Professional studies · Digital Business certificate · SCHEV-certified
Product Management
Own a product end to end with AI as your analyst: requirements, backlog, data, design, and the room. Four AI tracks across the product team: product manager, UX / UI designer, content strategist, project / program manager. One shared foundation, a capstone in your own field, and a named instructor.
4 tracksAI Product Manager · AI UX / UI Designer · AI Content Strategist · AI Project / Program Manager
272 hoursDigital Business certificate
1st of every monthNew groups start
Your paceFaster with experience and time per week
Audience
Who this program is for
Designed for two groups of learners. Same path, same certificate; your experience sets your pace.
Working professionals staying competitive in the AI era
Analysts, coordinators, writers and designers whose job is changing under them. Add the AI skills teams now expect, on your schedule.
Live classes on evening and weekend schedules, recorded if you miss one
Leave with a full product artifact trail, a live dashboard, and a defended capstone
Starting a career in tech
Career changers, recent graduates and students. No technical background assumed: every topic is taught concepts first, with AI doing the typing and you doing the verifying.
Your first project ships in the first milestone; your capstone is built in an industry you already know
Roles you qualify for: Product Analyst, Business Analyst, Project Coordinator
The program
The path to your certificate
1Stage 1Shared foundation4 milestones · 96 hours
2Stage 2Business core5 milestones · 130 hours
3Stage 3Your track1 milestone · 18 hours
4Stage 4Capstone28 hours, defended to a panel
How long it takes is up to you. You complete every milestone; how quickly depends on your experience, what you already know, and the hours you put in each week.
How you'll learn
Learn it, practice it, prove it, move on
1
Learn
Self-paced modules: short recorded lessons and hands-on labs.
2
Practice
Real deliverables in your own field, reviewed by your instructor.
3
Prove it
A proctored exam or a rubric-graded project. Three attempts included, no retake fees.
4
Move on
Pass, and the next milestone unlocks. The capstone closes the program.
Named instructor of recordLive classes every week, recordedOffice hours by topicProgress check every two weeks
All four tracks share the foundation and the business core. Your track shapes your specialization milestone and your capstone. You declare it in the second milestone.
For deciders: analysts and coordinators aiming at product ownership, and subject-matter experts ready to run the product in their industry.
You'll learn to
Write PRDs and one-pagers with AI drafting and PM judgment
Prioritize with real frameworks and defend the trade-offs
Own metrics: North Star, funnels, and the executive readout
Your capstone
A full product review, vision, roadmap, backlog, metrics and next-quarter plan for a product in your own field, presented to a faculty panel playing your executives.
1Milestone 1 · Shared foundation · F1How Software Gets BuiltHow the internet, the SDLC and delivery methods work, where AI sits in every phase, and your first live page.
What you'll learn
How the internet, cloud and applications actually work, and the SDLC from requirements to release
Agile, Waterfall and hybrid: when and why, and where AI now sits in each phase
The AI work loop, hands-on: frame, give context, prompt, verify, own, with one confident wrong answer you must catch
What you'll build
Your first ship: a one-page site prompted into existence with an AI assistant and published live from your GitHub repo
2Milestone 2 · Shared foundation · F2Roles & the AI-Augmented TeamWho does what on a software team, how AI changes each seat without removing it, and the six tracks. You declare your track and passion domain here.
What you'll learn
Product owner, project manager, developer, QA, and the lenses around the build
The AI-augmented team: same roles, more output per person; the 2026 career landscape
How large language models actually work: tokens, context, why they are confidently wrong
What you'll build
A one-page role reflection plus your declared track and passion domain, the field every project from here to the capstone can live in
3Milestone 3 · Shared foundation · F3Requirements CraftElicitation, user stories with testable acceptance criteria, feature mapping, and catching what AI gets wrong in a requirements draft.
What you'll learn
Elicitation: interviews, workshops, observation, on a scripted client with planted ambiguities
User stories and acceptance criteria specific enough that a test could be generated from them
AI-drafted requirements, and how to catch what the AI invented
What you'll build
Five polished user stories with acceptance criteria for a product in your passion domain, entered in Jira
4Milestone 4 · Shared foundation · F4Agile in PracticeCeremonies, backlog grooming, estimation, PI planning, a recorded sprint simulation, responsible AI use at work, and your Passion Pitch in role.
What you'll learn
Sprint ceremonies, backlog grooming, prioritization and estimation
PI planning: how large organizations plan quarters
Responsible AI use at work: what never goes into an AI tool, disclosing AI use, verifying before trusting
What you'll build
A groomed Jira board with a sprint created, your personal AI-use policy, and a recorded readout delivered in your track role
Stage 2 · Business core 5 milestones
5Milestone 5 · Business core · B1BA Foundations & Product VisionBA competencies, stakeholder analysis, personas and the North Star, the analyst's AI toolkit with a reusable prompt template, and a verification habit graded from milestone one.
What you'll learn
BA competencies, planning & monitoring
Stakeholder identification and analysis
Personas and the North Star metric
What you'll build
Stakeholder map for the passion-domain product
6Milestone 6 · Business core · B2Backlog, Roadmap & Saying NoBacklog management, MoSCoW and trade-offs, now/next/later, MVP slicing, Definition of Ready and Done, and documentation that survives contact with a team.
What you'll learn
Backlog management; MoSCoW and trade-offs
Now/next/later; slicing an MVP
Definition of Ready / Definition of Done
What you'll build
Backlog build-out in Jira (drafted with AI, refined by hand)
7Milestone 7 · Business core · B3Communication & Running the RoomAudience awareness, running elicitation sessions and reviews, the pre-read and follow-up, annotated meeting recordings, and AI meeting synthesis verified against the tape.
Meeting plan + agenda for the student's own session
8Milestone 8 · Business core · B4Data Analysis: Excel → DashboardsSpreadsheet analysis the 2026 way, product metrics, asking the right question of data, a dashboard in a free tool, and one no-code automation shipped with an agent spec.
What you'll learn
Excel or Google Sheets: formulas, lookups, pivots the 2026 way; describe the calculation to the spreadsheet's AI assistant, get the formula, check it on three rows by hand, keep it; row count before and after every cleaning step
Product metrics: North Star, KPIs, funnels
AI-assisted analysis: asking the right question of data
What you'll build
Drills on provided datasets (auto-checked workbook); each answered question keeps the prompt used, the formula produced, and the three-row check
9Milestone 9 · Business core · B5SQL & Data FoundationsSQL basics and joins, a map of where product data lives beyond SQL, AI-drafted queries verified against the B4 workbook, and the Build–Test Exchange story with UAT sign-off.
What you'll learn
SELECT/WHERE/aggregates; joins introduced
Databases beyond SQL: relational vs. document vs. key-value vs. vector, when a team picks each, in one awareness session; the document store is the named example (approved topic)
AI-drafted queries, analyst-verified: every query checked against a number from the B4 workbook (same numbers, two tools)
What you'll build
Query drills against the case database
Stage 3 · Your track 1 milestone
10Milestone 10 · Your track · T-PMAI for Product ManagersPRD and one-pager craft, discovery with AI verified by hand, RICE and opportunity scoring used on real backlogs, metrics ownership, and stakeholder management.
What you'll learn
PRD and one-pager craft: AI-drafted, PM-owned
Discovery: interview synthesis and competitive scans, verified
Prioritization beyond MoSCoW: RICE, opportunity scoring, used on real backlogs
What you'll build
PRD + trade-off memo for a new feature of the student's product (may be the AI feature, with criteria written for varying output)
Stage 4 · Capstone defended to a faculty panel
11Milestone 11 · Capstone · CapstoneThe Product ReviewThe full PO artifact trail on the passion-domain product, presented to a panel playing executives who push back.
What you'll learn
The full PO artifact trail on your passion-domain product: vision, personas, roadmap, prioritized backlog, metrics dashboard, next-quarter plan, plus the prompt library (B1) and one agent spec (B4).
Product review to a panel playing executives; defend priorities under pushback.
Resume with your AI-augmented skills, portfolio, and mock interviews
What you'll build
Your capstone artifacts, the recorded defense (a portfolio asset), a polished resume and a live portfolio
One milestone at a time, in order. Milestone content is maintained by faculty and may be refined between cohorts. Clock hours, assessments and program requirements are stated in the school catalog and your enrollment agreement.
Questions
Questions people ask
How long does it take?
You complete every milestone; how quickly depends on your experience, what you already know, and the hours you put in each week.
Do I have to attend classes at set times?
No, but live instruction is there for you every week. Join live or watch the recording, and drop into topic office hours whenever you need help. The required commitments are a short progress check every two weeks, proctored assessments you book when you're ready, and your capstone presentation.
When can I start?
New groups begin the first of every month. Enroll anytime, pick your start month, and complete guided onboarding before your start date.
Upon completion you receive a certificate that names both your Digital Business program and your chosen specialization, recognized by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). Track names describe the specialization focus and career positioning of each concentration; approved outcome roles are Business Analyst, Product Analyst, Product Owner, Product Manager and Business Systems Analyst. Program outcomes, hours and credentials are listed in the school catalog. Individual employment results vary; no specific job title or salary is guaranteed.