Upskilling Training

Microsoft Project software can be used as an additional tool to help Project Managers manage projects. The software allows Project Managers to increase communication with Shareholders, Sponsors and all individuals involved with a specific or multiple projects.

Demystifying Microsoft Project consists of four 1.5-hour sessions with hands-on instruction that help the user understand how to use Microsoft Project as an effective tool to manage your projects.

Six participants per workshop are guided through a series of exercises to help them gain confidence and knowledge of how to use Microsoft Project. Lessons and materials are designed to provide the participants with step-by-step instructions that can be used whenever the participants have access to Microsoft Project or similar software.

As the project manager for the 30th Anniversary Dinner Dance Extravaganza, you must put together a project plan using MS Project and ensure that you can track the project accurately. Your client is exacting. At any point in time, the client may ask you about the project... will you know the answers? Remember: You cannot properly manage a project without being able to measure the project!

Assisting you in your journey will be Ashley Turnbull, who will be sharing useful best practice techniques and tips. Participants are encouraged to share what they may have learned through their own use of the software or Project Management situations.

Course Objectives

Participants will increase their skills by:

Workshop Sessions

1 - Microsoft Project software defaults, task and relationships

Default setup of Microsoft Project, Project Management terms and definitions, Demonstration of how the terms can be applied to the actual software. Various relationships between tasks. Determining Project start and finish dates.

2 - Resource Management

Continuation of Workshop#1. Adding/modifying resources and cost when assigning resources. Managing resources with resource leveling. Discussion of type of resources.

3 – Fine Tuning Your Project

Creating Subtask, Milestones and Constraints (limitations) to your tasks and project. Review of class and individual projects. Determining critical task.

4 – Creating Reports/Filtering Task

Filtering completed, uncompleted task. Resource usage reports. Creating various financial reports and exporting reports to an Excel document. Free Excel project management templates available within Microsoft Excel.

Registration

• Members only.
• The registration fee of $20 is non-refundable.
• Sign up today so we can work with you place you in a workshop (we'll work with you on the dates that work best for you)
• If you want to take this training, but not sure about your availability, we ask that you please register so we can gauge the interest and establish future workshops as this is a new initiative.
• By registering, you allow us to share your email via invites for the class as well as through emails.
• The Zoom details for the sessions will be sent via an invite after we work with you to assign you to a Workshop.
• The registration receipt will include a short questionnaire.
• As Workshops are filled, additional workshops will be scheduled.
• We'll contact people on the waitlist once we have 6 people for a group. FYI - The more people who add their name to the waitlist, the faster the workshops will be scheduled.

Requirements

Software: Microsoft Project 2019 or higher desktop version

Intermediate computer skills and a basic understanding of Project Management terminology

It is strongly recommended that participants have two screens – one to watch and the other to follow along

About the Instructor

Ashley Turnbull has been a Microsoft Office Certified Trainer since 2010. Mr. Turnbull has taught more than 100 Microsoft Project classes to New York City employees, where he works as a Computer Information Technical Trainer for the New York City Department of Social Services/ ITS division.

Ashley has more than 33 years of experience in technical training.

His credo is “Each One, Teach One”

For additional information:

This workshop provides a foundation in Jira, a powerful project management tool designed to optimize your workflow and enhance collaboration amongst teams. Through interactive exercises and explanations, you will gain a solid understanding of Jira's core features.

Course Objectives

By the end of these sessions, you will:

• Understand the fundamental concepts of Jira and its importance in project management.
• Be able to set up and manage Jira Projects, Issues, and Boards effectively.
• Gain practical experience in using Jira for managing Sprints, tracking progress, and generating reports.
• Learn best practices and tips to enhance team productivity and collaboration using Jira.

Students will be given access to a JIRA instance where they can manage a fun theme-based project! You will create issues in the Backlog, move them into a Sprint, then update and assign issues to other students in the workshop as you would in a real-world project. Let's embark on this journey together and unlock the potential of Jira for your project management needs!

Registration

• Members only.
• The registration fee of $10 is non-refundable.
• We're taking folks for the waitlist!
• If you want to take this training, but not sure about your availability, we ask that you please register so we can establish future workshops.
• By registering, you allow us to share your email via invites for the class as well as through emails.
• The ZOOM details for the sessions will be sent via an invite after we work with you to assign you to a Workshop.
• The registration receipt will include a short questionnaire.
• As Workshops are filled, additional workshops will be scheduled.
• We'll contact people on the waitlist once we have 6 people for a group.

Workshop Details

Experience level: No experience with JIRA is necessary

Class size: 6 people

Number of sessions: 2

Session duration: 2 hours

About the Instructor

Marcel Bautista has been a Program and Project Manager for two decades. He has been an avid user of Jira since his first user story in 2010. In his current role, he is a transformation lead for one of the largest global providers of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solutions.

Throughout his professional experiences, he has leveraged JIRA across all levels of organizations resulting in amazing outcomes.

He believes strongly in JIRA’s ability to bring teams and organizations together in an aligned and cohesive way.

Excel is a powerful statistical management tool that can help organize and analyze data. But it does more than that - it’s a tool that can help tell the story of the data.

Up Your Excel Skills consists of five 1.5-hour sessions with hands-on instruction that help you understand the capabilities of Excel and how to use them to your advantage. Plus, you will earn PDUs toward your current credentials.

Six participants per workshop are guided through a series of exercises to help them gain confidence and knowledge of how to use Excel. Throughout the workshop, useful techniques and tips are revealed – and participants are encouraged to share what they may have learned through their own use of the software. (It is strongly recommended that participants have two screens – one to watch and the other to follow along.)

We’ll focus on Windows Excel 2020 and above, but welcome participants with other versions of Excel.
FYI – The Mac version of Excel isn’t as robust. Many functions aren’t available on a Mac.

Course Objectives

Participants will increase their skills at: The goal of this course is to give the participants a taste of what Excel can do. We hope the participants will come away with an understanding of Excel’s taxonomy, formatting, when and how to use the functions and formulas reviewed, how to create a table or pivot table.

Workshop Sessions

1 - The Language of Excel

This session addresses the basics of Excel – and the unique language that is used within it. We’ll learn some tips and tricks and how to work with Excel using keystrokes to save time and increase work efficiency. As well as begin basic data entry and conditional formatting.

2 - Formatting

Following the basic knowledge established in Session 1, we will move into more extensive formatting and the various methods used to display data.

3 – Math Functions and Formulas

There are many formulas and functions within Excel. We will start with “the basics” with the objective of understanding how Excel interprets what the user is inputting.

4 – Logic Formula and Lookup

Continuing from the third session with formulas, we’ll learn about Lookups and combining formulas and conditional formatting.

5 – Analyzing data and telling its story

In this session, we will learn how to use tables and build a pivot table. We will also learn how to produce charts to make our data come alive graphically.

Added Benefit for Participants

The instructor (Rachel Margolis, PMINJ’s Director – Special Projects) will stay on for 30 minutes after each session, as requested, to go through questions participants may have on work they are doing. It’s the participant’s responsibility to make sure the work they share can be shared.

Registration

We currently have a waitlist of more than 50 people so we're not accepting registrations at this time.

We'll open registratioin once we have managed to reduce the waitlist. We appreciate your patience.

Testimonials

The Average Rating (out of 10) is 9.5. Read what previous participants wrote:

"Great class and highly recommended."

"Rachel did an amazing job teaching us practical Excel functions. She made the class engaging and fun!"

"Rachel is a very good instructor. She made what could potentially be a dry subject enjoyable with her good sense of humor and patience."

"Rachel did an amazing job of gauging our interest and level of knowledge and working around that to suit our needs."

About the instructor

Rachel Margolis' journey with Excel is a testament to the software's versatility and robustness. From crafting legal documents to managing complex datasets for research, sales, and project management, Excel has been an indispensable tool in her toolkit. Her ability to adapt its functionalities to various needs, including comparing data across multiple workbooks and sources, highlights not only her expertise but also the potential of Excel to streamline and enhance diverse professional tasks.

Rachel's background in usability further enhances her capability to create meaningful and impactful Excel reports, tailored to communicate effectively with any audience, whether it's her colleagues or the executive suite.

For additional information email:

Coming in Q1-2025

Agile Project Management (APM) is a transformative approach that has revolutionized the way projects are managed and delivered. It's a methodology that prioritizes flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction. If you're new to Agile, this workshop will provide learners with a comprehensive foundation in Agile principles and practices.

Learning objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will have a solid understanding of Agile methodologies and be equipped to apply basic Agile techniques in their work.

The workshop emphasizes both knowledge acquisition and practical application, ensuring that participants can effectively translate their learning into real-world project management.

The workshop will be two sessions.

Recommended Skill Level

This workshop is designed for beginners and may not be suitable for those with experience in Agile methodologies.

Experienced learners are welcome to join, but they may find the content to be basic.

If you are a member and would be interested in teaching a subject you have knowledge, please contact Special Programs. We'll work with members to create a curriculum and to get PDU approvals. Areas we're looking for are but not limited to:

Consider paying it forward

Share what you know
Strengthen your knowledge
Improve your communications skills
Enjoy meeting new people
Get a buzz when someone catches an idea