The courses in the Introduction to Project Management Principles and Practices Specialization are a recommended precursor to UCI's Applied Project Management Certificate. Successful projects require careful upfront planning. In this course, you’ll learn the key roles and responsibilities of the project manager and project team. You’ll also learn to answer some key questions upfront to help you meet project objectives: What will this project accomplish? Why is this project important? Who benefits from this project? How will we plan for successful outcomes? Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Identify the key characteristics of a project 2. Identify primary project constraints 3. Define the role and responsibilities of the project manager 4. Identify Project Organizational Structures 5. Understand the definition of a Project Stakeholder 6. Identify project stakeholders 7. Identify information needs of the project stakeholders 8. Define responsibility for managing stakeholder and controlling stakeholder engagement 9. Define the purpose of using a project charter 10. Summarize the key elements of a project plan 11. Identify common sources of conflict within a project environment 12. Describe the difference between authority and influence

A good project schedule helps all team members’ work together to meet project objectives. A project budget with realistic cost constraints is also an essential bedrock of any project. In this course you’ll learn to plan and stick to time and cost constraints in order to ensure the success of your projects. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Identify the resource needs of the project 2. Decompose work packages into activities 3. Define what is needed to estimate activity durations 4. Define milestones and create a milestone schedule 5. Determine the critical path and calculate float 6. Describe the purpose of using leads and lags in a project schedule 7. Estimate the quantities and costs of resources required to perform project activities 8. Select one of three common cost estimating techniques to determine a project budget 9. Use a responsibility assignment matrix to assign responsibilities 10. Recognize the components of a project’s quality management plan

This course will help you manage project risk effectively by identifying, analyzing, and communicating inevitable changes to project scope and objectives. You will understand and practice the elements needed to measure and report on project scope, schedule, and cost performance. You will be equipped with the tools to manage change in the least disruptive way possible for your team and other project stakeholders. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Define components of a communications management plan 2. Understand the importance of communications channels 3. Define the key elements needed to measure and report on project scope, schedule, and cost performance 4. Identify project risk events 5. Prioritize identified risks 6. Develop responses for a high priority risk 7. Identify and analyze changes to project scope 8. Describe causes and effects of project changes 9. Define the purpose of conducting a lessons learned session