Unit Synopsis
The Initiating and Planning Project unit will equip you with the knowledge and skills required to effectively initiate and plan projects in challenging environments. You will study different standards, frameworks and practices with the opportunity to apply these by utilising relevant tools and techniques to enhance project initiation and planning. On successful completion, you will have prepared a range of project management artifacts that underpin effective initiation and planning of projects.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online Quiz(zes) | 20% |
| 2. Reflective Practice Assignment | 30% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.59% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 50.47% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE students feedback
Some unit assessments are scheduled during the same week, creating a challenging situation for students to manage their workload during this busy period.
The assessment calendar should be communicated clearly to students from Week 1 and periodically reinforced throughout the term. To prevent multiple assessments from different units being due on the same day, unit coordinators should collaborate with the head of courses to align and manage the assessment schedules effectively.
In response to SUTE student feedback, the assessment calendar was clearly communicated from Week 1 and consistently reinforced throughout the term. This proactive communication ensured that students were aware of key deadlines well in advance, allowing them to manage their workload more effectively. To further strengthen this approach, we propose formalising the early release and reinforcement of the assessment calendar as a standard unit delivery procedure. This would involve embedding the assessment schedule within the unit coordination checklist and including it in unit moderation documentation to ensure consistency across all offerings and terms.
Source: The coordinator's reflection and lecturer's feedback
The PMBok 7ed excludes artifacts, case studies, methods, etc as they are made available on PMIstandards+ which requires PMI membership to access
The tutorial materials should be updated by adding artifacts, case studies, methods
Tutorial materials were updated to include additional artifacts, case studies, and practical methods. These enhancements provided students with more applied learning opportunities and improved their understanding of key concepts. This approach will be maintained and further developed in future terms.
Source: Feedback from the student evaluation survey
The lecturer was always available to provide useful and quick feedback on the unit and assessments criteria.
To ensure continuous and timely provision of feedback on all assessments to support ongoing student learning and development. Also, to encourage students to seek clarification when needed to reinforce understanding of the unit content and requirements.
In Progress
Source: Feedback from the student evaluation survey
Class discussions and quiz really helped us to engage and understand the content better. These activities made the class more interesting and encouraged everyone to participate
To continue incorporating class discussions and quizzes to enhance student engagement and understanding.
In Progress
Source: Lecturers' feedback and reflection
Although group formation was done early, some groups faced issues with non-contributing members who did not participate or attend tutorial discussions
The assessment structure has been designed to ensure both fair evaluation of teamwork and individual contribution. It consists of two components: Part A: A group-based submission Part B: final presentation, which is individually marked. This dual-component structure helps recognise collaborative efforts while also assessing each student’s individual understanding and input. To support effective group collaboration, student participation and engagement will be actively monitored during tutorials. Students will be encouraged to contribute meaningfully to discussions and group activities, and tutors will provide guidance and support when challenges arise.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Analyse the underlying project need and justification
- Apply contemporary techniques to identify and analyse stakeholders
- Analyse, define and effectively decompose project scope
- Apply appropriate project estimation techniques
- Critically analyse and define actions to address project uncertainty.
This unit will satisfy one of the requirements for Australian Computer Society (ACS) accreditation in the postgraduate ICT courses.
The unit contributes to the required number of academic study units for students wishing to undertake profession certification with the Project Management Institute's (PMI) professional qualifications, such as CAPM or PMP.
The ACS recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is in use in over 100 countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles. ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile at https://www.acs.org.au/professionalrecognition/mysfia-b2c.html
This unit contributes to the following workplace skills codes as defined by SFIA:
- Business Analysis (BUAN),
- Project Management (PRMG),
- Stakeholder Relationship Management (RLMT),
- Systems Integration (SINT),
- Change Management (CHMG),
- Release and Deployment (RELM),
- IT Operations (ITOP),
- Problem Management (PBMG).
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | • | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Research | • | • | • | • | • |
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | • | • | |
| 7 - Leadership | • | • | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |