Training Services

Opus Magnum has over 12 years of successful experience developing and delivering powerful workshops. The training philosophy is based on the best techniques for information delivery and retention. The workshops use realistic case studies and provide a high percentage of hands on and interactive experience (60%-70%).

Most of our workshops are modular and can be readily customized or combined to meet a variety of training needs.

 Managing Information Technology Projects
 Essential Skills for Project Managers
 Managing Small Projects
 Managing Project People & Communications
 Project Portfolio Management
 Universal System Analysis
 Universal System Design
 System Development Life Cycle & Methodology
 Estimating & Risk for System Developers
 Object Oriented Analysis & Design

Managing Information Technology Projects

A three day workshop for IT professionals. Effective project management helps IT organizations and their customers clarify and gain commitment to desired outcomes, such as requirements, functionality, quality and meaningful schedules. Using project planning techniques, IT project managers can make intelligent tradeoffs when available time, resources and money are insufficient to meet desired functionality. Finally, project management allows IT organizations to monitor and control project execution, reducing “scope creep” and cost/schedule overruns, while at the same time reducing the frustration and burnout that afflict many IT project team members.

Essential Skills for Project Managers

A three day workshop that will provide the tools and techniques necessary to manage any type or size of project for both novice and seasoned project managers. This workshop covers all the fundamental techniques. The structure will provide novice project managers with enough tools and confidence to give them a good start in managing a project. The tips and techniques will add new ideas and opportunities for seasoned project managers. If you have not had good structure and predictable behaviour in your projects, this is the workshop for you.

Managing Small Projects

This two day workshop is for people who have to manage small projects ( approximately 1 day to 3 months) The small project has special needs due to the short time frame and limited resources (often only one person). Usually multiple projects are being managed at the same time. This workshop will provide some tools, techniques and strategies to improve your success rate and decrease your frustration.

Managing Project People & Communications

A two day workshop that can be added to any of the project management workshops for those who feel the need to brush up on people management and communicating skills. This workshop deals with understanding and interacting with the various stakeholders on the project. The people skills include influencing, conflict resolution, team building, and facilitating. The communication skills include listening, presentation, and clarity.

Project Portfolio Management

A two day workshop for managers who control or sponsor multiple projects. A portfolio manager is usually someone who is accountable for an ongoing collection of projects. This is not a “Project Management” workshop, project managers will run the day to day operations of the project and report to the portfolio manager. The workshop provides procedures, tools and techniques for handling a collection of projects at the strategic level. The key strategic issues are: allocation of resources; project prioritization. Alignment with business goals; and cost/benefit/risk evaluation.

Each organization is unique in its needs and capabilities. This workshop provides the framework that enables the participants to start developing a portfolio management practice within the organization.

Universal System Analysis

A three day workshop for information systems personnel. Experienced and novice IS professionals will benefit from this very understandable foundation workshop. The workshop deals with structured analysis techniques that are the basis for all the current methods and tools. This workshop will complement and support product and tool specific training and can be used with all known methodologies. The workshop itself is methodology neutral.

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to analyze a new or existing system project and develop a requirements specification. The latest analysis techniques are combined with effective, proven modeling methods. The workshop focuses on developing complete and accurate requirements in the shortest possible time. The material is based on practical and effective methods that have evolved from many years of experiences with software projects.

Universal System Design

A three day workshop for information systems personnel involved in the design process. Experienced and novice IS professionals will benefit from this very understandable foundation workshop. The workshop deals with structured design techniques that are the basis for all the current methods and tools. This workshop will complement and support product and tool specific training and can be used with all known methodologies. The workshop itself is methodology neutral.

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to create a design specification for a system development project. The workshop offers several design techniques and modeling strategies to handle different design situations and projects. The material is based on practical and effective methods that have evolved from many years of experiences with software projects.

System Development Life Cycle & Methodology

A three day workshop for anyone involved in systems projects. The workshop focuses on creating and using a powerful structured methodology to support a system development life cycle. An underlying structure will greatly enhance project performance and increase repeatable practices. Participants will discover a framework that will enable them to move forward with confidence. Some key project management and system development principles are woven into the workshop.

Estimating & Risk for System Developers

A three day workshop for software developers to increase their estimating skills. The workshop deals with estimating principles, some basic strategies and a collection of tools and techniques. As estimating deals with predicting the uncertain future, there is an implicit risk component to all projects. The workshop deals with understanding risk, assessing risk impact and building risk mitigation into the estimates.

Object Oriented Analysis & Design

A four day workshop presenting a structured approach to system development using Object-Oriented techniques. The workshop uses UML (Unified Modeling Language) as a backbone to the processes of analysis, design, coding and testing systems. This workshop provides the programmer with the necessary skills to advance from technical to analysis and design capability.