MGMT7020 Technology and Project Management
The Complete Exam Bible · S2 2026MGMT7020 Overview
- Postgraduate course
- 6 units
- Semester 2 2026
- In person
- Research School of Management
Two modules, one question
Technology and Project Management is a postgraduate course in the Research School of Management. The class summary describes it as an introduction to the principles and management of projects and information technology in a business context, taught in two sequential modules.
- Assessed by Nine weekly closed-book quizzes, two topic videos and two recorded ten-minute conversations, every task a hurdle.
- Hardest step Defending your own video in conversation while also answering on the rest of the module.
- How to prepare Learn each week's frameworks well enough to apply them to a new case, then rehearse aloud.
What you get in the full MGMT7020 Exam Bible
- 14 chapters, 58 pages — every examinable topic, week by week
- 37 original practice questions, each with a model answer in the Project Management Topic Conversation format
- 14 worked examples, solved the way MGMT7020 marks
- 22 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
- Exam-morning plan for the Project Management Topic Conversation (25%) — what to revise last, where marks are lost
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full exam bible.
How MGMT7020 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| In-Class Quizzes · hurdle | 20% | Nine closed-book Canvas quizzes held in seminars in weeks 2 to 5 and 7 to 11; the top 8 results count, equally weighted |
| Project Management Topic Video · hurdle | 15% | Individual video of up to 5 minutes taking a position on an assigned project management statement; due 26 August 2026 |
| Project Management Topic Conversation · hurdle | 25% | Ten-minute recorded conversation with an assessor in Week 6 on the module and on your video |
| Information Technology Topic Video · hurdle | 15% | Individual video of up to 5 minutes on an assigned information technology topic; due 28 October 2026 |
| Information Technology Topic Conversation · hurdle | 25% | Ten-minute recorded conversation held as an exam in the examination period, on the module and on your video |
The five tasks in the Semester 2 2026 class summary total 100%. Every task is a hurdle: at least one quiz and every other task must be attempted and submitted to be eligible to pass. Late submissions are not accepted. The project management video brief allows 5 minutes 10 seconds, with the reference list in the final 10 seconds, while the class summary states 5 minutes, so follow the current brief on Canvas.
What other students are asking about MGMT7020
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for MGMT7020 at ANU?
- The MGMT7020 study guide in AskSia Library covers Technology and Project Management in 14 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in MGMT7020?
- No final exam is listed in the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from; MGMT7020 is assessed by In-Class Quizzes 20%, Project Management Topic Video 15%, Project Management Topic Conversation 25%, Information Technology Topic Video 15%, Information Technology Topic Conversation 25%.
- What does MGMT7020 cover on project lifecycle and governance roles?
- In AskSia Library's MGMT7020 guide, the Project Lifecycle and Governance Roles chapter explains initiation, planning, execution and benefits realisation, the ten core roles, funding and performing entities.
- What does MGMT7020 cover on stakeholders, owners and the project network?
- In AskSia Library's MGMT7020 guide, the Stakeholders, Owners and the Project Network chapter explains power and interest mapping, strong owner capabilities, actor networks and enrolling stakeholders.
- What does MGMT7020 cover on initiation, prioritisation and project risk?
- In AskSia Library's MGMT7020 guide, the Initiation, Prioritisation and Project Risk chapter explains prioritised goals, probability and impact matrices, risk registers and uncertainty management.
Current MGMT7020 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 26 August 2026 | Project Management Topic Video due | Wednesday of Week 5, 23:59, via Canvas |
| Week 6 | Project Management Topic Conversation | Held at a set time in place of the seminar |
| 28 October 2026 | Information Technology Topic Video due | Wednesday of Week 12, 23:59, via Canvas |
| Examination period | Information Technology Topic Conversation | Scheduled as an exam |
Dates are as published in the Semester 2 2026 class summary. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What MGMT7020 covers
Fourteen chapters follow the Semester 2 2026 schedule: six weeks of project management, then five weeks of technology, each tied to the weekly quiz it prepares you for.
Academic Evidence and AI Prompting
Building a reference list from a wide search, screening articles, summary tables and prompting generative AIWhy research skill comes first
Week 1 opens with research skill because both topic videos are judged on how well you ground a position in good-quality academic literature.
- Narrowing a search from forty articles to a final reference set
- Screening an article by abstract, introduction and findings
- Keeping a summary table of purpose, method and findings
- Following reference lists to find more research
- Role, constraint and chain-of-thought prompting
- Checking AI output for gaps and hallucination
Project Lifecycle and Governance Roles
Initiation, planning, execution and benefits realisation, the ten core roles, funding and performing entitiesA lifecycle with four stages
This chapter follows Zwikael and Meredith's lifecycle of initiation, planning, execution and benefits realisation, each with two key processes.
- Initiation, planning, execution and benefits realisation
- The eight key processes of a project
- Funding entity and performing entity
- The ten core project roles and their criteria
- Sponsor, champion and owner confusion
- Principal and agent in project governance
Stakeholders, Owners and the Project Network
Power and interest mapping, strong owner capabilities, actor networks and enrolling stakeholdersWho can shape a project
This chapter follows a ferry ticketing case through stakeholder mapping on a power and interest grid, the exercise the Week 2 seminar runs on a real infrastructure project.
Networks and owners
It then reads two course articles.
- Power and interest stakeholder mapping
- Engagement choices for each quadrant
- Actor-network theory and project managers
- Four moments of translation
- Obligatory passage points
- Strong owner capabilities in three groups
Initiation, Prioritisation and Project Risk
Prioritised goals, probability and impact matrices, risk registers and uncertainty managementPriorities before risks
A risk only matters in relation to what the project is trying to achieve, so this chapter starts with prioritised goals agreed at initiation, then works through the identify, analyse and register cycle used in the Week 3 seminar.
From risk to uncertainty
It shows how to write usable register entries, plots four risks on a probability and impact grid, and then sets out Ward and Chapman's argument for uncertainty management, including their five areas of uncertainty and six Ws.
What a strong answer shows
A strong answer on risk does more than list threats.
- Prioritised goals at initiation
- Identify, analyse and register
- Writing a usable risk entry
- Avoidance, transference, mitigation and acceptance
- Probability and impact matrices
- Five areas of uncertainty
Change Management and Changing Plans
Goal changes versus plan changes, planning quality and what a study of 448 projects foundWhat the evidence says about change
Dvir and Lechler studied 448 projects and found that the positive effect of planning quality on success is almost cancelled by goal changes and plan changes, whose combined effect on customer satisfaction outweighs it.
Managing change in practice
This chapter separates the two kinds of change, reads the study's main paths and total effects, notes its limits, and turns its recommendations into a change control habit: screen goal changes and freeze requirements as early as the technology allows.
Using the study in an argument
The study is useful in conversation because it gives numbers to an intuition.
- Goal changes and plan changes
- Planning quality and how it was measured
- Efficiency versus customer satisfaction
- Total effects from the 448-project study
- Two counter-intuitive findings
- Screening and freezing requirements
System Modelling and Rich Pictures
Use case, rich picture and ER diagrams, cognitive maps, and how to draw a readable rich pictureSix methods for capturing requirements
Siau and Wang compare three systems development diagrams, use case, rich picture and entity-relationship, with three cognitive mapping methods, concept mapping, repertory grid and causal mapping, and conclude that no single method fits every situation.
Drawing rich pictures
Berg and Pooley show how rich-picture icons carry meaning through context, emotion and artefacts, and why fair representation of every stakeholder matters.
- Information modelling in requirements management
- Use case, rich picture and ER diagrams
- Concept mapping, repertory grids and causal maps
- Stillings' five aspects of evaluation
- Strengths and weaknesses by method
- Rich picture icons and principles
Requirements, Scope, WBS and Scheduling
Scope statements, functional and non-functional requirements, work breakdown and milestone schedulesFrom goals to defined work
Week 4 turns an approved project into defined work.
- Scope statement: inclusions, exclusions, assumptions
- Functional and non-functional requirements
- Testable requirement wording
- Work breakdown structure levels
- Common breakdown errors
- Milestones and dependencies
Execution, Resourcing, Costing and Monitoring
Resource management, cost management and measuring progress against the approved planMeasuring progress honestly
Week 5 covers execution: managing people and resources, managing cost and monitoring progress.
- Planned value, earned value and actual cost
- Schedule position versus cost position
- Writing a status report
- Securing human resources
- Bottom-up budgets and contingency
- Early warnings before the numbers
Benefits, Portfolios, Programs and Review
Outputs versus benefits, the project owner, portfolio and program management, PMOs and performance reviewOutputs are not benefits
Week 6 asks what a project was for.
- Outputs, utilisation, outcomes and benefits
- Evidence on missed benefits
- The project owner's tasks by phase
- Programs and portfolios
- Project management offices
- Rogers' attributes and PMO adoption
Business Architecture and Process Management
Business architecture, business process management and enterprise architectureDescribing how the organisation fits together
Week 7 opens the technology module with business architecture, process management and enterprise architecture.
- Business architecture and capabilities
- Enterprise architecture layers
- Information infrastructure
- Business process management cycle
- As-is and to-be process maps
- Measuring process performance
Systems Development, IT Strategy and ERP
The systems development lifecycle including Agile, IT strategic planning and enterprise resource planningHow systems are built
Week 8 covers the systems development lifecycle, including Agile, IT strategic planning and enterprise resource planning.
- Phases of the systems development lifecycle
- Sequential versus Agile delivery
- Agile product owner versus project owner
- IT strategic planning steps
- ERP integration and standard processes
- Customisation and change in ERP projects
Data Governance, Information Architecture and Security
Data structures and governance, information architecture and cybersecurityProtecting information
Week 9 covers data structures and governance, information architecture and cybersecurity.
- Confidentiality, integrity and availability
- Internal and external threats
- Classifying security incidents
- Data owners, stewards and custodians
- Data quality dimensions
- Data structures and information architecture
Technology Leadership, Testing and Contracting
Leading technology teams, test management, and technology selection and contractingTesting, buying and leading
Week 10 covers technology leadership, test management, and technology selection and contracting.
- Unit, integration, system and acceptance testing
- The V-model
- Test plans and exit criteria
- Technology selection steps
- Fixed price versus time and materials
- Relational capability with suppliers
Disruptive Technology, Virtualisation and Ethics
Disruptive technologies, virtualisation and the ethics of technology decisionsTechnology futures
The final teaching week covers disruptive technologies, virtualisation and ethics.
- Sustaining and disruptive innovation
- Why incumbents miss disruption
- Hypervisors and virtual machines
- Cloud computing management questions
- Stakeholder-based ethical analysis
- Questions before deploying AI
Weeks 1 to 6 cover project management: the lifecycle and governance roles, stakeholders, initiation and risk, change, system modelling, requirements and scope, execution, and outcomes.
Weeks 7 to 11 turn to technology: business and enterprise architecture, systems development and Agile, IT strategic planning and ERP, data and cybersecurity, technology leadership, testing and contracting, and disruptive technology, virtualisation and ethics. Week 12 reviews both.
How the course is taught
Each week pairs about an hour of pre-recorded lecture and set readings with a two-hour interactive seminar.
The seminar activities in the project management weeks follow one public infrastructure project from stakeholder mapping through governance, risk, rich pictures, requirements and a work breakdown structure, with generative AI used as a brainstorming partner whose output is checked, not trusted.
What the readings ask of you
The readings are journal articles rather than a textbook: Zwikael and Meredith on the ten core project roles, Ward and Chapman on uncertainty management, Dvir and Lechler on changing plans, Winch and Leiringer on strong owners, Blackburn on the project manager's network, Siau and Wang on modelling methods, and Berg and Pooley on rich pictures.
The learning outcomes stress judging the quality of evidence and choosing a defensible course of action, so this guide treats each reading as an argument you may be asked to apply or challenge, and every chapter ends with practice that makes you do so.
Worked example · free
Rate four early risks on a probability and impact matrix
- 2Score each risk as probability times impact on a 1 to 5 scale: R1 is 4 x 4 = 16, R2 is 3 x 3 = 9, R3 is 2 x 4 = 8, R4 is 3 x 2 = 6.
- 2Rank by score: R1 first, then R2, R3 and R4. R3 scores lower than R2 but has the higher impact, so flag it for a contingency plan rather than ignoring it.
- 2Respond to the top two: audit and cleanse the legacy records before migration for R1; run builder training and a phased switch-off of paper forms for R2. Record owners and review dates in the register.
Key terms
- Project Owner
- A senior manager in the funding organisation who is accountable to the funder for realising the approved business case.
- Funding Entity
- The organisation that invests in a project to obtain benefits and approves its business case.
- Performing Entity
- The organisation, internal unit or contractor, whose staff do the work of producing the project outputs.
- Business Case
- The approved justification for a project, setting out its objectives, costs, duration, risks and target benefits.
- Benefits Realisation
- The stage in which outputs are put into routine use and monitored until the target benefits flow.
- RACI Matrix
- A table recording who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed for each project activity.
- Power Interest Grid
- A two-axis map that groups stakeholders by their power over a project and their interest in it.
- Uncertainty Management
- An approach to project risk that covers threats, opportunities and every source of significant uncertainty.
- Rich Picture
- A cartoon-like drawing that shows the people, structures, processes and tensions in a messy situation.
- Work Breakdown Structure
- A hierarchy that decomposes a project into deliverables and work packages.
- Non-Functional Requirement
- A statement of how well a system must perform, such as its capacity, speed or reliability.
- Enterprise Architecture
- A blueprint that aligns an organisation's business processes, information, applications and technology.
- Systems Development Lifecycle
- The sequence of phases through which an information system is planned, built, tested, deployed and maintained.
MGMT7020 FAQ
How is the grade split between the quizzes, videos and conversations?
The class summary weights the in-class quizzes at 20%, the two topic videos at 15% each and the two topic conversations at 25% each. Half the grade therefore depends on speaking: the conversations are worth 50% between them, and each one also tests the video you made for that module.
What happens if I miss one of the assessment tasks?
Every task is a hurdle. You must attempt and submit at least one quiz and every other task to be eligible to pass, and the strategies page warns that missing an assessment leads to a PX grade whatever your other marks. Late submissions are not accepted, so contact the convenor before a deadline if circumstances intervene.
Can I miss a weekly quiz without losing marks?
Yes, one. Nine quizzes run in weeks 2 to 5 and 7 to 11, and only the top eight results count, equally weighted. Your seminar attendance must be recorded before you can sit that week's quiz; a quiz completed without attendance is set to zero.
What is the information technology conversation actually like?
It is a ten-minute recorded conversation with a course assessor, organised as an exam during the examination period. It covers the topics in the information technology module and then the specific topics in your own video. Nothing beyond ten minutes is considered, so short, structured answers score better than long ones.
Are AI tools allowed in this course?
It depends on the task. Quizzes are closed book and AI use there is investigated as a possible integrity breach. For the videos you may use AI, but you must cite the tools and explain in an appendix how you used them, and the video must show your own face and voice.
Who should be accountable for project benefits, the project manager or someone else?
The course readings argue for a project owner, a senior executive on the funding side who answers to the funder for realising the business case. Project managers are appointed late, are transient and focus on outputs, so they answer for delivering the plan rather than for benefits.
Is this course hard for students without an IT background?
The concepts are managerial rather than technical, and there is no programming or calculation. The demand is breadth and speed: a different topic each week, a quiz on it in the seminar, and two conversations in which you must apply the ideas on the spot rather than recite them.
Questions students ask in each MGMT7020 chapter
- How many references should a topic video use?
- The Week 1 seminar suggests ending with roughly ten to fifteen good-quality references, drawn from a wider reading of twenty to twenty-five articles. Treat this as proportion, not a quota: quality and relevance to your statement matter more than reaching a number. Chapter 01 · Academic Evidence and AI Prompting
- What are the four stages of a project in this course?
- Initiation, planning, execution and benefits realisation. Each stage has two key processes, from developing and approving the business case to output utilisation and project closeout, and the last stage exists because unused outputs produce no benefits. Chapter 02 · Project Lifecycle and Governance Roles
- How many stakeholders should a stakeholder map include?
- The Week 2 seminar asks teams to identify eight to twelve stakeholders for an infrastructure project before mapping them. The number matters less than covering every group that could affect the project or be affected by it, including groups without a formal voice. Chapter 03 · Stakeholders, Owners and the Project Network
- What are the three steps of risk management in the Week 3 seminar?
- Identify the risks to your project, analyse them by considering probability and impact, and register them with a planned response. The register is reviewed as the project moves, because uncertainty changes shape from conception to delivery. Chapter 04 · Initiation, Prioritisation and Project Risk
- What did Dvir and Lechler find about planning?
- Good planning improves success, but its positive total effect on customer satisfaction, +0.39, is outweighed by the combined effect of goal and plan changes, -0.48. The amount of change best separated successful from failed projects. Chapter 05 · Change Management and Changing Plans
- Which modelling method is best?
- Siau and Wang conclude none is best for every situation. Each has strengths and weaknesses, so the choice depends on what the audience needs to see, and practitioners should combine methods where possible. Chapter 06 · System Modelling and Rich Pictures
- What is the difference between functional and non-functional requirements?
- Functional requirements describe how the system works, what it does for users. Non-functional requirements describe how it performs, such as capacity, speed, reliability or accessibility. Both should be testable. Chapter 07 · Requirements, Scope, WBS and Scheduling
- Why is spending against budget not enough to judge progress?
- Spending shows how much money has gone, not how much work is done. A project can spend on plan while completing far less work than planned, which only earned value reveals. Chapter 08 · Execution, Resourcing, Costing and Monitoring
- Can a project be on time and on budget and still fail?
- Yes. On time and on budget measures the outputs. If the outputs are not used, the benefits in the business case never arrive, which the readings describe as a common outcome for systems and infrastructure projects. Chapter 09 · Benefits, Portfolios, Programs and Review
- How is business architecture different from enterprise architecture?
- Business architecture describes capabilities, processes and structure without reference to technology. Enterprise architecture extends that description down through information, applications and technology so each system can be traced to the capability it supports. Chapter 10 · Business Architecture and Process Management
- When is a sequential lifecycle better than Agile?
- When requirements are stable, well understood and expensive to change late, such as a fixed regulatory format. Agile suits work where users cannot fully state their needs until they see something working. Chapter 11 · Systems Development, IT Strategy and ERP
- What are confidentiality, integrity and availability?
- They are the three properties security protects. Confidentiality keeps information from unauthorised eyes, integrity keeps it accurate and properly changed, and availability keeps it usable when needed. Controls often trade one against another. Chapter 12 · Data Governance, Information Architecture and Security
- What is the V-model in testing?
- It pairs each design level with the test that checks it: unit tests with components, integration tests with detailed design, system tests with system design and acceptance tests with requirements. Tests are planned when the matching design is written. Chapter 13 · Technology Leadership, Testing and Contracting
- What makes a technology disruptive rather than just new?
- In the standard account, it starts by serving overlooked or low-end customers with something cheaper or simpler, which incumbents rationally ignore, then improves until it takes the mainstream market. Chapter 14 · Disruptive Technology, Virtualisation and Ethics
How to study for the exam
Work week by week, because the quizzes do. Before each seminar, watch the lecture and read the set articles with one question in mind: what does this author claim, and what would I say if asked to apply it to a new case? Write a one-line summary of each reading in your own words and keep the table, because it doubles as your evidence base for the topic videos.
After each seminar, redo the activity on a project you know, such as a system change at work. For the two conversations, rehearse aloud: a ten-minute conversation rewards a clear position, one framework named and applied, one piece of evidence and a stated limitation. Practise answering why and what would change your mind about your own video, since the assessor will ask.
In the final week, pair chapters across the two modules, for example ERP with benefits realisation, or cybersecurity with risk, so you can link ideas when a question crosses the boundary.
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