The APM PMQ was formerly known as the APMP and is designed for those who see project management as a key part of their role within their organisation. It is an internationally recognised qualification that establishes a solid foundation in project management behaviours, skills, processes and tools, and is suitable for implementation in any type of industry. It is ideal for those people who have a few years’ experience in delivering projects, who are seeking to consolidate a structured method of project management in their company. It is based on a best-practice approach from the Association for Project Management, which is the chartered body for the project profession.
At the end of the APM PMQ course, you will:
First, we will cover an overview of the course syllabus, assessment criteria and the exam question types followed by exploring how projects transform ongoing operations and how project support strategic change as part of a co-ordinated programme or portfolio of projects.
We then look at how projects are not delivered in isolation and how they need to fit within the overall business, legal and political environment. We will also examine factors which may affect a projects context including relevant legislation, and tools you can use include PESTLE, SWOT and VUCA.
We finish by looking at how projects need to work with a wide range of different organisations and cultures. To be effective a project team needs clear roles and responsibilities. In this session we explore the different types of organisations and the key responsibilities of the project manager, sponsor, user, product owner and the project office and how these operate in a linear, iterative and hybrid lifecycle. This includes the importance of project reviews and benefits of capturing lessons learned from projects.
We look at how to adapt project delivery to the changing project context, delivering sustainable performance both in terms of profitability and environmental impact. This module will draw from the Balfour Beatty Sustainability Strategy and ‘Beyond Net Zero Carbon’.
As part of this session, we will organise you into groups who can work together to share experiences in the course, share best practice and support each other as the exam approaches. You will remain part of these learning groups throughout the course.
The key to good communications in a project environment is the identification and management of stakeholders. In this session, we explore the processes for managing stakeholders, the contents and structure of a communications plan and the factors affecting communications in a project environment. All projects have periods of conflict, resolving these conflicts by negotiations is a critical skill for many project managers. We look at the different approaches to conflict resolution and the stages in the negotiation process.
People deliver projects and so in this section we look at how to develop and lead successful project teams. This includes discussions on the leadership qualities of a project manager, the principles of motivation, the impact of leadership on team motivation, the advantages of adopting situational leadership models and the benefits of effective teams and team working in virtual teams.
In this special module, we explore the concept and application of leadership in Balfour Beatty projects. What are the attributed that differentiate the best Balfour Beaty project leaders from the rest? How can the organisation build teams that stimulate talent from all sectors of society? What are the best ways of motivating teams in such a challenging world?
In this session we will explore how to manage scope through requirements management and configuration management. We will also look at the different stages in change control and the relationship between change control and configuration management. Finally in this session we explain the advantages and disadvantage of a change control process.
Planning projects relies on a clear understanding of the project outcome, business benefit and a structured project management plan. In this session we will also explore the first stage in planning a project from the business case to the project management, plan. We will explain the purpose of a business case, benefits management and describe the authorship and ownership of a business case. We also explore the importance of payback, internal rate of return and net present value for project business cases.
In this session we explain project information management and a typical project reporting cycle, the purpose of the project management plan and the authorship and ownership of the project management plan. We will look into more detail at the management of stakeholders and the use of stakeholder maps and discuss the links with the communications plan. Finally, a range of estimating techniques will be explained, together with the problems of trying to provide an accurate estimate and the concept of the estimating funnel.
Planning and controlling activities and resources is a vital part of project control. In this session we look at detailed project planning explaining techniques such as dependency networks, critical path and critical chain analysis, and the process of creating a schedule.
We go on to explore the concept of resource management. We will look at the management of resources including categories and types of resources used by projects and how resources are applied to a scheduling process. This will include differentiating between resource smoothing and levelling. Cost is also an important aspect of project control, so in this session we will explain budgeting and cost management, including the use of earned value management.
In this module we explore the concept of control within projects at Balfour Beatty. What are the best practices for project control in Balfour Beatty? Is it one size fits all? How can the project control system be adapted to the level of control required? What is the role of collaborative planning and agile thinking in infrastructure project management?
Every project has risk. In this session we look at a proactive risk management process. This includes examining the stages in a risk management process, risk response planning, the benefits of risk management and the difference between risk and issue management. In this section we will also examine the importance of a risk and issue escalation process.
Poor quality management leads to poor customer satisfaction, additional cost and project delay. In this session we look at the elements of project quality management including quality planning, assurance, and control. We will also look at the role of a procurement strategy in project delivery and the different forms of contractual relationships and payment types as described in the APM Body of Knowledge
In the final webinar, we will review and refine exam technique. This will involve a looking at command verbs, answering the question and sentence structure. We will also review the syllabus, before setting the mock exam.
A morning of final exam preparation, covering exam technique and hot topics, followed by the APM PMQ exam.
As part of this programme, you will receive