Developing MORE Strategic Business Planning Skills: A DIY Project
This online engineering PDH course includes many Human Resource issues because of one very important fact that many strategic planning initiatives overlook: acquisition, maintenance, and development of a productive workforce is the greatest expense of any business. If you want to become an effective strategic planner for your organization, it is critical that you have a thorough understanding of the vital role played by your Human Resources group.
Strategic business management planning encompasses issues that fall outside of the traditional engineering or project management function and directly relate to the business of the organization. This do-it-yourself (DIY) manual will help a self-directed professional who wants to evolve from the day-to-day issues to eventually becoming a contributing participant at "The Table" helping the executive team's plan for the future become a reality.
Your journey to the Table using this manual will follow this path:
- Looking inward (covered in our course titled Developing Strategic Business Planning Skills: A DIY Project ) and helping you prepare for the long journey ahead
- Looking outward – this course - at the organization and viewing its long range plans through the lens of the short range reality you will be facing from your current perspective
We introduce you to some critical topics that you will encounter along the way. We will lead you far enough into them so you will be able to understand and discuss their basic concepts with the wide range of professionals, consultants, and vendors you will encounter in your new role.
There may be pieces of these topics with which you are already familiar or we may touch on issues that you think you'll never encounter where you currently work. Please have patience and study anyway because in this world of mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, rightsizing, or outright bankruptcy...you may not always work there and may need to know it in some unanticipated venue. Also, we are mixing strategic concepts like aligning performance with long-terms goals with general pointers on actually developing the performance metrics you can use.
This 10 PDH online course is intended for project managers, operations managers, business unit managers and others involved in the development and implementation of strategic business management plans.
This P.Eng. continuing education course is intended to provide you with the following specific knowledge and skills:
- Identify the positions and interests of each side in a vendor negotiation
- Recommend a strategic solution for a vendor/client negotiation impasse
- Explain why a "win-win" outcome is not the best way to look at a desired negotiation outcome
- List three things vendors want from their clients for a successful relationship
- Identify the warning signs of a "Trip to Abilene" that can damage a strategic planning session
- Devise plans for strengthening vendor relationships
- Explain the differences between various simple statistical collection methods and apply them appropriately in forecasting strategic planning outcomes
- Design an effective proposal for senior management when seeking support for major initiatives
- Avoid two potential traps within budget proposal recommendations
- Select appropriate phrasing of desired outcomes to increase the likelihood of executive approval
- Analyze typical project work processes for opportunities of process improvement
- Express planning expectations in terms guaranteed to result in productive outcomes
- Analyze floor plans for optimal work flow
- Identify issues commonly overlooked when developing a long-range equipment proposal
- Analyze work flows to determine their current efficiency
- Explain and apply the principles of 'line balancing'
- Determine work process flow adequacy
- Revise workflows to improve efficiency
- Explain and apply the concept of 'flow time'
- Create optimal production cycle timing
- Apply three capacity planning strategies effectively
- Describe the general flow of a supply chain and list the typical components within it
- Apply the principals of a supply chain to the organization's long-range goals
- Explain how the supply chains of manufacturers and service providers differ and are alike
- Define correctly and use appropriately the various terms associated with supply chain management
- Identify typical uncertainties in a supply chain and suggest ways to protect against them
- Take specific steps to apply your high-level view of the organization help to make the product or service available
- Identify and avoid typical problems that arise within client/vendor relationships
- Compare and contrast the four different approaches to marketing strategies
- Compare and contrast three different capacity management strategies
- Identify eleven different reasons projects do not perform optimally and how a strategic planner can influence positive outcomes.
- List at least five problems executives could create with project problems without a strategic viewpoint
- List five steps to avoid when developing a strategic budget proposal
- List three essentials for a successful budget proposal
- Compare and contrast government vs. business related budget proposals
In this professional engineering CEU course, you need to review the document titled, “Developing MORE Strategic Business Planning Skills: A DIY Project”.
Upon successful completion of the quiz, print your Certificate of Completion instantly. (Note: if you are paying by check or money order, you will be able to print it after we receive your payment.) For your convenience, we will also email it to you. Please note that you can log in to your account at any time to access and print your Certificate of Completion.