Project ManageMent coMPetency Model and online skills assessMent tool

Does your organization have the skills to run your business?

In a highly competitive business environment, managers are expected to do more with less, grow their revenue, and downsize staff to increase profit. Despite cut-backs and lay-offs, project managers are still expected to complete projects on schedule and under budget. Accurately assessing an organizations project management skills enables managers to identify areas for improvement, create targeted development plans, and measure development effectiveness against a well-defined set of metrics and goals. Boston University Corporate Education Centers Project Management Competency Model and Project Management Online Skills Assessment Tool enable managers and their employees to assess skill gaps, identify and develop skills areas in need of improvement, and map those areas into a specialized development plan. Boston University Corporate Education Center will help you measure your organizations project management skills within the context of your business strategic objectives; in addition, managers in your organization will be able to: Identify your organizations skill set requirements Create job profiles that enable you to hire more qualified people Assess individual and organizational skills Create effective development plans to meet organizational needs Measure effectiveness of training programs Run your business more efficiently, increase revenue and improve profitability

Call us today at 1.800.BU.TRAIN (288.7246) for details on how our Project Management Competency Model and Online Skills Assessment Tool will put your organization on the path to success.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY CORPORATE EDUCATION CENTER

Boston University Corporate Education Center is operated by TechSkills, LLC, and part of

1.800.288.7246 | www.BUtrain.com

Project Management Competency Model

A Unique Value Proposition for Developing your Organization
Boston University Corporate Education Centers Project Management Competency Model is unique in its ability to measure all of the critical project management competencies. Competencies are a set of welldefined skills, knowledge, and attributes that describe a highly successful performer. Boston University Corporate Education Center is the only professional development organization that considers the three major categories that make up a project managers competency: Technicalproject management skills and knowledge required to successfully manage a project or to complete project related activities. Personalcharacteristics that underlie a persons capability to manage a project. Business and Leadershipthose big picture/context skills that enable project managers to link any given project to the relationships, resources and/or infrastructure of the organization.
Achievement Orientation Concern for Order, Quality, and Accuracy Initiative Information Seeking Customer Service Orientation Interpersonal Understanding
Achieve m & Action ent

Categories Units
ent gem ana pe M t Sco en em ag an eM Tim

Clusters

Initiating Planning Executing Controlling Closing

Te ch n

Co st M an ag Qu em ali en ty Ma t na ge me nt Hum an R Man esource agem ent

He Hu lpin ma g & nS erv ice

Integration t Managemen

Impact & Influence Organizational Awareness Relationship Building

& ct e pa nc m flue I In

t men age Man

Teamwork & Cooperation Developing Others Team Leadership Directiveness: Assertiveness & Use of Positional Power

on rs Pe

ica

Communications Management
ment anage Risk M ent em ent cur Pro agem n Ma

Project Management Success

al
Cognitive
Perso Effec nal tiven ess

Analytical Thinking Conceptual Thinking

En

ise pr w ter Vie

Business & Leadership

Busine ss Acume n
na atio aniz Org y v Sav

P En rod vir uct on ive m W en o t rk

Self-Control Self-Confidence Flexibility Organizational Commitment

Leading Through Vision Strategic Positioning Systemic Program Leadership

Rapid Team Development Collaborative Team Culture

Environmental Awareness Business Operations Knowledge

Political/Environmental Judgment

Boston University Corporate Education Centers Project Management Competency Model

No other corporate development organization possesses the ability to collectively assess, develop and measure against the technical, personal, and business & leadership competencies that are vital to the successful management of complex projects within any size or type of organization.

1.800.288.7246 | www.BUtrain.com

Project Management Online Skills Assessment Tool

Do your organizations project management skills measure up?
Find out if your organization is making the grade in project management. This self-paced, online tool evaluates project management skills knowledge in all three competency components: technical, personal, and business & leadership. In addition, the skill-set levels can be customized and adjusted to test entrylevel project managers, middle-level project managers, or senior-level project managers. The Project Management Online Skills Assessment Tool: Tests a project managers proficiency against a skills profile and assesses their level of competency Evaluates the level of a project managers knowledge against a skills profile Identifies skill gaps between the project managers perception of skills sets and that of his/her manager Recommends targeted development plan against specific skills discrepancies Can be customized to add or remove competencies and set skill levels that are relevant to your project management organizational development May be taken in stages, thus giving you the ability to leave the assessment at any point and return to complete it at a later time

Rating Scale
Each competency is rated using the scale shown below.
Unaware
Does not recognize this knowledge or skill dimension.

Aware
Possesses knowledge and is familiar with concepts, but has not applied them to a real situation.

Functional
Regularly applies knowledge or skills to routine situations, occasionally requiring guidance.

Proficient
Exercises a breadth of knowledge and skill to address complex situations without guidance.

Expert
Coaches and supports others utilizing breadth of experience or specialized depth of expertise.

This rating is compared to the profile designed by your organization and is used to determine your project managers skill gaps, which can then be prioritized by individuals and groups to meet the needs of your organization; furthermore, from these comparisons, managers can identify skill gaps within the organization, and can more effectively address these gaps with targeted development.

Boston University Corporate Educations Illustration of Skills Gap Analysis

1.800.288.7246 | www.BUtrain.com

Project Management Online Skills Assessment Tool, Continued

Sample Questions
The Project Management Online Skills Assessment Tools multiple-choice questions measure project management competencies:
From Project Management Integration
The customer for the project that you are managing has requested a shortening of the project schedule to move up the product delivery date. The customer has offered to increase the price paid for the product to offset the cost of shortening the schedule. As a result, the projects Change Control Board (CCB) has approved the change and directed you to implement it. To implement the changes to the project documentation, you should do which of the following first? (a) Hold a status review meeting (b) Begin planning corrective actions (c) Consult the change control system (d) Consult the work authorization system (e) Update the project risk analysis

From Project Scope Management

You have been assigned to develop more accurate cost and duration estimates for a new project that is currently in the early planning phase. In order to do this accurately and efficiently, one of your first steps should be to do which of the following? (a) Clearly articulate the project justification (b) Perform a benefit/cost analysis to assess the desirability of undertaking the project (c) Decompose the major project deliverables into smaller and more manageable components (d) Develop an Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) that shows the assignments of project work components to units within the organization (e) Review past project to understand their costs and durations

From Project Cost Management

You are presenting your project plan to a group of stakeholders. Why should you include the following diagram?

(a) To show that the project will spend money at an increasing rate throughout all phases of its lifecycle (b) To show the performance baseline against which progress will be measured (c) To show the schedule of spending for risk management activities (d) To show that most of the budget will be spent in the middle phases (e) To show that spending will be delayed at the start of the project

Reports
The Project Management Online Skills Assessment Tools reporting capabilities will display the score and rating of the project manager in the competencies tested. It also recommends a development plan and suggested reading. In conjunction with Boston University Corporate Education Centers expert development coaching and mentoring, it will enable you to create and implement an action plan for organizational development that is immediately applicable to your current business goals.
Competency
A. Technical Competencies\A.1 Project Integration Management

Score
40%

Rating Recommended Development Plan

Aware Your score for the Project Integration Management assessment questions rates you as Aware for this Technical Competency. Aware: Possesses knowledge and is familiar with concepts, but has not applied them to a real situation. Suggested Courses: Managing Information Technology Principles and Techniques of Project Management Certificate in Applied Project Management Suggested Reading: PMBOK Guide, 4th Edition, Chapter 4

Example Objective Assessment Coaching Report

Call us today at 1.800.BU.TRAIN (288.7246) for more information on how our Project Management Competency Model and Online Skills Assessment Tool will help you develop your path to success.
Boston University Corporate Education Center is operated by TechSkills, LLC, and part of

BOSTON UNIVERSITY CORPORATE EDUCATION CENTER

1.800.288.7246 | www.BUtrain.com

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