Aerospace Project Management

The Aerospace Project Management Certificate Program provides project managers with the critical skills and knowledge necessary for success in today’s fast-paced aerospace environment.

• The program curriculum is developed and taught by subject expert instructors with extensive aerospace project experience. The core curriculum may be customized to meet specific company needs.
• Program emphasis is on building practical skills using tools supported by relevant case examples.
• Courses are offered sequentially to build skills in aerospace project management from proposal development to project completion.
• The program is generally scheduled as five two-day courses offered at a company location. However, scheduling can be modified to meet company needs.
• Each program graduate earns 8.0 Continuing Education Units.
  

Key Topics

The program content can be customized to meet specific requirements.

Course 1: Project Costing and Proposal Development

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the relationships between development risk and operational risk and how to trade between them in terms of cost
• Understand government acquisition processes (DoD and NASA) and how proposals are evaluated
• Understand how estimated project costs and risks impact the decision on whether or not to respond to opportunities
• Utilize project selection models, both numeric and qualitative, to evaluate conceptual designs
• Apply software cost estimation techniques for each phase of the project
• Understand the basic concepts of present value analysis and Life Cycle Costing (LCC)
• Apply sensitivity analysis in considering both optimistic and pessimistic cost, risk, and project life projections
• Develop the project charter initiating the project
  

Course 2: Project Organization and Leadership

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Identify the project manager’s key roles and responsibilities
• Survive and thrive in a matrix, functional or line-of-business organization
• Build and manage effective cross-functional project teams
• Demonstrate leadership competencies and skills
• Resolve conflicts within the team and with other constituencies
• Build and maintain group motivation while encouraging innovation
• Avoid pitfalls that cause projects to fail
  

Course 3: Detailed Project Planning

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Define project objectives and develop detailed project plans based on the project charter and statement of work (SOW)
• Break large or complex efforts into manageable assignments, including the proper use of Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)
• Make projects fit into the Network or System-of-Systems within which it must operate
• Properly design and control organizational and technical interfaces with other systems (like ground systems, operations, or maintenance) to prevent unexpected cost growth
• Respond appropriately and profitably to government acquisition activities and technical reviews
• Use planning and scheduling work tools, including PERT and CPM technique
• Understand cost planning and estimating elements and contract management processes essential to complete project planning
• Integrate project scope, time, cost and resources plans

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Understand trending and forecasting in a project environment
• Monitor project progress and problems, utilizing data identification and collection techniques, and measurement and analysis tools
• Alter monitor/control techniques appropriately for software-intensive systems
• Exercise project control over resources, time, cost, and risk
• Report project performance and results in an effective way to project stakeholders
• Manage changes and re-plan work when necessary
• Follow government-required reporting methods such as EVMS

Course 5: Project Risk Management

Upon completion of this two-day course, participants will be able to:

• Identify what can go wrong on a project during each of its phases
  
• Determine which risks are important and warrant mitigation
  
• Establish cost trades among different mitigation candidates
• Identify and avoid duplicated mitigation
• Prepare an effective risk statement
• Generate strategies to deal with critical risks
• Determine the expected value of a mitigation strategy
• Determine the size of the contingency reserve for the project
• Make decisions under uncertainty and risk