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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Syllabus

EN IT

Learning Objectives

TRAINING OBJECTIVES:
The aim of the "Project Management" course, in line with the aim of the master's degree course to which it refers, is to transfer specific professional skills in the field of project management. This is in order to prepare them to be part of projects, even large ones, or to lead smaller projects.

To this end, the course intends to achieve the following objectives:
- Acquire knowledge and ability to use the main planning and control tools for projects;
- Acquire the skills to operate effectively in project contexts;
- Acquire knowledge and governance skills of the main project management processes;
- Acquire the soft skills necessary to cover the role of project management;

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
- Define the purpose and scope of a project
- Knowing how to identify the hypotheses and risks associated with a project
- Knowing how to identify and manage stakeholders
- Project planning tools (WBS, OBS, Gantt, PERT, CPM, etc.)
- Project management tools (procurement, quality, communication, change management, etc.)
- Project control tools (earned value, and its applications)

APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
- Production of a project charter
- Identification of critical activities, with fast-tracking and crashing methods
- Identification and quantification of project risks and their management
- Take on the role of project controller
- Cover the role of project manager

MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
- Understand the opportunity to start a project
- Understand the level of criticality / risk of a project
- Evaluate whether to intervene to correct an ongoing project

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
- Knowing how to discuss with top management the advisability of starting a project
- Knowing how to present and discuss a project plan to stakeholders
- Knowing how to report on the progress of the project

LEARNING SKILLS:
- Learn from the experience of projects you have collaborated on
- Develop critical skills in understanding risks and opportunities
- Knowing how to share their project experiences with colleagues

Prerequisites

None

Program

PART 1 – CONTEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE
Lesson 1. Definition of project and keywords.
Lesson 2. The operational context of project work: Operations vs Project, project, program and portfolio, project strategies, requirements and objectives, project success criteria, context and stakeholders, project manager. Systemic approach and integration. Maturity models.
PART 2 – BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND EVALUATION OF PROJECTS
Lesson 3. Project phases and Project life cycle. Milestones and Deliverables. Organizational models for project management. PM and processes: implementation processes and PM processes. Introduction to Project Management Processes: Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Control, Closure).
Lesson 4. Project evaluation (PBP, NPV and IRR). Project launch - analysis and identification of stakeholders, definition of objectives, preparation of the Project Charter and Kick off meeting. Example of a project charter.
PART 3 – PROJECT PLANNING
Lesson 5. Introduction to project planning. Importance of planning vs plan. The Plan as a dynamic tool.
Lesson 6. Project Purpose Development: Project Decomposition Logics and Tools, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Project Breakdown Structure (PBS), Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS), and Responsibility Matrix. Development of Work Packages: Definition of project activities, definition of project resources, estimation of the duration of activities, identification of links. Examples.
Lesson 7. Lattice methods. Scheduling (PERT/CPM) and definition of the project GANTT.
Lesson 8. Example PERT. WBS-OBS-Responsibility Matrix example. Define tasks, resources, and durations. Gantt chart.
Lesson 9. Planning exercises with CPM-PERT
Lesson 10. Project cost estimation and budgeting. Optimization of the project plan (Leveling, Crashing, Fast Tracking). Drafting of the project plan.
Lesson 11. Exercises on project evaluation. Exercises on leveling.
PART 4 – PROJECT CONTROL
Lesson 12. Project execution: data collection, team and change management. Project monitoring and control: analysis of economic-temporal progress and project performance and Earned Value technique, variance analysis and performance verification, final estimates and change management. The Progress of the Works.
Lesson 13. Examples of the Earned Value method. Other aspects of planning and control: risks
Lesson 14. Other aspects of planning and control: quality, change management, documentation, procurement.
Lesson 15. Exercise Planning and control of project times/costs + Sample Exam Questions. Example of PM Software use
PART 5 – BEHAVIORAL KNOWLEDGE
Lesson 16. Project closure. Behavioral knowledge and PM: communication and leadership
Lesson 17. Behavioral knowledge and the PM.
Lesson 18. Exercises

Books

V.Cesarotti, V.Introna, Slide of the course's lessons

Bibliography

"A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)", PMI

Teaching methods

Conventional lecture mode (frontal lesson) with examples and excercises.
In particular, the course has several elements of interdisciplinarity, with links to strategic, economic, financial, organizational and managerial issues. Extensive use is made of case studies, soliciting the contribution of students both in terms of "peer learning" (students bring and discuss their own previous experiences) and critical analysis. The course also includes the introduction of company testimonials to concretize the concepts learned.

Exam Rules

The final written exam aims to verify the knowledge acquired on the topics of planning and control of projects, project management and related support issues. In compliance with the Dublin descriptors, the theoretical technical skills are assessed, as well as those applied (through exercises), the autonomy of judgment (through case study), the learning ability and the written communication skills (through open questions).
The results of the written tests are communicated before the oral test, with explanation of the grade and illustration and discussion of the areas for improvement.
The oral test is optional and integrates the evaluation made through the written test. In particular, during the oral exam verbal communication skills and the ability to deepen and connect topics, even with a critical spirit, are tested. Only those who have passed the written test can access the oral exam. The oral exam can vary the mark obtained in the written test by up to 4 points more or less.

Verification of the knowledge and skills acquired by the student on the topics covered by the program. The final written test, and the oral exam will consist of questions related to the topics covered by the program of the course. Exercises and questions are aimed at ascertaining the student's knowledge and his/her reasoning skills in making logical connections between the different topics.
The final vote of the exam is expressed out of thirty and will be obtained through the following graduation system:
Not pass: important deficiencies in the knowledge and in the understanding of the topics; limited capacity for analysis and synthesis, frequent mistakes and limited critical and judgmental capacity, inconsistent reasoning, inappropriate language.
18-21: the student has acquired the basic concepts of the discipline and limited analytical capacity. The way of speaking and the language used are almost correct, though not precise.
22-25: the student has acquired the basic concepts of the discipline in a discrete way; he/she knows how to discuss the various topics; he/she has an autonomous analysis capacity, while adopting a correct language.
26-29: the student has a well-structured knowledge base. He/She is able to independently adopt a correct logical reasoning; notations and technical language are correct .
30 and 30 cum laude: the student has a complete and in-depth knowledge base. The cultural references are rich and up-to-date, while being expressed by means of a brilliant technical language.