Advanced IS Project Management

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Students who are enrolled in the two year 200 point Master of Information Systems must have completed 50 points of study to enrol in this subject.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study and reasonable steps will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact upon their active and safe participation in a subject are encouraged to discuss this with the relevant subject coordinator and the Disability Liaison Unit.

Projects are typically characterized as being temporary in nature, having a defined start-end, involving the accomplishment of a novel or unique task and operating under constraints. Obviously the goal of a project is "success". The PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) provides practitioners with a suite of tools and techniques intended to ensure projects successfully deliver on time, to budget and to quality goals. However this mechanistic view of projects belies the complexity of many IS projects, which frequently face external, social, political, organizational and cultural barriers. IS projects often involve multiple stakeholders with competing interests, operate in changing business environments and must deliver business value in increasingly short time-frames. The first half of this subject examines the foundations of project management including the nine knowledge areas of the PMBOK (scope, cost, time, human resources, procurement, risk, quality, communication and integration) in the context of information systems projects and methodologies, while also providing the opportunity to develop advanced skills necessary to effectively respond to the organizational, political and cultural barriers IS projects typically face. The second half of the subject will also consider a set of advanced topics including project governance, management of cross-organisational projects, knowledge management, vendor and customer relationship management, benefits realization, project office functions and project management toolsets.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students should acquire a number of transferable skills including:

• analytical and decisioning skills through examination of case scenarios
• collaboration, communication and presentation skills through group work and assessment, and
• problem solving skills related to project management, project risk assessment, project resource utilization and project communication management.