PROJ - Project Management

This course is designed to facilitate an introductory approach to project management and all the essential concepts from both theoretical and applied perspectives. Other concepts discussed in this course are: PM foundations (define the project, project management, and the role of the project manager); project initiation (creating a charter and identifying stakeholders); project planning (creating a scope statement, building a WBS, identifying resources); and creating a PM plan along with some key subsidiary plans.

This course provides comprehensive knowledge and skills for project communications and stakeholder engagement. Students will master theoretical and applied skills in communication planning, distributing, and managing projects. This course will draw from the following: communication methods for stakeholders; team-building processes and high-performancebuilding teams; and building an effective project communication plan.

The use of teams has increased in organizations around the world, but in project management they are an essential component. The project leader must forge a team and ensure that it functions as a cohesive unit to achieve goals and objectives under preset project constraints.  The objective of this course is to prepare students for the professional work environment they will encounter upon graduation. It will prepare them for Project Management careers as productive project team members and eventually skilled project leaders and managers.

This course details the relationships between organizations that create, host and manage projects. Students are introduced to core concepts such as organizational structure, complexity, change management, trust, motivation and incremental innovation.Organizational behavior is the study of both group and individual performance and activity within an organization. Projects are a key vehicle for the execution of organizational strategy, and the effectiveness of that execution is determined to a large extent by governance in projects; project scope management; ethics and professionalism; and project handover, closeout and reviews.

The development and implementation of project governance is key at the onset of the project. Project governance is essentially the “recipe” for the project manager on how to manage a project.  This course provides an integrated introduction to enterprise project, program management and project governance. It also focuses on change management. Students learn the fundamental aspects of modern project management, both managerial and technical from the lens of governance. The key topics associated with this course are organizational governance of projects, governance in projects, governance of the project, and change management.  Other concepts discussed in this course are: project scope management, ethics and professionalism, and project handover, closeout, and reviews.

This course is designed to provide a broad knowledge of project management. It introduces students to the various types of project management organization and the detailed business and technical management procedures and human skills necessary to successfully manage any size project in the areas of research, product development, information systems, production, services, and construction. The course discusses scope management time, management, cost management, risk management, quality management, change management, team management, and integration management.

This course covers risk management planning and control in all phases of a project. Students will be exposed to and learn the techniques, models, and tools used for risk identification and quantitative as well as qualitative risk analysis. The course also covers topics in risk response planning, monitoring, and control.

This is an advanced course in project management that discusses in more detail several aspects of project management. This course considers how to deal with a variety of stakeholders and ways to consider optimizing stakeholder involvement and how, and why, various social roles are needed on projects. The formation and expectations of differing kinds of teams are covered in order to set up management expectations about results. Change to the organization as a result of a technological innovation is reviewed, and a detail analysis of a case study covered. Also considered are surfacing assumptions about the change process and correctly identifying them. Students will use a parametric analysis to construct an overall approach to a project. The results of a project need to be integrated within existing environments. Issues dealing with change management, power, and the social roles of innovations are addressed. Team formation and various kinds of teams are reviewed considering the context within which they must perform.

This course introduces students to one of the most highly evolved quality management methodologies: Six Sigma Process Improvements in bottom-line profitability for companies of different size. (Included as an optional course in the Project management concentration and in the Technology and Operations Management concentration.)

This course provides exposure to strategies that help formulate and execute an effective outsourcing strategy. Current trends in business process outsourcing (BPO) will be analyzed to determine an effective outsourcing model in accordance with the organization’s mission, objectives, and capabilities.

This course examines industry-proven methods, techniques, and tools for cost estimation and control in all phases of a project. Students will learn how to develop estimates of monetary resources needed to execute and finish the different project activities using different techniques including expert judgment, parametric estimates, analogous estimates, and others. Students will also learn overall cost management, budgeting, and cost control.

This course introduces project portfolio management and its importance for achieving strategic business goals. Students will learn how to establish and manage related projects in an organization using industry-proven techniques, metrics, and tools. This course focuses on identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, and controlling project programs in order to making sure that the organization is investing in the project initiatives.

This course examines and covers project processes of acquiring, purchasing and managing products and services necessary to accomplish the different project activities. Students will learn how to conduct make-or-buy analysis, manage bidding and select sellers, negotiate and manage contracts, as well as other procurement activities.

This course focuses on the understanding and the application of the stakeholder interface with special emphasis on leadership to ensure customer satisfaction, and sustainability. Definitions are discussed as a starting point to identifications of members of the project community, followed descriptions of communications approaches to engage them. Effective stakeholder engagement delivers value to the organization. This course can draw from the following: identifying and engaging stakeholders; managing global projects; and project leadership.

This course focuses on emerging trends and reviews unique methodologies and approaches to project management. This course also provides an opportunity to teach and develop PM simulation and modeling tools. Students are exposed to advanced research methods and contribute to original research in the emerging PM areas. Additional course discussion will include:Scrum, LEAN, Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), and Six Sigma; outsourcing, offshoring, and in-shoring; trends in information-technology tools: collaborative and social media tools; and crisis-management leadership and stakeholder engagement.

This is the capstone course in the MSPM program. Upon successful completion of this course, students are prepared to take the Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification exam. Students review the different knowledge areas in project management: scope, time, cost, quality, risk, human resources, procurement, integration, and communication. Students apply project management skills gained throughout the program for project initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing.

This course introduces advanced topics regarding project schedule, risk and quality management, and cost control as well as providing essential knowledge of scheduling and other topics which include: advanced time, cost, risk, and quality estimating and planning; schedule estimation and management and earned schedule; risk management (identifying and quantifying risks, and risk-response plan); quality management (plan and quality analysis (control charts, Ishikawa diagram, audits)); and resource planning: estimating, balancing.

Many organizations’ projects are delivered through complex supply chains and networks. They have several suppliers, contractors, and customers. There is a substantial amount of project procurement involving these entities and a substantial amount of detailed planning and scheduling occurs. This course begins with an exploration of core principles of project procurement and expands to a consideration of how modern organizations expand their influence beyond simple contractual relationships by considering supply chains.  Additional course discussion will include the processes for planning procurements, foundational knowledge of supply chains and developing a strategy, identifying project procurement needs, including make-or-buy analysis, negotiating and ensuring due diligence and an equitable process when contracting, and determining contract types, risks, and incentives.

Agile Project Management (APM) is an iterative approach to planning and guiding project processes. Agility refers to the ability of an organization to rapidly react to unpredictable scenarios, and within the context of product development, responding to unclear requirements. There are several industry domains where agility is being practiced, such as manufacturing, engineering, software development, and supply chain management. This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the principles, processes, and practices of agile project management. Knowledge of agile development frameworks and agile tools and techniques are introduced. Additional course discussion will include multidisciplinary review of agile literature, agile project management principles, comparison of agile and traditional PM models, and SCRUM.

This course provides an opportunity to acquire and integrate skills and knowledge regarding international projects. Global projects demand a broad range of research, analysis, and skills in the financial planning and budgeting area. A key PM issue introduced throughout the course is managing complexity in projects. Other issues introduced in this course include distributed project management, outsourcing, virtual project management, cultural diversity, and management of risks. Students have an opportunity to master the topics of managing conflict in projects, portfolio and program management. This course will engage discussion on the following: managing global projects, distributed teams and virtual project management; interpersonal skills for managing global projects; managing global teams and networks; managing change in global organizations.

International graduate students may engage in temporary employment for the purpose of gaining practical experience directly related to their major field of study.  Practicum fulfilling the Curricular Practical Training must be approved by the Program Director prior to registration, after an evaluation of the employment request and suitability of employer relative to the student’s major area of study.

This is a capstone course that provides an opportunity to demonstrate the principles of project management. The course integrates learning from the courses in the PM major with other academic courses taken and may involve interdisciplinary partnerships among university departments and/or industry.Contemporary project management utilizes the project management techniques along with modern improvements such as the most current versions of Micro- soft® Project Professional 2016, the sixth edition of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), and many approaches derived from adaptive (Agile) project management. Contemporary project management also uses many tools and understandings that come from modern approaches to quality and communications, expanded role definitions, leadership principles, human strengths, and many other sources.Experiential learning is a key focus throughout this course.