Project management has cemented its position as a key management paradigm, enabling organisations to efficiently achieve their goals in a constantly changing business environment complicated by risks, uncertainties and competitor pressures. The global economy implies yet another level of complexity inherent to the management of large-scale geographically-distributed project teams. This module introduces cutting-edge principles and best practices of project management and discusses how they relate to the competitive product development.

The module aims to:

Provide students with an understanding of project management and its principles in a contemporary project environment;

Introduce students to the terminology used by practitioners in conjunction with the terminology recognised by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the APM.

The first part of the module will cover the five basic process groups of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide, n amely, the initiation (scoping), planning, execution (launching), monitoring and control, and closing of projects.

The second part of the module will focus on the project management life cycles and strategies, adaptive project management approaches, and project portfolio management.  

The areas to be covered span state-of-the-art strategies of successful project management, including risk and change management, budget management and quality assurance. Fundamentally, any project implies innovation, because the whole project aim is in creating a unique product, service or process within a given time period and with limited resources and budgets. Students, therefore, will also be given an opportunity to study project management in the context of the product development lifecycle.

The module will help students develop all the necessary skills required for a successful start of a project manager’s career.

(LO1) Understand the importance of project management and its relationship to other management disciplines;

(LO2) Relate theoretical and practical perspectives to project management;

(LO3) Establish a thorough understanding of the components and processes in the project management discipline as well as the interactions between these elements;

(LO4) Knowledge of major project management methodologies, PMBOK and Prince 2, as proposed by the largest PM Professional bodies PMI and APM, and how these can be applied to ensure the delivery of projects of any scale;

(LO5) Current techniques for managing large-scale projects and programmes;

(LO6) Apply a range of techniques to determine, document and refine project goals, performance requirements, deliverables, constraints and risks as well as project schedule, resource budgeting and quality in the lifecycle of a project;

(LO7) Evaluate risk and gain understanding of approaches to risk management and contingency planning as well as implementation of change and agility frameworks;

(LO8) Understand the concepts behind project quality assurance;

(LO9) Understand the role and responsibilities of the principle project participants with a focus on the role of the project manager in the life of a project and continue to advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills to a high level;

(LO10) To introduce current and recent research in the field of project management;

(LO11) Apply project management software tools to project planning and execution, such as Microsoft Project to manage projects.

(S1) Adaptability

(S2) Problem solving skills

(S3) Numeracy

(S4) Commercial awareness

(S5) Teamwork

(S6) Organisational skills

(S7) Communication skills

(S8) IT skills

(S9) International awareness

(S10) Lifelong learning skills

(S11) Ethical awareness

(S12) Leadership

Lectures x 24 hours

Laboratory Work x 12 hours

Self-directed Learning x 114 hours

Principles of Project Management:

Introduction to project management; defining a project;
Project management in an organisational context;
Role of the organisation in a project; different organisational forms: matrix vs functional organisational structure;
The role of the project manager: develop, lead and manage project teams whilst respecting personal, ethnic and cultural differences;
Professional and ethical responsibilities of project management;
Project stakeholders: determine project goals and performance requirements by working closely with project stakeholders;
Produce a project approval document for appropriate stakeholder review and decision;
Creating a project overview;
Project management methodologies overview: PMI PMBOK and Prince2.

Project selection and initiation:

Project characteristics, types and goals;
Selection methods,  feasibility of projects, assessment of project contribution to business strategy, purp ose and plans;
Key project management processes;
Project deliverables: develop a formal and comprehensive project plan, including, where applicable: communications plan; risk management plan; change management plan; resource management plan; quality plan; procurement management plan; organisation plan;
Complexity and uncertainties.

Planning and execution: project management processes in detail:

Project definition and planning; define, analyse, refine and document project requirements, assumptions and constraints;
Introduction to project planning and creating a project plan;
Project scope: planning tools and use of the work breakdown structure (WBS); project milestones, phases, activities, and tasks; task effort; project scheduling: planning dependencies, assumptions, and constraints;
Project monitoring and controlling systems to manage project change, communications, procurement, risk, quality and human resources;
Managing project schedule, costs , people, quality and risks. Develop the resource management plan and obtain commitments from resource providers;
Understanding the critical path;
Introduction to Software Project Planning Tools: build schedules, allocate resources, and manage budgets; create a project, assigning tasks and resources, tracking and analysing data, and reporting results; analyse and report project data in professional reports and charts; assign resources to tasks and adjust their assignments to resolve conflicts over allocations.

Risk management in detail and alternative PM approaches:

Assess and document project risks;
Traditional and adaptive approaches to project management;
Understanding the variations in project management approaches;
Linear, incremental and adaptive approaches to project management;
Contingency planning.

Large-scale projects, programmes, portfolios and sustainability:

Programmes and portfolio management;
Issues inherent to large-sc ale and multinational projects;
Structure, nature and operation of project management office;
Making project portfolio management sustainable in an organisation.

Enterprise project management (EPM):

Three tiers of EPM;
Consistency in EPM processes;
Technologies that enable EPM.