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Program planner skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
Quoted experts
Gary McDonogh Ph.D.,
Alessandro Rigolon
Program planner example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical program planner skills. We ranked the top skills for program planners based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 11.8% of program planner resumes contained program planning as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a program planner needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 program planner skills for your resume and career

1. Program Planning

Program Planning is the overall process of designing a plan to achieve a specific objective within an organization. This involves clarifying what issues need to be solved, setting expected outcomes, managing resources needed, and creating performance metrics to track progress. Planning a program requires participation and funding from various stakeholders.

Here's how program planners use program planning:
  • Provided program planning support and monitoring of all financial activities for procurement, maintenance and facility organizations.
  • Schedule development/Program planning at the individual program level.

2. Program Management

Here's how program planners use program management:
  • Prepared documentation detailing baseline changes to labor budget or schedule for approval by program management.
  • Designed an integrated Program Management platform that served as a company-wide standard.

3. Master Schedule

A master schedule determines when specific products are formed when customer orders are filled, and if the system is equipped to manufacture more in case the customer demands. The purpose of a master schedule is to monitor, schedule, and deliver transformation, at the designated time and in the desired condition. It ensures proper time management, quality management, and scheduling work breakdown components.

Here's how program planners use master schedule:
  • Created and maintained numerous Integrated Master Schedules with complex integrated logic networks.
  • Coordinated production schedule with manufacturing, Master Scheduler, and Program Managers.

4. Microsoft Project

Here's how program planners use microsoft project:
  • Prepare actual spending reports, and project control of government projects, using SAP, Microsoft Project and Excel.
  • Created and managed complex project schedules and templates in Microsoft Project/Project Web Access (PWA).

5. Earned Value Management

Here's how program planners use earned value management:
  • Developed and refined knowledge of Earned Value Management and Critical Path Methodology.
  • Audited and corrected government Earned Value Management System documentation.

6. Management System

A management system is a set of policies, processes, and procedures taken by an organization or a business to ensure it can fulfill its tasks and achieve its objectives. A management system makes sure that the company excels financially and improves the user experience. The management system also takes care of the worker's and employees' needs and manages their workload and oversees their performance. Apart from interior matters of the company, a management system also deals with exterior matters like legislations, tax matters, and law issues.

Here's how program planners use management system:
  • Initiate and maintain all material requirements for assigned projects within the company Material Management System, based on engineering design.
  • Designed and implemented inventory management system reducing procurement transaction costs by up to 80%

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7. IMS

Here's how program planners use ims:
  • Maintain IMS, and HRL, conduct critical path analysis and develop detailed action plans with CAM and IPT leads.
  • Ensured IMS is in constant alignment with APEX EV System, Work Authorization, CWBS Dictionary and IMP.

8. Master Plan

Here's how program planners use master plan:
  • Develop event-based Integrated Master Plans into schedules to implement critical path methodology for quicker problem resolutions.
  • Reviewed construction project plans, created master plans, specifications, requirements and bid dates/times.

9. Risk Analysis

Here's how program planners use risk analysis:
  • Utilized Monte-Carlo simulation for Schedule Risk Analysis.
  • Mentor junior team members in schedule development, risk analysis, and EVMS systems.

10. Critical Path Analysis

Here's how program planners use critical path analysis:
  • Develop metrics for reporting scheduling status, perform in-depth critical path analysis and provide reports to all levels of program/business management.
  • Conducted critical path analysis and coordinated schedule impacts with stakeholders.

11. DOD

Definition of Done (DoD) is a set of deliverables that are needed to devise software. These deliverables are valuable to the system and can be exemplified by writing code, coding comments, unit testing, integration testing, design documents, release notes, and so on.

Here's how program planners use dod:
  • Developed and maintained individual schedules for DoD payloads using such tools as MS Project, Excel, and Access.
  • Scheduled, budgeted, and reported on multiple programs to support DOD customers (Domestic and international).

12. Project Management

Here's how program planners use project management:
  • Presented several schedule structure recommendations in Project 2007 that were easily implemented and resulted in higher quality monthly project management data.
  • Perform project management duties such as budget oversight and contract administration.

13. Schedule Integration

Here's how program planners use schedule integration:
  • Constructed and maintained cost/schedule integration.
  • Schedule integration with cost and resources and interface with financial analysts to resolve variances and implement baseline changes.

14. Variance Analysis

Here's how program planners use variance analysis:
  • Prepare Weekly and Monthly Variance Analysis report for Honeywell's government customer.
  • Prepare monthly variance analysis of actuals against resource plans.

15. WBS

WBS, Work Breakdown Structure, is a planning tool used in projects, programs, and even initiatives to understand the work that needs to be done to produce one or more results successfully. It is a productivity technique for developing a project schedule, resource needs, and costs that are used to break work down into smaller tasks/components to make work more accessible and manageable.

Here's how program planners use wbs:
  • Developed WBS Index, WBS Dictionary, and Responsibility Assignment Matrix for each delivery order.
  • Facilitated all team planning sessions and WBS development sessions.
top-skills

What skills help Program Planners find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What type of skills will young program planners need?

Gary McDonogh Ph.D.Gary McDonogh Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Professor and Chair, Bryn Mawr College

Graduates need breadth and flexibility coupled with clear critical communicative skills. Within a liberal arts framework, we encourage students to avoid narrow professionalism and to explore the city widely, from architecture to computer skills and media. The key to the future will be the ability to envision problems in new ways, to find and analyze data and to provide/communicate cogent guidelines for politicians, planners and wider publics. No skill set is valuable unless the graduate knows how to communicate it to multiple audiences so writing and presentation are always important.

What hard/technical skills are most important for program planners?

Alessandro Rigolon

Assistant Professor, University of Utah

- Geographic Information Systems

- Basic statistical skills

- Some graphic design expertise, including the use of Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and/or Photoshop. Also, ArcGIS StoryMaps are increasingly used by planning agencies to share ongoing results of planning processes

- Some skills in platforms to collect online data for public engagement process, such as ArcGIS Survey123

- Some of the above skills related to applied fields (e.g., architecture), like reading site plans and building plans

- More rarely, AutoCAD and other similar Computer-Aided Design programs

- Good writing is really important but sometimes overlooked

- Capacity to design and manage complex public engagement processes, some of which might last more than one year
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about program planner

List of program planner skills to add to your resume

Program planner skills

The most important skills for a program planner resume and required skills for a program planner to have include:

  • Program Planning
  • Program Management
  • Master Schedule
  • Microsoft Project
  • Earned Value Management
  • Management System
  • IMS
  • Master Plan
  • Risk Analysis
  • Critical Path Analysis
  • DOD
  • Project Management
  • Schedule Integration
  • Variance Analysis
  • WBS
  • EV
  • Opportunity Management
  • EVMS
  • Schedule Development
  • DCMA
  • RFP
  • Data Analysis
  • Work Breakdown Structure
  • Project Controls
  • MRP
  • IPT
  • SharePoint
  • Provide Technical Assistance
  • ERP
  • Management Plans
  • Technical Assistance
  • IBR
  • NASA
  • Baseline Reviews
  • Data Collection
  • Technical Support
  • PMO
  • Program Reviews
  • On-Time Delivery
  • Financial Reports
  • Public Health
  • Production Schedules
  • BOM
  • MPS
  • Engineering Changes

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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