NEW! The Project Management MBA Crash Course — Mastering Business Acumen: Part 2 “The Value-Driven Project Manager” with Frank Saladis
What You Will Learn
Upon completion of this training, learners will be able to:
- Develop strategies for working with executives.
- Plan for improvement of communications and presentation skills
- Apply techniques for efficient and effective leadership of virtual teams
- Prepare and explain the outcome of a sensitivity analysis
- Evaluate financial information for business decisions
Description
To compete in today’s and future business and project environments, project managers will need a greater understanding of the connection between project management, portfolio management, strategic planning and the many factors associated with leading and managing an organization. Project managers must develop their business management expertise or, more specifically, they must become business savvy in addition to their technical project management skills. In this informative, content-intensive, case-study-driven training program, attendees will gain considerable knowledge about typical MBA program topics that will differentiate them from other project managers and position them for advancement as project professionals. Attendees will participate in three progressive case studies including a final comprehensive case study that focuses on program management. Exercises are designed for team collaboration and help to develop practical skills and sharing of knowledge. These hands-on exercises include templates and spreadsheets that require reading, team analysis and attention to detail. Personal devices (laptops or other devices) are a necessary part of the program. The competency-building and business-centric case study activities include:
- Business case and project proposal assessment
- Financial-based sensitivity analysis (business risk analysis and developing a tornado diagram)
- Financial-based scope-change analysis — Assessing incremental scope increase
This training program will also address a multitude of knowledge-building topics including:
- Business quality
- Operations management
- Business communications, cross-cultural conduct and ethics
- The legal environment of projects
- Applications of organizational agility and managing organizational change
- An executive overview of agile project techniques
Prework
AGENDA
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- Introduction and Recap of Part 1 Topics
- Business Communications/Ethics/Business Conduct
- Leading Teams — Tuckman Model and Team Development
- Managing and Working With Different Cultures
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Communicating With and Presenting to Executives and Senior Management
- Decision Science — Using Quantitative and Scientific Methods to Make Decisions
- Sensitivity Risk Analysis
- Case Study Activity 1: Conduct a Project Sensitivity Analysis — Develop a Tornado Diagram
- Quality and Business — TQM, 7 Quality Tools, Six Sigma
- Connecting Projects With Accounting
- Legal Environment of Projects — Agency Law, Types of Contracts
- Incremental Scope Increase Justification — Financial Analysis
- Case Study Activity: Analyze Incremental Scope for Financial Justification
- Operations Management — Planning and Control Systems, Supply Chain Management
- Business Trends — Current Trends in Business and Finance
- Project Benefits Management — Benefits Maturity Model
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- Optimizing Quality
- Expected Value of Information
- Becoming Business Savvy
- Enhancing Business Knowledge
- Always “Think Business”
- Business-Savvy Learning Map
- Develop Personal Business-Savvy Skills
- Comprehensive Case Study
- Part 1: Critical Business Analysis
- Part 2: Program ROI/Financial Analysis
- Agile Project Management — An Overview
- Strategic Project Management — Executive Mandates
- Implementing Organizational Business Savvy
- Personal Action Planning
- Wrap-up
PDU Allocation Table
Ways of Working | Power Skills | Business Acumen | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|
CAPM® / PMI-CP™ / PMP® / PgMP® | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15.00 |
PMI-ACP® / Agile* | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15.00 |
PMI-SP® | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15.00 |
PMI-RMP® | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15.00 |
PfMP® | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15.00 |
PMI-PBA® | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15.00 |
| | | |
Instructor(s)

Frank P. Saladis PMP, PMI Fellow
Frank P. Saladis, PMP, is the president of Blue Marble Enterprizes, Inc. He has more than 35 years of experience working in the IT, telecom installation and project management training environment at AT&T and Cisco Systems, where he was responsible for large telecommunications and IT projects with capital budgets ranging from $3 million to $450 million USD.
Mr. Saladis is now a leading consultant, instructor, motivational speaker and an author within the discipline of professional project management. He has been providing training to aspiring and experienced project managers for more than 20 years.
He is the originator of International Project Management Day and was recognized as PMI Person of the Year for 2006. In addition, Mr. Saladis was awarded the prestigious title of PMI Fellow in October 2013 and received the PMI Distinguished Contribution Award in October 2015.