BCS IS Project Management Foundation Certificate - Virtual Classroom

How does the Exam Pass Guarantee work?

We have found our Virtual Classroom training has provided higher pass rates, which has made us confident to offer an Exam Pass Guarantee, so you know we’ll support you until you are certified.

With our Exam Pass Guarantee, if you do not pass the exam after attending this training course with us, you will be eligible to attend the same training again for free.

All we ask is that you:

•    Attend all class days and complete all assignments
•    Take the exam within 30 days of completing your Virtual Classroom training
•    Request your course re-enrolment within 30 days of the failed exam attempt

Please Note:

Students retaking the course are required to use any materials or books distributed to them in their original course session. Failure to provide these materials will result in the student being charged for replacement materials.

*Exam Pass Guarantee does not include the resit exam; this would need to be purchased at an additional cost.

Is the BCS IS Project Management Foundation Certificate course suitable for me?  

There are no prerequisites to enrol onto this course, however it would be beneficial to have a basic working knowledge of IT and an interest in moving into a job role in this sector. 

What jobs can I apply for after my IS Project Management Foundation training?

Typically, graduates of this course will be working in, or working towards a career as a:

•    IT Project Coordinator - £29k
•    IT Project Analyst - £46k
•    IT Project Manager Business Analyst - £47k
•    IT Project Manager - £51k

(Source: Payscale)

IS Project Management Foundation Syllabus

Projects and Project Work

•    The definition of projects, as opposed to other types of work.
•    Terms of reference for a project.
•    The purpose of project planning and control.
•    The typical activities in a system development life-cycle.
•    System and project life cycles.
•    Variations on the conventional project life cycle, such as the use of prototypes or an iterative approach (e.g. the creation and testing of a series of versions of a product that converge on the final deliverable) or incremental approach (i.e. the phased creation and delivery of a series of products to users).

Project Planning

Note: candidates are expected to understand both the product and activity-based approaches to planning

•    Project deliverables and intermediate products
•    Work and product breakdowns
•    Product definitions (including the identification of derived from, and component of relationships between products)
•    Relationship between products and activities in a project
•    Check points and milestones
•    Lapsed time and effort required for activities
•    Activity networks (using ‘activity on node’ notation)
•    Calculation of earliest and latest start and end dates of activities and resulting float

Monitoring and Control

•    The project control life cycle: including planning, monitoring achievement, identifying variances, taking corrective action
•    The nature of, and the purposes for which, information is gathered
•    Collecting progress information
•    Timesheets
•    Team progress meetings
•    Error and change reports, etc.
•    Presenting progress information
•    Content of progress reports

Change Control and Configuration Management

•    Reasons for change and configuration management
•    Change control procedures
•    Role of change control boards
•    Generation of change requests
•    Change request evaluation (e.g. its impact on the business case)
•    Change request authorisation
•    Configuration management

Quality

•    Definitions of the term ‘quality’ e.g. ‘fitness for purpose’
•    Quality control versus quality assurance
•    Defining quality: definition and measurement
•    Detection of defects during the project life cycle
•    Quality procedures: entry, process and exit requirements
•    Defect removal processes, including testing and reviews

Estimating

•    Effects of over and under-estimating
•    Effort versus duration; relationship between effort and cost
•    Estimates versus targets
•    Use of expert judgement (advantages and disadvantages)
•    The Delphi approach
•    Top-down estimating
•    Identification of size drivers (e.g. function points etc)

Risk

•    Definition of the term ‘risk’; components of risk: risk events (or triggers), probability, impact
•    Ways of categorising risk, e.g. business versus project
•    Identification and prioritisation of risk
•    Assessment of risk exposure (i.e. combining consideration of potential damage and probability of loss)
•    Risk responses and actions: risk prevention, reduction, acceptance, transfer and contingency planning

Project Communications and Project Organisation

•    Relationship between programmes and projects
•    Identifying stakeholders and their concerns
•    The project sponsor
•    Establishment of the project authority (e.g. project board, steering committee etc.)
•    Membership of project board/steering committee
•    Roles and responsibilities of project board, project manager, stage manager, team leader
•    Desirable characteristics of project manager
•    Role of project support office

IS Project Management Foundation Exam Details

Type - Multiple choice

Number of questions – 40

Duration - 60 Minutes

Supervised - Yes

Open Book - No

Pass Mark – 26/40 (65%)