FIT5057 Project management - Semester 2, 2015

This unit focuses on a holistic approach to project management. It provides students with a high level of understanding of the processes of project management, as well as sound skills in use of project tools. Proficiency in using key tools and concepts could give students a significant competitive advantage in the market place. The content deals with: concepts and definitions; organising and staffing the project office and team; planning, scheduling techniques; cost control; risk management; contracts and procurement; etc. Case studies, articles of interest that may appear in current media, and students' own work experiences with project management, will be discussed in the class to optimise the learning opportunity in the unit.

Mode of Delivery

• Caulfield (Evening)
• Caulfield (Online)
• Malaysia (Evening)

Workload Requirements

Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:

(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:

• 2 hours of lectures
• One 2-hour tutorial

(b.) Study schedule for off-campus students:

• Off-campus students generally do not attend lecture and tutorial sessions, however should plan to spend equivalent time working through the relevant resources and participating in discussion groups each week.

(c.) Additional requirements (all students):

• A minimum of 8 hours independent study per week for completing lab and project work, private study and revision.

See also Unit timetable information

Unit Relationships

Prohibitions

FIT5022, MBA9052

Chief Examiner

Campus Lecturer

Tutors

Your feedback to Us

Previous Student Evaluations of this Unit

Based on previous student feedback this unit has been updated:  all tests have been removed and these have been replaced with a final exam.

In accordance with student feedback further changes include tutorial hours increasing from 1 hour per lecture to 2 hours per lecture.  Students rated their satisfaction with the way the tutorial activities were conducted as 3.70.

Further changes were made to the content of the unit after comments made by ASIC that the content should include more PMBOK and quality assurance.

Academic Overview

Learning Outcomes

• analyse and evaluate the role of the modern project manager in the context of IT projects with regard to managing: a variety of projects, stakeholders, risk management and the organisational change aspects experienced by organisations as they go through the change;
• interpret and critique a variety of project management methodologies offered by various professional bodies including that provided by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK);
• describe and apply the available strategies, techniques and decision tools used by project managers to manage modern IT projects based on PMBOK methodology;
• demonstrate a financial focus to managing IT projects including: valuation of work in process, financial statements, and quotations.

Unit Schedule

*Unit Schedule details will be maintained and communicated to you via your learning system.

Teaching Approach

Assessment Summary

Examination (3 hours): 40%; In-semester assessment: 60%

Assessment Requirements

Assessment Policy

Assessment Tasks

Participation

• Assessment task 1

  Title:

  Assignment 1 - Section 1: Business Case

  Description:

  Students are required to work in project teams to complete a business case template based on a case study provided in Assignment: Section 1.  The business case will require project teams to decide on the type of software or computing technology to implement for the case study organisation based on ONE chosen business driver.  
  
  Students will be required to work on all aspects of the business case; such as anticipated business benefits and costs to the organisation.
  
  Before students can proceed to the next section of their assignment - Section 1B - the business case must be evaluated by their project supervisor (tutor) to ensure they have chosen an appropriate project.  Once the tutor agrees to the project the project team can then proceed to Section 2. Project Planning: Time Management.

  Weighting:

  20%

  Criteria for assessment:

  1.  Students in their groups will develop a business case from a template provided in the assignment.  The business case will be assessed initially for correctness of project brief by the tutor and then via a detailed marking guide.

  2.  Teams are expected to write up minutes of meetings, timesheets for each team member and complete a project plan which is presented in the form of a Gantt chart.  These items are evaluated by the tutor and included in the marking guide.  Meeting and timesheet templates are provided with examples.

  3.  Students will be provided with a confidential peer review which they will be complete and hand to their tutor evaluating each member of their team.  This peer review provides 5% of their contribution to the assignment for individual effort.  

  4.  Students are required to complete, a set of meeting minutes, project plan in the form of a gantt chart and time sheets for individual evaluation.

   

  Due date:

  Monday 14 September 2015 at 4.00 pm for both Sections 1 and Section 2

• Assessment task 2

  Title:

  Assignment 1: Section 2 - Project Planning: Time management

  Description:

  Students are required to collaborate in their project teams established from Assignment Section 1.  In project teams students will:
  
  1. Decide on the software development lifecycle appropriate for the chosen project and describe why the software development lifecycle was chosen.
  
  2. Break the lifecycle down into phases and translate the phases into a work breakdown structure or similar (commensurate with the software lifecycle the student has chosen).
  
  Demonstrate in the work breakdown structure how long the project will take to complete; what tasks activities are required to be completed at each phase; what resources might be needed at each phase of the plan; and guesstimate how long each task/activity will take.  Students will be required to present the work breakdown using an appropriate tool and structure to suite the lifecycle approach taken ie a GANTT chart or similar.
  
  This section will be handed in together with Section 1 on Monday 14 September at 4.00 pm.
  
   
  
  Learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5 

  Weighting:

  15%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Due date:

  Monday 14 September 2015 at 4.00 pm for both Sections 1 and Section 2

• Assessment task 3

  Title:

  Assignment 2: Risk Management Report

  Description:

  Students are required to collaborate in the project teams established in Assignment 1.  
  
  In project teams students will:
  
  1. Develop a risk management report based on the case study project provided in Assignment 1.
  
  2. Identify, from the available literature, a general range of internal critical project risks that impact on successful projects.
  
  3. Explain the criticality of the risks identified and their impact on the project.
  
  4. Develop a risk register using the risks identified from the literature; the risk register will include the probability of the risk occurring and the likely impact of the risk to the project should it occur.
  
   
  
  Learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5

  Weighting:

  25%

  Criteria for assessment:

  1. Students in their groups will develop a risk management report from a risk report template.  The risk management report will be assessed via a detailed marking guide marked by the tutor.

  2.  Project teams are expected to write up minutes of their meetings, a set of timesheets for each team member and complete a project plan which is to be presented in the form of a Gantt chart.  These items are evaluated by the tutor.  Meeting and timesheet templates are provided with examples.

  3.  Students will be provided with a confidential peer review which they will be complete and hand to their tutor evaluating each member of their team.  This peer review provides 5% of their contribution to the assignment for individual effort.  

  4.  Students are required to complete, a set of meeting minutes, project plan in the form of a gantt chart and time sheets for individual evaluation.

   

  Due date:

  Monday 12 October 2015 at 4.00 pm

Examinations

• Examination 1

  Weighting:

  40%

  Length:

  3 hours

  Type (open/closed book):

  Closed book

  Electronic devices allowed in the exam:

  None

Learning resources

Reading list

• Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, by Harold Kerzner, 2013, 11th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Australia.
• Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, by Harold Kerzner, 2009, 10th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Australia.
• Project Management Workbook and PMP/CAPM Exam Study Guide, Harold Kerzner and Frank P. Saladis, 11th Edition 2013, John Wiley.
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK 5th Edition. 2013. Project Management Institute. (Available as an e-book)
• Information Technology Project Management, Kathy Schwalbe, 7th Edition, 2013.
• Information Technology Project Management, Kathy Schwalbe, 6th Edition, 2010.
• Bentley, C. Prince 2: A Practical Handbook, 2nd Edition, 2002 Butterworth Heinemann. 
• Kerzner, H. (2014) Project Management - Best Practices: Achieving Global Excellence, 3rd Edition 
• Kerzner, H. (2013) Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards : a guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons. (Available as an e-book)
• Kerzner, H. (2014) Project Recovery: Case Studies and Techniques for Overcoming Project Failure. (Available as an e-book)
• Tomanek, M., Cermak, R., & Smutny, Z. (2014). A Conceptual Framework for web Development Projects Based on Project Management and Agile Development Principles. Proceedings Of The European Conference On Management, Leadership & Governance, 550-558.
  Link http://ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=99239893&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Feedback to you

• Informal feedback on progress in labs/tutes
• Graded assignments with comments
• Interviews

Extensions and penalties

Returning assignments

Assignment submission

Online submission

If Electronic Submission has been approved for your unit, please submit your work via the learning system for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal.

Required Resources

There are two options available for you to purchase the prescribed text: ie via the bookshop or directly online - these options are discussed below.

1.  The price of this book is approximately $175.00 if purchased from the Caulfield bookshop.  Students who would prefer to purchase this book from the bookshop register their names with the bookshop by Friday of week 2 of semester 1.  The bookshop will order the required number of texts for you.

2.  However if you purchase this book directly from the Purdue Press website you can purchase it for $136 (at the current exchange rate). The more expensive rate is due to import duties imposed on the bookshop.

This is the link to the book on the publishers website http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/titles/format/9781557536631.

In the meantime there are e-copies of this book in the library - which you will be able to download to view only for 7 days.

Prescribed text(s)

Jeffrey L Brewer and Kevin C Dittman. (2013). Methods of IT Project Management. (2nd Edition) Purdue University Press (ISBN: 3: 9781557536631).

Recommended Resources

Microsoft Project, or similar software.

Microsoft Project can be obtained from:

http://infotech.monash.edu/itsupport/msdnaa.html

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