Weekly online
Each four-month module includes 14 interactive two-hour classes and one reading week, following an optional full-day London masterclass. Read selected material, practise between sessions and bring your questions back to the group.
Professional learning · Project Controls & Management
PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) Preparation.
Turn a schedule into a credible basis for decisions.
A schedule earns trust when it explains how the work fits together, what has changed and which decisions still matter. This specialist course develops that capability through PMI’s Practice Standard for Scheduling — Third Edition and the PMI-SP Examination Content Outline. You move from schedule strategy and model design into baselining, progress updates, analysis, communication and closeout. The emphasis extends beyond producing a Gantt chart: you learn to challenge dependencies, calendars, resources and assumptions, interpret the critical path and make schedule information useful to project managers, delivery teams and sponsors.
Weekly route4 months
Live online2 hours a week
Module startsOctober · February · June
Learning structure1 module
The professional challenge
Make the next decision with more confidence.
A programme reports that most activities are on track, yet a key completion date keeps moving. You need to determine whether the problem is weak logic, unreliable progress, resource availability or changing scope. The course provides a structured way to diagnose the model and explain a defensible response.
Who will benefit
For planners, schedulers, project controllers, engineers and project managers who develop, maintain or challenge delivery schedules. It is particularly relevant to professionals handling complex dependencies, resource constraints and regular forecasting, and to experienced scheduling practitioners considering the PMI-SP certification route.
What you take back to work
Practical capability, built through learning.
- Design a scheduling approach and model that reflect scope, delivery method, stakeholder needs and control requirements.
- Build and critique schedule logic, durations, calendars, resources and baselines.
- Analyse progress, critical paths, float, change and uncertainty to support forecasting and corrective action.
- Communicate scheduling evidence clearly and prepare against the five PMI-SP examination domains.
Inside the course
A connected learning journey.
A 14-session module can move from strategy and model building through updates, analysis, communication and revision. The suggested rhythm uses a developing schedule case across the course. Fourteen two-hour live sessions total 28 hours, so eligible additional structured education must be identified where a candidate needs PMI’s 30 or 40 hours; reading alone should not be presented as satisfying the gap.
01Schedule strategy and governance
Define what the schedule must enable before building it. Examine the relationship between project scope, the scheduling approach, model requirements and stakeholder information needs. Use the Practice Standard’s schedule-management guidance to consider calendars, coding, update cycles, levels of detail, data ownership and change authority. Connect these choices to PMI-SP’s schedule-strategy domain and the wider project management plan.
Apply it at work: Draft a schedule management plan with status dates, responsibilities, reporting needs and baseline-control rules.
02Model structure, logic and estimates
Develop the connection between a work breakdown structure, milestones and activity definitions. Examine sequencing, dependencies, duration estimates, constraints and calendars, considering how each influences the calculated outcome. Distinguish the underlying schedule model from a particular saved instance or presentation. Use the standard’s component catalogue to challenge completeness and recognise how software settings can influence apparent schedule performance.
Apply it at work: Build a small logic-linked schedule and record the assumptions needed to make its completion forecast credible.
03Resources, critical paths and alternative approaches
Explore critical-path analysis, total and free float, resource constraints and critical-chain concepts. Compare rolling-wave, adaptive and predictive scheduling needs, including the role of incremental delivery and feedback. Consider why levelling resources or changing a calendar may shift the forecast without altering scope. Emphasise interpretation and method selection so the schedule remains useful as delivery conditions change.
Apply it at work: Compare scheduling options for a constrained team and explain the effect on milestones and available flexibility.
04Baselines, progress and controlled change
Establish what must be checked and agreed before the schedule becomes a performance baseline. Work through collecting actual progress and remaining duration, updating the model, checking consistency and recording authorised change. Examine the difference between a forecast update and a baseline revision. Maintain traceability so stakeholders can understand both current expectations and the commitments against which performance is judged.
Apply it at work: Run a controlled update cycle and produce a concise record of progress, deviations and approved changes.
05Analysis, uncertainty and recovery
Use schedule analysis to move from describing delay to understanding its implications. Challenge critical and near-critical paths, float consumption, out-of-sequence work and duration assumptions. Introduce PERT, simulation and schedule-risk concepts at an appropriate level, keeping modelling assumptions visible. Evaluate corrective options through their impact on resources, interfaces, risk and the credibility of the revised forecast.
Apply it at work: Prepare a schedule health review and compare two recovery options with their assumptions and consequences.
06Communication, closeout and examination preparation
Tailor reports to the decision and audience, explaining what changed, why it matters and what action is needed. Consider acceptance of schedule deliverables, archiving, lessons and the final evaluation of performance. Connect practical work to PMI-SP’s five domains: strategy; planning and development; monitoring and controlling; closeout; and stakeholder communications. Use scenario practice to strengthen both interpretation and technical recall.
Apply it at work: Present a scheduling recommendation, complete a closeout learning note and review practice questions against the exam domains.
Learn around your working life
Time to understand. Space to apply.
Online or in a city near you
Face-to-face delivery can be arranged in London, Maidstone, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. Your course offer confirms the venue and teaching dates.
A London masterclass to start your module
Meet your tutors and fellow professionals at an optional full-day London event. KBC covers the event, agreed transportation, refreshments and an open buffet dinner. Confirm arrangements with the team before booking travel.
Support between sessions
Return to class recordings and learning resources, bring questions to your tutor and use free one-to-one tutoring and coaching support. Your course plan sets out the guided reading and practice needed alongside live teaching.
Your route to recognition
Know what the assessment involves.
PMI-SP is awarded by PMI through an eligibility application and external examination of 170 multiple-choice questions in 210 minutes. PMI currently specifies education and experience routes: a secondary qualification with 40 months’ scheduling experience and 40 education hours, or a four-year degree with 24 months and 30 hours; a GAC-accredited degree has a separate route. Experience must fall within the specified five-year period. Course work supports preparation, while PMI decides eligibility and certification.
Your written offer records the award or course completion requirements, any examination fees included, and the relevant eligibility checks.
The professional knowledge behind the course
Explore the books and standards.
The learning themes above bring together the relevant guide, syllabus and workplace practice. KBC’s teaching sequence connects these ideas through discussion and application.
- Practice Standard for Scheduling ↗Project Management Institute · Third Edition, 2019
Sections 1–5: introduction; model principles and concepts; good practices; scheduling components; conformance index. Core sections 2–4 inspected directly.
- PMI Scheduling Professional Examination Content Outline ↗Project Management Institute · Current official download verified 10 September 2026
Five domains and tasks, including strategy 14%, planning 31%, monitoring 35%, closeout 6%, communications 14%.
- PMI Scheduling Professional certification ↗Project Management Institute · Verified 10 September 2026
Eligibility, exam format and preparation references.
Your investment
Get a course offer that fits your route.
Request the standalone fee for your chosen format, including the teaching, reading materials, assessment and membership arrangements relevant to this course.
Exploring the full PCP apprenticeship?
£27,000 apprenticeship funding + £7,000 additional IPC support. The IPC package covers professional examinations, memberships, graduation, Benenden Health membership, London masterclasses and agreed transport.
These figures relate to the complete Project Controls Professional apprenticeship. Standalone course fees are separate. The team confirms eligibility, any employer contribution and the contents of your written offer.
Explore the PCP pathway →Your questions, answered.
Is this a Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project software course?
The focus is scheduling judgement and PMI-SP preparation. Software can support the exercises, but the core learning concerns model integrity, analysis and communication. Any specific software access or tuition should be confirmed in the course offer.
Can a project manager benefit without taking PMI-SP?
Yes. The ability to challenge a baseline, understand dependencies and explain a forecast is useful wherever a project manager relies on scheduling information. External certification remains an optional, separately eligible route.
Will the live sessions meet PMI’s education requirement?
A 14-session, two-hour module provides 28 live hours. PMI currently asks for 30 or 40 hours depending on route. KBC must confirm the eligible structured activities and documented hours in the learner’s full package.
What would this help you achieve?
Talk to KBC about your experience, your goals and the right learning route for you.