Postgraduate Course: Project Management in Business Analysis (CMSE11213)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | Project management and business analysis represent two elements that are key to the success of any business endeavour.
Project managers are in charge of ensuring that a project is completed on time and within the planned budget. Business analysts must focus on the product of the project ensuring that it meets the needs of the key stakeholders. |
| Course description |
In this course, we introduce the project management life cycle and we compare selected state-of-the-art life cycle models for effective project management, such as traditional, agile and extreme project management; we also introduce selected state-of-the-art tools for effective project management, such as PERT and CPM.
We then provide an overview of business analysis activities throughout the life of a project such as stakeholder analysis, requirement analysis, risk analysis, business process and data analysis, implementation, validation, deployment and assessment. For these, we introduce a toolbox of selected state-of-the-art business analysis tools such as mind maps, use case diagrams, business process diagrams etc.
Operating within a given budget necessarily imposes choices in terms of which stakeholder requests should be given priority. Project managers and business analysts must therefore coordinate their plans to ensure that budget is not exceeded and key stakeholders are satisfied. Furthermore, as the project progresses, delays and other unforeseen events may impose a sudden re-planning of on-going activities. The exact nature of this re-planning should also be defined in concert. In some cases, reaching a consensus in the project team may constitute an extremely challenging task. To deal with these issues, we illustrate the basics of group dynamics and strategies that a team can adopt to work together effectively.
Beside the 20 hours of lectures, students will spend approximately 80 hours working on a project in groups of 4/5 people; a lecturer will supervise up to 6 of these 80 hours. During short coaching sessions of 20 or 30 minutes, one of the lecturers will join the group and will provide feedback on specific issues raised or on group activities.
We expect students to spend approximately 20 hours on preparatory readings before their lectures. They will also have to spend 20 hours preparing for a written exam.
Syllabus:
Group dynamics
Introduction to Project Management; Scoping a Project
Project Management Life Cycle Models; Planning a Project
The Critical Path Method
Launching, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing a Project;
Agile Project Management
Extreme Project Management
Group presentations
Risk Management
Planned Student Experience:
Students will
* participate in lectures
* engage in discussion inside and outside of the classroom
* complete tutorial exercises
* manage an actual project in small groups
* perform independent reading and research
* critically reflect on their own learning experiences
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
127 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
40 %,
Coursework
60 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Group report 40%, Individual assignment 20%, Exam 40% |
| Feedback |
All students will be given at least one formative feedback or feedforward event for every course they undertake, provided during the semester in which the course is taken and in time to be useful in the completion of summative work on the course. Such feedback may be at course or programme level, but must include input of relevance to each course in the latter case.
Feedback on formative assessed work will be provided within 15 working days of submission, or in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course, whichever is sooner. Summative marks will be returned on a published timetable, which has been made clear to students at the start of the academic year.
Students will gain feedback on their understanding of the material when they discuss their answers to the tutorial questions in the tutorials. Students may also ask questions in Lectures to assess their knowledge.
The feedback will take form og group work meetings with lecturer (approx. 6 hours per group), formal presentations to the group and supervised computer laboratory tutorial.
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| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | | | Main Exam Diet S1 (December)Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)Resit Exam Diet (August)Outwith Standard Exam Diets JanuaryOutwith Standard Exam Diets FebruaryOutwith Standard Exam Diets MarchOutwith Standard Exam Diets AprilOutwith Standard Exam Diets MayOutwith Standard Exam Diets JuneOutwith Standard Exam Diets JulyOutwith Standard Exam Diets AugustOutwith Standard Exam Diets SeptemberOutwith Standard Exam Diets OctoberOutwith Standard Exam Diets NovemberOutwith Standard Exam Diets DecemberResit Exam Diet (April/May Sem 1 resits only) | Exam | : | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Overarching Learning Outcomes: Define what a project is and describe the project management life cycle.
- Describe and critically discuss key trade-offs faced by project managers and business analysts: cost, time, quality, scope, resources.
- Describe and critically evaluate possible project management life cycle models in terms of clarity of goals and solutions: traditional, agile, extreme.
- Describe and critically discuss the rationale behind frameworks such as Leary's rose and Kolb's learning cycle, as well as their potential applications in the context of team management.
- Describe and critically discuss possible leadership styles.
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Reading List
Required texts
Robert K. Wysocki, Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme, Wiley, 6th ed., 2012, ISBN-13: 978-1-118-01619-0; Chap 1-12
Jeff Butterfield, Illustrated Course Guides: Problem-Solving and Decision Making - Soft Skills for a Digital Workplace, Cencage, 2009, ISBN-13: 978-1439041147; Unit D: Group Decision Making and Problem Solving |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
* discuss relevant activities that should be executed at each stage of the project management life cycle, i.e. scoping, planning, launching, monitoring & controlling, closing;
* select the most appropriate project management life cycle models for a given project;
* discuss advantages and drawbacks for each of the project management life cycle models presented
* apply existing inventories, such as Kolb's learning cycle model, to identify what members of the group are the most suitable for a given activity, or to determine how to deal with a specific behavioural pattern;
* recognize different stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning;
Subject Specific Skills:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
* apply state-of-the-art tools in the context of project management and business analysis, such as mind maps, use case diagrams, business process diagrams, CPM, PERT etc;
* scope, plan, launch, monitor & control and close a small project;
* develop appropriate documentation at each stage of the project life cycle
Transferable Skills:
* demonstrate report writing skills
* demonstrate presentation skills
* demonstrate problem analysis and problem solving skills
* demonstrate awareness of group dynamics and group leadership styles
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| Keywords | Mark-PMBA |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Roberto Rossi
Tel: (0131 6)51 5239
Email: Roberto.Rossi@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Ashley Harper
Tel: (0131 6)51 5671
Email: Ashley.Harper@ed.ac.uk |
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