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Unit Outline: ITEC841 - Project and Risk Management

Faculty of Science, Department of Computing

Semester 1, 2012

Convenor: Dr. Ian Krycer

Prerequisites:   ISYS302 - Management of IT Systems and Projects

About This Unit

Credit Points: 4

This unit has 3 themes: IT project management, the Rational Unified Process (RUP) for software development and COTS projects and risk management. Topics covered in the first theme include project definition, roles and responsibilities, resource management, time and cost estimation, project planning, project control and reporting, measuring project success and post implementation review. Microsoft Project 2010 is used to assist with resource allocation, costing and schedule. Hands on experience is gained using RUP during the second theme. Towards the end of the course we focus on identifying causes of project failure and managing project risk, understanding the International and Australian Standard, ISO31000 (2009), and looking at the recomendations of experienced IT project managers.

Teaching Staff

Role	Name	Email	Mobile
Convenor, Lecturer	Dr. Ian Krycer	ian.krycer@mq.edu.au	0425 314455

All emails related to ITEC841 should be sent to ian.krycer@mq.edu.au and must include your full name and your student id number.

Classes

Each week you should attend up to 4 hours of lectures and tutorials. For details of days, times and rooms consult the timetables webpage.

If you do not have a class, or if you wish to change one, you should see the enrolment operators in the E7B courtyard during the first two weeks of the semester. Thereafter you should go to the Student Centre.

Please note that you will be required to attend 80% of the lectures and hand in prepared work as required. Failure to do so may result in you failing the unit or being excluded from the exam.

Required and Recommended Texts

There is no mandatory textbook for ITEC841. Numerous references will be provided to students through the class website on iLearn.

The following two text books are suggested as recommended reading.  Copies are  available from the references and general sections of the library

Rob Thomsett, Radical Project Management, Prentice Hall, 2004

Erik Larson and Clifford Gray, ‘Project Management: The Managerial Process’ 5th Edition (2011), McGraw Hill

The class Web site will have copies of lecture handouts and additional recommended reading material:    https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/


You will need to use the user name and password issued to you by the Faculty of Science when you enrolled for the unit. 

Unit Web Page

The web page for this unit can be found at https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/

The unit will make use of the discussion forum hosted within iLearn. Please post questions there, they will be monitored by the staff on the unit.

Learning Outcomes

A student successfully completing the unit will have developed the following skills:

1. Define what is meant by an IT project and its role in effecting change within the organisation

2. Describe the roles and expectations of the main project stakeholders

3. Develop, maintain, manage and report against a project plan which defines the critical path and resource requirements, with tool support, such as MS Project 2010

4. Understand the concepts of agile methodologies and how to apply the Rational Unified Process to complex software development or off the shelf enterprise system projects

5. Understand the components required to manage all the formal and informal processes with a project including leadership and team management

6. Understand risk implications for project planning and implementation

7. Be able to identify the typical IT project risks and how to formulate and implement a risk management plan

8. Understand the role of the project manager and the importance of managing the internal and external context for the work of the project and handling organisational politics

9. Develop skills in working in a group to achieve a shared objective within the required timeframe

10. Enhance skills in achieving individual tasks within time frame constraints

In addition to the discipline-based learning objectives, all academic programs at Macquarie seek to develop students' generic skills in a range of areas. One of the aims of this unit is that students develop their skills in the following:

• Critical analysis skills;

• Problem-solving skills; and

• Creative thinking skills.

Teaching and Learning Strategy

ITEC841 is taught via combined lectures and tutorials. Lectures are used to introduce new material, give examples of complex IT project management issues and case studies and cover the relevant material in the course references. While lectures are largely one to many presentations, you are encouraged to ask questions of the lecturer to clarify anything you might not be sure of. Tutorials give you the opportunity to interact with your peers and with the lecturer.

Each week you should:

• Attend lectures/tutorials, take notes, ask questions.

• Read appropriate sections of the text, add to your notes and prepare questions for your lecturer.

• Work on any assignments that have been released.

Lecture notes will be made available for download each week but these notes are intended as an outline of the lecture only and are not a substitute for your own notes or the reading material supplied on Moodle.

Topic List

Relationship Between Assessment and Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcome	Assessments
1. Define what is meant by an IT project and its role in effecting change within the organisation	This will be assessed by the Group Assignment and the Examination.
2. Describe the roles and expectations of the main project stakeholders	This will be assessed in Assignment 2, the Group Assignment and the Examination.
3. Develop, maintain, manage and report against a project plan which defines the critical path and resource requirements, with tool support, such as MS Project 2007	This will be assessed in Assignment 1.
4. Understand the concepts of agile methodologies and how to apply the Rational Unified Process to complex software development or off the shelf enterprise system projects	This will be assessed in Assignment 2, the Group Assignment and the Examination.
5. Understand the components required to manage all the formal and informal processes with a project including leadership and team management	This will be assessed in the Examination.
6. Understand risk implications for project planning and implementation	This will be assessed in Assignment 2, the Group Assignment and the Examination.
7. Be able to identify the typical IT project risks and how to formulate and implement a risk management plan	This will be assessed in Assignment 2, the Group Assignment and the Examination.
8. Understand the role of the project manager and the importance of managing the internal and external context for the work of the project and handling organisational politics	This will be assessed in Assignment 2, the Group Assignment and the Examination.
9. Develop skills in working in a group to achieve a shared objective within the required timeframe	This will be assessed in the Group Assignment.
10. Enhance skills in achieving individual tasks within time frame constraints	This will be assessed in all the assignments.

Assessment Items

Task	Planned Date	Total Marks
Assignment 1:	Due Week 4	10%
Assignment 2:	Due Week 7	10%
Group Assignment	Due Week 12	30%
Final Examination	TBA	50%

 

Assignment 1: Individual Assignment. Microsoft Project 2010

You are given the tasks, resources and schedule for a project which need to be entered into MS Project 2007. You are required to answer a series of questions on the resource requirements, critical path, schedule and costs associated with this project.

Assignment 2: Individual Assignment. Project Process Plan

We consider the National Auditor-General’s Report on the deficiencies in the Australian Customs Service, Cargo Management Reengineering Project, which resulted in a massive backlog of uncleared sea freight imports on the wharves in late 2006. You are required to suggest an alternative project process model and risk management plan, which in hindsight, might have avoided this disaster.

Assignment 3: Group Project

A series of IT projects will be allocated amongst the groups. These will include software development, package and mixed projects (a package requiring integration with backend systems). Your team are consultants recommending your project and risk strategy to secure a go-ahead from the client organisation. Your focus is on the project process/methodology and risk management plan to suit your project and client organisation. Groups will present to their ‘clients’ in Week 12.

Final Grade

Your final grade will depend on your performance in each part separately. In particular:

• You must perform satisfactorily in the examination in order to pass this unit.
• You must submit a reasonable attempt to both assignments.

All assignments should be handed in via the online iLearn system at https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/  by the time specified in the assignment description.

All work submitted should be readable and well presented.

Late work will be accepted with a penalty of 10% of the marks for the assignment per day submitted late. Hence, an assignment submitted five days late will get at most half the marks. If you cannot submit on time because of illness or other circumstances, please contact the lecturer before the due date.

Examinations

You are expected to present yourself for examination at the time and place designated in the University Examination Timetable. The timetable will be available in Draft form approximately eight weeks before the commencement of the examinations and in Final form approximately four weeks before the commencement of examinations.

You are advised that it is Macquarie University policy not to set early examinations for individuals or groups of students. All students are expected to ensure that they are available until the end of the teaching semester, that is the final day of the official examination period.

The only exception to not sitting an examination at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption. In these circumstances you may wish to consider applying for Special Consideration. Information about unavoidable disruption and the special consideration process is available on the web (PDF).

If a Supplementary Examination is granted as a result of the Special Consideration process the examination will be scheduled after the conclusion of the official examination period. For details of the Special Consideration policy specific to the Department of Computing, see the Department's policy page.

Plagiarism

Please refer to the Department of Computing Plagiarism Policy for the definition of plagiarism, advice on avoiding it and the penalties in place if you are found to have submitted plagiarised work.

University Policy on Grading

Academic Senate has a set of guidelines on the distribution of grades across the range from fail to high distinction.

Currently, the Faculty of Science is implementing a new Standards Based Assessment. This will result in enhanced transparency in the marking of assignments. As well, the previously practice of 'scaling' final results will cease such that your final mark will be the aggregate of your individual assessments.

Student Support Services

Macquarie University provides a range of Academic Student Support Services. Details of these services can accessed at http://www.student.mq.edu.au.

Staff-Student Liaison Committee

The Department has established a Staff-Student Liaison Committee at each level to provide all students studying a Computing unit the opportunity to discuss related issues or problems with both students and staff.

For each meeting, an agenda is issued and minutes are taken. These are posted on the web at:

• http://www.comp.mq.edu.au/units/800-liaison

Details of the regular meeting dates will be posted on the unit home page. Anyone with an interest in Computing units may attend. This includes staff involved in the teaching and administration of the units, and all students currently taking a Computing unit at that level. There are formal Liaison Committee representatives for each unit who attend to present the views of the student body; all students are welcome and are encouraged to attend.

The meetings are usually held in the Department of Computing Meeting Room, E6A357.

To forward agenda items or get in touch with your representative, send an email to ian.krycer@mq.edu.au

If you have exhausted all other avenues, then you should consult the Director of Teaching (Dr Steve Cassidy) or the Head of Department (Assoc. Prof. Bernard Mans). You are entitled to have your concerns raised, discussed and resolved.