PMI Program Management Professional

A program earns its place by serving strategy. You connect program objectives to organizational goals, build a business case, and keep alignment as conditions change.

• Reading organizational strategy
• Linking program objectives to strategic goals
• The program business case
• Roadmaps and alternatives
• Monitoring alignment and adjusting direction
• Presenting the case to sponsors

You build A program business case with a strategic alignment statement.

The first stage sets the terms for everything after it. You define scope, charter the program, form the governance and the team, and agree the plan for the plan.

• Program charter and mandate
• Defining scope, outcomes and constraints
• Forming the program team and board
• Initial stakeholder analysis
• Program management plan overview
• The program roadmap

You build A program charter and roadmap.

Program planning links many component plans into one. You build integrated plans for scope, schedule, cost, resources and risk, and define how components will be managed.

• The program management plan and its subsidiary plans
• Integrated program schedule
• Program budget and funding
• Resource and capacity planning
• Procurement and supplier strategy
• Defining and sequencing components

You build An integrated program plan linking three component projects.

Benefits are why a program exists. You identify them, plan how they will be delivered and measured, track them through delivery, and hand over what is needed to sustain them.

• Identifying and analyzing benefits
• The benefits register and the realization plan
• Benefits owners and measures
• Tracking benefits during delivery
• Transition and sustainment of benefits
• Dis-benefits and unintended outcomes
• Reporting benefits to governance

You build A benefits realization plan with measures, owners and a tracking approach.

Delivery is a matter of coordination. You manage components, interdependencies and shared resources, control quality, and handle the integration that turns outputs into capability.

• Authorizing and directing components
• Managing interdependencies
• Integration of component deliverables
• Program quality and acceptance
• Resource and supplier coordination
• Component transition and handover

You build A component coordination plan with an interdependency map.

Governance keeps a program accountable and its decisions timely. You design the board, decision gates, escalation routes and policies, and manage how governance changes across the life of the program.

• Governance structures and principles
• Program board roles and decision rights
• Stage gates and phase reviews
• Escalation and issue resolution
• Compliance, assurance and audit
• Adapting governance over the life cycle

You build A governance framework with gates, roles and escalation rules.

Programs touch many groups, some of whom disagree. You analyze stakeholders, plan engagement, communicate across levels, and secure the support the program needs to deliver.

• Stakeholder identification and analysis
• Engagement strategies for different groups
• The program communication plan
• Managing resistance and conflict
• Executive and sponsor engagement
• Measuring stakeholder support

You build A stakeholder engagement strategy and communication plan.

Program risks combine and cascade. You manage risks that cross components, set program-level responses and reserves, and handle issues that need decisions above the projects.

• Program risk management approach
• Identifying and aggregating risks across components
• Quantifying program-level exposure
• Responses and reserves
• Issue management and escalation
• Opportunity management

You build A program risk register with cross-component risks and reserves.

Programs succeed only when people can work in the new way. You plan change, prepare the organization, manage transitions into operations, and monitor adoption.

• Organizational change management for programs
• Readiness assessment
• Training and capability transfer
• Transition into operations
• Monitoring adoption
• Managing program-level scope change

You build A change and transition plan for one program.

A program ends when its benefits are secure, not when work stops. You decide when and how to close, hand over, release resources, and capture lessons.

• Closure criteria and decisions
• Premature closure and program termination
• Transition of benefits to operations
• Releasing resources and contracts
• Capturing and sharing lessons
• Post-program review

You build A closure plan and a post-program review template.

One program carries the course. You align it to strategy, charter and plan it, manage benefits and risk through simulated events, govern its decisions, and close it with results secured.

• Aligning the program and building the case
• Chartering and planning
• Delivering, governing and handling events
• Managing benefits and transition
• Closing and reporting

You build A program file from business case to closure report for a realistic scenario.