Students

COMP8770 – Information Systems Project and Risk Management

2024 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor
Stephen Smith
stephen.smith@mq.edu.au
Contact via Email
Rm 362, Level 3, 4 RPD
Thursday 2-3pm, or (online via Zoom)
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
ITEC602 or COMP6770 or Admission to MRadiopharmSc or Admission to MLabAQMgt
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit has three themes: IT project management, agile software development and risk management. Topics covered in the first theme include project definition, roles and responsibilities, resource management, time and cost estimation, project planning, project control and reporting, measuring project success and post-implementation review. Microsoft Project is used to assist with resource allocation, costing and schedule. Hands-on experience is gained using the Rational Unified Process during the second theme. Towards the end of the course we focus on identifying causes of project failure and managing project risk based on the International and Australian Standard, ISO31000.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Apply an understanding of the contextual issues of an IT project to the identification and management of expectations of the main project stakeholders.
  • ULO2: Develop, maintain, manage and report against a project plan which defines the critical path and resource requirements, with tool support, such as MS Project 2019.
  • ULO3: Critically evaluate the concepts of agile methodologies such as the Rational Unified Process, DSDM and DevOps and incorporate appropriate components into the planning for complex software development or off the shelf enterprise system projects.
  • ULO4: Analyse IT project risks and formulate a risk management plan compliant with the international standard, ISO31000.
  • ULO5: Critically evaluate the role of the IT project manager and how to handle organization politics, individual and team management

General Assessment Information

Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this Unit, you must achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%. Please note that there are no hurdles in this Unit.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following university standard late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information.

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of '0' will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted

In this unit, late submissions will accepted as follows:

• Assignment 1 - YES, Standard Late Penalty applies

• Assignment 2 - YES, Standard Late Penalty applies

Assessment tools and submission

Marking rubrics are used for assignments

Assignments are submitted on iLearn and Turnitin

Assessments are marked as soon as practicable - typically within a couple of weeks.

The exam may take place via a pink paper or online. Where a special consideration for an exam has been submitted and accepted a supplementary exam is available some weeks after the initial exam.

To pass this unit you must:

  • Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%.

 

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Assignment 1 20% No week 5
Assignment 2A - Group Project 20% No week 11
Assignment 2B - Presentation 10% No week 12
Final examination 50% No Exam. Period

Assignment 1

Assessment Type 1: Modelling task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: week 5
Weighting: 20%

 

In the first part, you are given the tasks, resources and schedule for a project which need to be entered into MS Project 2019. You are required to answer a series of questions on the resource requirements, critical path, schedule and costs associated with this project. For the second part of the assignment you are given a case study for a complex project and asked to identify the risks and possible mitigation strategies. Furthermore, you need to advise on how to use MS Project in this context.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply an understanding of the contextual issues of an IT project to the identification and management of expectations of the main project stakeholders.
  • Develop, maintain, manage and report against a project plan which defines the critical path and resource requirements, with tool support, such as MS Project 2019.

Assignment 2A - Group Project

Assessment Type 1: Project
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: week 11
Weighting: 20%

 

A series of IT projects will be allocated among groups of 4 students. These will include software development, off the shelf package and mixed projects (a package requiring integration with backend systems). Your team are consultants recommending your project and risk strategy to secure a go-ahead from the client organisation. Your focus is on the project process/methodology and risk management plan to suit your project and client organisation.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply an understanding of the contextual issues of an IT project to the identification and management of expectations of the main project stakeholders.
  • Develop, maintain, manage and report against a project plan which defines the critical path and resource requirements, with tool support, such as MS Project 2019.
  • Critically evaluate the concepts of agile methodologies such as the Rational Unified Process, DSDM and DevOps and incorporate appropriate components into the planning for complex software development or off the shelf enterprise system projects.
  • Analyse IT project risks and formulate a risk management plan compliant with the international standard, ISO31000.
  • Critically evaluate the role of the IT project manager and how to handle organization politics, individual and team management

Assignment 2B - Presentation

Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: week 12
Weighting: 10%

 

A series of IT projects will be allocated among groups of 4 students. These will include software development, off the shelf package and mixed projects (a package requiring integration with back-end systems). Your team are consultants recommending your project and risk strategy to secure a go-ahead from the client organisation. Your focus is on the project process/methodology and risk management plan to suit your project and client organisation.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply an understanding of the contextual issues of an IT project to the identification and management of expectations of the main project stakeholders.
  • Develop, maintain, manage and report against a project plan which defines the critical path and resource requirements, with tool support, such as MS Project 2019.
  • Critically evaluate the concepts of agile methodologies such as the Rational Unified Process, DSDM and DevOps and incorporate appropriate components into the planning for complex software development or off the shelf enterprise system projects.
  • Analyse IT project risks and formulate a risk management plan compliant with the international standard, ISO31000.
  • Critically evaluate the role of the IT project manager and how to handle organization politics, individual and team management

Final examination

Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 40 hours
Due: Exam. Period
Weighting: 50%

 

A formal examination covering all the course work material.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply an understanding of the contextual issues of an IT project to the identification and management of expectations of the main project stakeholders.
  • Develop, maintain, manage and report against a project plan which defines the critical path and resource requirements, with tool support, such as MS Project 2019.
  • Critically evaluate the concepts of agile methodologies such as the Rational Unified Process, DSDM and DevOps and incorporate appropriate components into the planning for complex software development or off the shelf enterprise system projects.
  • Analyse IT project risks and formulate a risk management plan compliant with the international standard, ISO31000.
  • Critically evaluate the role of the IT project manager and how to handle organization politics, individual and team management

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Lectures and Practicals:

Each week you should register for the 2 hours of lectures and 1 hour SGTA. For details of days, times and rooms consult your MQ Timetable  

Note: Practicals commence in week 3

Resources to Assist your Learning

Digital Recordings of the Lectures would be available via Macquarie University's Echo360 Active Learning Platform.

Required and Recommended Texts:

Students are expected to purchase and read the following textbook:

Erik Larson and Clifford Gray, ‘Project Management: The Managerial Process’ 8th Edition (2021), McGraw Hill. This book is available an eBook - ISE Project Management: The Managerial Process (mheducation.com.au)

The following text book is suggested as recommended reading.  Copies are  available from the references and general sections of the library. 

Rob Thomsett, Radical Project Management, Prentice Hall, 2002, not available as an eBook. However, it is available online.

The class Web site will have copies of lecture handouts and additional recommended reading material:  https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/ You will need to use the user name and password issued to you by the University Administration when you enrolled for the unit. 

Technology to be used and required:

We are using Project Libre, MS Project 2016 or later.  

Other technology required is MS Word and MS PowerPoint.

Final Examination

The Final Examination would focus on the content covered in the Lectures throughout the Semester. Please see the Assessments Section for details pertinent to the Final Examination.

Methods of Communication

We will communicate with you via your Macquarie University's Email or through Announcements on iLearn. Queries to Convenor can either be placed on the iLearn Discussion Board or sent to mailto:stephen.smith@mq.edu.au  from your University Email Address.

COVID Information

For the latest information on the University’s response to COVID-19, please refer to the Coronavirus infection page on the Macquarie University's website, https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs. Remember to check this page regularly in case the information and requirements change during the Semester. If there are any changes to this Unit in relation to COVID, these will be communicated via iLearn.

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Unit Schedule

Week

Lecturer

Lecture

References

Practicals

Assignments

1

Steve

Course Structure

Types of Projects, Role of the Project Manager, IS/IT Projects are Different

Unit Outline

Larson 1, Readings

 

 

2

Steve

Project Definition

Introduction to MS Project

Larson 3

Larson 4

 

Assignment 1 (Individual Assignment)

Released

3

Steve

Project Selection and Success Criteria

Estimating Project Times and Costs

Sponsors and Other Stakeholders

Larson 2

Larson 5 

Larson 10

Workshops start

MS Project

 

4

Steve

DSDM Introduction 

Hand out Assignment Two (Group Assignment) ‘IS Project Management Plan’

DSDM Handbook

 

 

5

Steve

Reducing Project Duration

Assignment One Due

Larson 9

 

Assignment 1

Due

6

 

Guest Lecture

Leadership / Communication

Team Management

Larson 10 Larson 11, Thomsett articles

 

Assignment 2 (Group Assignment)

Released

7

Steve

Risk Management Part 1 - Managing Risk

Larson 7

 

 

8

Steve

Risk Management Part 2

ISO31000

 

 

Mid Semester Break / Recess April 13-28th

 

 

9

Steve

Virtual Teams and Outsourcing

Project Audit and Closure

Larson 12 Larson 14

 

 

10

Steve

Project Plan Structure

Progress Management and Evaluation

Organisational Politics

Larson 6, 10, 12, 13  

 

 

11

Steve

Group Assignment Review Workshop (in the Lecture)

  

 

Assignment 2

Due

12

Steve

Group Presentations

  

 

Group Presentations

13

Steve

Exam Revision + Group Presentations (cont if necessary)

  

 

 

 

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes from Previous Offering

We value student feedback to be able to continually improve the way we offer our units. As such we encourage students to provide constructive feedback via student surveys, to the teaching staff directly, or via the FSE Student

Experience & Feedback link in the iLearn page.

Student feedback from the previous offering of this unit was very positive overall, with students pleased with the clarity around assessment requirements and the level of support from teaching staff. As such, no change to the delivery of the unit is planned, however we will continue to strive to improve the level of support and the level of student engagement.

 

Unit information based on version 2024.01R of the Handbook