Business Context & Legal Considerations for Software Projects Online and Onsite

Course #	EN05070
Date(s)	January 17 - February 4, 2005 Three sessions, One Session per Week
Times	Course may be taken online or on-site with classes on Tuesdays from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Instructor(s)	various industry experts  Linda Shafer
Course Fee(s)	Register on or before December 17, 2004 $900.00 Register after December 17, 2004 $950.00 DIR Registration Fee $801.00
CEUs	2.4
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Program Description

Business Context and Legal Considerations for Software Projects is a three-week course comprised of three sessions. It is a component of the Software Quality Institute's Software Project Management (SWPM) Certificate Program . SWPM itself contains six courses: this course, Business Context and Legal Considerations for Software Projects, plus five others. All six courses are required for certification, but any course may be taken as a stand-alone course. The courses may be taken in any order.

SWPM offers a thorough view of the most up-to-date software best-practices, taught by expert practitioners from industry. With a focus specifically on software, the Business Context and Legal Considerations for Software Projects course results in a working knowledge that incorporates quality, applicability, profitability and timeliness.

Course Description

Business Context and Project Selection provides a framing of software project management within the context of a business or governmental organization. Technology organizations need to understand how business plans are developed and their basic contents. Even if you are in a public sector organization, it is a great idea to understand how the private sector should work when it comes to selecting and developing the products they are trying to sell you! Software organizations must be particularly aware of legal issues, as product liability grows. We present intellectual property concepts, contexts, and definitions that aid in developing a technology or software product. Commercial contracting in the US has many generic names: Contract Management, Sub-Contract Management, Procurement Management, Supplier Agreement Management, Supplier Management, etc. No matter what the name, when goods or services are acquired from an external entity, the knowledgeable project manager will apply quality criteria.

Sessions included in the Business Context and Legal Considerations for Software Projects course are:

• Business Context & Project Selection -- Software projects in business, financial and ROI considerations
• Legal Issues in Software -- Patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyright issues for software
• Commercial Contracting in the US -- Learn basic information on contracting with respect to a software project

About the Course

Students should be prepared to devote eight to ten hours of time to each session. Participation in the course is team-based and includes completing team and individual exercises as well as weekly conference calls. Students will have the opportunity to work with fellow team members on real-world projects.

Use of an online courseware tool allows students to virtually perform all work within a single application. Participants of the course will receive textbooks, the cost of which is included in the registration fee.

The Program Mentor: You've Got a Friend!

A program mentor, who is an experienced software project manager, guides the individual students and team members through the learning process, in addition to collecting program deliverables and giving feedback to the teams.

Course Benefits

The student who completes these three sessions will be able to:

• Relate the difference between the project and product life cycles for both commercial and public projects
• Define criteria for project selection models
• Analyze a portfolio of projects and select the best one
• Calculate basic financial ratios for project analysis

• Define key intellectual property terms, such as patents, copyright, trademarks, trade dress and distinguish among the terms
• Define the legal term invention; compare and contrast it with the technological definition of invention
• Relate the benefits of protecting products using multiple types of intellectual property
• Apply intellectual property protection to a software product
• Set a strategy and plan the procurement of goods or services
• Establish processes and controls for Procurement Management
• Discuss the differences between centralized and distributed contract organizations
• List the components of a contract and the types of contracts
• Describe the characteristics of each type of contract

• Describe when the different contract types should be used
• Describe several common contract clauses and their purpose

SQI is an approved Project Management Institute (PMI) Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.). Students who are PMP's will earn 21 PDU's for successful completion of this course. Please visit the PMI web site to learn more.

This course qualifies for 2.4 continuing education credits.

Register today to reserve your seat!

Sign up today for the Business Context and Legal Considerations offering. The registration fee is $900 per person if registered on or before December 17, 2004 and $950 per person if registered on or after December 17, 2004.