Overview
In this unit, you will learn key concepts of Information and Communication Technology Project Management from both a traditional waterfall and Agile perspective. You will apply project management principles and use project management software with the aim of delivering successful projects. Industry standards, quality assurance, professional ethics, social, cultural, and legal issues relevant to the theories and principles of project management will also be covered.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisite: COIT11226 Systems Analysis Anti-requisite: COIS13064 ICT Project Management
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2021
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student Evaluations
There is too much content in the unit
Materials that are less relevant to ICT project management will be removed.
Feedback from Student Evaluations
Students appreciated aspects such as the instant feedback from some of the assessments, the practical in-class MS Project and MS Excel exercises and that real-life, industry scenarios and techniques are used.
Introduce additional real-life, industry material.
- Apply Agile project scoping, scheduling and velocity management tools and procedures
- Apply predictive project planning, scheduling and resource management tools and procedures
- Evaluate project status and recommend appropriate corrective action where necessary
- Assess the ethical, social, cultural and legal impacts of projects on diverse stakeholders.
Australian Computer Society (ACS) recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is in use in over 100 countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles.
ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile at https://www.acs.org.au/professionalrecognition/mysfia-b2c.html
This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA. The following version 7 SFIA codes are included:
- Strategic planning ITSP
- Business analysis BUAN
- Project management PRMG
- Programme management PGMG
- Portfolio management POMG
- Change management CHMG
- Requirements definition and management REQM
- Information systems coordination ISCO
- Systems development management DLMG
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1 - Presentation - 20% | ||||
2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | ||||
3 - In-class Test(s) - 50% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1 - Communication | ||||
2 - Problem Solving | ||||
3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
4 - Information Literacy | ||||
5 - Team Work | ||||
6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
8 - Ethical practice | ||||
9 - Social Innovation | ||||
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
1 - Presentation - 20% | ||||||||||
2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | ||||||||||
3 - In-class Test(s) - 50% |
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
Resources are available through the CQUni Library website.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Oracle VM Virtual Box
- Webcam and headset
- Access to Microsoft Visio
- Access to Microsoft Office
- Access to Microsoft Project 2016.
- Taiga server
- GitLab server
- Node.js including JSHint, c8 and sloc
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
m.hossain@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
ICT project management concepts
Chapter
The weekly readings are available via the unit website:
- Part 1 Introduction and Overview (Haugan 2010). Haugan, GT 2010. Project management fundamentals: key concepts and methodology, 2nd edn, Oakland, Berrett-Hoehler.
- Pp. 26-42 of 2 Scrum and eXtreme programming (Hunt 2018). Hunt, A 2018. PMI-ACP project management institute agile certified practitioner exam study guide.
- Pp. 115-128 of 4 Agile Initiation and Stakeholder Engagement (Hunt 2018)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Agile scope, schedule and risk management
Chapter
- Pp. 180-189 of 6 Agile Estimation and Planning (Hunt 2018)
- Pp. 218-223 of 7 Effective Team Performance on Agile Projects (Hunt 2018)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Prioritisation of ICT risks and assessment of risk responses
Chapter
- 4 Teams (Lientz & Larssen 2006). Lientz, BP & Larssen, L 2006. Risk management for IT projects: how to deal with over 150 issues and risks, Routledge.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Assessment using ICT metrics, Pareto charts and Fault Tree Analysis
Chapter
- 8 Project Quality Management (PMI 2013). PMI 2013, Software extension to the PMBOK guide. 5th edn, Project Management Institute.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Modelling of ICT scenarios in MS Project
Chapter
- 5 Developing the Schedule (Gido 2018). Gido, J 2018. Successful project management. 7th ed., Cengage.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Non-teaching week
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Improving the estimation of ICT task durations
Chapter
- No specific chapter from any specific textbook. Custom made lecture slides are available on the Moodle unit website where the references are provided at the end of the lecture slides.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 1
- Due Week: Week 6
- Due Day: Sunday
- Due Time: 11.00 PM
- Date: 25/04/2021 11.00 PM
Module/Topic
Evaluation of a project's schedule and costs
Chapter
- 7 Determining Costs, Budget and Earned Value (Gido 2018)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Costs & timelines of Agile projects; Lean & Kanban
Chapter
- 3 Key Aspects of Additional Agile Methodologies (Hunt 2018)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Designing development organisational structures based on ICT systems architectures
Chapter
- No specific chapter from any specific textbook. Custom made lecture slides are available on the Moodle unit website where the references are provided at the end of the lecture slides.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 2
- Due Week: Week 9
- Due Day: Sunday
- Due Time: 11.00 PM
- Date: 16/05/2021 11.00 PM
Module/Topic
Managing Risk; Closing the Project
Chapter
- 8 Managing Risk (Gido 2015). Gido, J 2015. Successful project management. 6th ed., Cengage.
- 9 Closing the Project (Gido 2015). Gido, J 2015. Successful project management. 6th ed., Cengage.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Industry Guest Speaker Session (Aurizon)
Chapter
- Industry Guest Speaker Session Title: Delusional Optimism: Human Factors in Project Forecast
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Unit Review
Chapter
- No New Topics
Events and Submissions/Topic
Complete the Unit evaluation. Click the "Have your say" red button on the Moodle website.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Unit Coordinator: Md Rahat Hossain
Building 30/1.12, Rockhampton Campus
Email: m.hossain@cqu.edu.au (Best contact)
Telephone: +617 4923 2068
1 Presentation
This is a condensed version of the assignment. Please refer to the unit website for the full version.
Time Management
Please complete the unit’s Weeks 1 & 2 activities before attempting this assignment. You will be able to finish this assignment after completing the unit’s Week 3 activities. You are encouraged to use the weekend at the end of Week 3 to finalise this assignment.
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is for you to gain adaptive project management experience. You will act as the project manager for an adaptive ICT project. You will need to perform tasks such as the following:
- Create and maintain a product backlog
- Develop a sprint plan
- Manage risk issues and
- Present a sprint review.
You may complete this assignment alone or in a group of up to three people.
The project is expected to run for 2 sprints. The first sprint has already been completed; you will review the first sprint and plan the second sprint.
1. Create a plan to reflect project progress
You will be provided with a rough project plan and development files of an ICT project representing progress made in the project at the end of its first sprint, that is, Sprint 1. You will need to create a plan using the specified project management tool to reflect the project status at the end of Sprint 1.
2. Create Sprint 2 Plan
You need to create a plan for Sprint 2.
3. Present Sprint 1 Review and Sprint 2 Plan
You will present a review of Sprint 1 and your Sprint 2 plan.
Each team member should talk for between 3 to 5 minutes each. You are to record and submit your presentation. Your recorded video should be framed to include the presenter(s), your audience and your desktop(s).
Teams
You may complete this assignment alone or in a group of up to three people. You will form your own teams.
Plagiarism
Sharing ideas about project management concepts and techniques between groups is encouraged. Any ideas you reuse should be referenced. Sharing of project management files or copying, for example, user stories, subtasks, issues or controls, between groups will be considered plagiarism. If you are in doubt about whether you can share something, first obtain email consent from your lecturer.
Week 5 Thursday (8 Apr 2021) 11:00 pm AEST
All submissions are due by the deadline.
Week 7 Thursday (29 Apr 2021)
Your marks and formal feedback will be returned two weeks after the deadline.
The Stage Presence criteria will be marked individually. Your mark for Presentation content will be marked individually but may be affected by your entire groups’ Presentation content. Subject to moderation, students in a group will usually receive the same mark for all other criteria.
The following table is indicative of the actual marking criteria. The criteria are equally weighted. Please check the unit website for updates.
100% |
75% | 50% |
25% |
0% |
|
Backlog | Your backlog contains appropriate, high-value user stories and is appropriately prioritised. | A significant user story missing or minor prioritisation errors. | Multiple user stories missing or major prioritisation errors. | Not implemented | |
User Stories | High-quality user stories that adhere to the user story template and INVEST, e.g. independent, valuable for users & testable via excellent acceptance criteria. Estimated effort & value are included. At least 5 quality user stories for individuals; 8 for pairs & 10 for triplets. | Some user stories are lifestyle specific, e.g. “testing” a feature. | Not implemented. | ||
Sprint plans | Maximises value through prioritisation. Excellent velocity management. | Poor sprint plan user story choice. | Not implemented | ||
Taskboard | Excellent decomposition of user stories into subtasks that focus on developers. State management of subtasks accurately reflects the project status. | Vague or ambiguous subtasks. | Multiple subtasks left in incorrect states. | Not implemented | |
Issues | Excellent identification of risk issues & specification of realistic controls. Issues and controls are specified... | Not implemented | |||
Stage presence | Excellent stage presence including well prepared, stands up straight, loud clear voice, good eye contact, does not speak too fast or too slow; appropriate use of cue cards: does not read; appropriate use of time. Excellent gestures, e.g. precision grip & and lack of adaptor gestures (e.g. no fidgeting); excellent use of space, e.g. moves around the stage but does not pace. | ||||
Presentation content | Excellent sprint review. Excellent walkthrough of user story acceptance criteria. Excellent presentation of quality project management plan using the PM tool. | Poor walkthrough of acceptance criteria. Poor discussion or presentation of scope management: backlogs, size estimates, taskboards, or burndown chart. Poor discussion of quality and risk management. |
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
- Apply Agile project scoping, scheduling and velocity management tools and procedures
- Assess the ethical, social, cultural and legal impacts of projects on diverse stakeholders.
2 Online Quiz(zes)
This is a condensed version of the assignment. Please refer to the unit website for the full version.
Time Management
Please complete the unit’s activities up to and including Week 4 before attempting Quiz 1. You will be able to finish Quiz 1 after completing the unit’s Week 5 activities. You are encouraged to use the non-teaching week between Weeks 5 and 6 to finalise Quiz 1.
Please complete the unit’s activities up to and including Week 7 before attempting Quiz 2. You will be able to finish Quiz 2 after completing the unit’s Week 8 activities. You are encouraged to use the weekend at the end of Week 8 to finalise Quiz 2.
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is for you to gain experience with quality and risk management and predictive project management. You are to complete project management tasks for a collection of project scenarios and simulations.
Task Description
You will manage project constraints such as quality, risk, scope, schedule, human resources and stakeholders using, for example, MS Project and MS Excel. You will create recommendations to proactively manage or correct project issues. You will complete scenarios such as the following:
- Model scenarios using MS Project
- Manage to schedule using the Critical Path Method (CPM).
- Manage quality using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
- Create and interpret control charts
- Calculate Risk Leverage Factors to assess the cost of risk responses
- Calculate Expected Monetary Values (EMV not EVM) to assess risk responses
- Calibrate a COCOMO model to predict the duration of a project
- Apply PERT and Monte Carlo to better understand a project’s duration and
- Manage schedule and costs with Earned Value Management (EVM) techniques
The scenarios will be distributed to you in two quizzes.
Quiz 1
- Attempts: Although multiple submissions are possible, only the last submission of Quiz 1 will be marked.
- Feedback: You will receive feedback for Quiz 1 two weeks after the due date.
- Availability: Quiz 1 will be available by Week 4.
- Weight: Quiz 1 is worth 15% of the unit.
Quiz 2
- Attempts: You have unlimited attempts at Quiz 2 until the deadline, only the last submission of Quiz 2 will be marked.
- Feedback: Quiz 2 feedback is provided after each submission of the quiz.
- Availability: Quiz 2 will be available by Week 7.
- Weight: Quiz 2 is worth 15% of the unit.
Plagiarism
The assignment is individually assessed. Sharing of any files related to this assignment will be considered plagiarism. All your submissions may be checked for plagiarism.
2
Other
The quizzes have different due dates. Quiz 1 is due on Week 6, Sunday, 11.00 PM. Quiz 2 is due on Week 9, Sunday, 11.00 PM.
Quiz 1 feedback will be returned in Week 8. Quiz 2 feedback is provided after each submission of the quiz. Feedback and marks for either quiz might be altered by the moderation process.
The assignment is individually assessed. You will be assessed on aspects such as the following. Most of the criteria will be weighted similarly. Refer to the quizzes for question weights. Some criteria such as those related to Scope and schedule management in MS Project; and Managing costs using EVM will be more heavily weighted.
Criteria |
Description |
Calculating risk leverage factors to assess the cost-effectiveness of risk responses | Correct calculations |
Create or interpret a decision tree and calculate expected monetary values to assess risk response options | Correct analysis of the scenario. Correct calculations. Appropriate interpretation of results. |
Focus quality management through Fault Tree Analysis | Correct analysis of the scenario and calculations |
Identify issues with testing and development processes by calculating defect rates | Appropriate interpretation and recommendations. Correct calculations. |
Collect ICT project metrics such as defect rates, SLOC and cyclomatic complexity | Correct metrics collected and identified. |
Focus code reviews through analysis of cyclomatic complexity | Correct interpretation of scenario and general and specific function recommendations. |
Predict the number of escaped bugs in a system | Correct interpretation of scenario and correct calculations. |
Develop or interpret run charts and control charts to analyse trends in project metrics, e.g. defect rates and requirements volatility | Appropriate interpretation and recommendations. Recommendations consider the context of the project. Trend lines only include relevant data. Correct calculations. Charts have appropriate titles, legends and units. Charts use correct data. |
Focus quality management by developing and interpreting Pareto charts | Appropriate interpretation and recommendations. Analysis is specific to the generated results. Correct calculations. Charts have appropriate titles, legends and units. Charts use correct data. |
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
- Apply predictive project planning, scheduling and resource management tools and procedures
- Evaluate project status and recommend appropriate corrective action where necessary
- Assess the ethical, social, cultural and legal impacts of projects on diverse stakeholders.
3 In-class Test(s)
- For this take-home exam, you will be given a 24-hour timeframe in the usual exam week, between which you will need to download the exam from the unit’s Moodle website, complete it and upload it back.
- The take-home exam will feature a series of questions for you to work through, like the exam instrument, with critical thinking and problem-solving focus. The questions will relate to the topics covered in the lectures from all the weeks.
- The assessment will have the same weighting as the examination it replaces. You will need to score 40% (20 out of 50) of the available marks on the take-home exam and overall, 50% to pass this unit. This is the same passing criteria as the exam instrument it replaces.
The full specification for this 'Take-Home' examination is available on the Moodle unit website.
Take-Home exam is due in the usual exam week. Take-Home exam schedule will be advised to you at the proper time.
Your marks might not be available until Certification of Grades day.
Part A: Case Study (20 Marks)
Part A is worth 20 marks. It contains questions related to a case study provided in the take-home exam. You are required to answer ALL the questions.
Part B: Problem Solving, Short Expository and/or Argumentative Essay Questions (30 Marks)
Part B is worth 30 marks. It contains problem-solving, short expository and/or argumentative essay questions. You are required to answer all questions.
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Ethical practice
- Apply Agile project scoping, scheduling and velocity management tools and procedures
- Apply predictive project planning, scheduling and resource management tools and procedures
- Evaluate project status and recommend appropriate corrective action where necessary
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.