ProjectOrbit Navigator — Mastering the PVology Project & Delivery Workspace

Who it is for

Everyone who uses ProjectOrbit: project managers, team members, PMO staff and finance or customer-facing colleagues who work in projects.

Prerequisite: A verified PVology account that can use ProjectOrbit. Practice happens in your PVology Academy learner sandbox with fictional data, never in live projects.

Learning effort: about 7 hours, calculated from the authored lessons, activities and checks.

Case study: Brightwater office relocation (practice project). Brightwater Interiors and its office relocation are fictional. You build the practice project yourself in your learner sandbox; all names and figures are invented.

Syllabus

1. Module 1. Welcome to ProjectOrbit

   • 1. What ProjectOrbit is and how this course works · about 10 minFree preview
   • 2. Your first look at a project · about 12 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Describe what ProjectOrbit helps a project team do
   • Explain how sessions, knowledge checks, the practical exercise and the assessment lead to PCOU
   • Open your learner sandbox and recognise practice data
   • Create a practice project with Quick create from the Standard project lifecycle template
   • Name the main project tabs and find the More menu groups

2. Module 2. Navigation and My Work

   • 1. Finding your way around the Projects home · about 10 min
   • 2. My Work: everything assigned to you · about 12 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Find a project on the Projects home with Search, the status select and Filter
   • Explain what the Upcoming milestones, Needs attention and My actions cards show
   • Export the project list with Export CSV
   • Find your assigned activities in My Work using the date groups and filters
   • Record progress from My Work with Started today, Done today or a percent and Save
   • Explain why some rows show Read only on this project

3. Module 3. Creating a project

   • 1. Choosing how to create a project · about 10 min
   • 2. Quick create and Guided update · about 12 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Choose between Quick create and New project (guided) for a given situation
   • Name the PVology templates and what the Standard project lifecycle template contains
   • Explain how a project created from a CRM deal, a value proposal or a compliance obligation shows its origin
   • Fill in the Quick create fields correctly
   • Explain what happens after Create project: defaults applied, you join as project manager, the next-step notice
   • Change part of a project with Guided update and Apply changes

4. Module 4. Using the project wizard

   • 1. Approach, context, essentials and dates · about 12 min
   • 2. People, cost, how to start, review and drafts · about 12 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Choose an approach in Approach and context, or use Not sure to get a suggestion
   • Explain the difference between Internal project and External customer project in the wizard
   • Complete Project essentials and Dates and reporting, knowing which fields are required
   • Complete or skip People and governance and Cost and value
   • Choose one of the How to start options
   • Use Save draft, Save and exit and Resume draft, and check answers on Review

5. Module 5. Scope, deliverables and WBS

   • 1. Defining scope and adding WBS elements · about 12 min
   • 2. Deliverables, requirements and linking work · about 12 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Record Objectives, Scope summary, Exclusions and Success criteria in Profile & settings
   • Add a WBS element with a Code, Name and Parent on the Schedule tab
   • Explain how activities are grouped by WBS in the schedule and Gantt
   • Record a deliverable and a requirement in the Registers tab
   • Link an activity to a WBS element
   • Explain how Suggest work breakdown from PVology AI works when it is available

6. Module 6. Tasks, task board and work views

   • 1. Working inside an activity · about 12 min
   • 2. The Task board and the Calendar · about 12 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Add a comment and a checklist item to an activity
   • Attach a file to an activity and explain when to use Documents instead
   • Set Priority, Owner and the blocked flag with Save details
   • Move a card on the Task board with Start, Finish, Not started or Reopen
   • Filter the board by Owner, WBS, Priority and Critical only
   • Find starts, finishes and milestones on the Calendar

7. Module 7. Scheduling, milestones and baselines

   • 1. Activities, logic and the critical path · about 13 min
   • 2. Milestones, baselines and progress · about 14 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Add an activity with a predecessor and a logic link on the Schedule tab
   • Find the critical activities and read total float for an activity
   • Use the Gantt Scale and Critical activities only options
   • Capture and approve a baseline with a reason
   • Record progress with a data date and choose Save progress and reschedule
   • Explain why an approved baseline never changes and what Superseded means

8. Module 8. Resources and team

   • 1. Team roles and who can open a project · about 11 min
   • 2. Resources, over-allocation and capacity · about 12 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Explain the Project manager, Contributor and Viewer roles and what Finance access adds
   • Identify the right role and access for a person in a scenario
   • Explain what Project team only means for people outside the team
   • Add a resource and load it onto an activity
   • Find Over-allocated days and read a leveling proposal before confirming it
   • Explain what Capacity across projects shows and who can open it

9. Module 9. Risks, issues and changes

   • 1. Registers and risk scoring · about 12 min
   • 2. Issues, change requests and decisions · about 13 min

   Learning outcomes

   • Find the right register on the Registers tab
   • Calculate a risk score from Probability and Impact and classify it as high, medium or low
   • Add a risk with an owner, a response strategy and residual ratings
   • Take a change request from Draft to Approved with a Decision reason
   • Explain why an approved change needs a new approved baseline
   • Recognise when Guided update raises a change request

10. Module 10. Costs, cash flow and performance

    • 1. Budgets, costs and cashflow · about 13 min
    • 2. Earned value and control accounts · about 14 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Load a direct cost onto an activity with Save budget
    • Record a cost, commitment or billing entry in the right Stream and Type
    • Read baseline, forecast and actual cashflow by month or week
    • Switch on earned value and use What is missing to complete the data
    • Calculate SPI and CPI from PV, EV and AC and say what they mean
    • Choose an estimate-at-completion method and record a budget movement on a control account

11. Module 11. Reports and customer communication

    • 1. Preparing a report in the Report Center · about 13 min
    • 2. Approval, customer reports and communication · about 14 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Prepare a report with a template, audience and cadence
    • Complete and save the narrative fields
    • Explain why report data is frozen at preparation and choose the right export
    • Take a report from In preparation to Issued
    • Explain what a customer report never shows and when it can be shared in the customer portal
    • Use the communication plan and meeting minutes to keep people informed

12. Module 12. Customer portal and external sharing

    • 1. Invite a customer contact to the portal · about 12 min
    • 2. Preview, visibility and customer conversations · about 12 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Find the Customer portal page and read the People with portal access table
    • Explain how a portal invitation works: single use, 7 days, sign in, verify email and accept
    • Choose between Send again, Suspend, Revoke and changing the end date
    • Use Preview as customer to check what a guest would see
    • Make a risk, issue or change visible to the customer, or hide it again
    • Choose between Internal only and Visible to the customer when replying in Customer conversations

13. Module 13. PMO and portfolio views

    • 1. Programs and portfolios · about 13 min
    • 2. The Portfolio report, Dashboard and Capacity · about 12 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Create a practice program and add a project to it
    • Explain how Escalated from projects works
    • Calculate an intake score with the visible formula and describe what a scenario does
    • Filter the Portfolio report and read its totals and health
    • Download the Portfolio report as Excel
    • Explain who can open Capacity and what its what-if preview does

14. Module 14. Notifications, watchlists and the attention list

    • 1. What needs your attention · about 12 min
    • 2. Watch, notifications and preferences · about 11 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Read the What needs your attention list and explain why each item is Critical, High or Normal
    • Use the item links, Show all and Guide me to act on the list
    • Explain why a viewer sees fewer items than a project manager
    • Watch a project and explain which updates watchers are told about
    • Use the notification centre: Mark all as read, Open and Dismiss
    • Set ProjectOrbit notices to Email or In PVology in your preferences

15. Module 15. Closing projects and lessons learned

    • 1. Stage gates and Project closure · about 13 min
    • 2. Lessons learned and closeout reporting · about 11 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Add a stage gate and explain the five gate decisions
    • Read the Project closure checks and team confirmations and find what still blocks closure
    • Explain why Close project stays disabled and why projects are archived, never deleted
    • Record a lesson in the Lessons learned register
    • Add a lesson to the Center of Experience from Governance
    • Choose the Closeout report and Lessons learned templates and ask for satisfaction at Project closure

16. Module 16. What's new and productivity tips

    • 1. What's new in ProjectOrbit Build 14 · about 10 min
    • 2. Productivity tips · about 11 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Name the main additions of releases 0.24 to 0.27
    • Find each new feature in the application
    • Plan a daily routine that starts with My Work and the attention list
    • Save a project's structure as an organization template
    • Switch on optional modules only when a project needs them

17. Module 17. Final practical exercise

    • 1. The exercise brief · about 15 min
    • 2. Self-check before you submit · about 10 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Complete every task of the practical exercise on the practice project in your sandbox
    • Record activity IDs, dates and the labels you used for each task
    • Submit the record on the course's Capstone page
    • Check your practical exercise against the self-check list
    • Find and fix the most common mistakes before you submit

18. Module 18. Assessment

    • 1. How the PCOU assessment works · about 12 min

    Learning outcomes

    • Explain the format, timing and pass mark of the PCOU assessment
    • Follow the integrity rules for the assessment
    • Explain how long PCOU is valid and how it is renewed

Practical exercise: In your learner sandbox, set up and run the Brightwater practice project end to end: create it from the Standard project lifecycle template, complete the profile, add a WBS element and activities with logic, set owners, approve a baseline, record progress, add a risk and a change request, prepare a report, and describe what the attention list shows. Submit a short record of what you did, with activity IDs, dates and the labels you used.

Assessment

20 questions in 30 minutes; provisional pass mark 75%. Questions are scenario-based questions about using the real application, drawn from a private, reviewed bank. Results stay provisional until academy review. These are PVology assessment policies.

Across the domains, about 100% of questions test professional knowledge, 0% applied tools and 0% PVology concepts.