PMGT5887 Computer Applications

How PMGT5887 is assessed

These seven rows are the official Semester 2, 2026 assessment structure and the numeric weights total 100%. The published baseline outside the weighted table is participation in 85% of timetabled activities. Failure to meet minimum attendance requirements may result in a fail grade. The unit introduction allows coordinators to set additional assessment items with a different attendance requirement; a numeric threshold for that additional requirement is not published in the landed text. Confirm the current process and operational submission details on Canvas.

What PMGT5887 covers

The chapters follow the eleven workshop topics. Weeks 1 and 2 revise project foundations and the life cycles that decide which software fits. Weeks 3 to 5 run agile work in Jira and Trello: Scrum roles, events and artifacts, user stories, story points, sprints, releases and reports, then Kanban boards and WIP limits.

Weeks 6 and 7 move to Microsoft Project for the work breakdown structure, task dependencies, critical path analysis, resources and costs. Weeks 8 to 11 cover Power BI reporting, automation and generative AI, risk management and collaboration on Miro whiteboards.

The captured unit introduction describes a computer-aided approach in which project principles are developed through realistic cases and practical exercises. Teaching is organised around preparation before a workshop, active work during the session and practice afterwards. The early chapters establish project foundations and life cycles before moving into agile delivery.

You learn Scrum in Jira through accountabilities, events, artifacts, user stories, epics, sprints, releases, velocity and burndown evidence. Kanban work in Jira and Trello adds continuous flow, explicit policies, WIP limits, lead time, cycle time and bottleneck diagnosis. The middle of the unit turns to predictive planning in Microsoft Project.

You decompose scope with a work breakdown structure, link activities, run forward and backward passes, identify the critical path, assign resources and costs, resolve overallocation, save a baseline and track progress against it. Later topics use Power BI to communicate project evidence, distinguish automation from generative AI, build and monitor risk registers, and organise collaboration through team charters and Miro.

For Semester 2, 2026, the official assessment structure includes a zero-weight early charter, a 20% Agile plan, a 25% in-semester test, a 15% Microsoft Project plan, a 15% AI project decision report, a 15% group presentation and 10% participation and engagement. The numeric weights total 100%. The test has 50 minutes of working time plus 10 minutes of reading and uses selected-response or short-answer questions.

Separately, the published baseline is participation in 85% of timetabled activities. Failure to meet minimum attendance requirements may result in a fail grade. The unit introduction also allows coordinators to set additional assessment items with a different attendance requirement; a numeric threshold for that additional requirement is not published in the landed text. Confirm the current process on Canvas.

Worked example · free

Finding the critical path of an office fit-out

Key terms

Work Breakdown Structure

A tree that breaks a project's entire scope into deliverables and then work packages, used to plan, estimate and control the work.

Critical Path

The longest chain of linked activities through a network; it sets the project duration, and its activities have zero slack.

Total Slack

The time an activity can slip without delaying the project finish, found as latest start minus earliest start.

User Story

A short statement of a product need from one type of user, written as role, goal and benefit, with acceptance criteria.

Product Backlog

The ordered list of everything the product might need, and the single source of work for a Scrum team.

Sprint

A fixed-length Scrum cycle in which the team turns selected backlog items into a usable increment.

WIP Limit

A cap on the number of cards allowed in a Kanban column at once, used to keep work flowing.

Velocity

The total story points of features a team completes in one iteration, used to forecast future capacity.

Risk Register

The central record of a project's identified risks, with likelihood, impact, rating, owner, response and status.

Baseline

A saved copy of the approved plan in Microsoft Project, against which actual progress and cost are compared.

Lead Time

The elapsed time from a request entering the delivery system until the completed item is released to the customer.

Cycle Time

The elapsed time from active work starting on an item until that item is finished, used to assess flow within the process.

PMGT5887 FAQ

Questions students ask in each PMGT5887 chapter

What is the difference between a process group and a knowledge area?

A process group says when work happens in the life of a project, such as planning or closing. A knowledge area says what is being managed, such as cost or risk, and runs through every process group. Chapter 01 · Project Foundations, the PMO and the Talent Triangle

What is the difference between iterative and incremental delivery?

Iterative delivery repeats cycles to improve the same solution until it is right, like redrafting one essay. Incremental delivery adds new usable pieces one after another, each released as soon as it is finished. Chapter 02 · Life Cycles, Agile Thinking and Choosing PM Software

What are the three pillars of Scrum?

Transparency, inspection and adaptation. Work and progress must be visible so they can be inspected, and the team adapts its plan or product based on what inspection reveals. Chapter 03 · Scrum Roles, Events, Artifacts and User Stories

Why do agile teams estimate in points rather than hours?

Points describe how hard an item is relative to others, which people judge more reliably than exact hours. The scale's widening gaps also stop teams pretending to precision on large, uncertain items. Chapter 04 · Story Points, Sprints, Releases and Jira Reports

What does a WIP limit actually do?

It caps how many items a column can hold, so the team finishes work before starting more. That cuts context switching, makes bottlenecks visible quickly and improves delivery. Chapter 05 · Kanban Flow, WIP Limits and Trello Boards

Why does the WBS include project management work?

Because of the 100% rule: the WBS must capture all the work in the scope, and planning, reporting and coordinating are work the project has to do and pay for. Chapter 06 · Microsoft Project Setup and the Work Breakdown Structure

Which dependency type does the Link Tasks button create?

Finish-to-start: the next task waits for the previous one to end, and it is the relationship the homework creates by selecting tasks and clicking Link Tasks. The other three types describe overlapping or hand-over relationships. Chapter 07 · Task Dependencies, Leads, Lags and the Critical Path

What is the difference between a fixed cost and a cost resource?

A fixed cost belongs to a task, or to the project summary task for overheads. A cost resource is created on the Resource Sheet and assigned like a resource, and any number of them can be applied to one task. Chapter 08 · Resources, Costs, Levelling and Progress Tracking

What makes a project report good?

Clear visuals and structure, KPIs and metrics that matter to the reader, and insights that lead to action. A report that records progress but asks for no decision misses its purpose. Chapter 09 · Project Reports, Business Intelligence and Power BI

Is a Jira automation rule a form of AI?

No. A rule that acts when a trigger fires, such as notifying the team when a card moves, is rules-based automation. AI predicts, recommends or generates content rather than following a fixed rule. Chapter 10 · Automation and Generative AI in Project Management

How is a risk score calculated on a 5x5 matrix?

Multiply the likelihood rating by the impact rating, each from 1 to 5. On the unit's heat map, 1 to 3 is minor, 4 to 9 moderate, 10 to 16 major and 20 to 25 severe. Chapter 11 · Project Risk Cards, Registers and Response Plans

What should a team charter include?

The Week 1 slides list ten parts: team values, goals and objectives, roles, group norms, communication guidelines, decision-making criteria and process, a conflict resolution process, meeting guidelines, team agreements and ground rules. Chapter 12 · Team Charters, Collaboration and Miro Whiteboards

How to prepare for the assessments

Revise in the three blocks the teaching sequence uses. For the agile weeks, build one comparison card for Scrum and Kanban and one vocabulary card for Jira and Trello, then test yourself until you can define every term in a line and apply it to a new project.

For the Microsoft Project weeks, practise networks by hand: draw six to eight activities, run the forward and backward pass, and check slack before looking at software output. Rebuild the same plan in Microsoft Project and explain any difference. For the later weeks, learn the audience and decision behind each report, the parts of a controlled prompt, the fields of a risk register and the role of the team charter.

Use short selected-response and short-answer drills before the Week 8 test, but do not assume a permitted-material rule that the official entry does not state. For practical submissions, check the live brief, reconcile every number, test the exported file and make ownership visible. When a distinction will not stick, ask Sia to quiz you with a fresh scenario, then verify the answer against the unit terminology.

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