Overview
Executing and Closing Projects will develop your skills in the executing and closing stages of the project life cycle. You will consider several different definitions of what is required when executing a project from the perspective of different standards, frameworks and academic works. Projects will be investigated according to industry, project domain, and other factors to enable you to describe their influences and approaches to project execution and closing. You will analyse inputs and outputs, and the tools and techniques applied in different project domains. This will enable you to identify the practical application of project monitoring, control systems, and the management of control issues, such as, scope creep, risk, quality, baseline changes in the context of project outsourcing, oversight, and contract closure.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
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 3 - 2019
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 Postgraduate 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 Teaching Team and Moodle Student Feedback
Week 7 had the Controls report assignment that included Configuration Control. The lecture slides contained this topic in Week 7 itself (rather than a week earlier) and the content to be inserted in Week 5 or Week 6 lecture slides.
The content to be shifted to Week 5 or Week 6 lecture slides.
- Examine the knowledge areas and processes applied in the execution and closing stages of the project management life cycle
- Critically analyse how the needs of stakeholders might change the priority of outputs from the execution and closing stages of the project management life cycle
- Define and justify project event-driven and time-driven controls for a case study project
- Define and justify audit, governance and termination reporting for a case study project.
- Business Analysis (BUAN),
- Project Management (PRMG),
- Stakeholder Relationship Management (RLMT),
- Systems Integration (SINT),
- Change Management (CHMG),
- Release and Deployment (RELM),
- IT Operations (ITOP),
- Problem Management (PBMG).
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||
2 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||
3 - Written Assessment - 40% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1 - Knowledge | ||||
2 - Communication | ||||
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||
4 - Research | ||||
5 - Self-management | ||||
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||
7 - Leadership | ||||
8 - 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 | |
1 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||||
2 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||||
3 - Written Assessment - 40% |
Textbooks
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
Edition: 6th (2017)
Project Management Institute
Newtown Square Newtown Square , PA , USA
ISBN: 9781628251845
Binding: Paperback
Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2
(2009)
Authors: Office of Government Commerce
TSO
Norwich Norwich , UK
ISBN: 9780113310609
Binding: Paperback
Managing successful projects with PRINCE2
(2017)
TSO
Norwich Norwich , UK
ISBN: 9780113315338
Binding: Paperback
Project Management : A Systems Approach to Planning , Scheduling , and Controlling
Edition: 12th (2017)
Authors: Harold R. Kerzner
John Wiley and Sons
Hoboken Hoboken , NJ , USA
ISBN: 9781119165354
Binding: Hardcover
Additional Textbook Information
eBook version of the following textbooks are available through CQU Library:
- A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide, 6th Edition, 2017)
- Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (Herald R. Kerzner, 12th Edition, 2017)
- Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2017 Edition)
- Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2009 Edition)
Note: There are user limits on accessing eBooks. If you would prefer your own copy, they are available through the CQUni Bookshop.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
g.chaudhry@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Executing and Closing Projects
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapter 1 and Part 2: Chapters 1 & 2
- Kerzner Chapters 1, 2, 3 & 21
- Directing with PRINCE2 Chapters 1, 3, 5, 11 & 12
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 1, 2 & 3
Topics
- Unit overview
- PMBoK process groups, knowledge areas & processes
- PRINCE2 principles, processes and themes
- PMBoK vs PRINCE2
- Directing projects with PRINCE2
- Executing a project
- Closing a Project
Events and Submissions/Topic
Unit overview
Lecture 1
Tutorial 1
Module/Topic
Project Performance Management
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapters 4.3, 10.2-10.3 & 13.3-13.4
- Kerzner Chapters 2, 3 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Chapters 4 & 5
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 11 & 12
Topics
- Project performance management
- Metrics for measuring project performance in PRINCE2
- Project performance management in PMBoK
- Project performance management by Kerzner
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 2
Tutorial 2
Module/Topic
Earned Value Management - I
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapters 6.7, 7.4 & 10.2
- Kerzner Chapter 14 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Chapter 7
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 13 & 17
- Standards Australia: AS 4817-2006 : Project performance measurement using Earned Value
Topics
- Earned Value Management (EVM)
- Project schedule control in PMBoK
- Project cost control in PMBoK
- EVM in PRINCE2
- EVM in Australian Standards
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 3
Tutorial 3
Module/Topic
Earned Value Management - II
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapters 10.3 & 11.7
- Kerzner Chapter 17 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Chapter 8
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 18 & 19
- Standards Australia: AS 4817-2006 : Project performance measurement using Earned Value
Topics
- Managing & monitoring communications in PMBoK
- Monitoring & controlling risks in PMBoK
- Communications & risks in PRINCE2
- Managing product delivery in PRINCE2
- Managing stage boundary in PRINCE2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 4
Tutorial 4
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Project Control Systems - I
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapters 6.6 & 8.2-8.3
- Kerzner Chapter 5, Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Appendix A
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapter 17 & Appendix E.4
- Standards Australia: AS/NZS 15288:2015 Systems and software engineering - System life cycle processes
Topics
- What is Control?
- Controlling schedule in PMBoK
- Managing & controlling quality in PMBoK
- Controlling a stage in PRINCE2
- Control mechanisms in PRINCE2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 5
Tutorial 5
Module/Topic
Project Control Systems - II
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapters 9 & 12
- Kerzner Chapters 2, 16, 19 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Appendix A
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapter 17
Topics
- Project resource management in PMBoK
- Developing and controlling resources in PMBoK
- Project procurement management in PMBoK
- Change control management
- Configuration management strategy and procedures
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 6
Tutorial 6
Module/Topic
Project Audit
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapter 4.5-4.6
- Kerzner Chapters 2, 11, 20 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Chapter 10
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 8, 11 & 18
Topics
- Project audits by Kerzner
- Quality objectives, assurance, control & audit
- Quality audit trial in PRINCE2
- Quality control in PRINCE2
- Monitoring & controling project work in PMBoK
- Performing integrated change control in PMBoK
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 7
Tutorial 7
Project Status and Controls Reports Due: Week 7 Monday (6 Jan 2020) 9:00 am AEST
Module/Topic
Project Termination & Lessons Learnt
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapters 4.7 & 12.3
- Kerzner Chapters 9, 11, 19 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Chapter 9
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 19 & 20
Topics
- Why do plans fail?
- Closing a project or phase in PMBoK
- Closing procurements in PMBoK
- Managing a stage boundary in PRINCE2
- Closing a project in PRINCE2
- Authorising project closure in PRINCE2
- Lessons learnt and best practices
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 8
Tutorial 8
Module/Topic
Project Governance - I
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapter 13.1
- Kerzner Chapters 1, 24 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Appendix B
- Managing with PRINCE2 Glossary
- Standards Australia: AS/NZS 8016:2013 Governance of IT enabled projects
- Standards Australia: AS 8000-2003 Corporate governance - Good governance principles
Topics
- Introduction to governance
- Why does governance sometimes fail?
- Project governance types
- Organisational governance
- Governance framework
- Good governance principles
- Governance of IT projects
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 9
Tutorial 9
Module/Topic
Project Governance - II
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapters 4, 9.2 & 13.2
- Kerzner Chapters 8, 10 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Chapter 11 & Appendix C
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 4 & 16
Topics
- Project Management Office (PMO)
- Governance and project initiation
- Governance while acquiring project teams
- Tailoring PRINCE2 to project’s environment
- Governance and stakeholders
- Morality, ethics, and corporate culture
- Professional responsibilities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 10
Tutorial 10
Module/Topic
Integration Management – I
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapter 4, Part 2: Chapters 3-6
- Kerzner Chapters 3, 18 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Appendix A & C
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 13, 14 & 17
Topics
- Project integration management
- Developing project charter
- Developing project management plan
- Directing & managing project work
- Controlling a stage
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 11
Tutorial 11
Project Audit, Termination and Governance Reports Due: Week 11 Monday (3 Feb 2020) 9:00 am AEST
Module/Topic
Integration Management – II
Chapter
Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chapter 4
- Kerzner Chapter 11 & Appendix E
- Directing with PRINCE2 Appendix A & C
- Managing with PRINCE2 Chapters 18 & 19
Topics
- Managing project knowledge
- Monitoring & controlling project work
- Performing integrated change control
- Closing project or phase
- Managing product delivery
-
Managing a stage boundary
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 12
Group Presentations for Assessment 3 take place during the tutorial classes this week (via zoom for online students)
Critical Analysis Report + Presentation Due: Week 12 Friday (14 Feb 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical Assessment
This assessment is an individual assignment. This assessment item requires you to consider:
- earned value,
- event-driven controls,
- time-driven controls
You are required to analyse the items listed above for the supplied case study from a real-life context. The templates for the project status and controls reports have been provided to meet the requirements outlined in the PMBOK (2017) and conform to the project progress and control requirements outlined in Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2017).
Task
- Your task is to consider the overview above and analyse earned value and controls reports. You will be graded upon how well your analysis of the project status and controls reports has been completed and reflects on the supplied case study.
Purpose
- The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help you to develop skills in the compilation of project status report and development of event-driven and time-driven control processes.
- The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to consider the role of project progress evaluation techniques and control requirements within a project life cycle.
- The assignment will also give you the opportunity to enhance your analysis and written communication skills; particularly in the areas of structured assignment writing.
Structure
- Your submission should be made using the supplied case study, project status and controls reports templates. You should complete all the required parts in as complete manner as you deem appropriate. The instruction boxes given in the templates provide more information which must be deleted before submitting your assignment into Moodle.
Week 7 Monday (6 Jan 2020) 9:00 am AEST
Week 9 Monday (20 Jan 2020)
Your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to which it meets each of the following criteria:
- A complete and correct analysis of the project status report? (40%)
- A complete and correct analysis of the project controls report? (40%)
- Appropriate and well structured, concise and clear expression of project management arguments in response to the assessment task? (10%)
- Clarity of expression, grammar and spelling? (10%)
- Define and justify project event-driven and time-driven controls for a case study project
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
2 Practical Assessment
This assessment is an individual assignment. This assessment item requires you to consider:
- audit plan and report,
- termination (closure) plan and report,
- governance report
You are required to analyse the items listed above for the supplied case study from a real-life context. The templates for the project audit, termination (closure) and governance reports have been provided to meet the requirements outlined in the PMBOK (2017) and conform to the requirements outlined in Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2017).
Task
- Your task is to consider the overview above and analyse project audit plan and report, as well as project termination (closure) plan and governance reports. You will be graded upon how well your analysis of the project audit plan and report, as well as project termination (closure) plan and governance reports has been completed and reflects on the supplied case study.
Purpose
- The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help you to develop skills in the contents and compilation of project audit plan and report, as well as project termination (closure) plan and governance reports.
- The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to consider the role of project audit plan and report, as well as project termination (closure) plan and governance reports within a project life cycle.
- The assignment will also give you the opportunity to enhance your analysis and written communication skills; particularly in the areas of structured assignment writing.
Structure
- Your submission should be made using the supplied case study, project audit, termination (closure) and governance reports templates. You should complete all the required parts in as complete manner as you deem appropriate. The instruction boxes in the templates provide more information which must be deleted before submitting your assignment into Moodle.
Week 11 Monday (3 Feb 2020) 9:00 am AEST
Exam Week Monday (17 Feb 2020)
Your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to which it meets each of the following criteria:
- A complete and correct analysis of the project audit and termination (closure) report? (40%)
- A complete and correct analysis of the project governance report? (40%)
- Appropriate and well structured, concise and clear expression of project management requirements in response to the assessment task? (10%)
- Clarity of expression, grammar and spelling? (10%)
- Define and justify audit, governance and termination reporting for a case study project.
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
3 Written Assessment
Assignment Overview
Project management in various domains is considered to be a relatively mature discipline. There is extensive body of knowledge that promotes project management and supports its main objective of delivering successful projects. This knowledge base is supplemented by a well-established standard that have been evolving over years such as PMBOK and PRINCE2 to equip project managers with the knowledge, tools and skills to perform their role.
Having said that, project delivery in various domains is still unsatisfactory. Many recent studies and audits have revealed that project management fails to deliver successful project outcomes with alarming frequency. In the case of construction, for example, recent figures show that around 50% of projects fail to meet the delivery targets. These problems are not exclusive to the construction sector. IT sector projects also encounter an estimated 66% failure rate. This should be alarming to project management professionals and practitioners whose main duties are to ensure successful delivery of projects.
Since project management is supposed to improve project delivery, it is essential to fully appreciate the reasons behind project failures. Understanding the reasons for project failures will help protect management profession work towards achieving more consistent project delivery.
This assessment is a group assignment for on-campus students (Max. 3 students in a group) whereas online students will complete this assignment individually.
This assessment item requires you to consider:
- Project execution,
- Project success factors,
- Reasons for cost and time overruns,
- Application of project control systems,
- Stakeholders' influence on project performance
You must demonstrate your understanding of the above in the context of a real-life project of your choice and submit a critical analysis report. You are encouraged to use assignment output and ideas that you may have developed from previous practical assignments within this unit as supporting evidence for your analysis.
Tasks
- Written Report (Worth 30%): Your task is to consider the first two learning outcomes in the context of this unit. This assignment requires you to examine a significant project (partially or fully failed) of your own choice from any discipline (preferably from your personal experience or through professional network). You are required to produce a detailed report which forwards a critical analysis of project control approaches used to ensure successful completion of the project and stakeholders’ influence. The report should include a demonstration of the range of control systems and evaluation of their application and whether a poor application of the control systems and lack of stakeholder’s management has contributed partially or fully to the project failure.
- Oral Presentation (Worth 10%): You are also required to give an oral presentation about your written report. Presentations will be held during the tutorial classes in Week 12 for on-campus students (via Zoom for online students).
Purpose
- The purpose of this assessment item is to help you to develop and demonstrate your skills in the use of project management concepts, principles, theories and arguments about the project execution and closing phases. You are particularly required to demonstrate your understanding of the real application of control systems. You must then be able to analyse and argue what type of control systems will enable better or worse project outcomes.
Written Report
The report should be of 4000 words +- 5% (excluding references and appendices).
The report should include the following key sections:
- An introduction to the real-life (partially or fully failed) project you have chosen;
- Explanation of the range of control systems used to monitor and control the project cost, schedule, scope and quality;
- An analysis of the reasons that explain the cost and/or time overruns encountered during the project;
- An analysis of the extent to which the project execution team could be held responsible of the incurred time and/or cost overruns;
- An analysis of the relationship between the problems you identified and the stakeholders’ needs and influence;
- An analysis of the project management actions that could have been taken to better control the project and stakeholders in order to increase the chance for successful project delivery;
- A conclusion which identifies the key lessons that project management can learn from the experience of the project.
Oral Presentation
- Presentation should follow a similar structure as per your written report.
- Presentations will be held during the tutorial classes in Week 12 for on-campus students (via Zoom for online students).
- Presentations will be of 15 minutes duration plus 5 minutes for Q&A.
- Presentations will be graded based on the individual performance at the presentation.
This assessment also involves research to enhance your understanding of project management concepts and utilisation of academic literature. Whilst you should use the recommended textbooks you may also refer to relevant peer reviewed academic journal articles. You will be expected to present information and evidence from and cite from the reading material from the unit. You are also encouraged to cite other material that is peer reviewed.
Start your assignment early in the term as it will require you to research and find a suitable real-life failed project by either searching the web or searching for appropriate journal articles by using the library website.
Week 12 Friday (14 Feb 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Written report and presentation files must be submitted into Moodle. Oral presentation will be held during your tutorial class in Week 12.
Assignment will be returned prior to confirmation of grades.
Written Report (30% scaled)
The report will be generally assessed on the quality of the work presented, the extent and coverage of the key aspects, and understanding of the issues involved. More specifically, your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to which it meets each of the following criteria.
- Familiarity with project context, issues and applicable control systems (40%)
- Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of applied control systems and stakeholder’s management (40%)
- Appropriate and well structured, concise and clear understanding of project management arguments in response to the assessment task? (10%)
- Clarity of expression, language, format and presentation of the written report (10%)
Oral Presentation (10% scaled)
- Preparation and consistency of presentation (10%)
- Understanding and relevance of the presentation content (50%)
- Response to questions during Q&A (30%)
- Timing including Q&A (5%)
- Presentation manner (5%)
- Examine the knowledge areas and processes applied in the execution and closing stages of the project management life cycle
- Critically analyse how the needs of stakeholders might change the priority of outputs from the execution and closing stages of the project management life cycle
- Knowledge
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
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.