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Back in April I attended the Information Systems Project Management (ISPM) Course at Cranfield University, Shrivenham.
Course details here.
This course actually teaches project management, as opposed to the PRINCE2 course which just teaches a methodology. MOD attendees do not have to pay the £4500 course fees. The only downer is the 3 weeks course length which may be difficult to arrange with work, as a side note, those that have day release have much more time off than 15 days....
The scope of the course is very wide which in turn makes the exam a bit daunting. The final exam is a 3 hours written test. This is marked externally with the results coming in about 6 weeks later.
After you pass the exam, you receive notification to book the oral test at the British Computer Society offices in Convent Garden. The oral lasts 45 minutes. I attended my oral last Thursday and was expecting scenario based questions but it ended up being a recap of the course. It is fair to say that the course contains a lot of list type recall questions...something that I wasnt ready for on Thursday. Luckily, despite hastily looking for the reg's regarding resitting the oral exam afterwards I found out 2 days later that I had passed. I had a bad feeling after I couldn’t remember the complete answer in the ice-breaker question at the beginning, it went downhill from there...
DT_Xtremez_09:
The course prerequisite is PRINCE2 foundation which is the language spoken throughout the course. One of the attendees hadn’t studied PRINCE2 and managed the course ok, although I suspect he needs to complete PRINCE2 before the oral.
This BCS qualification is a practitioner-level project management qualification. If you wish to continue to develop your project management portfolio, you may gain exemptions on the strength of this course. The PPM diploma grants an exemption of two units from this course. If you have PRINCE2 practitioner, then you gain another exemption. The PPM diploma is a degree level qualification.
On my course, there was a Flt Lt (EngO), an MoD civvie, 3 Sgs (IS manager, fairy and an air-trafficer) and a Cpl Signaller. On the course manifest there should have been some more senior officers, so if you attend you should expect a broad spectrum of attendees.
Its an excellent course, well worth doing if your boss will let you go for 3 weeks. Its often under-subscribed, and even if its full, if you let them know you can attend at short notice, you should get a place.
The accommodation is pretty good at Shrivenham. The Sgts mess and Jnr Ranks accommodation is within a shared SLAM block with seperate dining. The officers accommodation is undergoing the same modernisation, but at this time is not as good as the other ranksDT_Xtremez_28:
An excellent preparation for the course is "Project Management For Information Systems", Cadle and Yeates.
In summary, an excellent course with a civvy qualification. If you can get 3 weeks off work, give it a try!
Course details here.
This course actually teaches project management, as opposed to the PRINCE2 course which just teaches a methodology. MOD attendees do not have to pay the £4500 course fees. The only downer is the 3 weeks course length which may be difficult to arrange with work, as a side note, those that have day release have much more time off than 15 days....
The scope of the course is very wide which in turn makes the exam a bit daunting. The final exam is a 3 hours written test. This is marked externally with the results coming in about 6 weeks later.
After you pass the exam, you receive notification to book the oral test at the British Computer Society offices in Convent Garden. The oral lasts 45 minutes. I attended my oral last Thursday and was expecting scenario based questions but it ended up being a recap of the course. It is fair to say that the course contains a lot of list type recall questions...something that I wasnt ready for on Thursday. Luckily, despite hastily looking for the reg's regarding resitting the oral exam afterwards I found out 2 days later that I had passed. I had a bad feeling after I couldn’t remember the complete answer in the ice-breaker question at the beginning, it went downhill from there...
DT_Xtremez_09:The course prerequisite is PRINCE2 foundation which is the language spoken throughout the course. One of the attendees hadn’t studied PRINCE2 and managed the course ok, although I suspect he needs to complete PRINCE2 before the oral.
This BCS qualification is a practitioner-level project management qualification. If you wish to continue to develop your project management portfolio, you may gain exemptions on the strength of this course. The PPM diploma grants an exemption of two units from this course. If you have PRINCE2 practitioner, then you gain another exemption. The PPM diploma is a degree level qualification.
On my course, there was a Flt Lt (EngO), an MoD civvie, 3 Sgs (IS manager, fairy and an air-trafficer) and a Cpl Signaller. On the course manifest there should have been some more senior officers, so if you attend you should expect a broad spectrum of attendees.
Its an excellent course, well worth doing if your boss will let you go for 3 weeks. Its often under-subscribed, and even if its full, if you let them know you can attend at short notice, you should get a place.
The accommodation is pretty good at Shrivenham. The Sgts mess and Jnr Ranks accommodation is within a shared SLAM block with seperate dining. The officers accommodation is undergoing the same modernisation, but at this time is not as good as the other ranks
DT_Xtremez_28:An excellent preparation for the course is "Project Management For Information Systems", Cadle and Yeates.
In summary, an excellent course with a civvy qualification. If you can get 3 weeks off work, give it a try!