Business Fundamentals: Project Management
What’s the difference between a free course and an upgraded course?
Free:
Why join the course?
Whatever the type or scale of your project, delivering great results, on time and within budget, is always a challenge. This free online course introduces you to the essential skills and processes which support successful project management in a way that allows you to apply them to your own context.
Visualise, plan, manage and evaluate projects successfully
You will learn techniques to help you visualise, plan and manage key activities and events in your project, and make links between project management and related theories of innovation, change and people management.
You will be introduced to essential tools which support project management, as well as the fundamental personal skills of team selection, management and evaluation. The course will also cover the stage of evaluating project performance and learning for the future.
While other courses on project management may propose complex methods and techniques, this course aims to provide participants with the skill-set to play an active role in a project environment right away. Along with the fundamental technical notions, you will gain confidence with project document templates in Word, Excel and Powerpoint, as well as some web tools for project management.
Develop fundamental business and finance skills
This course has been developed by The Open University Business School – a pioneering institution that is triple accredited by AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB.
It is one of eight from The Open University, designed to help you gain fundamental business and financial skills, including communication, networking, relationship building, project management, personal financial planning and management, investment and financial services.
You can complete this course as part of one of these two programs:
Business Fundamentals: four courses, which will boost your employability and effectiveness at work, and enable you to earn a FutureLearn Award.
Business and Finance Fundamentals: eight courses; holders of FutureLearn Certificates of Achievement for all eight courses can earn 30 UK credits towards The Open University Business School’s BA in Business Management by passing a linked Open University assessment module (requiring separate OU registration and fee).
What topics will you cover?
- Project management definition
- Project lifecycle
- Initiation phase: scope and objectives definition, project stakeholders analysis
- Planning phase: Work Breakdown Structure, Gantt diagram, project budget, project team creation, project risk assessment, the Critical Path Method
- Execution phase: kick-off meeting, project monitoring and control, project team meetings, earned value analysis, project team motivation, evaluation and incentives
- Closure phase: project review and learning from closed projects
When would you like to start?
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...
Who is the course for?
This course is aimed at those already or likely to be involved in projects whether professional or personal. It assumes no prior project management or business knowledge, though an interest in the topic would be beneficial. Whether you’re at the start of your career and need an introduction to the subject, or you’ve been managing projects for years and are seeking to reflect on your experiences, you will get a lot out of this formal, yet practice-oriented, learning experience.
For further information about registration, the final assessment course, your eligibility and the BA in Business Management, visit the Open University website. The Open University does not operate in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. This means that Learners based in those countries will not be able to convert their participation in this Program to Open University course credits.
Who will you learn with?
Giacomo Carli
I am a Lecturer in Strategic Management at The Open University Business School. I hold a work experience in project management both in consulting companies and in European research projects.
Who developed the course?
The Open University (OU) is the largest academic institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning, with a mission is to be open to people, places, methods and ideas.
What’s the difference between a free course and an upgraded course?
Free:
Unlimited access
Upgrading will mean you get unlimited access to the course.
If you’re taking a course for free you have access to the course for its duration + 14 days, regardless of when you join. If you upgrade the course you have access for as long as the course exists on FutureLearn.
Access to tests
When you upgrade you’ll have access to any tests during the course.
To receive a Certificate of Achievement you need to take any tests and score over 70%. You don’t get access to tests if you choose to take a course for free.
Certificate of Achievement
Upgrading means you’ll receive a Certificate of Achievement when you complete the course.
To receive a Certificate of Achievement you need to mark 90% of the steps on the course as complete, and score over 70% on any course tests.
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