Project management and planning

Knowledge – the student can

• Describe how to initiate, plan, organize, manage risk, manage stakeholders, follow-up, and terminate a project.
• Identify and analyze the pitfalls and challenges related to project initiation phase and to identify important conditions for success in projects.
• Explain key knowledge areas in projects and project processes.
• Describe how the project objectives can be broken down to deliverables and work packages using the project breakdown structure (WBS).
• Describe the main methods for time and cost estimation
• Identify and discuss the importance of risk management in projects and to identify important pitfalls and success factors for the implementation of risk management process.
• Describe the main components of the project estimates and central causes of overruns
• Describe various methods of project control.
• Describe the main categories of project organizations structures (project, classical and matrix) and explain the advantages and disadvantages of the different structures.

Skills – the student can

• Use different tools and techniques in each phase of projects
• Prepare good project goals and success criteria.
• Perform a stakeholder analysis.
• Illustrate how the WBS can be established.
• Set up various tools that can be used in a risk management process.
• Set up logical relationships between work packages in a project, perform network analysis and identify the critical work packages in the network.
• Solve challenges related to resource limitations in projects.
• Use of indices (cost and time indices) for monitoring project status and for the establishment of future forecasts.
• Assess and reflect on the use of various methods and techniques for project management and -planning.

General competence – the student can

• Understand how it is to participate in a project team and show respect to other team members’ knowledge, opinions, roles and personality.
• Can disseminate key subject matter such as theories, issues and solutions.
• Critically evaluate different contexts for projects and then construct a project model adapted to the context

The course sheds light on key topics and terminology related to the project management subject, such as initiation, planning, implementation, closure, follow-up, profit realization and project models. The following topics are included:

• Initiation phase and Stakeholders analysis
• Success criteria and successful managers
• Scoping and time planning
• Cost planning and Project crashing
• Procurement planning
• Risk Management and human resource management
• Earned value management
• Communication management
• Leadership skills
• Hand over and closure
• Measuring progress
• Agile project management
• Introduction to Scrum

The course has both a theoretical and practical dimension. Multipe cases from real world will be introduced and used in the course. We work in groups with a project assignment based on a game / simulation called “The Project Management Game” (PM Game). Here, students get the chance to try their hand as a project manager and must, among other things, use techniques for planning, implementation and follow-up of projects in order to succeed.

The course is taught through videos, digital games and simulations, assignments in Canvas, as well as full day seminars, self study and group work. Further information will be given in Canvas. The course has a work scope of 200 hours.

Approved group work is a requirement for the exam. The group work requirement is related to the project game. Further information will be given in Canvas.

Portfolio assessment in groups counts 100% of final grade. The group (maximum 3 students) as a whole is graded.

Grade: Letter grades.

Evaluation

Weighting

Duration

PM Game Report

20/100

Group Work Assignment (on the exam date)

80/100

4 hours

Group work assignment includes a short report and an oral presentation.Game report from previous scheduled course can be accepted by the course responsible for re-take of an examination if there haven't been any significant changes later.

If there is a re-sit examination, all components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.