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Using Project Management Software to Support and Direct Group Projects
This module is the second phase of a two-part course in project management in an IT environment. To consolidate the theoretical work and methodologies taught in the first semester, the students complete a live project in groups of three and four over a twelve week period, using the project management methodology PRINCE to monitor and control the conduct of the project. Potential projects were identified via a number of channels including the University's Enterprise Development Unit.
Each project team was given details of the projects available and could bid for their preferred project. The PRINCE method has provision for a project support office (PSO) to assist project teams in the management of their activities and one 'project' was to run this. Teams were then given a two-week period to visit their clients and come up with outline plans, which had to be approved by the directing staff and the client before the project was allowed to progress, with the PSO then acting as the monitoring agency. Through the 'exception reports' generated whenever there was a significant deviation from plans, the directing staff kept track of each team's progress and could intervene where appropriate. Each team's final report contained a portfolio of their project management products and an assessment of the overall work by the clients. Each team member also submitted an individual report covering their personal experiences of the project and each team could request marks to be scaled between team members to reflect varying contributions.
In general PRINCE gave students a very good 'route map' of how to go about setting up and running a project, while also enabling staff to supervise progress and assess performance. The method also proved to be an effective check on clients overloading or exploiting students.
Bryden Ritchie, Napier University
(From the ASSHE Inventory - Changing Assessment practices in Scottish Higher Education with kind permission of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, University of Edinburgh)
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