Project Management

About

This module provides a comprehensive introduction to contemporary project management, recognising that project work is now essential to organisational development and to the professional growth of graduates. As most careers involve contributing to or leading projects, programmes or portfolios, the module equips students with core knowledge of project processes, tools and methodologies.

It covers project life cycles, governance, stakeholders, phases, roles, resources, deliverables and milestones. Students explore work breakdown structures, activity scheduling, critical-path analysis, network diagrams and Gantt charts. Team composition and leadership are addressed, alongside requirements elicitation and management, including functional, non-functional, implementation and contractual requirements. Weighted requirements, sensitivity analysis and impacts on scope and delivery are examined. Additional topics include finances, resource planning, project methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, Spiral, Parallel), risk assessment, contingency planning, disaster recovery, business continuity, project administration and the work of the project office. The module also introduces project management software, certification routes and career development paths.

Week one: Pre-Project Implementation
Project life cycle: governance, stakeholders, phases, roles, resources, deliverables, milestones
Projects within programmes and portfolios; project office; linear, non-linear and parallel projects
Requirements management: elicitation, functional and non-functional specifications, contractual requirements, weighted requirements and scoring
Tender and supplier management: RFIs, RFQs, RFPs, tender clauses, weighting, evaluation
Contract management: contract types, legal/technical clauses, penalties, updates, annexes

Week two: Project Implementation
Planning: estimates, critical-path analysis, financial and HR planning, requirements-based scheduling
Tracking: requirement-, phase- and contract-based tracking; delay identification and recovery
Quality management: assurance, control charts, cost of quality, standards
Risk management: risk types, identification, severity, registers, contingency and disaster-recovery planning
Change and configuration: change requests, baselines, cost, periods of change, version control
Cost management: budgeting, reserves, planned value, earned value, variances, estimating methods

Week three: Methodologies & Certification
Project methodologies: Waterfall, Spiral, Parallel, V-Model, incremental, reuse, interactive models
Agile and Scrum: philosophy, roles, backlogs, sprints, stories, meetings, burndown charts
PRINCE/PRINCE2: themes, principles, processes, governance, stage-gate control
ITIL and ITSM: grouped processes, operations framework, integration with Agile/ISTPM
Certifications: PRINCE2, Scrum, ITIL, levels, value and indicative costs

Course leader

Dr Evangelos Markopoulos

Course aim

This module aims to:

- Provide an understanding of the tools and techniques of project leadership, management, scheduling, administration, and the environment in which projects are undertaken.
- Introduce you to the range of issues that affect projects and the strategies, tools and techniques for managing them.
- Develop a strong understanding of project requirements and their dynamic role in project management.
- Help you to develop the skills, knowledge, attributes and behaviours that a project manager needs, with practice in case work to begin applying this knowledge and understanding.
- Address key areas of leadership, soft skills, attention to detail and working through the project life cycle.
- Teach specific project management tools and techniques, such as critical path planning, networks, Gantt charts, project life cycles, and the management and leadership of change, supported by quantitative skills and relevant software technologies.
- Introduce career pathways and project management certification opportunities to help you build essential employability skills and gain a competitive advantage in today’s job market.

Fee info