the differences between goals, objectives, requirements, and specifications
• Understand the Business Case, Program Assessment and Program Mission Statement

Difference Between Project and Program Management

• Understand the different charters for projects vice programs
• Understand the four dimensions of a project or program
• Be able to discern between a project and a program

Strategic Program Management

• Understand the Five interrelated and interdependent Program Management Performance Domains: Program Strategy Alignment, Program Benefits Management, Program Stakeholder Engagement, Program Governance, and Program Life Cycle Management
• Understand the actions that may be required to coordinate those activities
• Understand what is meant by business value and how  program management fits in to the portfolio
• Understand what a program roadmap may look like and what it contains
• Understand what an environmental assessment is, and what factors go into such an assessment

Program Life Cycle

• Understand the basic components of the program lifecycle and its Phases
• Understand program formulation and preparation
• Understand what program benefits delivery means
• Understand the component-level sub-phases involved in benefits delivery
• Understand the procurement needs unique to program management
• Understand the resource management, risk management, schedule management, and scope management needs unique to program management
• Demonstrate an understanding of the inter-relationship between the program roadmap and program schedule
• Identify issues related to changes caused by a program

Benefits Management

• Understand the components of benefits management needed at each phase of the program life cycle
• Understand the value of identifying the benefits expected from a program
• Understand how to identify possible benefits
• Understand the elements of a Business Case
• Understand the elements of a Benefits Register
• Understand what a benefits realization plan is and its basic components
• Understand the relationship between benefits management and the program roadmap
• Understand the concept of Value Delivery
• Understand, at a high level, the relationship between benefits delivery and governance

Stakeholder Engagement

• Understand who program stakeholders are and how to identify them
• Understand the Stakeholder Map
• Demonstrate an understanding of key stakeholders, their roles, and their potential power and interest
• Explain four techniques for responding to a stakeholder distress call
• Understand the importance of stakeholder emotions
• Understand how to prepare emotional profiles on stakeholders to be prepared to handle issues
• Understand how to use the emotional profile to engage a stakeholder

Program Governance

• Understand the role of a program governance board and its responsibilities
• Understand the governance activities that support program management
• Discern what governance roles would assist a program