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 - 2022
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 Student feedback
There is some repetition that arises when lecture content compares concepts across the three texts of PMBOK, Prince2 and Kerzner, etc.
Lecture material will be reviewed to consider the value of concept comparison across texts.
Feedback from Student feedback
Weekly readings noted on Moodle are lengthy.
The Moodle site will be reviewed and updated to specify that the weekly readings are not mandatory.
Feedback from Student feedback and coordinator reflection.
There is an opportunity to improve the unit content and delivery to better align to the concept of project execution.
The learning activities will be reviewed to incorporate practice focused examples and industry case studies.
- 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
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- MS Teams
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
h.elhawary@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to executing and closing projects
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Ch. 1, Part 2: Chs. 1 & 2
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 3 & 5
- Directing PRINCE2 Chs. 3, 4 & 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 1
The lecture starts with an overview of the unit and the assessments. The topics to be covered in the lecture are the project life cycle, particularly the executing and closing phases, project domains, project success, process groups, introduction to PMBOK, and PRINCE2.
Tutorial 1
The tutorial focuses on reviewing the concepts presented in the lecture. Tutors also explain the unit expectations and students' pathways to success.
Module/Topic
Project performance management
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 4.3, 13.3 & 13.4
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 11 & 12
- Directing PRINCE2 Ch. 9
- Kerzner Ch. 15
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 2
The lecture focus on project performance management and different approaches to managing project performance in various frameworks.
The topics to be covered in the lecture are project performance and metrics for measuring project performance.
Tutorial 2
The tutor provides a brief overview of the lecture content and engages students in a class exercise. Students will also work on a short case study. Group formation for group assessment starts during the tutorial session.
Module/Topic
Value management
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 6.6, 7.4, & 10.2
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 13 & 17
- Directing PRINCE2 Ch. 7
- Kerzner Ch. 15 & App. E
- Standards Australia: AS 4817-2006_R2016
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 3
Building on the topics discussed in weeks 1 and 2, the lecture focuses on explaining the concept of project values and managing project values. The other topic that will be touched on is earned value management and its related concepts. The lecture will continue to explain any emerging questions related to assignment 1.
Tutorial 3
The tutor provides a brief overview of the lecture topics and engages students to work on examples of project execution documents. Students will also work on several multiple-choice questions to review the lecture content. Group formation for Assessment 3 will be finalised within the tutorial session.
Module/Topic
Managing communications and risk in a project context
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 10.2, 10.3 & 11.7
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 18 & 19
- Directing PRINCE2 Ch. 11
- Kerzner Ch. 17 & App. E
- Standards Australia: AS 4817-2006_R2016
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 4
The lecture discusses the importance of stakeholder management and risk management in projects and covers various important topics relevant including stakeholder management processes, stakeholder engagement and communication, risk identification and risk assessment, etc.
Tutorial 4
The tutor provides a brief overview of the lecture topics and engages students to work on stakeholder identification, analysis and engagement exercise. The tutorial would spare time to discuss assignment 1 and 3 requirements.
Module/Topic
This is a non-teaching week
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Project control systems
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 4.5, 4.6 & 6.6
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 11 & 17, App. E.A
- Standards Australia: AS/NZS 15288:2015
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 5
The lecture covers the importance of control systems in managing projects and introduces project control systems and change approaches from various reference works. Other topics that will be discussed are integrated change control, controlling a stage, etc. Explanation of assessment 2 and assessment 3 requirements and expectations will come up at the end of the session.
Tutorial 5
The tutorial session provides a recap of the lecture content.
Assignment 1 is due.
Module/Topic
Managing and controlling resources and procurement.
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 9 & 12
- Kerzner Ch. 16
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 6
The lecturer discusses various important concepts, approaches, and terminologies relevant to project resource and procurement management. The management processes, tools, and techniques in managing project resources and project procurement are among the topics that will be discussed.
Tutorial 6
After a short overview of the topics discussed in the lecture, students will engage in exercises. The tutor will check the group work done for Assessment 3 and answers students' questions on assessment 2.
Assessment 1 DueProject progress status presentation (Group) Due: Week 6 Friday (23 Dec 2022) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Managing and controlling quality.
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Ch. 8.2-8.3
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 8 & 18
- Kerzner Ch. 20
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 7
The lecturer will focus on introducing and explaining important topics relevant to quality management in projects. Some of the topics that will be covered are quality management processes, quality audits, etc.. from both PMBOK and PRINCE2 frameworks.
Tutorial 7
After a short overview of the topics discussed in the lecture, students will engage in quality management exercises.
The tutor will then check the group works done for Assessment 3 and answers students' questions.
Module/Topic
Managing project knowledge, work and delivery
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Ch. 4
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 18 & 19
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 8
The lecture discusses managing knowledge in project management. Some of the topics that will be covered are managing project knowledge, knowledge transformation and lesson learned, etc.
Tutorial 8
After a short overview of the topics discussed in the lecture, the tutor engages students in a group activity. Students will need to form a risk register in the class. The tutor will then check the group works done for Assessment 3 and answers students' questions.
Assessment 2 Due
Board Report and Video (Individual) Due: Week 8 Friday (13 Jan 2023) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Project governance
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 2 & 13, Part 2: Ch. 1
- Kerzner Ch. 1 & Appendix E
- Standards Australia: AS/NZS 8016:2013
- Standards Australia: AS 8000-2003
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 9
The lecturer focuses on discussing the concept and importance of project governance in projects. Students will become familiar with organizational governance, and governance framework, and will learn good governance principles.
Tutorial 9
After a short overview of the topics discussed in the lecture, the tutor engages students in a situational class activity. The tutor will then check the group works done for Assessment 3 and answers students' questions.
Module/Topic
Professional responsibilities for project managers
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 2.4, 4.1, 9.3 & 13.2
- Managing PRINCE2 Ch. 16
- Directing PRINCE2 Ch. 11
- Kerzner Ch. 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 10
The lecturer provides a discussion on the professional responsibilities of the project manager.
Tutorial 10
The tutor provides a recap of the topics discussed in the lecture. Then, students in groups engage in relevant activivities. Students and the tutor spend most of their time checking and finalising their work for Assessment 3.
Module/Topic
Integration management
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Ch. 4
- Managing PRINCE2 Ch. 17
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 11
The lecture discusses the management of project integration. Students will be exposed to topics such as the motivation model, project management paradox, and lived experience of project managers.
Tutorial 11
The tutor provides a recap of the topics discussed in the lecture. Then, students in groups engage in relevant activities. Students and the tutor spend most of their time checking and finalising their work for Assessment 3.
Module/Topic
Project closure, termination & lessons learnt
Chapter
The following are readings that may assist in understanding the concepts covered. You may also need to do your own research to find materials that may assist your understanding or extend your current knowledge on the weekly topics.
Suggested Readings
- PMBOK Part 1: Chs. 4.7 & 12.3
- Managing PRINCE2 Chs. 19 & 20
- Directing PRINCE2 Ch. 9
- Kerzner Chs. 9 & 11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture 12
The last lecture will explore the processes of closing the project. Students will become familiar with various scenarios of terminating projects.
Tutorial 12
The tutorial will review the group submission progress of each group and discuss related questions.
Assessment 3 Due
Critical Analysis Report (Group Work) Due: Week 12 Friday (10 Feb 2023) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical Assessment
This is a group assignment. The aim of this assignment is to provide students with an understanding of project management processes taking place during project execution.
You will form a group of 3-4 students. As a group, you will be provided with an Assessment Scenario (i.e. project brief) and audit report findings and recommendations for that project. Following the assessment guideline, you will investigate and research based on the audit report findings and consider a number of audit report recommendations to present the status of the project. The team will need to provide your recommendations as if you were presenting to a project review committee while other members of the class will role-play a member of an organization’s project review committee.
The Assessment Scenario includes information that you should consider in preparing your response and presentation file. Recommendations relate to governance, stakeholders, and performance metrics.
The Assessment Scenario and presentation preparation guidelines will be provided on the unit Moodle page.
Week 6 Friday (23 Dec 2022) 11:45 pm AEST
This assessment will be conducted in the week 5 tutorial. All PowerPoint slides must be submitted by Week 5 - Monday 8:00 AM AEST.
Assignments will be returned to students with comments and awarded marks.
You will be assessed on the following criteria:
- Professional preparation and consistency of presentation slides (2.5 marks)
- Presentation content and responding to questions (15 marks)
- Presentation timing and flow (2.5 marks)
- Individual presentation skills (5 marks)
- Peer review and asking questions for other presentations (5 marks)
NOTE: Criteria 1-3 will be group marks and criteria 4-5 are individual. All students must present. The students who are absent or do not present would not be eligible to receive group marks.
- 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 is an individual assessment.
You will need to draft a one-page board report and create a short video that accompanies the report. You provide the board with information about the scenario for the assessment. Your report will provide several options seeking board approval.
The Assessment Scenario and assessment preparation guidelines will be provided on the unit Moodle page.
Week 8 Friday (13 Jan 2023) 11:45 pm AEST
You must submit a one page report and a short video following the assessment instructions.
Assignments will be returned to students with comments and awarded marks.
Your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to which it meets each of the following criteria:
- Overview (5 marks)
- Option 1 (5 marks)
- Option 2 (5 marks)
- Option 3 including video (10 marks)
- Report presentation and formatting (5 marks)
- 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
This is a group assessment *(Note - there is also a question that each member must attempt individually and it will be marked individually)
This assessment aims to provide students with an understanding of project integration management during project execution.
As a group, you will consider a number of Audit recommendations. You will then draft a Board Report, proposing changes to the current project plan which could result in additional work packages in the project scope in response to the Audit recommendations. In your response, you will propose two new work packages to address the audit recommendations and with specific consideration to stakeholder feedback provided in the scenario.
There is also an individual reflective practice component to this assessment. Students would need to prepare lessons learned through performing ch
Week 12 Friday (10 Feb 2023) 11:45 pm AEST
You must submit the critical appraisal report following the assessment instructions.
Assignment will be returned to students on the day of confirmation of grades.
Assessment 3: Stakeholder impacts to scope - Board Report
Your assessment will be based on the following criteria
- Work package descriptions (8 marks)
- Activities, resources, schedule, and budget (8 marks)
- Measuring the success post-implementation (4 marks)
- Professionalism including but not limited to presentation and formatting, (10 marks)
- Lesson learned and personal reflection (Individual - 10 marks)
Note: Questions 1-4 are group questions, whereas question 5 is an individual question.
- 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.
What can you do to act with integrity?
