Congratulations!

Dear Self-Publisher,

You have successfully completed Alison’s two training courses. We now

want to see if you can use these skills to create an online test course on
the Alison Publisher Tool.

This test course will have to meet Alison standards in terms of structure,
content presentation and learning pedagogy. Use the insights you have
gained from completing Alison’s two training courses and the training
material on Alison.com to create an interesting, informative and engaging
course.

Good luck!

The Alison Team

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 IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Time Allowed

Creating a course that meets the strict Alison standards takes time. As this will be your first time
creating a course using the Alison Publisher Tool, we will allow up to 4 weeks for you to create the
course, but if you need more time, that’s okay. For now we will be examining your ability to create a
high-quality course that meets our standards rather than how quickly you can create a course. We
encourage you to take your time building the course, as you will only have one opportunity to submit it
for review.

What Next?

This document contains sample text material which you need to convert into a high-quality online
sample course using the Alison Publisher Tool. There is enough content to create a short certificate
course.

A module of learning content typically consists of five topics as follows:

● Topic 1 – Module Learning Outcomes

● Topics 2 - 4 – Learning Content
● Topic 5 – Lesson Summary

An end of course assessment contains a minimum of 30 questions. The Alison Publisher Tool has 11
different question types, so make good use of the variety available to keep your learners engaged!

USEFUL TIP: We have found that creating both formative and summative questions enhances the
learners’ experience and improves the quality of our courses. More information on formative and
summative questions can be found under the Training section of Alison.com.

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 Course Information and SEO

Course descriptions entice your learners to enrol in your course by giving them insight into the key
content it contains and showing them how it will benefit them. Learning Outcomes show your learners
the specific knowledge they will gain from completing your course. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
refers to writing meta titles, meta descriptions and meta keywords (known collectively as metadata), in
a way that improves the value and ranking of a course or web page in search engine results.

Course Information:

● Course Title
● Headline
● Short Summary
● Summary
● Meta Title
● Meta Description
● Learning Outcomes
● Keywords

Module and Topic Information:

● Module Title
● Module Description
● Topic Title
● Topic Description
● Meta Title
● Meta Description
● Keywords

USEFUL TIP: If you need to be reminded of any of this information, please refer to the two training
courses, the Training section of Alison.com or the FAQs.

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 Test Course Content

This document contains the content for your test course. You have to convert this content into a high-
quality online course using the Alison Publisher Tool. You do not need to edit or rewrite this text. Simply
copy and paste as plain text into the Alison Publisher Tool.

USEFUL TIP: We recommend that you add images to the content that will enhance the learning.

You can source free images from a number of websites including the following:

Pixabay (https://pixabay.com)

Pexels (https://www.pexels.com)

Unsplash (https://unsplash.com)

Submit Your Test Course

Once you have built your test course and you feel that it meets the Alison standards for course
structure, content presentation and learning pedagogy, you can submit it for review through the
Publishing Tool. Please see details of how to do this by scrolling down to the section: How to Submit
Your Course for Review.

Our content team will then review your course. If your sample course is approved by the content team,
you will be invited to create and build your own courses to be published on Alison.com. Your new
courses will be reviewed under the same criteria as your test course and if approved by our content
team will be accessible to millions of learners around the world.

You will be assigned an Alison PAM (Publishing Account Manager) who will review your courses and
provide you with feedback to ensure that your courses meet Alison’s standards. Working closely with
your PAM will help you produce high-quality courses that will greatly benefit our learners.

This will be a great opportunity for you to earn an income doing a job you love and also help millions of
learners worldwide access high-quality free online courses.

We look forward to receiving your completed course for review!

The Alison Team

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 Before You Start

The test course content covers basic concepts in Project Management. The text is in the sections
provided below. You need to convert this text content into a high-quality online course using the Alison
Publisher Tool. There is no need to edit or re-write this text. You can copy and paste (as plain text) into
the Alison Publisher Tool.

You will have to read carefully through this course content as you will need to understand it to be able
to write the Course Summary (Short and Long), the Learning Outcomes at Course and Module
levels, the Lesson Summary for each module, and the 30 assessment questions.

Checklists to be Completed

Before submitting the course you can use the following checklists to ensure that you have completed all
of the course components.

Course Level Information

Course Component Completed (Yes/No)

Course Title

Headline

Short Summary

Summary

Course Learning Outcomes

Meta Title for SEO

Meta Description

Keywords for SEO

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 Module Level Information

Course Component Completed (Yes/No)

Module Title

Module Description

First topic in a module is the Module Learning

Outcomes

Final topic in a module is the Module Lesson

Summary

Topic Level Information

Course Component Completed (Yes/No)

Topic Title

Topic Description

Meta Title for SEO

Meta Description for SEO

Keywords for SEO

Assessment Level Information

Course Component Completed (Yes/No)

30 - 40 questions

USEFUL TIP: Third Party Review - Although you can preview your course at any time using the
Preview option in the Publisher Tool, you may find it useful for a third party to review your course
before submitting it to Alison. This could be a family member or friend who will give you honest
feedback about the way you have presented the course material.

How to Submit Your Course for Review

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If you wish to submit a course for review by our internal publishing team then please do the following:

1. Locate your course in the publishing tool using the search option. Once you see your course
listed, you will notice the Status is set to In Progress. To change the status to Sent to Review,
you will need to first select the Edit button as highlighted below.

2. After clicking on the Edit button, you will be redirected to the Module Tree Manager for the
course. To submit your course for review, you will need to first generate a Course Preview by
selecting the Course Preview Generator button, as highlighted in the image below:

3. Once the preview has been generated, you can access the preview by selecting the Course
Preview button as highlighted in the image below:

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4. After selecting the Course Preview button, you will be presented with a preview of what the
course will look like live on the website. You will then need to select View course modules.

5. Once you select the View course modules button, you will see an option to Submit for
Review appear at the top of the page as highlighted in the image below.

6. Simply select the Submit for Review button and your course will be sent to us for review. If you
search for the course in the home page of the publishing tool you will now see that the status
has changed to Sent for Review as highlighted in the image below.

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 7. Once the course has been accepted by us to review the course status will update to In Review
as shown in the sample below. Please note that the course cannot be edited when its status is
set to In Review until we update the status back to In Progress.

Remember: If you cannot see your course in the preview go back to the Module Manager and
recheck the following:
● Each module needs to have one topic
● Each topic needs to have one page
● There need to be at least two questions in the assessment (you also need to ensure in the edit
assessment settings that the assessment is set to ask at least 2 questions).

If you plan on creating a video-based course please include a short 2-3 minute video to introduce the
content below.

NOTE: If you are not intending to create and upload videos as part of your future course, for this
section you may upload a sample of a pre-made high-quality video of any unrelated topic.

Technical Guidelines: Ensure the video follows these guidelines:

● High Definition video

● MP4 file type
● Aspect Ratio 16:9
● Resolution 800x450 pixels
● Host on either Vimeo or Youtube. Use the embed code to display the video in the Publisher
Tool. Please note that when you create your own course Alison only hosts Vimeo links.
Other images can be included in the video but please ensure you adhere to copyright protocols.

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Examples of videos on Alison
The following are examples of courses with high-quality videos which your video must match.

Customer Service Skills

Demonstrates a presenter who is talking though the subject matter and using slides as aids.

Build WordPress Sites That Attract Free Traffic

Demonstrates the use of slides with a presenter using audio only.

Basic Life Support

Demonstrates CPR and other life-saving skills.

The sample text material begins on the next page. Good luck!

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 TEST COURSE CONTENT

Project Management Overview

When considering whether or not you have a project on your hands, there are some things to keep in
mind. First, is it a project or an ongoing operation? Second, if it is a project, who are the stakeholders?
And third, what characteristics distinguish this endeavour as a project?

Projects have several characteristics:

• Projects are unique.
• Projects are temporary in nature and have a definite beginning and ending date.
• Projects are completed when the project goals are achieved or it’s determined the project is no
longer viable.

A successful project is one that meets or exceeds the expectations of the stakeholders.

Consider the following scenario: The vice-president (VP) of marketing approaches you with a fabulous
idea. (Obviously it must be “fabulous” because he thought of it.) He wants to set up kiosks in local
grocery stores as mini-offices. These offices will offer customers the ability to sign up for car and home
insurance services as well as make their bill payments. He believes that the exposure in grocery stores
will increase awareness of the company’s offerings. He told you that senior management has already
cleared the project, and he’ll dedicate as many resources to this as he can. He wants the new kiosks in
place in 12 selected stores in a major city by the end of the year. Finally, he has assigned you to head
up this project. Your first question should be, “Is it a project?” This may seem elementary, but confusing
projects with ongoing operations happen often. Projects are temporary in nature, have definite start and
end dates, result in the creation of a unique product or service, and are completed when their goals and
objectives have been met and signed off by the stakeholders.

Using these criteria, let’s examine the assignment from the VP of marketing to determine if it is a
project:

• Is it unique? Yes, because the kiosks don’t exist in the local grocery stores. This is a new way of
offering the company’s services to its customer base. While the service the company is offering isn’t
new, the way it is presenting its services is.
• Does the product have a limited timeframe? Yes, the start date of this project is today, and the end
date is the end of next year. It is a temporary endeavour.
• Is there a way to determine when the project is completed? Yes, the kiosks will be installed and the
services will be offered from them. Once all the kiosks are installed and operating, the project will come
to a close.

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• Is there a way to determine stakeholder satisfaction? Yes, the expectations of the stakeholders will be
documented in the form of requirements during the planning processes. These requirements will be
compared to the finished product to determine if it meets the expectations of the stakeholder.

If the answer is yes to all these questions, then we have a project.

On any project, you will have a number of project constraints that are competing for your attention.
They are cost, scope, quality, risk, resources, and time.

● Cost is the budget approved for the project including all necessary expenses needed to deliver
the project. Within organizations, project managers have to balance between not running out of
money and not underspending because many projects receive funds or grants that have
contract clauses with a “use it or lose it” approach to project funds. Poorly executed budget
plans can result in a last-minute rush to spend the allocated funds. For virtually all projects, cost
is ultimately a limiting constraint; few projects can go over budget without eventually requiring a
corrective action.
● Scope is what the project is trying to achieve. It entails all the work involved in delivering the
project outcomes and the processes used to produce them. It is the reason and the purpose of
the project.
● Quality is a combination of the standards and criteria to which the project’s products must be
delivered for them to perform effectively. The product must perform to provide the functionality
expected, solve the identified problem, and deliver the benefit and value expected. It must also
meet other performance requirements, or service levels, such as availability, reliability, and
maintainability, and have acceptable finish and polish. Quality on a project is controlled through
quality assurance (QA), which is the process of evaluating overall project performance on a
regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
● Risk is defined by potential external events that will have a negative impact on your project if
they occur. Risk refers to the combination of the probability the event will occur and the impact
on the project if the event occurs. If the combination of the probability of the occurrence and the
impact on the project is too high, you should identify the potential event as a risk and put a
proactive plan in place to manage the risk.
● Resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment,
facilities, funding, or anything else required for the completion of a project activity.
● Time is defined as the time to complete the project. Time is often the most frequent project
oversight in developing projects. This is reflected in missed deadlines and incomplete
deliverables. Proper control of the schedule requires the careful identification of tasks to be
performed and accurate estimations of their durations, the sequence in which they are going to
be done, and how people and other resources are to be allocated.

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You may have heard of the term “triple constraint,” which traditionally consisted of only time, cost, and
scope. These are the primary competing project constraints that you have to be most aware of. The
triple constraint is illustrated in the form of a triangle to help visualize the project work and to
demonstrate the relationship between the scope/quality, schedule/time, and cost/resource.

Figure 1.1. A schematic of the Triple Constraint Triangle.

In this triangle, each side represents one of the constraints (or

related constraints) wherein any changes to any one side
cause a change in the other sides. The best projects have a
perfectly balanced triangle. Maintaining this balance is
difficult because projects are prone to change. For example, if
scope increases, cost and time may increase
proportionately. Alternatively, if the amount of money you
have for your project decreases, you may be able to do as
much, but your time may increase. Figure 1.1: A schematic of
the triple constraint triangle.
The triad constraints by John M. Kennedy T.
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:The_triad_constraints.jpg) used under CC-BY-SA license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Project Management Expertise

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In order for you, as the project manager, to manage the competing project constraints and the project
as a whole, there are some areas of expertise you should bring to the project team, which include the
following:
• Knowledge of the application area and the standards and regulations in your industry;
• Understanding of the project environment;
• General management knowledge and skills, and
• Interpersonal skills.

Application knowledge
Having some level of experience in the application area you’re working in will give you an advantage
when it comes to project management. While you can call in experts who have the application area
knowledge, it doesn’t hurt for you to understand the specific aspects of the application areas of your
project. By standards, we mean guidelines or preferred approaches that are not necessarily mandatory.
In contrast, regulations refer to mandatory rules or laws that must be followed, such as government-
imposed requirements through laws. It should go without saying that as a professional, you’re required
to follow all applicable laws and rules that apply to your industry, organization, or project scope. Every
industry has standards and regulations. Knowing which ones affect your project before you begin work
will not only help the project to unfold smoothly, but will also allow for effective risk analysis.

Understanding the Project Environment

As shown in Figure 1.2, there are many factors that need to be understood within your project
environment. At one level, you need to think in terms of the cultural and social environments (i.e.,
people, demographics, and education). The international and political environment is where you need
to understand different countries’ cultural influences. Then we move to the physical environment where
we think about time zones. Think about different countries and how differently your project will be
executed whether or not it is just in your country.

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Figure 2.2 The Important Factors to Consider within the Project Environment.

Table from Barron & Barron Project Management for Scientists and Engineers, Source:
http://cnx.org/content/ col11120/1.4/

Management Knowledge and Skills

As the project manager, you have to rely on your project management knowledge and your general
management skills. Here, we are thinking of items like your ability to plan the project, execute it
properly, and of course control it and bring it to a successful conclusion, along with your ability to guide
the project team to help achieve project objectives and balance project constraints. Thus, the
application of effective general management skills enables the project manager to complete the project
with some level of efficiency and control. In some respects, managing a project is similar to running a
business: there are risk and rewards, finance and accounting activities, human resource issues, time
management, stress management, and a purpose for the project to exist. General management skills
are needed in every project.

Interpersonal Skills
Successful project management also requires a project manager who can effectively deal with and
manage personal relationships, as well as addressing any personnel issues as they arise. As illustrated
in the figure below, the key interpersonal skills required by the project manager include:

• Communication
• Influence
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Negotiation
• Problem-solving

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Figure 2.3 Interpersonal Skills Required of a Project Manager.

Table from Barron & Barron Project Management for Scientists and Engineers, Source:
http://cnx.org/content/ col11120/1.4/

Framework for Project Management

Many different professions contribute to the theory and practice of project management. Engineers and
architects have been managing major projects since prehistory. Since approximately the 1960s, there
have been efforts to professionalize the practice of project management as a specialization of its own.
There are many active debates around this: Should project management be a profession in the same
way as engineering, accounting, and medicine? These have professional associations that certify who
is legally allowed to use the job title, and who can legally practice the profession. They also provide a
level of assurance of quality and discipline members who behave inappropriately. Another ongoing
debate is: How much industry knowledge is required of a seasoned project manager? How easily can a
project manager from one industry, say, IT, transition to another industry such as hospitality?

There are two organizations with worldwide impact on the practice of project management: The Project
Management Institute (PMI), with global headquarters in the United States, and the International
Project Management Association (IPMA), with headquarters in Switzerland. This section takes an
approach that is closer to the PMI approach (http://www.pmi.org).

Five volunteers founded the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 1969. Their initial goal was to
establish an organization where members could share their experiences of working in project
management and discuss how to resolve issues. Today, PMI is a non-profit project management
professional association and the most widely recognized organization in terms of promoting project
management best practices. PMI was formed to serve the interests of the project management
industry. The premise of PMI is that the tools and techniques of project management are common even
among the widespread application of projects from the software to the construction industry. PMI first
began offering the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam in 1984. Although it took
a while for people to take notice, now more than 590,000 individuals around the world hold the PMP
designation.

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To help keep project management terms and concepts clear and consistent, PMI introduced the book A
Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) in 1987. It was updated in
1996, 2000, 2004, 2009, 2013 and most recently in 2017 as the sixth edition. At present, there are
more than one million copies of the PMBOK Guide in circulation. Because of the importance of projects,
the discipline of project management has evolved into a working body of knowledge known as PMBOK
– Project Management Body of Knowledge. The PMI also administers a professional certification
program for project managers, the PMP. Certification in project management is available from the PMI,
PRINCE2, ITIL, Critical Chain, and others. Agile project management methodologies (Scrum, extreme
programming, Lean Six Sigma, others) also have certifications.

So, what is PMBOK?

PMBOK is the fundamental knowledge you need for managing a project, categorized into 10 knowledge
areas:

1. Managing integration: Projects have all types of activities going on and there is a need to keep
the “whole” thing moving collectively – integrating all of the dynamics that take place. Managing
integration is about developing the project charter, scope statement, and plan to direct,
manage, monitor, and control project change.

2. Managing scope: Projects need to have a defined parameter or scope, and this must be
broken down and managed through a work breakdown structure or WBS. Managing scope is
about planning, definition, WBS creation, verification, and control.

3. Managing time/schedule: Projects have a definite beginning and a definite ending date.
Therefore, there is a need to manage the budgeted time according to a project schedule.
Managing time/schedule is about definition, sequencing, resource and duration estimating,
schedule development, and schedule control.

4. Managing costs: Projects consume resources, and therefore, there is a need to manage the
investment with the realization of creating value (i.e., the benefits derived exceed the amount
spent). Managing costs is about resource planning, cost estimating, budgeting, and control.

5. Managing quality: Projects involve specific deliverables or work products. These deliverables
need to meet project objectives and performance standards. Managing quality is about quality
planning, quality assurance, and quality control.

6. Managing human resources: Projects consist of teams and you need to manage project
team(s) during the life cycle of the project. Finding the right people, managing their outputs, and

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 keeping them on schedule is a big part of managing a project. Managing human resources is
about human resources planning, hiring, and developing and managing a project team.

7. Managing communication: Projects invariably touch lots of people, not just the end users
(customers) who benefit directly from the project outcomes. This can include project
participants, managers who oversee the project, and external stakeholders who have an interest
in the success of the project. Managing communication is about communications planning,
information distribution, performance reporting, and stakeholder management.

8. Managing risk: Projects are a discovery-driven process, often uncovering new customer needs
and identifying critical issues not previously disclosed. Projects also encounter unexpected
events, such as project team members resigning, budgeted resources suddenly changing, the
organization becoming unstable, and newer technologies being introduced. There is a real need
to properly identify various risks and manage these risks. Managing risk is about risk planning
and identification, risk analysis (qualitative and quantitative), risk response (action) planning,
and risk monitoring and control.

9. Managing procurement: Projects procure the services of outside vendors and contractors,
including the purchase of equipment. There is a need to manage how vendors are selected and
managed within the project life cycle. Managing procurement is about acquisition and
contracting plans, sellers’ responses and selections, contract administration, and contract
closure.

10. Managing stakeholders: Every project impacts people and organizations and is impacted by
people and organizations. Identifying these stakeholders early, and as they arise and change
throughout the project, is a key success factor. Managing stakeholders is about identifying
stakeholders, their interest level, and their potential to influence the project; and managing and
controlling the relationships and communications between stakeholders and the project.

This is the big framework for managing projects and if you want to be effective in managing projects,
then you need to be effective in managing each of the 10 knowledge areas that make up PMBOK.

End of Course Assessment

Now that you have read through all of the course text you will need to use your understanding of the
content to write the assessment questions in the Publisher Tool. There are 11 different question types
you can use to build your assessment, so make good use of them!

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