Masters Programs Course Syllabus

Semester 1. Second Half (T2) 2016/17

2376 Project Management

INSTRUCTOR: Paulo Faroleiro

CONTACT: paulo.faroleiro@novasbe.pt +351 213 801 694

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SHORT BIO: Paulo Faroleiro is a project management professional with experience as project
manager and as project auditor. With experience in highly complex IT projects, acted as project
manager, project director and project auditor in national and international projects with overall
budgets over 10M, with large teams, multiple vendors and exclusive security requisites.

Paulo Faroleiro is a certified IPMA level C

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As project auditor, Paulo Faroleiro has been involved auditing projects at large organizations like IT,
Aerospace, Automobile, Foods and Beverages, Logistics, Banking, TELCO industries and Air Traffic
Control under different certification schemes where Project Management methodologies are
mapped into specific Management Systems associated with certifications schemes like ISO 9001, ISO
27001, ISO 20000 to provide them sustainable delivery mechanisms.

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OFFICE HOURS: available during working hours, room 207, 2nd floor

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GRADER: [Grader name]

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CONTACT: [Grader contact]

1. COURSE DESCRIPTION AND CONTENT

At the end of the course, students should be able to apply a solid project management
methodology from project initiation to project closure. Topics covered include the key
project management processes with a particular focus on their practical challenges. Case
studies will be used throughout the course, allowing students to apply the acquired
knowledge.
Topics:

Introduction Projects vs operations; project management and its constraints;

organizational structures and their influence on project performance; project life
cycle; PMO; knowledge areas and process groups; programs and portfolios;

Masters Programs Course Syllabus

Initiation The purpose of initiating a project; business case; statement of work;

project charter;

Scope Planning scope management; Project vs product scope; scope management

challenges; scope statement; Product Breakdown Structure; Work Breakdown
Structure; scope baseline;

Time Planning schedule management; dependencies; lags and leads; critical path;
duration estimates; (optional: schedule compression; resource leveling; PERT
analysis);

Cost Planning cost management; estimate costs; cost types; estimation methods;
estimation precision; learning curve; life cycle costing; cost budgeting

Quality Establishing a quality management plan; understand quality principles and

processes; establish quality standards and metrics; quality control; using quality
management tools;

Human resources Human resources project organization; responsibility

assignment; staffing management;

Communications Identifying stakeholders; planning communications; managing

expectations;

Risk Understanding risk and risk management; planning risk management,

identifying risks; performing qualitative risk analysis; performing quantitative risk
analysis; planning risk responses; monitoring risks.

Monitoring and closing Understanding variances; corrective action; managing

changes; Earned Value Management; project closure

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Some of these subjects will be presented by students due to the specific case topic and will
be used to motivate class discussion
2. LEARNING GOALS
A. Knowledge and Understanding
Key project management processes
B. Subject-Specific Skills
Key project management techniques
C. General Skills
Stakeholder management, generating buy-in, conflict management, Risk Management
3. COURSE STRUCTURE
The curricular unit is organized in 6 Learning Units (LU):
1. Information on Projects

Masters Programs Course Syllabus

a) Project, Project Management, Programme and portfolio concepts

b) Projects and organizational changes implementation
c) Project life cycle
d) Project start-up, control and closure

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Scope management
Time management
Organization and communication management
Cost Management
Quality and Risk management

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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

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4. TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS

The curricular unit is based on lectures, complemented by practical exercises. Lectures
include the presentation and discussion of project management concepts, processes,
methods and techniques.

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Topics will be presented by a variety of approaches, including lectures, in-class exercises,

case study analysis and presentation, and class discussion of assigned readings.

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Practical exercises are focused on project plan preparation, based on case studies.
After each programed delivery, each group does a brief presentation, receiving later a
delivery feedback.

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5. ASSESSMENT
The final grade will be determined by the performance in the following areas:
i.

Final exam (30% of the final grade):

Exam will include multiple-choice and open questions.

ii.

Participation (10% of the final grade):

Points will be earned based on individual participation during classes.

iii. Group assignments (30% of the final grade):

Groups have to deliver all the cases, one case per class.
Each class, randomly, one group will present a report based on a previously assigned
case.
a. Case document (20%)

Masters Programs Course Syllabus

(Average of the best 75% presented cases out of the overall presented cases)
b. Case presentation (10%) (check bellow)
iii.

Project (30% of the final grade):

Groups have to prepare a set of project documents related to an actual Project Case,
as if it was being managed by the group; the different documents refer to specific
project management disciplines discussed during the course.

In the beginning of each class, a group will make a presentation of the case-study for that
class (there will be a case schedule for the full trimester).

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All groups need to be prepared to present and must submit their case answers through
Moodle before the start of the class.
Your case group answers can have up to 6000 characters (including spaces, not including
references). You will receive general feedback. You should keep the case questions in mind,
but you are encouraged to make further research and use different information sources.

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For the groups presenting, the overall quality of the presentation, communication style and
interaction with classmates will be considered regarding the grade.

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Groups can be made up to 5 students and a minimum of 3. Groups will be defined by the
Professor (to be rechecked depending on the number of enrolled students).

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Missed assignments and deadlines do not earn scores.

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Attending the final exam is a compulsory requirement.

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6. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER RESOURCES

Text Books
Kerzner, H.: Project Management A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and
Controlling 11th edition (2014): Wiley
Turner, J. Rodney: The Handbook of Project-Based Management 3rd Edition (2008):
McGraw-Hill
Vanhoucje, M.: Project Management with Dynamic Scheduling Baseline Scheduling,
Risk Analysis and Project Control (2013): Springer
Case Book
Kerzner, H.: Project Management Case Studies 4th Edition (2014): John Wiley & Sons,
Inc