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The monster instrument, located on an unfinished flyover close to the city's Waterfront, is said to be the world's biggest trumpet and is powered by the hooter of a giant truck. Even standard-sized vuvuzelas, which measure less than a metre, generate over 100 decibels, which after 2 hours can caused permanent ear damage. Hyundai South Africa, the sponsors of the giant vuvuzela, are holding talks with Council in the hope they may allow it later in the tournament. Hopefully, they are going to come to a compromise where they can blow it at special occasions, the final and the semi-finals. The Cape Town Stadium is one of the show-piece arenas for the
World Cup and hopefully Hyundai’s vuvuzela will trumpet the goals for the Germany vs Spain clash this Wednesday.
ProjectPro’s next PgMP preparation workshop is
on 6-7 September 2010 in Gauteng. Register from www.projectpro.co.za or call 012 346 6674 for more information.
In response to this demand for after-hours Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) workshops ProjectPro will hold a series of nine PMP / CAPM Workshops on Saturday Mornings in Pretoria, Gauteng. The workshops will be based on Project Management Body of Knowledge 4th Edition which is provided as part of the course documentation. Candidates will also receive a comprehensive manual containing a study guide and hundreds of typical exam questions and answers. The workshops will be held from 09:00 to 13:00 on Saturday
mornings from 22 August to 16 October 2010. Register from our website or contact 012 346 6674 for more details.
In the works for more than a decade, the bizarre bateau will let 18 crew members spend up to six months living on the vertical vessel’s eight floors—five of which are submerged. Looking like a giant shark fin, the ship’s 51-metre platform will rise 20 metres above the waterline and descend 31 metres below. At the moment, oceanographers can dive only for short periods before they have to be brought back to the surface. It is as though they were taken to study the Amazon jungle and then helicoptered away again after an hour, says Jacques Rougerie, project architect , to the British newspaper The Times. The mere fact that it’s mobile also sets SeaOrbiter apart from
other land-locked underwater sea stations, such as the U.S. - based Aquarius. Construction on the €35 million project is slated to begin in September 2010, and if it looks ship shape, the SeaOrbiter would make her maiden voyage in 2012—powered by nothing but
currents and wind. —Jenn Dank, PMNetwork, April 2010
ProjectPro offers a 2-day exam preparation workshop in Gauteng (or other venues if there is sufficient demand). This workshop will be of value to not only practitioners who wish to become certified, but also those wishing to learn more about project risk management. Contact ProjectPro on or training@projectpro.co.za or click here for details and to register for the next workshop in Gauteng on 18-19 May 2010. The PMI Risk Management Professional credential is the fifth
professional credential offered by PMI. The other four are Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®), Project Management Professional (PMP®), Program Management Professional (PgMP)® and PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)SM. ProjectPro offers
preparation workshops for all these credentials.
If the excellent standard of service and catering at the local Intercontinental Hotel is a reflection of the city’s standards, then it bodes well for the future. Once a sleepy Persian Gulf fishing village, Jubail is now a bastion
of Saudi Arabia’s industrial might and arguably hosts the largest civil engineering project in the world. After investing billions of dollars and decades of effort, the Saudi government has created
an enormous economic engine in the middle of the desert – Jubail Industrial City. Read More China is planning to build a high speed rail link from the capital Beijing to the southern city of Guangzhou, cutting the journey time from almost 24 hours to just 10. The new line would cost at least 200 billion Yuan ($24bn) It is the latest in a series of plans to revitalise the country's aging railway network. China has pledged massive investment in railways - including the world's first commercial magnetic levitation train which will be launched in Shanghai early next year. Read More 3 Steps to Registering as a Scheduling Professional
As projects become more complex with pressures to reduce timelines the need for competent project management scheduling specialists continues to grow. This growth is the driving force behind the need for a specialized, internationally recognised certification in project scheduling. The purpose of scheduling is to provide a ‘‘roadmap’’ or barchart that represents how and when the project will deliver the products defined in the project scope by the project stakeholders. The dynamic nature of a project’s execution is best served by a tool that allows for modeling of the plan and analysis due to the impact of progress and unforeseen developments. Step 1: Attend the ProjectPro 2-day Introduction to Microsoft Project course (next course 3-4 August 2010 in Gauteng). Step 2: Attend the ProjectPro 2-day Advanced Microsoft Project course (next course 10-11 August 2010 in Gauteng). Step 3: Attend the ProjectPro 2-day PMI Scheduling Professional Exam Preparation Workshop (next course 12-13 August 2010 in Gauteng). Depending on the delegate’s experience in scheduling they may come in at any step. The PMI Scheduling Professional exam is not based on knowledge of any particular product e.g. MS Project. PS Next, Primavera, etc. Employers can trust PMI-SP credential holders to possess the skills , knowledge and experience to contribute directly to their crucial projects and to impact their organization’s bottom line. This global credential supports organizational needs; organizations can be confident in hiring capable, experienced project scheduling practitioners. Organizations can offer career paths and encourage individuals to pursue a career in the valued role of a project scheduling practitioner. Contact ProjectPro on 012 346 6674 or training@projectpro.co.za for more details. You may register from our website Gautrain: Sandton – OR Tambo Link Ready for World Cup 2010
This unique project management training course adopts a flexible, life-cycle approach, based on the Project Management Institute’s internationally recognised Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 4th edition which creates a highly effective blend of theory and practical project experience. This ensures that the knowledge, skills, tools and techniques learned in the beginning of the course are immediately implemented in a real -world scenario for maximum understanding and retention. Each learner receives a CD containing the ProjectFlow methodology which is based on the PMBOK. This methodology is used on the course to take the learners through the sequential flow of processes and documentation from Project Charter through all the phases to project close-out. Templates and sample documents are provided on the CD for ease of use and to maintain a consistent planning approach. Read More Microsoft Project 2010 is Coming
Microsoft Project 2010 will be hitting the streets in the first quarter of 2010. Announced at the recent Worldwide Project Conference in Phoenix Arizona, Project 2010 is probably the most eagerly anticipated release of MS Project in a very long time. With a radical new look and lots of new functionality, Microsoft
claims that the 2010 version will be the most significant version of Project in the past 10 years. Project 2010 probably contains more innovations and should satisfy a wider potential market than
almost all previous versions combined. Read More
Perhaps projects are more science than art. To complete a project on deadline, the project manager compiles a network diagram and uses the critical path technique to calculate the activity float. This can be done manually but these days scheduling software makes monitoring and controlling the activity progress a breeze. The science of time management is well understood. Read More
One of the crucial mistakes that the management of the out-of
-control Scottish Parliament Buildings made was to choose an inappropriate construction management form of contract. From an initial estimate of £43 million, costs soared to £431 million, over
budget by 900%, and completion was 2 years late. Groups of project managers around the world are developing a
new global standard for project management for the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). Terry Deacon is part of the South African contributors who meet at the SABS headquarters in
Pretoria. He would like to invite our readers to respond with their comments on how project success should be defined. Read more Terry Deacon, CEO of ProjectPro, explains some confusing project management terminology in a new series of short articles entitled “Clearing up the Confusion”. Project management is fraught with confusing concepts, but I think that’s what makes it such an interesting profession. Please note, I said profession, because in my mind there is no doubt that project management is a profession. Project management has matured over the past 50 years into what management guru Tom Peters referred to as “a linchpin of organisational success”. Just like traditional professions we have a code of conduct, project management body of knowledge, standards, methodologies and certification programmes. Read More A Short History of Project Management As a discipline, project management developed from different
fields of application including construction, engineering, defence, etc. The forefather of project management is Henry Gantt, called the father of planning and control techniques, who is famously
known for his use of the Gantt chart as a project management tool. He was an associate of Frederick Winslow Taylor's theories of scientific management, and for his study of the work and
management of Navy ship building. His work is the forerunner to many modern project management tools including the work breakdown structure (WBS) and bar chart. Read more |
Mr Dylan Chetty of SSI Consulting Engineers has attained the elite Program Management Professional (PgMP) certification from the
Project Management Institute. This is the highest level of certification bestowed by the PMI on just a few hundred program managers around the world. He did his PgMP preparation
workshop through ProjectPro and passed the rigorous exam and multi-rater assessment on his first attempt. Congratulations Dylan!
Many project managers have their work cut out to meet the demands of their projects by working long hours from Monday to Friday. They feel that there is
just no time for attending full-time courses on weekdays. ProjectPro has good news for busy project managers who would like to attend workshops to become internationally certified outside normal office hours.
Ships have always been designed as horizontal craft—and for good reason. It maximizes the displacement that keeps them afloat. The SeaOrbiter project turns
all that maritime logic on its head, creating a perfectly pressurized workspace that will allow divers to undertake daily missions while oceanographers study the underwater world in a way not
possible in a submarine, says project coordinator Ariel Fuchs.
Congratulations to Themba Moyo of Davis Langdon. He has just been certified as a Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)SM by the Project Management Institute
(PMI). Themba attended the ProjectPro preparatory course in February 2010 for taking the PMI-RMP credential examination.
ProjectPro now offers a 3-step approach towards obtaining the sought-after Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Scheduling
Professional (PMI-SP)SM credential.
ProjectPro is proud to announce the release of their ProjectFlow® Version 1.1 project management methodology which is available through attending the 4-day
ProjectFlow course.
Have you just got used to all the features of Microsoft Project 2007? Well, brace yourself, the next version is on its way!
Project management is both an art and a science - the art of project management being the “soft” aspects, the science being the “hard”.
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The next ProjectFlow public course will be held on 13-16 July 2010 in Centurion, Gauteng. Register on www.projectpro.co.za A recent May 2010 survey of Microsoft Project scheduling application users shows some interesting and, sometimes surprising, results. If you wish to join one of ProjectPro’s introductory or advanced MS Project courses, please visit our website www.projectpro.co.za or call 012 346 6674. Next intro course is on the 3 - 4 August and advanced on 10 -11 August 2010 in Gauteng. Here are the results of the survey: Read More Six would-be cosmonauts have entered a sealed facility at a medical
institute in Moscow where they will spend 18 months with no windows and only e-mail contact with the outside world. The men are taking part in the Mars 500 project, which aims to simulate a mission to Mars.
Scientists say the project will help them understand how humans would cope on a long journey to another world. Read more
This is not the same as creating life. It is more accurately described as "mimicking life". Given the complexity of achieving even that task (the very simple form of life Dr Venter copied has more than a million chemical "letters" in its DNA code), Dr Venter has certainly pulled off something substantial. It may turn out not to have any significant applications at all, but we said the same thing about the laser beam when it was invented. It might be possible to use Dr Venter's technique in the production of vaccines, or to manufacture a form of algae which could absorb CO2 and produce oil. If it works for the cells of bacteria, it should work for human cells too. We have 25000 genes in each of our cells, as opposed to the 500 that control the reproduction of the bacterium that Dr Venter used – but the mechanisms are the same. The differences are a matter of quantity, not quality. However, Dr Venter thinks that using his technique on any cells other than the most primitive forms of bacteria is "a long way off". For the foreseeable future, it cannot be used on human cells, or even on more complex bacteria. So unlike stem-cell research, which hopes to find ways to make damaged human organs, nerves and tissue repair themselves, it does not hold out the promise of cures for dozens of presently untreatable diseases. "This is transforming life totally from one species into another by
changing the software," said Dr Venter.
The loss to airlines has been conservatively estimated to be over US$ 2 ,5 billion. Some people were stuck at airports for over a week. Read More ISO 21500 Project Management Standard reaches important milestone
Twelve participating organisation from South Africa
(including ProjectPro) has voted on whether the ISO/Committee Draft 21500 should be circulated as a Draft International Standard. Read More Whenever we make an assumption, we take a risk. What are the consequences if the assumption is not reasonable and turns out to be untrue? We need to understand the critical role of stating and validating assumptions on projects. The title of this article is a play on the word assume (ass-u-me). Making
unreasonable assumptions can lead to embarrassing situations. To assume blindly, arrogantly, without checking out and validating what we are holding to be ‘true’ for planning purposes is very likely to result in
you, or others looking ‘ass-like’ – like the supposedly unintelligent and stubborn animal from the horse family. Read More
The Engineering Council of South Africa's (ECSA) disciplinary hearing in this matter was concluded on the 27 January 2010, nearly 12 years after the collapse. ECSA have allowed the engineers to practice in the intervening years. The three registered persons employed by VKE Consulting Engineers were sanctioned as follows : · Mr.J.D.Bischoff : Fined R50 000 · Mr.D.W.Burger : Fined R15 000 · Mr.M.J.Rautenbach : Fined R15 000 The findings and sanctions were published in the government gazette in terms of section 32(5) of the Engineering Profession Act, 46 of 2000 and on the ECSA website. The owner of the works was the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. VKE Consulting Engineers were appointed by the owner to design the bridge to span the Ngwaritsane River, near Bosbokrand. The contractor was Concor Holdings (Pty) Limited. The ECSA finding concludes an unacceptably long and flawed process, which saw the case docket mysteriously disappear (it was never recovered, causing further delay as it was reconstructed). An informal inquest was held in which the magistrate ignored the 740-page Department of Labour enquiry and came to a finding diametrically opposed to the DOL finding. The engineers were not suspended by ECSA in terms of the Engineering Profession Act, 46 of 2000, Clause 14 (j) while the investigation was underway. Hopefully the engineering discipline will apply the lessons learned from
this tragic event, so that it is never repeated.
The six skills programmes summatively
assess the eleven core units standards required for the qualification. The series starts with Skills Programme 1: Structuring and Starting Your Project earning 14 credits. A Portfolio of Evidence must be submitted by
learners for assessment by ProjectPro within two months of completing the classroom sessions. A Certificate of Competence is awarded on successful completion. Read More
For decades, humans have pushed the boundaries of
space exploration. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent more than 120 missions into space. Twelve astronauts have walked on the moon. And Voyager 1,
launched three decades ago, continues to explore deeper and deeper into space. Read more
It should not be too hard to answer the question "What is the biggest risk
in your project or business?" Most of us know what keeps us awake at night, either worrying about what could go wrong (threats), or getting excited about possible improvements (opportunities). But how do we
decide which risk is the "biggest"? Is it just an intuitive feeling, or are there measurable parameters we can use? Read More What Does the Law Say?
How does the management of your projects stack up against the world leaders? What are the best practices that your organisation should implement to generate a stream of consistently successful projects? Read More Using Milestones The purpose of a milestone schedule or chart is to communicate important project dates to project sponsors, customers, functional managers and the outside world. Almost every project needs a milestone schedule. A milestone is defined as a significant achievement at a point in time. Read more Project, Program or Portfolio Management?
The distinction between a project, program and
portfolio is generally not well understood. However, it is important to know the difference because each has a special role to play. They need to be managed differently if the organisation’s strategy is to be
successfully transformed into reality. Read more Everyone has a need to be recognized and rewarded for their actions. This need will vary in degree of importance among individuals. It is also important to celebrate, recognize and reward overall team efforts, keeping in mind that a team is a group of people with complementary skills that work together to achieve a shared goal. Read more ProjectPro Launched a Weblog This weblog may be used to interact with Terry Deacon, ProjectPro's experienced PMP workshop facilitator, or with others that are preparing to sit for their PMP® exam. Featured also is the e-News and e-Zine weblogs where you can respond and launch topics of interests. To access the weblog on our website click here or at the bottom of the
left hand sidebar, click the PMP Weblog and sign up. Confirmation will be emailed to you.
As a discipline, project management developed from different fields of
application including construction, engineering, defence, etc. The forefather of project management is Henry Gantt, called the father of planning and control techniques, who is famously known for his use of
the Gantt chart as a project management tool. He was an associate of Frederick Winslow Taylor's theories of scientific management, and for his study of the work and management of Navy ship building. His work is the
forerunner to many modern project management tools including the work breakdown structure (WBS) and bar chart. Read more By Ivan Lloyd, PMP
Tips for Work Breakdown Structures A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical approach to define project work components. The top level of the WBS is the total project or programme. Each descending level breaks the project work into more manageable pieces. The lowest level of the WBS is referred to as a work package . On very
large projects, work packages may be handed-off to other project managers. Read more The purpose of a Business Case is to justify the project expenditure by identifying the business benefits you're going to deliver. Here's how to create a Business Case in 4 simple steps : Read More
The responsible person is tasked to do a job, but the
accountable person is answerable (or in a negative sense, blameworthy) for the performance of the responsible party. One sometimes hears about being made “Primarily responsible”. To my mind this is the
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Science is making astounding advances that border on playing God. The Large Hadron Collider, an underground atom-smasher, is on the
threshold of discovering the Higgs-Boson, the so-called “God particle”. Now scientists have announced a bold step in the quest to create artificial life. They've produced a living cell powered by man-made DNA.
The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) is developing a global framework called ISO 21500 : A Guide to Project Management.
The Injaka Bridge in Mpumalanga collapsed on 6 July 1998, causing the death of 14 people (including the designer of the bridge)
and injuring 19 others. Most of them were standing on the bridge deck as it was being launched.
ProjectPro, a project management training provider accredited with the Services Seta, is offering a series of skills programmes leading
towards an NQF Level 4 FET certificate in project management.
What is the future of project management? What changes can we expect and how should we plan for growth? Editors 
Biosphere 2 contains the largest closed system ever created. This structure, with a 12,700 m2 footprint (comparable to 2,5 football fields),
was originally built to be a man-made, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona (USA) by Space Biosphere Ventures. The name comes from Earth’s biosphere, Biosphere 1,
Earth's life system and the only biosphere currently known. 
ProjectPro is publishing a series of watershed court case findings that have important contract management implications. 
The terminology used in project management can be confusing. Even project management has multiple meanings. In the past it was only
associated with projects, but two decades ago that began to change. Today the term project management is understood to include program management and portfolio management.
Imagine a technique that’s like switching on the floodlights to illuminate your entire project. If you spot any warning signs, this technique
allows you to focus a spotlight on the problem area. If that isn’t enough, turn on the Cost Performance Index which is like a crystal ball to predict what your final project cost is likely
to be. This enlightening performance measurement technique is called “Managing with the lights on” or Earned Value Management (EVM). 
I can safely say that Microsoft Project is one of the easier of the tools on the market to use, having spent over 15
years implementing stand-alone and enterprise project scheduling systems working with a broad range of tools. However, this may well go against what many users of Microsoft Project believe! 
“The buck stops here” said American president Harry Truman. In other words he was unequivocally saying, “I am accountable”
