Strategic Project Design and Management Training Course

Participants can assess the strategic context and compare credible project options.

• PESTLE analysis identifies external forces shaping project feasibility and timing
• Porter's Five Forces assesses competitive implications for commercial investment projects
• Theory of Change links interventions, outputs, outcomes, and intended impact
• Baseline evidence establishes demand, service gaps, capacity, and policy requirements
• Options appraisal compares do-nothing, minimum-change, and full-investment alternatives
• Multi-criteria decision analysis ranks options against agreed strategic criteria

Participants can build a defensible business case for project approval.

• Five Case Model structures strategic, economic, commercial, financial, and management cases
• Cost-benefit analysis values quantifiable benefits, costs, and major assumptions
• Net present value and discounting support long-term investment comparisons
• Sensitivity analysis tests business case exposure to key variables
• Non-financial benefits stated with measurable indicators and accountable owners
• Recommendation papers present options, evidence, affordability, and approval requirements

Participants can define benefits, measures, ownership and transition arrangements.

• Benefits maps connect project outputs to operational outcomes and strategic objectives
• Benefit profiles specify measures, baselines, targets, owners, and timing
• Leading and lagging indicators distinguish adoption from realised value
• Disbenefits, opportunity costs, and unintended consequences enter benefits planning
• Operational readiness criteria establish conditions for benefits handover
• Benefits realisation plans assign post-project tracking and corrective action

Participants can design governance arrangements suited to project risk and scale.

• Governance structures define sponsor, board, project manager, and assurance responsibilities
• RACI matrices clarify authority for decisions, approvals, consultation, and information
• Stage gates test continued viability before releasing further funding
• Three Lines Model separates management control, oversight, and independent assurance
• Escalation thresholds identify decisions requiring sponsor or board intervention
• Terms of reference establish meeting cadence, quorums, papers, and records

Participants can plan stakeholder engagement around influence, interests and contested issues.

• Stakeholder mapping plots influence, interest, legitimacy, and project impact
• Power-interest grids determine engagement intensity and communication priorities
• Stakeholder interviews surface hidden requirements, objections, and decision constraints
• Political economy analysis identifies incentives, coalitions, and potential resistance
• Engagement plans define messages, channels, owners, timing, and feedback routes
• Issue logs distinguish stakeholder concerns from formal project risks

Participants can define controlled scope and trace requirements through delivery.

• Product breakdown structures organise deliverables into manageable component parts
• Work breakdown structures translate scope into accountable work packages
• Requirements traceability matrices connect needs, specifications, tests, and acceptance
• MoSCoW prioritisation separates essential, desirable, optional, and excluded requirements
• Acceptance criteria establish objective evidence for completed deliverables
• Scope baselines control change requests, assumptions, exclusions, and interfaces

Participants can build resource-feasible schedules from work packages and dependencies.

• Precedence diagrams show finish-to-start, start-to-start, and finish-to-finish relationships
• Critical path method identifies activities controlling planned completion dates
• Three-point estimating improves duration estimates under delivery uncertainty
• Resource breakdown structures identify required skills, roles, equipment, and facilities
• Resource levelling resolves over-allocation while protecting critical delivery dates
• Integrated master schedules connect milestones, dependencies, decisions, and external commitments

Participants can establish cost baselines, funding profiles and financial controls.

• Cost breakdown structures align estimates with work packages and accounts
• Bottom-up estimating calculates labour, materials, services, contingency, and overheads
• Contingency reserves distinguish known risks from management reserve requirements
• Time-phased budgets create funding profiles, cash requirements, and control accounts
• Cost baselines establish authorised expenditure for performance measurement
• Forecasting methods update estimate-at-completion using current cost performance

Participants can assess uncertainty and prepare proportionate risk responses.

• Risk breakdown structures organise strategic, delivery, commercial, and operational risks
• Cause-event-effect statements make risk descriptions specific and actionable
• Probability-impact matrices prioritise risks using agreed assessment scales
• Bow-tie analysis links threats, preventive controls, consequences, and recovery measures
• Quantitative risk analysis tests schedule and cost exposure using Monte Carlo simulation
• Risk response plans assign owners, triggers, actions, contingencies, and review dates

Participants can structure procurement choices and manage external delivery relationships.

• Make-buy analysis compares internal delivery, outsourcing, partnerships, and market purchase
• Procurement strategies align contract route with risk allocation and market conditions
• Statement of work defines deliverables, standards, acceptance, interfaces, and reporting
• Evaluation criteria balance price, quality, capacity, risk, and social value
• Contract management plans govern supplier performance, variations, disputes, and payments
• Partner dependency maps identify critical handoffs, obligations, and escalation routes

Participants can establish quality controls and verify readiness for implementation.

• Quality management plans define standards, controls, audits, and acceptance evidence
• Quality assurance evaluates process adherence before defects reach operational users
• Quality control uses inspections, testing, sampling, and defect trend analysis
• Readiness assessments test people, processes, systems, facilities, and support arrangements
• Independent assurance reviews examine confidence, capability, controls, and delivery prospects
• Lessons learned registers capture findings, actions, owners, and reuse conditions

Participants can interpret performance data and forecast project delivery outcomes.

• Earned value management integrates planned value, earned value, and actual cost
• Schedule performance index signals progress against the approved time baseline
• Cost performance index measures efficiency of completed project work
• Estimate-at-completion forecasts final costs using performance-based calculation methods
• Milestone trend analysis identifies recurring slippage and threatened decision dates
• Dashboards combine delivery, financial, risk, benefits, and stakeholder indicators

Participants can control material changes and prepare recovery plans for distressed projects.

• Integrated change control assesses scope, cost, schedule, risk, and benefits impacts
• Change requests document rationale, alternatives, authority, and implementation actions
• Configuration management protects approved specifications, versions, records, and technical baselines
• Root cause analysis separates symptoms from underlying delivery control failures
• Recovery plans reset priorities, resources, milestones, controls, and stakeholder commitments
• Decision logs preserve rationale for approved changes and unresolved issues

Participants can plan transition into operations and close projects with accountability.

• Implementation plans sequence deployment, training, communications, support, and contingency arrangements
• Operational handover confirms asset records, ownership, procedures, and service responsibilities
• Change adoption measures assess user readiness, utilisation, and process compliance
• Closure checklists confirm deliverable acceptance, contracts, finances, and outstanding liabilities
• Post-implementation reviews evaluate outcomes, benefits progress, and delivery performance
• Knowledge transfer plans retain technical, commercial, and operational learning

Participants can build, review and present a complete strategic project design pack for executive approval.

• Strategic case synthesises problem evidence, options, objectives, and intended benefits
• Integrated design pack aligns governance, scope, schedule, budget, risks, and procurement
• Benefits map demonstrates ownership, indicators, baselines, targets, and transition actions
• Executive dashboard presents milestones, funding needs, exposure, decisions, and assurance
• Peer review tests coherence, affordability, feasibility, controls, and strategic fit
• Board presentation defends recommendations, trade-offs, approvals, and next-step actions