PPMP20008 - Initiating and Planning Projects

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The Initiating and Planning Project unit will equip you with the knowledge and skills required to effectively initiate and plan projects in challenging environments. You will study different standards, frameworks and practices with the opportunity to apply these by utilising relevant tools and techniques to enhance project initiation and planning. On successful completion, you will have prepared a range of project management artifacts that underpin effective initiation and planning of projects.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the 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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2024

Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 20%
2. Written Assessment 50%
3. Reflective Practice Assignment 30%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.5 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 62.9% response rate.

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.

Source: Student Evaluation
Feedback
Online learning can be overwhelming and non-engaging at times. It would be great if more practical and engaging activities can be added to lectures and tutorials.
Recommendation
Review unit lecture material and suitability of tutorials for online delivery. In addition, introduce further practical and engaging activities in classes.
Action Taken
The unit material was renewed and streamlined toward the unit learning outcomes. Also, major improvements were made to the lectures and tutorial slides, making them more interactive for face-to-face and online learning. New learning material, including new activities, case studies, articles and videos, were added to the lectures, tutorials and the unit Moodle page. Tutorial activities were set to be more practical and engaging while assisting students in performing better in their assessment tasks.
Source: Student Evaluation
Feedback
The lecturer and tutors were always well prepared. They made the unit interesting for us and easy to follow.
Recommendation
This unit is considered as one of the foundation units for project management courses and therefore it is recommended to further equip the teaching team with online engagement tools.
Action Taken
The lecturers and tutors are equipped with online engagement tools such as Mentimeter. The lecturers use preset Mentimeter presentations to engage students in answering short quizzes and playing games with a focus on deepening the student's learning at the end of the lecture session.
Source: Student Evaluation
Feedback
The assessments in the unit (especially the group assignment) was authentic and practical. It helped me to test myself in a real project scenario. It would be more beneficial if assessments' content and marking criteria more clearly communicated to students.
Recommendation
Content, cases and marking criteria for Assessments 2 and 3 to be reviewed to improve clarity and ensure alignment with the unit learning outcomes.
Action Taken
Assessments 2 and 3 were restructured making them aligned to the unit learning outcomes. For both assessments, clear instructions, guidelines and assessment criteria were developed. All assessments use authentic and real case scenarios to enhance students' learning and practical knowledge.
Source: SUTE survey
Feedback
This unit really provides critical aspects of project initiation and planning. The assessments are designed in a way that helps students in obtaining practical knowledge and skills in project management.
Recommendation
Continue to create authentic and practical case studies and scenarios for assessments. Review unit material and check the suitability of its content to the new revision of the textbook (PMBOK) that has been released in mid-2021.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE survey
Feedback
The Mentimeter quizzes and games being conducted at the end of lectures provide a better understanding of the subjects.
Recommendation
Mentimeter quizzes and presentations run at the end of lectures weeks 3, 4, 9 and 11. Work with the teaching team to expand its use across more lectures and perhaps tutorials.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE survey
Feedback
The assignments are designed and were based on real-time project scenarios, which is a good aspect of the unit. It would have been great to receive more guidance for Assessment 2.
Recommendation
Review the assignments instructions and provide more clarity to the students' tasks. Run weekly drop-in sessions so students can ask and clarify their questions about assignment tasks.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Analyse the underlying project need and justification
  2. Apply contemporary techniques to identify and analyse stakeholders
  3. Analyse, define and effectively decompose project scope
  4. Apply appropriate project estimation techniques
  5. Critically analyse and define actions to address project uncertainty.

This unit will satisfy one of the requirements for Australian Computer Society (ACS) accreditation in the postgraduate ICT courses.

The unit contributes to the required number of academic study units for students wishing to undertake profession certification with the Project Management Institute's (PMI) professional qualifications, such as CAPM or PMP.

The 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 codes as defined by SFIA:

  • 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 5
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • •
3 - Reflective Practice Assignment • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Advanced Level
• Professional Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Knowledge • • • • •
2 - Communication • • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • • •
4 - Research • • • • •
5 - Self-management • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • • •
7 - Leadership •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Advanced Level
• Professional Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • •
3 - Reflective Practice Assignment • • • • •