1 | Page FIT2002 (Semester 2, 2022) Assignment 1
FIT2002 IT Project Management
Semester 2, 2022
Assignment One
Due Dates:
● Team Charter submission (5%) one group member uploads the file and all team members must confirm
the student statement in Moodle before the deadline: 16.30 Friday 12 August 2022
● Main submission (95%) (submit individual everything else) 16.30 Friday 9 September 2022
Value: 40% of overall unit assessment
Mode of Submission: Online on Moodle
TEAMS
This assignment requires a collaborative effort by a team of students, and includes both a team submission
and an individual submission. Students must form their teams (from attendees of the same tutorial/applied
learning session) and elect a team leader to support the coordination of activities. Students should form their
teams in the Week 2 or Week 3 applied class (no later). Once confirmed, no change of team member is
permitted without prior approval from the FIT2002 lecturer (Dr. Sanaz Nikfalazar). Students should form
teams of 4 (if possible) or teams of 3 (if 4 is not possible, discuss with your tutor if this is the case).
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The aim of this assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to learn and demonstrate their
analytical and project management skills through the development of an information technology (IT) project
management case study. The assignment aims to assess the following aspects of student learning about
project management:
● Skills in communicating projects.
● Skills and knowledge from the ten knowledge areas of the PMBOK.
● Communication skills in relation to different types of stakeholders.
● Working in a team.
SPECIFICATION AND DELIVERABLES
This assignment is based on the requirements of the Student Services professional services function of the
Faculty of Information Technology (FIT), Monash University (the client). Student teams undertaking the
assignment are to play the role of project managers within an IT consultancy that Monash has contracted to
undertake a portfolio of 4 projects that are intended to improve student experience within FIT (see below).
Note: students will not be required to develop a product as part of this process.
From Week 3 until Week 7 teams will work together in the weekly Applied Sessions to consider how to apply
PMBOK knowledge areas in the different aspects of the assignment, including: Development of a Team
Charter; Project Integration Management; Project Scope Management; Project Schedule Management;
Project Cost Management.
While the assignment requires the team to work together to plan the delivery of these four projects, each
team member will be required to take responsibility for one of the four projects and the individual component
of the assessment will be based on their work on this project.
2 | Page FIT2002 (Semester 2, 2022) Assignment 1
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Each Applied Session will address different components of the assignment (see Specification below) and
you should come to the session prepared to discuss and work on these as a team, and where required
present your progress to the tutor, who will provide support and advice.
2. The CE for the unit (Professor Patrick Olivier) will interview the client, Mr Peter Barton (Student and
Academic Services Manager, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University), at the end of weeks
3, 4, 5 and 6) to ask any questions about the portfolio of projects that students have submitted to the Ed
Discussion Category “Assignment/A1 Questions for client”.
3. There are two submissions:
a. Group submission (Team Charter) due Week 3 (16.30 Friday 12 August 2022).
b. Individual submission (all deliverables + personal reflection) due Week 7 (16.30 Friday 9 September
2022).
4. Submissions (group and individual) must take the form of a single PDF document.
5. Group submission should be named: <>
6. Individual submission should be named: <><>.pdf, where <> is the
group number that will be assigned to your group by your tutor and <> is your unique
Monash University student number.
PLAGIARISM DECLARATION
The moment you upload your assignment on Moodle, you are required to accept the Student Statement
(which includes a declaration that you have not plagiarised during the preparation of your assignment
solution). You are required to ACCEPT the Student Statement; otherwise, you won’t be able to submit your
assignment electronically and your assignment will NOT be assessed.
LATE SUBMISSION
1. Submission must be made by the due date. Unless an extension or special consideration has been
granted, or otherwise specified in the learning management system, students who submit an assessment
task after the due date will receive a late-submission penalty of 10 percent of the available marks in that
task. A further penalty of 10 percent of the available marks will be applied for each additional day (24-
hour period), or part thereof, the assessment task is overdue.
2. If you can’t complete an assessment (due to exceptional circumstances beyond your control), you may
be eligible for special consideration. In such exceptional circumstances you can request a short extension
of up to five calendar days. To apply, you’ll need to contact the Chief Examiner before the due date for
that assessment. For longer extensions you’ll need to submit a special consideration application online
within two University working days after the due date for that assessment.
3. For more details of the Special Consideration procedure and rules, and how to apply, visit:
https://www.monash.edu/students/admin/exams/changes/special-consideration
3 | Page FIT2002 (Semester 2, 2022) Assignment 1
YOUR TEAM
Your team is a project management consultancy partnership that undertakes contracts from clients and works
with them to plan and manage internal service development projects that include IT design and development.
The projects that you plan and manage are implemented by a combination of the client’s staff and external
contractors that you source through the online contractor marketplace Upwork (see:
https://www.upwork.com).
THE CLIENT
Monash University is a major Australian higher education provider with an annual revenue of close to $3.2
billion AUD. Over $2.5 billion of this revenue stems from income relating to teaching and learning. Within
Monash University the Faculty of Information Technology is one of the larger faculties with over 4,000 full-
time equivalent students (in 2021). FIT generates a substantial financial surplus each year. FIT has received
approval from the University to spend up to $3M of this surplus on a portfolio of projects to help it meet some
of its key performance indicators (KPIs) for education. These KPIs are: (i) KPI-EDU-01 Improve ranking for
overall experience in the QILT Student Experience Survey to above the Go8 average; (ii) KPI-EDU-02 To
increase average unit SETU score to 4.25; and (iii) KPI-EUD-03 To increase the percentage of units with SETU
score 3.8 or higher to 80%.
THE CONTRACT
FIT’s senior management has decided to spend $1M of the budget on unit material enhancement, and the
other $2M on improving student’s interactions with the Faculty through a portfolio of projects to be
implemented by the Faculty Student and Academic Services team. Your project management consultancy
partnership has been contracted to manage and implement these changes. This assignment relates to Phase
1 of the consultancy contract which involves project scoping, integration, prioritisation, scheduling and cost
planning. The technology aspects of the project are to be implemented by extending functions in Moodle, the
University’s Learning management system. eSolutions, the University's IT management unit, has confirmed
that it can provide unlimited support to your design and development teams with integration with other
University systems (e.g. Callista, the student management system). FIT has also agreed to commit up to 20%
(on average) of the time of any member of the faculty Educational Services team (see below). However, all
the remaining costs for the project (and any profit that your partnership intends to make) must come out of
the $2M budget. The portfolio of projects must be completed within 9 months of the contract start date.
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THE PORTFOLIO OF PROJECTS
Project 1: Special Consideration
Relevant policy: https://publicpolicydms.monash.edu/Monash/documents/1935761
The current special consideration process is problematic as students can apply for special consideration up to
2 business days after an assessment due date (at the latest). The current process has implications for both the
teaching team and the student, as according to current university policies there is no specific time frame for
the assessment of a student’s application. Furthermore, the outcome of an application is only communicated
to the CE by email; not to the student and academic services team, and not to the wider teaching team. Finally,
the CE for a unit can approve a 5-day extension, but again this is usually done by email between the student
and the academic member of staff. With the increasing volume of applications, especially around the
assessment period, this adds considerable stress for both the students and the teaching teams. The expected
outcome of the project is a digital solution to streamline the process and improve the communication
between relevant stakeholders.
Project 2: Continuous Student Feedback on Teaching & Learning
Relevant policy: https://publicpolicydms.monash.edu/Monash/documents/1935781
Each semester, the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) (OPVCLT) seeks feedback from
students in a survey called the Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU). The current system of
obtaining unit feedback data is less than optimal for several reasons. Firstly, the timing of the survey, and the
time taken to analyse the results, means that survey results are only communicated to staff many weeks after
the end of the delivery of a unit. Also, SETU is a one-time survey, for which they receive no feedback, e.g.,
how a unit design or delivery has changed in response to their survey responses. FIT has decided that they
want to introduce a process by which students can provide continuous feedback on a unit in a way that allows
the teaching team to respond immediately (if possible). The expected outcome of this project is a digital
solution by which students can provide continuous feedback on a unit to which staff can respond.
Project 3: Early intervention
Relevant policy: https://publicpolicydms.monash.edu/Monash/documents/1935786
Research evidence shows that early intervention strategies, where a student is struggling with their studies,
are effective in improving student learning outcomes. FIT has found it very challenging to monitor students’
progress and performance, and difficult to identify students that are at risk of falling behind and provide them
timely support (e.g., direct support from a tutor or peer tutor). Where appropriate actions can be identified,
these need to be communicated across the teaching teams of multiple units (that the student is engaged in).
In practice many such students could be easily identified based on factors such as their record of attendance
in teaching and learning sessions and their marks for, or non-submission of, assignments. The expected
outcome of this project is a digital solution by which students at risk of falling behind can be identified, and a
plan for action for such students can be developed, tracked and communicated to the relevant stakeholders.
Project 4: Applications for Credit
Relevant procedure: https://publicpolicydms.monash.edu/Monash/documents/1935759
Monash students can apply for credit for prior learning at various stages of their studying. For example, if you
have previously studied a topic (at Monash or another university) as a result of which you have already
satisfied the learning outcomes of unit FIT1001, then you can apply for credit for FIT1001 without actually
taking the unit. While this makes a lot of sense in theory, the current process by which a student applies for
credit and process by which a member of academic staff assesses the application is far from satisfactory. For
one thing, there is no easy way for a student to understand what the detailed content of a unit is without first
registering for that unit. Even where a student has access to the content, it is not obvious how a student can
communicate in their application what the content of their previous studies involved. The expected outcome
of this project is a digital solution for prior credit applications that ensures consistent, accurate and timely
assessment.
5 | Page FIT2002 (Semester 2, 2022) Assignment 1
ASSIGNMENT TASKS
To formulate a successful portfolio, your team and you (as a project manager for your individual project) will
complete the following deliverables. Discussion of the Team Charter and the 5 deliverables will be the focus
of Applied Sessions as indicated below:
● Team Charter
● Deliverable 1: Project Integration Management
● Deliverable 2: Project Scope Management
● Deliverable 3: Project Schedule Management
● Deliverable 4: Project Cost Management
● Reflective report on Team Performance
TEAM CHARTER
Applied Session: Week 2 & Week 3
Submit: 16.30 Friday 12 August 2022
A team charter template is available on the Week 2 Moodle page for the unit and teams will be established
during the Week 2 applied sessions. After established a team students should develop a charter addressing
their objective, their approach to working as a team, their plans for communications and meetings, and their
approach for conflict resolution (e.g., disagreements, team member absence, poor performance by team
members) and what the team policy will be for change management and risk (e.g., team members unavailable
as a result of sickness or disruption due to issues outside of their control). The charter should be prepared,
signed by all team members, and submitted by each member to Moodle by 16.30 Friday 9 August 2022. The
charter will serve as a reference for team planning and collaboration.
Team Charter: structure & requirements:
Requirements Weight
Signed copy of
the team charter
A completed copy of the team charter template available on the Week 2 Moodle
page for the unit, signed by all team members.
5%
DELIVERABLE 1: Project integration management
Applied Session: Week 3
Submit: 16.30 Friday 9 September 2022 (single document combining all deliverables & personal reflection)
Teams should start with the overview of how each of the projects are related and integrated within the
Student Services portfolio. Start by developing a business justification for the projects and use this for
resource allocation and project prioritisation (which your team will be asked to present in stand up meetings
during the Week 4 Applied Session). Each student should take responsibility (as the project manager) for one
project, and you should negotiate with each other on the allocation setting of priorities and allocation of
resources and priorities that is best for the portfolio overall. Each student will need to develop a project
charter for their own project to include high level information, including objectives, resources and schedule.
Your analysis and decisions can be re-visited and updated during the Week 5 Applied Session (once each team
has explored their projects in more depth).
6 | Page FIT2002 (Semester 2, 2022) Assignment 1
Deliverable 1: structure & requirements:
Deliverable 1 Task Requirements Weight
Project
Integration
Management
Task 1.1 1. Consider the following:
● the name of each project
● how each project supports FIT’s business strategy
● an assessment of the potential financial and other benefits
● an initial assessment of the value of each project.
2. Write a clear and well justified memo (<400 words) to FIT’s senior
management, presenting your findings
10%
Task 1.2 1. A justified weighted scoring model for evaluating the four projects
which should include:
● five criteria (must include NPV and ROI)
● weights for each criterion
● scores and the weighted scores.
2. A bar chart presentation of the model and results.
3. A succinct write-up (<400 words) of the weighted scoring model,
the results and the recommendations.
10%
Task 1.3 A project charter for the project in the portfolio for which you are the
project manager.
5%
DELIVERABLE 2: Project Scope Management
Applied Session: Week 3 & Week 4
Submit: 16.30 Friday 9 September 2022 (single document combining all deliverables & personal reflection)
You need to scope the project for which you are responsible in the context of the group portfolio. Make full
use of the policies available to you in the description of each above, and any other relevant policies,
procedures, plans and strategies available on the Monash University website.
1. Develop a scope statement for your project; this should include:
a. a description of your project’s deliverables
b. at least 4 of the most significant requirements/characteristics, including their source (e.g. identified
by the customer, project manager, business objectives etc)
c. at least 2 of the most significant quality requirements and 2 of the most significant potential risks
for the project.
2. Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) up to Level 3 or Level 4 (as appropriate) in list format.
a. The WBS should be consistent with the project charter and scope statement.
b. A draft of the list should be presented to tutors during Week 4 Applied Session for informal
feedback. After the first round of feedback you should use ProjectLibre or MS Project to develop a
Gantt chart and assign preliminary dependencies and sequences (project time management).
Deliverable 2: structure & requirements:
Deliverable 2 Task Criteria Weight
Project scope
management
Task 2 For the project for which you are responsible for, develop a
project scope statement (<400 words) that describes the project’s
deliverables, characteristics/requirements and risks.
10%
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DELIVERABLE 3: Project Schedule Management
Applied Session: Week 4
Based on your schedule and cost goals, you should now focus on the schedule management of your
individual project. Keep in mind the overall schedule of the portfolio (based on team discussion and
information sharing) and the part your project plays.
1. Identify at least 5 milestones for your project with justification for their timing and precedence. Use the
SMART criteria for justification and be sure that they reflect customer needs and sponsor guidelines.
1. Make duration estimations of the tasks identified in the WBS (Deliverable 2, task 2). Update the WBS
created and Gantt chart in ProjectLibre or MS Project to include these duration estimates.
2. Further develop the dependencies and sequences of the tasks in your project plan and the WBS created
and Gantt chart in ProjectLibre or MS Project to reflect these developments.
3. Add the milestones in the correct presentation (note: milestones do not have durations), make sure
milestones have relevant dependencies.
4. Create a presentable network diagram for the ‘design phase’ of the project that is:
a. Use a diagramming tool such as Visio, Lucidcharts etc. Do not use the functions in ProjectLibre or
MS Project for this task.
b. clearly labelled (using the legend recommended)
c. Includes correct calculations for early/late start/finish and free floats as well as total floats
d. clearly indicates the critical path.
Deliverable 3: structure & requirements:
Running case 3 Task Criteria Weight
Project schedule
management
Task 3.1 Write a description (<400 words) of your 5 milestones
using the SMART criteria. You can create this as a table if
you like.
10%
Task 3.2 Develop a project schedule management summary that includes:
● a ProjectLibre or MS Project produced Gantt chart that
accurately depicts the task dependencies, correct task
durations and milestones. (Schedule goal is 3 months)
● a clear and concise summary (<400 words) of your rationale
for the task duration estimates, dependencies and any other
assumptions made.
10%
Task 3.3 A presentable network diagram for the ‘design phase’ of the project,
that:
● Is designed using a suitable diagramming tool
● is clearly labelled (that includes use of a legend)
● has correct calculations of early/late start/finish and free
floats as well as total floats
● clearly indicates the critical path
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DELIVERABLE 4: Project Cost Management
Applied Session: Week 5
Refine the existing cost estimate for the project so that you can have a solid cost baseline for evaluating the
project. Prepare and print a one-page cost model for the project:
1. Use the WBS developed for the previous deliverables.
2. Use the hourly rates from contractors you have identified on Upwork.
3. Contingency reserves will be estimated at 20% of the total estimate.
4. The total estimate should be below the budget agreed on with your team for Deliverable 1 and the total
cost of the four projects should be less than the total project portfolio budget.
Note: supporting materials are provided in the unit content on Moodle
Deliverable 4: structure & requirements:
Deliverable 4 Task Criteria Weight
Project cost
management
Task 4.1 A good and reasonable one-page cost model for the project. 10%
Task 4.2 A summary of the main assumptions that underpin cost model and a
brief justification of each (<400 words)
10%
TEAM EVALUATION & CRITIQUE: REFLECTIVE REPORT
You and your team should continuously reflect on your performance as a team throughout the project.
Reflective practice is an important capability for all professionals, as it allows them to develop better
communication skills, conflict resolution skills, and enhance their future performance. The final task of this
assignment requires you to critically reflect upon the work you have done as a team (and an individual). Note
that high quality reflections are not a description of what happened, but rather an insightful articulation of
how you have evaluated what had happened, and how improvement can be made wherever possible. Topics
you should address include:
1. Decision making: how decisions were made and how this contributed positively or negatively to the
success of the consultancy contract.
2. Conflict resolution: What challenges you faced (e.g. conflicts, disagreements etc.) and how you supported
each other to overcome and resolve these issues (or not).
3. Feedback: What feedback have you given and received from your team members, and how this feedback
helped (or did not help) others or you.