Managing Successful Programmes - Course Description

MSP® Foundation/Practitioner Certificate Course

 

 

The Managing Successful Programmes (MSP™) Practitioner course is a comprehensive five-day programme that provides participants with the extended theoretical and practical knowledge of MSP. MSP is a non-proprietary best practice model that ensures programme delivery is on time, on budget, of high quality, and delivers the benefits demanded by the investment.

 

There are a lot of myths about programmes – they are just big projects, you can manage them the way you do things now, you don’t need a Programme Office, and any good Project Managers can just do the programme as well. In fact this couldn’t be further form the truth – projects and programmes are different and need a different management approach and a higher level of governance involvement.

 

To put it succinctly, projects exist and thrive on certainty of outcome, whereas programmes exist and evolve in more ambiguous environments.

 

Programmes are all about delivering transformational business change, pulling together the high level, strategic objectives from an organisation’s strategic drivers and relevant policies and realising the benefits of the successful implementation of capabilities delivered by the underlying projects.

 

Who Should Attend

The MSP Practitioner course is appropriate for:

 

  • Project Managers that need to manage programmes in complex and dynamic environments
  • Anyone who requires a detailed understanding of a programme management methodology
  • Programme management professionals who are looking to obtain a recognised qualification in MSP
  • Project Office managers who are looking to support a programme
  • Anybody who wants to obtain MSP Consultant or MSP Trainer certification

Learning Method

This course is instructor led, and participants undertake practical activities to ensure understanding of concepts and terminology. Self-study is required for the exam.

Learning Outcomes

The aim of this course is for each student to be able to work in a programme, including:

 

  • Recognise a programme, and how it is different to a project
  • Apply MSP theory into practice
  • Effectively control the start, progress and closure of a programme
  • Integrate the MSP Governance Themes and Transformational Flow into a programme
  • Establish a programme organisation and manage the appropriate stakeholders
  • Apply the Programme Management Principles across the life of the programme
  • Establish a Programme Office to support a programme
  • Conduct a programme Health Check

Pre-Requisites

There are no prior prerequisites.

 

However, achievement of the MSP Foundation Certificate is an essential pre-requisite to achieve the MSP Practitioner Certificate. This is included on day 3 of the course.

Exam Structure

The MSP Practitioner course includes 2 exams.

 

The MSP Foundation exam is a closedbook multiple-choice exam consisting of 50 questions to be completed within 40 minutes. Candidates need to achieve a mark of 30 or more to pass. It is held on day 3 of the course.

 

The MSP Practitioner exam (previously known as ‘Intermediate’) is an openbook exam consisting of 9 questions with a total of 180 marks to be completed within 2.5 hours. Candidates need to achieve a mark of 90 or more to pass. A pre-requisite for this exam is a score of 60% at Foundation level for candidates that have taken the Foundation exam on or after 1 March 2008. Candidates that have taken their Foundation exam prior to 1 March 2008 are exempt from this rule.