MGTS7527 Project Management

How MGTS7527 is assessed

The four tasks in the Semester 2, 2026 assessment summary total 100%. Team membership is set by random sampling, and a peer assessment after the Team Project Plan may affect individual scores for that task. The plan brief applies a late penalty of 10% per day; extension applications are made online before the due date and are decided by the UQ Business School Examinations team. Check Learn.UQ for any change.

Current MGTS7527 dates

Dates are as published in the Semester 2, 2026 assessment summary and the Team Project Plan brief. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.

What MGTS7527 covers

Twelve chapters follow the seven seminar weeks, from what a project is through initiation, planning, scheduling, cost, risk, quality and safety to monitoring, control, closure and standards.

It follows the project life cycle, from initiation and planning through execution, monitoring and control to closure, and presents project management as both a strategic and an operational capability for cross-functional work, for example a new process, a system rollout or a redesigned supply chain.

Teaching runs as a weekly three-hour seminar that combines a lecture with an interactive workshop, with readings set before class and guest lectures from industry practitioners.

How the seven seminar weeks build

Week 1 defines a project, the Iron Triangle and the life cycle.

Week 2 places projects inside permanent organisations and their institutional context, and covers procurement, contracts, standards and professional bodies. Week 3 moves from business need to charter, requirements, scope and the work breakdown structure, then to integrated planning and RACI assignment. Week 4 covers time, cost and risk: the critical path, estimating, budgets, earned value and the risk register.

Week 5 covers quality, the pressure between time and quality, and health and safety.

Week 6 covers monitoring, control and closure, and Week 7 compares agile frameworks with the PMBOK framework.

What the assessment rewards

The Team Project Plan asks groups to act as a consultancy and produce one integrated plan, scheduled in Microsoft Project, for a case project; its rubric weights four sections equally and rewards precise, significant and well-justified choices over long definitions.

The closed-book In-Semester Exam tests the concepts, frameworks and tools of Weeks 1 to 7. The Stakeholder Presentation and the Reflection Report then turn to communication, leadership, ethics and team dynamics. This guide gives each topic its own chapter, with an original worked example and practice items, so the distinctions the course draws can be rehearsed and applied.

Worked example · free

What happens when the kitchen module slips in the food-truck network

Key terms

Triple Constraint

The balance a project keeps between time, cost and scope while still meeting its quality and value targets.

Business Value

The net quantifiable benefit a project or other business endeavour produces, tangible, intangible or both.

Stakeholder

Any person, group or organisation that can affect a project, be affected by it, or see itself as affected.

Product Scope

What the finished product, service or result will be like: its features and properties.

Project Scope

The work required to create a project's product, service or result.

Dependency

A logical relationship that sets the order in which two schedule activities can occur.

Budget at Completion

The whole approved budget that a project's performance measurement baseline adds up to.

Actual Cost

The cost actually incurred for the work completed by a status date.

Mitigation

A risk response that reduces the likelihood of a threat, its consequences, or both.

Verification

Checking a deliverable against its specifications, requirements and design to confirm it was built right.

Control Loop

The repeating cycle of comparing status with a baseline, diagnosing, forecasting and deciding on action.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix

A project tool that maps tasks against team roles so ownership of each piece of work is clear.

Professional Body

An organisation that supports a profession through membership, standards, certification and development.

MGTS7527 FAQ

Questions students ask in each MGTS7527 chapter

How does the course define a project?

It uses the Project Management Institute's 2025 definition: a temporary effort, set in a unique context, that is undertaken to create value. Temporary means it has a beginning and an end; unique context means its goals, stakeholders, approach and conditions set it apart from routine work. Chapter 01 · Projects, the Iron Triangle and the Life Cycle

Why can a project not succeed on its own?

Because it depends on the permanent organisation for staff, funding, authority and decisions, and must hand its output back to people who will run it. Projects struggle when staff are withheld, sponsors decide slowly, or the team builds something operations cannot maintain. Chapter 02 · Projects Inside the Permanent Organisation

When should procurement planning begin?

In initiation, when the team identifies whether external capability may be needed, looks at the supplier market and estimates initial costs. Detailed procurement planning follows in the planning phase, before suppliers are selected and engaged. Chapter 03 · Procurement and Project Contracts

What is the difference between a project charter and a project plan?

The charter authorises the project at a high level: why it exists, its objectives, expected value, major stakeholders, initial assumptions and constraints, and who has authority. The project management plan comes later and sets out the detailed approach to delivery. Chapter 04 · Initiation, the Project Charter and Scope

Why must scope be planned before cost and schedule?

Because resource and financial plans have to rest on the work that actually needs doing. The course's chain runs from scope to activities to resources to costs, so a missing work package always reappears later as a missing cost or a late date. Chapter 05 · Integrated Planning and Task Assignment

Does critical mean the most important activity?

No. Critical means the activity sits on the longest path, so any delay to it moves the project finish date unless recovered. An activity off the critical path can still matter a great deal for quality or safety. Chapter 06 · Schedule Logic and the Critical Path

Is the cost baseline the same as the project budget?

Not necessarily. The cost baseline includes the work estimates and contingency for identified risks; the project budget can also include management reserve held outside the baseline for unforeseen work, which is released only through governance. Chapter 07 · Cost Estimates, Budgets and Earned Value

How do I write a good risk statement?

Name the cause, the uncertain event and the impact on objectives in one sentence: because something is true, something may happen, which could affect a named objective. A label such as weather risk gives the owner nothing to monitor. Chapter 08 · Risk Statements, Responses and the Risk Register

What is the difference between verification and validation?

Verification asks whether the deliverable was built right, checking it against specifications, requirements and design. Validation asks whether the right thing was built, checking it works for the intended use, users and operating context. A deliverable can pass one and fail the other. Chapter 09 · Quality, Time Pressure and Rework

Why is health and safety part of project management rather than a separate function?

Because project decisions about schedule, sequence, staffing and suppliers create or remove hazards, and accountable leaders must make unsafe trade-offs visible. The course treats project success as including how the work was done, not only what was delivered. Chapter 10 · Health and Safety in Project Execution

Why should the baseline not simply be moved when a project slips?

Because the baseline is the approved reference for judging performance. Moving it silently makes the project look on track while hiding the variance. A new baseline needs an authorised change; the forecast is where the latest expected dates belong. Chapter 11 · Monitoring, Control and Project Closure

What is the difference between PMBOK and ISO 21500?

The PMBOK Guide is PMI's professional standard and body of knowledge, with principles, performance domains, practices and tools tied to PMI certification. The ISO 21500 family is a set of international consensus standards giving high-level concepts and guidance across countries and organisations. Chapter 12 · Standards, PMBOK and Delivery Approaches

How to prepare for the assessments

Work through the course in three passes. First, for each seminar week, write the distinctions the course draws in pairs: project and operation, assumption and constraint, product and project scope, responsibility and accountability, risk and issue, contingency and management reserve, verification and validation, corrective and preventive action.

Say each half aloud with an example; the closed-book exam rewards that kind of precise recall.

Second, take one case project, ideally the one your group plans, and run it through every chapter in order: write its charter, a first-level work breakdown structure, a RACI for five tasks, a small network with its critical path, a budget build-up with contingency and reserve, five risks in cause, event and impact form, and a closure checklist.

Checking that these pieces agree with each other is exactly what the rubric rewards. Third, before the presentation and the reflection, reread the stakeholder engagement and team material, and collect specific moments from your group work that you can explain with a course idea.

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