Washington, D.C. - Due to the growing demand for project management skills, the U.S. Office Personnel Management has restructured and added significant content to its current project management courses. The curriculum, available this September, will go on the road and meet employees where they are, giving agencies the opportunity to offer employees the training on their premises.

The curriculum includes recommendations from the government's chief financial and information officers. It also offers the latest thinking and practices in project management (such as the realization that project management is a discipline that requires a focused curriculum and practical experiences leading to certification as a project management professional), thus creating an innovative and dynamic approach to learning the discipline.

"I am proud of the work that OPM's Management Development Centers have done to give the managers of tomorrow the professional and practical skills they need today," said OPM Director Kay Coles James. "I am especially proud of the fact that we are giving federal agencies the choice of either letting their employees take the courses at one of our management development centers or at an agency designated site. Employees expect and deserve flexibility in determining their learning sites, and, wherever possible, OPM will provide that option."

The core courses will provide intensive, one-on-one consultation with project management experts, who will be available to work with participants on class assignments. A major benefit of completing the core curriculum is that participants will acquire the knowledge and skills to sit for the Project Management Institute's (PMI) certification exam. The PMI's Project Management Professional certification is the most widely-recognized and coveted credential in the industry.

The new curriculum includes Project Management Principles, Leading Successful Projects, Optimizing Project Performance, Managing Successful Information Systems Projects and Managing Project Managers. Three former project management courses, Managing Complex Projects, Managing Project Teams and Managing Projects Well, will continue to be offered to agencies on an individual contract basis. Information about these courses is available on OPM's web site.

For more information on OPM's Project Management Curriculum as well as other courses offered by the OPM Management Development Centers, please visit http://www.leadership.opm.gov/courselist.cfm.