Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management

Purpose

Project management is not a basic management science but an applied management science, building on, applying and integrating basic management knowledge. The Postgraduate Diploma: Project Management, NQF Level 8, combines the management skills underlying effective project management with the philosophy, principles and techniques particular to management. This will not only prepare and increase the availability of competent project managers, but also begin to build a pool of executive managers able to manage the project management function in organisations. In addition, it will create upper management skills in respect of understanding the relationship between project management and functional management, as well as the integration of projects with the strategic management of organisations.

Rationale

Managers are facing increasingly complex challenges, such as having to contend with rapid changes stemming from constant obsolescence of their products, the necessity for rapid response to their markets and acting quickly when faced with opportunities. This situation is exacerbated by most of these challenges being of a discontinuous nature and increasingly requiring inputs across the organisation, or across various organisations or even across various countries. Project Management is concerned with delivering a specified, discontinuous deliverable by a specific team representing the various specialist skills required, against planned performance, time and cost targets, and is therefore suited to the above scenario. Even with regard to the public sector, Government has publicly emphasised the need to embrace project management as the way to deliver services and improve service levels.

Learners who would benefit from this qualification are employed managers from, or potentially to be promoted to, the whole spectrum of senior, executive and middle management levels. The qualification will enable them to exercise these competencies in all management and leadership roles, in all economic sectors and in all types of private and public enterprises, including Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), Black Empowerment companies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), large organisations and multi-national global players.

The Postgraduate Diploma: Project Management, NQF Level 8, will contribute towards building the intellectual capacity of Africa and to successful learners being active role-players in the development of South African society.

Communication and management competencies at NQF Level 7.

Recognition of Prior Learning

Wider access to the Postgraduate Diploma: Project Management, NQF Level 8 is assured through a Recognition of Prior Learning process. Candidates without the required degree but who have 10 years of experience in the field of Project Management can apply for admission through Recognition of Prior Learning. Learners can be admitted on the basis of a portfolio of proven comparable competencies.

Access to the Qualification

At least a relevant Bachelor's Degree and a minimum of two years' experience in a project management position in an organisation.

Learners are required to complete eight compulsory modules. The modules focus on specific knowledge areas relevant to Project Management.

Modules

• Fundamentals of Management, 20 credits.
• Managing Projects, 20 credits.
• Project Risk Management, 12 credits.
• Project Procurement, 8 credits.
• Project Scheduling, 12 credits.
• Project Communication, 8 credits.
• Project Cost Management, 20 credits.
• Project Leadership and Emotional Intelligence, 20 credits.

Total credits: 120.

1. Demonstrate a comprehensive and systematic knowledge base of Project Management theory, processes and methodologies.
2. Relate project management theories to the practical and professional Project Management environment.
3. Demonstrate evidence of self-directed learning and for taking responsibility for self-learning.
4. Communicate with a client and manage the stakeholder relationship in an ethical and professional way.

Critical Cross-Field Outcomes

All the Critical Cross-Field Outcomes are addressed in this qualification.

The following Assessment Criteria are applied in an integrated manner to determine competence against the Exit Level Outcomes:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of view of the world, the macro environment, the industry and own organisation as an integrated and inter-related whole.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the perspectives and multi-dimensional nature of the organisation as a system, and analyse own organisation, using a framework of multiple perspectives and dimensions.
• Apply the idealised redesign approach to developing an ideal future for own organisation.
• Develop the strategic business architecture of own organisation.
• Apply the concept of market segmentation to own organisation.
• Identify and manage the value drivers of own organisation within the context of value-based management.
• Develop a Balanced Scorecard to implement strategy within the context of the strategic business architecture.
• Identify and implement communication methodologies appropriate to project complexity.
• Identify and manage stakeholders within the project domain.
• Implement and maintain information distribution and performance reporting.
• Develop and maintain communication planning on a project.
• Demonstrate a personal understanding of the impact of a leadership profile.
• Demonstrate insight on leadership behaviours that create conditions for team work.
• Interpret the process of change management in project execution.
• Demonstrate an understanding of Emotional Intelligence.
• Demonstrate confidence and assertiveness regarding own leadership capability in bringing sustainability to bear on project management.
• Manage and resolve conflicts effectively.
• Use negotiation in managing working relationships with others, and in everyday activities.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between financial management and cost management.
• Identify, distinguish between and plan for the variable and fixed costs, on a project.
• Demonstrate knowledge of Project Economics and understanding of the time value of money.
• Demonstrate knowledge of Cost implications of Front End Loading and cash flow.
• Allocate the costs for the various inputs to the relevant functional inputting department, contributors or contractors.
• Analyse the present status of a project, make a diagnosis, determine the appropriate steps to rectify and make a prognosis of the eventual outcome of the project.
• Apply generic project management philosophy, principles and techniques to analyse, plan, measure progress, control and report on any project of any kind or size in any industry.
• Develop a project plan for application in a real life situation in own work environment that includes all the operational processes for executing a project.
• Identify the different types of contracts based on the division of risks between owner and contractor.
• Identify risk events that can be mitigated by insurance as risk mitigation tool and procure the various types of insurance.
• Compile and execute the procurement plan for a project and manage the steps in a typical procurement-contracting process.
• Implement contract administration and closeout processes.
• Identify, plan and manage situations which can be more fruitfully procured through partnering and strategic alliances between owner and contractor as the procurement processes, as an alternative to the risk division process.
• Demonstrate an understanding of and put together a quality assurance plan for a project.
• Utilise and apply MS-Project software, or a similar application, to:

> Draw up a task list and establish the relationships between the tasks.

> Allocate resources and determine the estimated budget.

> Generate a Precedence diagram and a Gantt chart.

> Enter progress information and track the progress, as well as the costs, against the planned schedule and costs.

> Execute all the underlying tasks needed to run the software.

> Schedule a project with repetitive tasks and outputs according to the balance line technique.

> Resolve the resource dependency of precedence scheduling through the application of the Theory of Constraints.

> Optimise the duration of a project by balancing fixed and variable costs.

> Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of project risk and what the origins of project risks are.

> Identify the types of risks inherent in the different phases of a project life cycle.

> Quantify the probability and impact of a risk event.

> Analyse, plan and draw up a risk register and decide on the best way to mitigate identified risks.

> Implement qualitative risk management.

> Compile, manage and maintain the risk plan for a project, inclusive of risk response planning, risk monitoring and control.

Integrated Assessment

Learning achievement of learners will be assessed through

• Syndicate and group work as formative assessment.
• One group business-driven action learning assignment as formative assessment.
• Individual written assignments for each module as summative assessment requiring the application of theoretical framework in the work context.
• A minimum of four written exams on the integration of related modules as summative assessment.

Assessments will be conducted by the module facilitators, in accordance with the policies and guidelines of the University of Stellenbosch. A percentage of the summative assessments will be moderated, in accordance with the requirements of the University and the Council on Higher Education.