PJM480: Capstone Project Management Credit Hours: 3 Contact Hours: This is a 3-credit course, offered in accelerated format. This means that 16 weeks of material is covered in 8 weeks. The exact number of hours per week that you can expect to spend on each course will vary based upon the weekly coursework, as well as your study style and preferences. You should plan to spend 10-25 hours per week in each course reading material, interacting on the discussion boards, writing papers, completing projects, and doing research. Faculty Information Name: Phone: CSU-Global Email: Virtual Office Hours: Course Description and Outcomes Course Description: In this capstone course, students will complete capstone assignments that address the program outcomes for the BS in Project Management. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate what they learned throughout the project management program by applying leadership, critical-thinking, thinking, problem-solving and creativity skills to real-world situations. Students will also make use of the CSU-Global Career Center and develop a resume and career plan. Course Overview: In this capstone course, you will complete the capstone assignments that address the program outcomes for the Bachelor of Science in Project Management. There is neither a textbook nor are there additional readings beyond the lectures themselves, which orient you to each week s capstone assignment. The course begins with an exploration of resume building and career planning. In Modules 2 through 7, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate what you learned throughout the Project Management program by applying leadership, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity skills to real-world situations. In the last module of the course, you will complete a resume and career plan. Course Learning Outcomes: 1. Develop a resume and career plan. 2. Navigate the CSU-Global career center. 3. Analyze the metrics of earned value management. 4. Identify project risks and develop risk mitigating techniques. 5. Analyze project selection methods and criteria. 6. Determine the critical path for a project. 7. Develop a work break down structure for a project. 8. Analyze conflict resolution techniques in project management.
Participation & Attendance Prompt and consistent attendance in your online courses is essential for your success at CSU-Global Campus. Failure to verify your attendance within the first 7 days of this course may result in your withdrawal. If for some reason you would like to drop a course, please contact your advisor. Online classes have deadlines, assignments, and participation requirements just like on-campus classes. Budget your time carefully and keep an open line of communication with your instructor. If you are having technical problems, problems with your assignments, or other problems that are impeding your progress, let your instructor know as soon as possible. Course Materials Required Textbook: None NOTE: All required readings and materials necessary to complete assignments, discussions, and/or supplemental or required exercises are provided within the course itself. Please read through each course module carefully. Course Schedule Due Dates The Academic Week at CSU-Global begins on Monday and ends the following Sunday. Discussion Boards: The original post must be completed by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. MT and Peer Responses posted by Sunday 11:59 p.m. MT. Late posts may not be awarded points. Capstone Assignments: Assignments are due Sunday at 11:59 p.m. MT. Week # 1 Module Content 2 Module Content 3 Module Content 4 Module Content 5 Module Content 6 Module Content 7 8 Module Content Module Content Assignment Details Readings Assignments Discussion (25 points) Discussion (25 points) Discussion (25 points) CPC-based Comprehensive Exam (50 points) Discussion (25 points) Resume and Career Plan (100 points) This course includes the following assignments/projects:
Module 2 Capstone Assignment: Earned Value Management and Project Performance (125 Points) It is bonus time at Zungoo Electronics, when the CIO needs to determine which projects excelled in the previous year. As the director of PMO, your job is to help the CIO with a summary recommendation of the five projects executed, as show in the table below: Planned Value (PV) Earned Value (EV) Actual Cost (AC) Project A Project B Project C Project D Project E $10,000,000 $16,000,000 $12,000,000 $25,000,000 $20,000,000 $11,000,000 $14,000,000 $16,000,000 $21,000,000 $11,000,000 $9,000,000 $21,000,000 $11,000,000 $31,000,000 $11,000,000 Module 3 Compute the following earned value metrics for the five projects named above: Schedule Variance (SV) Cost Variance (CV) Schedule Performance Index (SPI) Cost Performance Index (CPI) Then, respond to the following: Graphically display the four earned value metrics computed above in a chart and rank the five projects in the order of performance from top to bottom. Based on the computation, answer the following questions: What do SPI and CPI demonstrate? How do you plan to use this information in your recommendation to the CIO? How are SV and CV related to one another? Why are these terms important? What are the major advantages of using earned value metrics to understand the effectiveness of project performance? What do you perceive are its disadvantages? What are the challenges associated with obtaining earned value metrics? What can you do as a Project Manager to minimize the challenges? What are your recommendations given the information above? Your responses should be integrated in a well-written paper that meets the following requirements: Be 2 to 3 pages in length plus graphical elements. Include and reference two credible sources; the CSU-Global Library is a good place to find these sources. Capstone Assignment: Project Risk Factor (125 Points) Project risk is defined simply as any possible event that may negatively affect the viability of a project and it is computed using the simple relation: Project Risk = Probability of Event * Consequences of Event
Module 4 Zungoo Electronics, the second largest manufacturer of flat screen displays in the United States, expanded its business into South America three years ago. Having experienced a roller coaster ride of large ups and down in its business, the company would like to investigate the quantitative risk for its South America operations using details in the table below: Probability of Failure Category Probability of Failure Consequences of Failure Category Process Maturity 30% Performance = 45% Technical Complexity 30% Schedule = 55% Vendor Dependency 25% Cost = 20 Workforce Availability 25% Reliability = 20% Use the table above to answer the following questions: 1. Please calculate the total risk factor for this project. Would you assess this level of risk as low, moderate (medium), or high? Why? (Hint: Total Risk Factor = P*C-(P+C), where P = Average Probability of Failure and C = Average Consequences of Failure. A common rule of thumb assigns any project with a Risk Factor below 0.30 as low risk, between 0.30 and 0.70 as medium risk, and over 0.7 as high risk.) 2. What are all the risk mitigation strategies available to Zungoo? What specific mitigation options would you recommend to the corporation? 3. In order to reduce the total risk factor by one level (e.g., high to medium or medium to low) what would be your focus among the four probabilities of failure and four consequences of failure listed? 4. If you were to prioritize your efforts, which risk factors would you address first? Why? 5. Explain the meaning of the following sentence: Reduction of risk factors is not cheap. Your responses should be integrated in a well-written paper that meets the following requirements: Be 2 to 3 pages in length plus graphical elements. Include and reference two credible sources; the CSU-Global Library is a good place to find these sources. Capstone Assignment: Project Selection (125 Points) Examine the following scenario: Judy Miller, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Zungoo Electronics, manages about a $1B worth of projects every year. One of the key challenges is to identify which projects to fund at the beginning of each year. The CIO has multiple projects in the queue for the coming year covering all aspects of all departments. Upgrades support and individual departments have placed project requests. The CIO has appointed you as the lead project manager and tasked you with creating a project prioritization system to evaluate project request against metrics and measures important to Zungoo Electronics. For your assignment, please address the following questions. Your responses should be integrated in a well-written paper. Develop a project selection and screening system with stage-gate review, including project performance criteria. What criteria will be used to prioritize projects? Please include a diagram for clarity and identify the building blocks.
Module 5 What steps and gate reviews will you include? How does your project prioritization system differ from one you might see in manufacturing? If you have decided to use either the NPV method or payback method to assess the viability of new projects, what information would you need for each of these methods? Your paper should meet the following requirements: Be 2-3 pages in length plus graphical elements. Include two credible sources. The CSU-Global Library is a good place to find these sources. Capstone Assignment: Determination of Critical Path of the Project (125 Points) Nathan Smith, the head of the marketing division of Zungoo Electronics, is planning to launch a new advertising campaign. Time estimates for campaign activities are listed in the table below. Time Estimates (Weeks) WBS Activity Optimistic (O) Most Likely (M) Pessimistic (P) Immediate Predecessor(s) 1 Create theme 1 2 3-2 Select design 2 3 4-3 Send RFP for 1 4 8 1,2 development 4 Develop printed 2 2.5 3 3 goods 5 Review finished.5 2 3 4 product 6 Select campaign 3 5 6 1 sites 7 Distribute goods to 1 2 3 6 sites 8 Select speakers 1 1.5 2 1 9 Interview speakers 1 1.5 2 8 10 Hire speakers.5.75 1 9 Using the information provided in the table, respond to the following: 1. Construct a network diagram 2. Calculate activity duration. 3. Calculate activity slack. 4. Calculate project duration 5. Identify the critical path. 6. Identify alternate paths and slack in each 7. Define burst and merge and the associated task Hint: Using PERT Analysis TE = (O + 4M + P)/6 Where: TE = Time estimate O = Optimistic M = Most likely time P= Pessimistic
Module 6 Module 7 Your responses should be integrated in a well-written paper that meets the following requirements: Be 2-3 pages in length plus graphical elements. Include two credible sources. The CSU-Global Library is a good place to find these sources. Capstone Assignment: Develop a Work Breakdown Structure for a Research and Development (R&D) Project (125 Points) Zungoo Electronics has decided to open a brand new R&D center in India and is planning to employ over 1500 researchers. This R&D center, the first of its kind in the history of the company, will serve as a onestop place for research, development, prototype, and customer management services. You have been hired as the project manager for this new development and have been asked to create a WBS. Assume the following major tasks in your WBS: Feasibility Study Analysis Design Implementation Testing Evaluation Maintenance Using the information provided above, address the following: 1. Construct a detailed WBS table for the project using any graphical tools. The WBS should demonstrate the organization of the project. Please be sure to include at least four task levels (i.e., main task, sub-task, etc.). You may want to consider using Microsoft Project, Project Libre, WBS Chart Pro, Microsoft Excel, or any other available programs to assist you in developing your WBS. 2. What are the key attributes of a work package? 3. Develop a responsibility assignment matrix for the whole project, with personnel in the columns and deliverables in the rows. 4. What metrics would you track to measure the effectiveness of your WBS plan? Your responses should be integrated in a well-written paper that meets the following requirements: Be 2 to 4 pages in length plus graphical elements. Include and reference two credible sources; the CSU-Global Library is a good place to find these sources. Capstone Assignment: Conflict Resolution and Project Performance (125 Points) Zungoo Electronics is the largest manufacturer of flat screen displays in the United States. Zungoo is known as an innovator and risk taker when it comes to implementing new technologies. Zungoo s South America division is experiencing issues resulting from a combination of geographically dispersed project team members, faulty technologies, frequent conflicts, and other concerns that are hampering progress
on key projects. An additional circumstance affecting performance is that distributed project teams do not allow for standard team development stages to occur, because team members can only interact in formal channels. Zungoo s difficulties here are by no means abnormal, but a documented managerial plan for handling these communications will go a long way toward helping the project performance of geographically dispersed project teams. As a senior project manager in the South American division PMO, you ve been asked to provide an initial analysis to help guide the development of the managerial plan. Use the following to structure your analysis: 1. Define conflict and identify the major methods for resolving conflict. Give an example of how each might be applied in a hypothetical project team conflict episode at Zungoo. 2. Explain how issues of organizational structure play a role in how project management has declined in effectiveness at Zungoo. 3. Explain the impact of informal communication on project performance, and provide recommendations for developing avenues and support for informal communication. Your responses should be integrated in a well-written paper that meets the following requirements: Be 2 to 3 pages in length. Include and reference two credible sources; the CSU-Global Library is a good place to find these sources. CPC-based Comprehensive Exam (50 points) The Common Professional Component (CPC)-based Comprehensive Exam is an assessment that measures the foundational knowledge areas of the following programs: Business Finance, Business Integration & Strategic Management, Economics, Information Management Systems, Legal Environment of Business, and Management. The exam is conducted by Peregrine Academic Services, and the exam data will help CSU-Global assess the quality of its academic programs so that the school can improve its programs and provide the best possible educational experience for all students. This is not an individual assessment of knowledge, so there is no need to prepare for this exam. But, please take your time and do your best. You have three hours (180 minutes) to complete the exam, though most students are able to finish it in 90-120 minutes. You do not need to complete the exam in one sitting; however, you must finish it within 48 hours of starting it. Additionally, you will not receive an individual grade based on how well you do on the exam, but you will receive 50 points for completing it. These 50 points will factor in as part of your total course grade. Before starting, read the Frequently Asked Questions document linked on the Week 7 Assignments page for more information about this exam. Important tips before you access the self-registration page: Make sure you allow yourself enough time to complete the exam, especially if you plan to complete it all at one time. (While you have up to three hours to complete the exam, we recommend allowing at least 120 minutes if you plan to finish it all at once.) If you do not plan to complete the exam all at one time, save the email you receive upon completing the self-registration process as it provides a link to access the exam again. Remember to finish the exam within 48 hours of starting it! This is a timed exam. It contains 60 questions, and you have a total of three hours to complete it, which is an average of about three minutes per question. This should be plenty of time. If you need to take breaks, be sure to completely log out or you will lose time that you need to take the exam. You must log back in within 48 hours to complete the exam.
Module 8 Any technical issues or locked out issues need to be addressed through the Peregrine support team, available here: Support@PeregrineAcademics.com Once you have completed the exam you will receive a confirmation email and PDF certificate. Download and save the certificate to your computer. To receive credit for taking the exam, you must upload the certificate you received to the appropriate dropbox on the Week 7 Assignments page. Steps for self-registration: To self-register, please have the following information ready: Your CSU-Global email address Your degree program Your term (such as Spring-A, Winter-C, Fall-B) The assessment password: CSUG-1001 To begin the self-registration process, please access the Peregrine Academic Services page for CSU- Global using the following link, and follow the instructions provided there: http://www.peregrineacademics.com/csu-global The registration process should take about five minutes to complete. Upon completion of your registration you will receive a confirmation email with your exam/course link for taking the exam. If you have any problems regarding the registration process, please visit the Peregrine technical support page at: http://www.peregrineacademics.com/support. Thank you for your efforts in helping CSU-Global ensure the highest quality of its academic programs! Resume and Career Plan (100 Points) For this assignment, you will be submitting two separate documents a resume and a career plan each worth 75 points. You may base these documents on your own personal information or on fictional information, thereby keeping your personal information private. Either is an acceptable choice and you will not be graded based on whether you choose to submit actual or fictional information. The purpose of this assignment is to give you experience developing both a resume and a career plan. If you choose to use fictional information, you can then use what you ve learned in this assignment to help you develop your own personal resume and career plan. If time permits, you can even develop your real resume and career plan and the fictional ones for the assignment simultaneously. If you have any questions or concerns about this assignment, please contact your instructor as early in the course as possible so they can be addressed. Following are the specific requirements for each component of this assignment: Resume Find a posting for a job that currently interests you and for which you are qualified. Using either your own information or fictional information, create a resume tailored to this job description. If you are creating this resume for a fictional person, you can feel free to add skills, experiences, or qualifications that you do not possess, in addition to creating fictional contact information, a fictional educational background, etc.
Course Grading You may choose whatever type of resume seems most appropriate. Your resume should include the following elements: Contact information Qualifications Education Experience/History You may also choose to include additional elements as appropriate and needed. Before submitting your resume, use the Capstone Resume Checklist and have at least one person read through it and check for errors in spelling, grammar and formatting. When you have the final version of your resume, convert it to a PDF format to submit for grading. Career Plan Using the Career Plan Template, develop a career plan either for yourself or for a fictional person. The information in the career plan should be as specific as possible, even if you are developing it for a fictional person. You should fill out every section of the Career Plan Template. Your final career r plan submission should be well written and free of errors. 05% CPC-based Comprehensive Exam 10% Discussion Participation 75% Capstone Assignments 10% Resume and Career Plan Grading Scale and Policies A 95.0 100 A- 90.0 94.9 B+ 86.7 89.9 B 83.3 86.6 B- 80.0 83.2 C+ 75.0 79.9 C 70.0 74.9 D 60.0 69.9 F 59.9 or below In-Classroom Policies For information on late work and incomplete grade policies, please refer to our In-Classroom Student Policies and Guidelines or the Academic Catalog for comprehensive documentation of CSU-Global institutional policies. Academic Integrity Students must assume responsibility for maintaining honesty in all work submitted for credit and in any other work designated by the instructor of the course. Academic dishonesty includes cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, plagiarism, reusing /re-purposing your own work (see CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements for percentage of repurposed work that can be used in an assignment), unauthorized possession of academic materials, and unauthorized collaboration. The CSU-Global Library provides information on how students can avoid plagiarism by understanding what it is and how to use the Library and Internet resources. Citing Sources with APA Style All students are expected to follow the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements when citing in APA (based on the APA Style Manual, 6th edition) for all assignments. For details on CSU-Global APA style, please
review the APA resources within the CSU-Global Library under the APA Guide & Resources link. A link to this document should also be provided within most assignment descriptions on your course s Assignments page. Netiquette Respect the diversity of opinions among the instructor and classmates and engage with them in a courteous, respectful, and professional manner. All posts and classroom communication must be conducted in accordance with the student code of conduct. Think before you push the Send button. Did you say just what you meant? How will the person on the other end read the words? Maintain an environment free of harassment, stalking, threats, abuse, insults or humiliation toward the instructor and classmates. This includes, but is not limited to, demeaning written or oral comments of an ethnic, religious, age, disability, sexist (or sexual orientation), or racist nature; and the unwanted sexual advances or intimidations by email, or on discussion boards and other postings within or connected to the online classroom. If you have concerns about something that has been said, please let your instructor know.