Project Management Essentials

Purdue University’s online Project Management Essentials certificate provides learners with fundamental knowledge and skills and a strong start on the path toward becoming a certified Project Management Professional (PMP)^® through the Project Management Institute (PMI). It also fulfills PMI’s 35 hours of project management education requirement for taking the PMP^® exam. Our learners typically are project managers in the early stages of their careers who want to perfect their skills and are considering or planning to take the PMP exam, but any professional can benefit if efficient and effective project management is among their responsibilities.

Course Overview

The eight-week Project Management Essentials course is 100% online and instructor-led. PME instructors use an array of Purdue-developed learning tools, including award-winning videos, to engage learners in a stimulating range of activities that include:

• Directed study of the PMBOK^® Guide (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Seventh Edition)
• Viewing recorded lecture videos
• Completing workbooks that both facilitate learning and serve as a handy professional resource
• Completing four written assignments that translate directly to the workplace
• Participating in asynchronous online threaded discussion forums
• Taking self-tests and quizzes

Instructors participate in online discussions and welcome the opportunity to provide assistance to interested learners on an individual basis via email or virtual appointment. The online format enables you to do your work where and when you want, but there are assignments and quizzes that must be completed by weekly deadlines. Learners typically spend five to seven hours on coursework each week.

All course materials, except the text book, are presented in Brightspace. Learners are responsible for purchasing their own PMBOK^® Guide.

Take this course as a bundle: The Project Management Essentials course can be completed at any point in the series. However, we strongly recommend taking it first, especially if you are newer to formal principles of project management. This course is an excellent entry point that lays the groundwork for both traditional and Agile methodologies, in alignment with content found on the PMP exam. Plus, you’ll save 10% by taking it as part of a three-course bundle.

Take this course as a standalone option: This foundational course can serve as a valuable one-off option for professionals seeking to enhance their project management skills, even if they are not planning to pursue PMP certification. Learners across many industries can uses what they learn to improve project planning, enhance resource allocation, mitigate risks more effectively and increase overall project success rates.

Course Outcomes

The online Project Management Essentials course prepares learners to advance their project management careers by putting knowledge and skills into practice. In addition to familiarizing learners with PMI’s PMBOK^® Guide and basic project management concepts and terms, the course equips learners to define and apply the following:

• Basic project management concepts and terms
• Project integration management tools, techniques, and processes
• Project scope and procurement management tools, techniques, and processes
• Project time management tools, techniques, and processes
• Project cost and risk management tools, techniques, and processes
• Project stakeholder, communications, and human resource management tools, techniques, and processes
• Project quality management and change control tools, techniques, and processes
• Tools, techniques and processes to manage project performance
• Tools, techniques and processes to close a project or phase

Certification

Only individuals who pass PMI’s PMP certification exam are officially certified as a Project Management Professional^®. A certificate of achievement from Purdue University, however, is awarded to learners who successfully complete Project Management Essentials.