Project Development, Planning and Management

Unit Reference Number

J/618/5990

Unit Title

Project Development, Planning and Management

Unit Level

8

Number of Credits

20

Total Qualification Time (TQT)

200 hours

Guided Learning Hours (GLH)

100 hours

Mandatory / Optional

Mandatory

Sector Subject Area (SSA)

15.3 Business Management

Unit Grading Structure

Pass / Fail

Learning Outcomes – The learner will:

Assessment Criteria – The learner can:

Indicative contents

1.  Understand the fundamentals of project, methodologies and processes related to a project.

1.1  Explain the growing importance of projects in organisational context.

1.2  Appraise the complexities involved in managing projects.

1.3  Explain the processes and methodologies related to projects.

What is a project?

Definitions – academic, professional body definitions Why are they becoming important?

Project Management as a competitive tool, role of projects in improving organizational performance What are the various types of projects?

Construction, Production development, Software development, media and entertainment, research and innovation etc.

Why projects are complex to manage?

Triple constraints, organizational cultural issues, lack of knowledge about requirements, lack of skills and technology

Role of professional bodies in developing project discipline

Project Management certification, Professional bodies and membership

2.  Be able to compare and contrast the similarities between research project, organisational project and DBA project.

2.1  Understand the various types of research projects.

2.2  Explain the differences between organisational projects and research projects.

2.3  Understand research funding landscape.

2.4  Explain the stages of a DBA project.

2.5  Discuss how to manage risk in a DBA project.

What are the differences between general organisational projects and research projects: An introduction to funded research in business and management

Role of funding bodies such as World Bank, World Health Organisations, IMF, European Commission, ESRC, Research Councils, Charity organisations such as Melinda Gates foundation etc.

How are funded projects evaluated?

Steps involved in evaluation of project proposals, team capabilities and monitoring and evaluation of projects, emerging project themes

Risk management in research project:

Risk Management techniques, identification and management of risks, development of risk register.

3.  Be able to demonstrate the capacity to research and write up a highly effective research proposal.

3.1  Divide the research project into work packages, activities, milestones, estimate duration and establish relationship between activities.

3.2  Estimate resource, cost requirements for a given activity.

3.3  Identify critical path and optimize resource usage.

Phases, activities and milestones in a DBA project:

Constraints in a research project

Types of resources required to deliver the project PERT, GANTT tools and Critical Path Analysis

4.  Be able to evaluate the challenges related to managing research projects.

4.1  Apply project life cycle approach to examine the project management challenges.

4.2  Identify best practices related to project management.

4.3  Provide recommendations for successful delivery of projects.

What is the typical journey of a DBA project? What is the role of supervisor in a DBA project? What are the potential challenges faced by the researcher while undertaking a DBA programme? Examine past DBA project stories and discuss the best practices.