SKIL90004 Project Management in Science
The Complete Exam Bible · S2 2026SKIL90004 Overview
- University of Melbourne
- Semester 2 2026
- Postgraduate subject
- Four assessment tasks
SKIL90004 Project Management in Science applies project management to scientific work where technical uncertainty, shared resources and diverse stakeholders must be coordinated.
- Assessed by Charter, digital plan, oral presentation and final exam
- Quantitative core Networks, float and earned value
- Control habit Evidence, consequence, action and approval
- Exam details Check current University and LMS instructions
How SKIL90004 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| AT1. Group project charter | 10% | Group project charter; due 5 pm on 14 August 2026 in the captured Semester 2 timetable |
| AT2. MS Project plan | 20% | Individual MS Project file with at least 25 tasks; due 5 pm on 11 September 2026 |
| AT3. Group oral presentation and Q&A (in person) | 20% | Group oral presentation and questions in person; Canvas due 8 am on 12 October 2026 |
| AT4. Final exam | 50% | Final examination in the examination period; captured timetable lists the date and time as TBA |
Current SKIL90004 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 14 August 2026 at 5 pm | AT1. Group project charter | Group task worth 10%. |
| 11 September 2026 at 5 pm | AT2. MS Project plan | Individual task worth 20%. |
| 12 October 2026 at 8 am | AT3. Group oral presentation and Q&A (in person) | Canvas due time for the group task worth 20%. |
| Examination period | AT4. Final exam | Worth 50%; date and time are TBA in the captured timetable. |
Dates are as published in the Semester 2 2026 subject timetable and Canvas syllabus. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What SKIL90004 covers
Follow a scientific project from charter and scope through scheduling, performance, risk, quality, change and close.
Project Foundations and Charters
Purpose, life cycles, charter boundaries, deliverables and acceptance evidenceA scientific project needs a temporary purpose, an authorised boundary and inspectable evidence of success.
- Projects and operations
- Life-cycle decisions
- Charter purpose and authority
- Scope inclusions and exclusions
- Deliverables and acceptance
- Assumptions, constraints and risks
Scope, Priorities and Stakeholders
Trade-offs, scope control, influence, information needs and engagement actionsScope control depends on priorities and decision ownership.
- Project priority trade-offs
- Scope boundary control
- Change impact analysis
- Stakeholder influence and interest
- Information needs
- Engagement and escalation
Networks and Critical Paths
Work breakdown, precedence, path duration, merges, float and schedule recoveryA credible schedule comes from work decomposition, durations and real dependencies. This chapter builds precedence networks, compares complete paths, respects merge points and identifies the critical path that controls the earliest finish.
- Work breakdown structures
- Activity decomposition
- Precedence relationships
- Forward path calculation
- Critical path
- Total float
Budgets, Resources and Earned Value
Planned value, earned value, actual cost, variances, indices and capacityEarned value separates the budgeted value of planned work, the budgeted value of completed work and actual cost at one status date.
- Budget baselines
- Planned value
- Earned value
- Actual cost
- Schedule variance and index
- Cost variance and index
Digital Scheduling Tools
Task structure, dependencies, resources, baselines, status and output checksDigital tools organise tasks, dependencies, milestones, resources, baselines and status, but their outputs remain only as reliable as their inputs.
- Tool selection
- Project calendars
- Task hierarchies
- Dependency entry
- Resource assignment
- Baseline control
Risk Analysis and Response
Risk statements, qualitative assessment, responses, ownership and triggersRisk management turns uncertainty into an owned and reviewable control.
- Risk statements
- Identification techniques
- Likelihood and consequence
- Qualitative matrices
- Inherent and residual exposure
- Response strategies
Execution, Monitoring and Control
Baselines, performance evidence, exception reporting, decisions and rolesExecution produces deliverables, monitoring gathers actual evidence and control compares that evidence with the authorised plan. This chapter builds exception reports from condition, cause, consequence, options and decision authority.
- Execution coordination
- Monitoring evidence
- Baseline comparison
- Exception reporting
- Corrective action
- Change control
Quality Planning and Root Cause Analysis
Requirements, assurance, control, containment, causes and effectivenessQuality planning defines requirements and verification, assurance examines the process and control checks results. This chapter connects those layers with containment, correction, root-cause testing, corrective action and effectiveness review.
- Quality requirements
- Acceptance evidence
- Quality assurance
- Quality control
- Nonconformance containment
- Cause-and-effect analysis
Change, Leadership and Project Close
Adoption, leadership, conflict, acceptance, transition and project learningTechnical delivery does not guarantee organisational adoption. This chapter diagnoses resistance as information, matches leadership behaviour to urgency and team capability, and plans understanding, involvement, enablement and reinforcement.
- Project and organisational change
- Adoption barriers
- Stakeholder involvement
- Leadership behaviours
- Task and process conflict
- Deliverable acceptance
The Semester 2 2026 subject map begins with project purpose, life cycles and charters, then develops scope, stakeholder, schedule, budget and resource decisions. Later workshops add digital scheduling tools, earned value, risk analysis, execution control, quality management, root cause analysis, organisational change and leadership.
The useful thread is evidence. A charter makes purpose and boundaries inspectable.
A precedence network shows which dependencies control the finish. Earned value separates planned work, completed work and actual cost. A risk register links uncertainty to ownership, triggers and responses. Quality tools distinguish immediate correction from action on a verified cause. Change planning connects technical delivery with adoption.
Each method matters because it supports a decision, not because it produces a document.
The published assessment has four components: a group project charter worth 10%, an individual MS Project plan worth 20%, a group oral presentation and questions worth 20%, and a final exam worth 50%.
The captured timetable places the final in the examination period but does not specify duration, question structure, permitted materials or a component hurdle. Check the current University and LMS instructions for those operational details. This guide therefore focuses on sourced concepts, original calculations and decision practice without inventing an exam format.
Worked example · free
Read schedule and cost performance from earned value
- 1SV = EV - PV = 96,000 - 120,000 = -$24,000, so earned progress is behind the planned work position.
- 1CV = EV - AC = 96,000 - 108,000 = -$12,000, so completed work has cost more than its budgeted value.
- 1SPI = EV / PV = 96,000 / 120,000 = 0.80, below one for schedule performance.
- 1CPI = EV / AC = 96,000 / 108,000 = 0.89 after rounding, below one for cost efficiency.
Key terms
- Project charter
- A project charter authorises the work and records its purpose, boundaries, deliverables, stakeholders, resources, risks and success evidence.
- Scope creep
- Scope creep is uncontrolled expansion of committed work without an explicit assessment and approval decision.
- Critical path
- The critical path is the longest valid path through the current network and controls the earliest project finish.
- Total float
- Total float is the scheduling flexibility available before an activity or path changes the project finish under the current logic.
- Planned value
- Planned value is the authorised budgeted value of work that should be complete by the status date.
- Earned value
- Earned value is the authorised budgeted value of work actually completed by the status date.
- Actual cost
- Actual cost is the cost incurred for the work performed by the status date.
- Risk trigger
- A risk trigger is an observable condition that prompts monitoring, escalation or a planned contingency action.
- Residual risk
- Residual risk is the exposure expected to remain after the selected response operates.
- Quality assurance
- Quality assurance examines whether project processes are capable and are being followed as intended.
- Corrective action
- Corrective action addresses a verified cause so that a detected problem is less likely to recur.
- Change control
- Change control assesses a proposed alteration, records its effects and routes it to the person with approval authority.
SKIL90004 FAQ
How is Project Management in Science assessed?
The Semester 2 2026 structure contains a group project charter worth 10%, an individual MS Project plan worth 20%, a group oral presentation and questions worth 20%, and a final exam worth 50%. The four published weights total 100%.
What is known about the final exam?
The captured timetable identifies AT4 as a final exam worth 50% and places it in the examination period. It does not give duration, sections, question types or permitted materials, so use the current University and LMS instructions for those operational details.
Does the final exam have a hurdle?
The captured assessment table does not establish a component hurdle. That is not proof of a permanent rule. Check the current LMS assessment page and official subject information before relying on any hurdle requirement for this offering.
Is the subject mathematically difficult?
The materials require real quantitative reasoning through precedence networks, path duration, float, resource loading and earned value. The arithmetic is manageable, but the demanding step is interpreting what a result means for scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk and stakeholder decisions.
Which project management methods should I practise?
Practise charter boundaries, priority and stakeholder analysis, work breakdown and network logic, critical path and float, PV EV AC calculations, risk statements and responses, exception reporting, quality planning, root cause analysis, adoption planning and accountable close-out.
Are past papers included in the captured materials?
No past exam, practice final, sample paper, exam solution or exam marking rubric appears in the captured folder. The questions in this guide are original and use only the concept and task patterns supported by the available workshops.
Is this an official University of Melbourne guide?
No. This is an independent AskSia study guide based on captured subject materials. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the University of Melbourne, and current LMS instructions control assessment operations.
Questions students ask in each SKIL90004 chapter
- What belongs in a project charter?
- Include the project purpose, background, goal, scope boundary, stakeholders, deliverables, resources, budget context, risks, mitigations and success evidence. The parts should describe the same project rather than acting as an unrelated checklist. Chapter 01 · Project Foundations and Charters
- Is every project change scope creep?
- No. A valuable change can be controlled by comparing it with the charter, analysing its effects, consulting affected stakeholders and routing it to the right authority. Scope creep is expansion without that visibility and decision. Chapter 02 · Scope, Priorities and Stakeholders
- Is the most important task always critical?
- No. Criticality is a timing property created by network logic. A visible or expensive task can have float, while a routine approval can control the finish if every controlling path passes through it. Chapter 03 · Networks and Critical Paths
- What does a negative schedule variance mean?
- SV equals EV minus PV. A negative result means the project has earned less budgeted value than planned by the status date, so progress is behind in earned-value terms. Chapter 04 · Budgets, Resources and Earned Value
- Why can a polished Gantt chart be wrong?
- The display may encode missing dependencies, unrealistic durations, impossible resource demand or arbitrary constraints. Visual polish cannot repair an invalid model, so audit the inputs and logic before interpreting the output. Chapter 05 · Digital Scheduling Tools
- How should a project risk be written?
- Use a cause-event-impact statement. Name the condition creating uncertainty, what may happen and which objective would be affected. This wording suggests evidence, ownership and possible responses. Chapter 06 · Risk Analysis and Response
- What is the difference between monitoring and control?
- Monitoring gathers evidence about current and forecast performance. Control compares that evidence with the authorised plan and decides whether corrective action, escalation or formal change is needed. Chapter 07 · Execution, Monitoring and Control
- What is the difference between assurance and control?
- Assurance examines whether the process is capable and being followed. Control checks results against requirements. Both support quality, but they ask different questions about process and output. Chapter 08 · Quality Planning and Root Cause Analysis
- Why might a technically successful project fail to create benefit?
- Users may not understand, trust or be able to apply the deliverable. Adoption needs involvement, capability, process fit, reinforcement and an operational owner beyond technical completion. Chapter 09 · Change, Leadership and Project Close
How to study for the exam
Build revision around the project control loop. First, redraw the charter boundary, stakeholder map, precedence network, earned-value relationships, risk process, quality system and change bridge from memory. Second, calculate path durations, float and PV EV AC measures with every input and unit shown.
Third, attach each result to a decision: what objective is exposed, which action changes that exposure, what trade-off follows and who has authority. Use fresh scientific scenarios so you learn the method rather than a lecturer example. Keep an error log for reversed signs, missing dependencies, vague risk events, unsupported root causes and generic communication advice.
Before the final assessment, check the current University and LMS instructions because the captured timetable confirms the 50% exam but does not publish its duration, sections, question types or permitted materials. Your last review should focus on direction words, formula order, evidence, consequence, action and approval.
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