Bachelor of Business (Project Management)

Unit Description:

BBUS1000 is a core unit in the Bachelor programs of the Australian Institute of Higher Education.

This unit introduces students to academic skills that are required for academic studies. It develops academic communication and study skills including time management and organisational skills, digital skills, referencing, critical thinking, academic writing, research and investigation techniques and presentation skills.

Weekly workshops are used as interactive sessions where students are given practical exercises to enhance their understanding of the topics and materials covered in this unit.

By the end of the unit students will have developed the understanding and skills necessary to help them complete all required assessments and to pass all their units.

Unit Description:

This unit introduces students to the field of information technology. It provides both theoretical knowledge and practical application of basic aspects of information technology and their relevance to 21st century business operations.

The unit starts on a global scale in the e-world of the Internet before visiting the micro-world of computer hardware, operating systems, and software tools for productivity, creativity, and information processing. The unit explores networking and communication systems before looking at database technology and the design and management of business information systems. The unit concludes with a discussion of current issues and trends in information technology.

Unit Description:

Project strategy is framed by a vision statement, business case, project brief, a charter and the like. Sound planning is typically preceded by strategy. Project Structure is influenced by organisational structure, lines of reporting, governance and stakeholders. In a similar way, project culture is shaped by organisational culture, cultures of organisations that are participating in the project, and attitudes and behaviours of key stakeholders.

This unit provides a framework, underpinned by strategy, structure and culture, that drives project success including processes, practices and decision-making. The unit explores pure project, matrix and mixed organisational structures.

Unit Description:

This unit aims to provide students with an understanding of principles of management applied across organisations.

Throughout this unit, students will examine theories of management and evaluate how inquiry-based skills can be applied in the contemporary workplace. This unit introduces students to key perspectives and discusses a range of fields that inform the theory of leadership and management practices.

This unit will cover theories of management and their application to contemporary practice, strategies of working in a diverse global workplace, teams and teamwork, planning and controlling information flow, organising and leading, motivating and rewarding, and management strategies in both personal and professional contexts.

Unit Description:

This unit provides students with the fundamentals of business communication, with an emphasis not only on theoretical knowledge but also on the application of relevant concepts in easy-to-understand communication situations within and outside the organisation.

It aims to help students analyse, select, and apply appropriate strategies, in both internal (from top management to junior-level employees, and among colleagues) and external (customers, vendors, suppliers, and other key stakeholders) communication.

The unit employs several teaching methods, including traditional lectures, which provide theoretical and analytical models, class discussions, self-assessments, videos, experiential learning, practical examples and exercises and group work.

Unit Description:

It is important for all business professionals to have some understanding of accounting and finance. Whilst the more complex areas are the preserve of qualified accountants and finance experts, it is important for other managers to have some financial literacy so that they can competently contribute to everyday decisions.

This unit is intended for business students who are not following a path specialising in finance or accounting. Generalists, HR specialists, marketers, IT specialists, and others will benefit by acquiring a knowledge of key concepts in the areas of accounting and finance, that they will require to be successful in their chosen fields.

Students will learn accounting fundamentals, accounting for common items, planning, capital investment and the importance of the ‘what, why, so what, what next?’ question sequence. Guidance will also be given on when to seek assistance from an accounting or finance colleague or outside advisor.

Unit Description:

Students who complete this unit will have the expertise required to recognise the major issues that need to be addressed in order to detect and solve projects that deviate from their original objectives. For example, projects that lack a well-defined scope and fail to perform in quality.

Students will have the ability to differentiate between the expectations and requirements of various stakeholders, to motivate project teams in order to acquire quality outputs, and to design criteria and processes in order to secure project performance.

Key stakeholders, such as sponsors and/or customers, need to reach a consensus and approve both the scope of the project and its quality. This course will provide students the opportunity to investigate both the theory and practice of quality and scope management, with the goal of avoiding typical traps such as scope creep and unnecessary quality costs.

Unit Description:

The focus of this unit of study is to examine the core project management knowledge areas of schedule and resources. With regard to schedule management, students learn how to identify and define project activities; estimate the duration required for project activities; and develop, control and optimise a project schedule using Critical Path Method and PERT analysis. The unit also focuses on core competency areas needed to identify, acquire, and manage the resources needed for the successful completion of a project.

Unit Description:

The project manager develops the project management plan with input from the project team and key stakeholders. Strong leadership is essential for a project manager to achieve a successful project plan.

In this unit, students will understand the powerful outcomes of strong leadership for project plan creation, the principles and concepts of project leadership, the tools, methods, and best practices to create a project management plan step by step. The students will also explore leadership theories in the context of project work.

Unit Description:

Teamwork forms the basis of practically every successful business. The ideal team will consist of people with complementary abilities and attitudes. However, conflict and negotiation are a natural part of any team’s communication.

In this unit, the students will understand the steps involved in project team building, how to prevent conflicts by application of psychology, negotiation techniques, and project management tools to help avoid conflicts. The students will be able to understand the best market practices related to project team building, conflict, and negotiation. In addition to ability to manage conflict and negotiate it, students will explore several approaches for bargaining with both internal and external stakeholders, such as (team members, project leaders, project managers, company leadership, suppliers, vendors and clients). Students will complete this unit with a comprehensive understanding of the value of personal strengths, strategies for building and supporting a cohesive team, and collaborative motivational techniques.

Unit Description:

This unit introduces students to the legal framework and legal principles applying to commercial activity within the context of the Australian legal system. In particular, legal problems commonly encountered in business situations such as torts, contracts and consumer law.

This unit also introduces students to the legal framework and legal principles applying to companies primarily, but some introductory discussion is done in partnerships, trusts and associations as well. Some of the key topics include types of companies, the process of incorporation, effects of incorporation, internal rules, appointment and removal of directors, duties of directors, shareholders’ remedies, share capital transactions and insolvency procedures.

In this regard, students develop the ability to interpret legislation and case law and apply them to given scenarios. The workshops will be used as interactive sessions where students are given the opportunity to test their problem-solving skills as well as the ability to relate the relevance of the Corporations Act to various aspects of running a company.

Unit Description:

Statistics are data that have been gathered, analysed, and interpreted. The ability to use and apply relevant statistics in business-related decision-making is increasingly important for all business functions.

This unit facilitates a foundational understanding of statistical tools and techniques that support efficient decision-making in finance, marketing, production planning, scheduling, inventory management, etc. It develops deep knowledge and skills to identify and implement appropriate statistical procedures that can support managers in making business decisions.

The students will gain hands-on experience with Excel Solver using descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse business decisions, hypothesise data and measure relationships.

Unit Description:

Project management has several different components, one of which is a well-defined risk management strategy. You will be able to identify possible problems before they occur and monitor those risks throughout the entire project lifecycle. Students will be able to understand the best practices and procedures that are typically used by industry in project risk management.

Students will also learn how to be proactive by developing risk contingencies and mitigation plans as well as risk policies and identify potential risk sources. Students will be able to define project uncertainty and design a system to reduce negative risk and exploit positive ones.

Unit Description:

Project management is challenging because things do not always go as planned. Changes to your project scope or deliverables can happen more frequently than expected.

In this unit, students will understand the Change Management Process, including the mechanism used to initiate, approve and resolve project changes, the impacts that a change can cause in the scope, time, and cost of one or more previously approved project deliverables. Important project team approaches for dealing with gold plating and scope creep will also be explored.

Unit Description:

To stay up to date with clients and lead the business competition, the companies that fully deliver outcomes from their innovative investments have an immense advantage. Project selection is one of the success factors in developing a portfolio.

In this unit, students will understand the importance of project selection and portfolio management. Furthermore, students will be able to determine project priorities, review performance, and terminate unsuccessful projects.

Unit Description:

Typically, managers focus on output (deliverables) rather than business value; often referred to as benefits. After determining value, the project team needs to ‘plan backwards’to ensure that artifacts will deliver business value.

Before a project is categorised as ‘urgent’ basic governance principles apply to ensure that it is in fact urgent rather than a ‘reaction’ to a perceived or actual problem. Differentiating between an apparent and real problem (or opportunity) is one mechanism to prevent ‘false urgency’.

Urgency may be real but, in some cases, it is the result of crisis management. This unit develops capability in planning to ensure urgency is the result of necessity, not a reactive culture. Maximisation of business value is a key driver of sound decision-making.

Unit Description:

This course aims to advance students’ knowledge and competencies in designing and implementing optimal systems for contracting, administration and procurement management of projects and programs with a view to responding to both strategic and implementation needs of sponsor/clients and other stakeholders. This unit examines a range of project delivery models and contract types, and students are required to apply these to a case. To succeed in this course, you’ll need to develop your skills in critically evaluating different project delivery methods and contract types in relation to the complex project environments that they are required to manage.

Unit Description:

Compliance applies within projects (such as meeting agreed quality criteria), external factors (such as legislation) and internal constraints (such as policies and procedures). ‘Stewards comply with laws, rules, regulations, and requirements that are properly authorized within or outside of their organization.

However, high-performing projects seek ways to integrate compliance more fully into the project culture, creating more alignment with diverse and potentially conflicting guidelines (p27 PMBoK 7th Ed.)

This unit provides a framework for pro-active compliance with the aim of reducing bureaucracy and resistance typically associated with compliance.

Unit Description:

Projects reach 80% completion and ‘stay that way forever’ is a common occurrence! For a host of reasons, including not recognizing the importance of closeout tasks, processes required to complete projects are frequently bypassed. Projects may be terminated at any stage in the project lifecycle; this may be the result of sound decision-making (related to Governance) where, for example, objectives have been met or insufficient/ineffective planning.

Also, we are going to cover Benefits Realisation Management (BRM) with a focus on products, services results or process improvement for achieving portfolios, programs and projects to attain and sustain benefits arising from the closured project.

This unit covers principles, practices, tools and techniques to manage the closeout of projects including applying benefits realisation with the focus in attaining and sustaining the benefits of closing the portfolio programs and projects and how the organisations tailor what they choose to implement.

Unit Description:

The Project (Capstone) unit integrates key students’ learnings from a range of core, specialist and elective course units. It is designed to facilitate project-integrated practice to real world scenarios.

This unit enables students to demonstrate their ability to think critically in order to apply contemporary project management methodologies within their chosen project. Students will need to ‘prevent’ and solve problems; apply theories and knowledge of project management practice to the planning / and or control that could contribute to the profession in their chosen field or industry of interest. The project can either be practical or research based and contribute to theory or practice.

Unit Description:

Causes of project under performance, also referred to as project failure, include people, systems, processes. Organisations, project sponsors and project managers have an onus to create an environment for project success. For some practitioners, this necessitates changing mindsets and even paradigms given that it to challenge common assumptions.

This unit aims to create a positive environment to avoid most problems encountered in ‘typical projects’. Much of the problem prevention commences at project start-up.

Unit Description:

This unit develops analytical skills and a practical understanding of negotiation techniques in projects, effective management and conflict resolution through the application of research and academic literature. It does so by evaluating the influence of culture, personality, perceptions and communication, and using these insights to develop plans for conflict resolution in various project situations to reach agreements.

Unit Description:

An artifact is an object made by a human being. A project artifact is a tangible by-product of a project. Artifact can take the form of a template, document, output, or project deliverable (PMBoK 7th Ed.). Project artifacts determine standards and requirements for derivable completion, such as design specifications for a product, or a checklist of steps for performing status meetings. The team lead by the project manager determines what artifacts are required to successfully deliver each phase of a project. Artifacts are often inter-related such as a ‘register of plans’ and then in addition each of the plans themselves.

Starting with outcomes, this unit covers principles, models and methods designed to ensure that project artifacts are limited to those that add value not ‘bureaucracy’. The unit examines project artifacts from start-up, to planning, execution and close-out.

Unit Description:

Project managers and team members acquire knowledge through the project. Unless organisations have a knowledge of capture and transfer policy, much of ‘this’ remains with the individual. Even where such policies exist, they are frequently not consistently applied. Common project management practice does not always reflect sound theory. Project managers tend to be ‘inwardly focused’ to complete deliverables ‘on time’ with less concern for other considerations such as knowledge-building.

This unit examines a range of considerations associated with knowledge management at individual, team and organisational levels. It goes beyond the ‘mechanics’ of following processes and examines issues such as ‘culture’, flexible working to name a few.