Project Management

Objectives

Every automobile and every part in it: a separate project. The automotive industry is one of the most project-intensive industries. At the same time, it is characterised by high product complexity and extremely high requirements for meeting deadlines, costs and quality as well as for interaction with suppliers. The professional definition, planning, control and completion of these projects is therefore of great importance.

By participating in the course Project Management the participants:

• Learn to identify and understand essential basic concepts in the management of interdisciplinary projects.
• Know the factors for the professional organisation and control of automotive concept.
• Learn to meet the specific requirements of the automotive industry for project management.
• Find out essential methods and tools in the management of interdisciplinary projects.
• Learn how to plan and control projects in a practical context.
• Acquire the knowledge about project structuring, risk identification, scheduling and the creation of a reporting system using concrete examples.
• Implement agile instruments in project work.

Learning outcomes

• LO1. Get to know the organisational structure and functions of an engineering project office.
• LO2. Apply and know the techniques and technical resources to organise, manage, innovate and direct projects.
• LO3. Plans and manages the tasks assigned to develop in the field of the automotive industry.
• LO4. Identifies and uses the technological terminology of the automotive industry.
• LO5. Apply and know the mechanisms of teamwork and communication.
• LO6. Write technical information in English.
• LO7. Write documents (mainly of a technical nature) with grammatical and orthographical correction in Catalan, Castilian and English.
• LO8. Shows an attitude of motivation and commitment to personal and professional improvement.
• LO9. Solves problems and situations specific to professional practice with entrepreneurial and innovative attitudes.
• LO10. Analyses one's own personal and professional abilities in relation to different areas of professional practice

Competencies

General skills

• Desire to take part in lifelong learning, innovate, create value and acquire new knowledge.
• Endeavour to overcome the adversities professional practice and learn from mistakes to integrate knowledge and improve one's training.

Specific skills

• Understand the concept of enterprise and its institutional, legal and economic framework, and use resources for organisation, management and quality management of companies; know about organisational structure and functions of an engineering project office, and know how to use techniques to organise, manage and lead projects.

Basic skills

• Students can apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional manner and have competencies typically demonstrated through drafting and defending arguments and solving problems in their field of study.
• Students can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialists and non-specialists.

Core skills

• Be a critical thinker before knowledge in all its dimensions. Show intellectual, cultural and scientific curiosity and a commitment to professional rigour and quality.
• Become the protagonist of one's own learning process in order to achieve personal and professional growth and acquire all-round training for living and learning in a context of respect for linguistic, social, cultural, gender and economic diversity.
• Exercise active citizenship and individual responsibility with a commitment to the values of democracy, sustainability and universal design, through practice based on learning, service and social inclusion.
• Interact in international and worldwide contexts to identify needs and and new contexts for knowledge transfer to current and emerging fields of professional development, with the ability to adapt to and independently manage professional and research processes.
• Project the values of entrepreneurship and innovation in one's academic and professional career, through contact with a variety of practical contexts and motivation for professional development.

Content

Essential learning content is the basic concepts and tools in project management:

• The nature and basic structure of a project (definitions: project, project portfolio, program; characteristics of projects)
• Project preparation tools (project development as a process, structured exposure, resource determination, target definition)
• Project planning tools (structural plan, network, resource plan, schedule, environmental analysis, risk analysis)
• Project monitoring tools (resource control, scheduling, target control, quality assurance)
• Communication as a building block of project success: tools (presentation, workshop, report, digital formats) and strategies (participation, communication design)
• Implementation of agile instruments in project work

Evaluation

• Questionnaires and exams: 55%. [RA1], [RA2], [RA3], [RA4], [RA10] are evaluated.
  
  • Questionnaire 1: 5%
  • Questionnaire 2: 5%
  • Questionnaire 3: 5%
  • Final Exam: 40%. Questionnaire + task. Final exam is recoverable.
• Carrying out required projects: 45%. [RA5], [RA6], [RA7], [RA8], [RA9] are evaluated.
  • Project work, task 1: and 22.5%
  • Project work, task 2: 22.5%
• Recuperation: Final exam recovery. Replaces the final exam grade.

Methodology

The lecture is partially realized as an online class. Teaching will be realized with synchronous online sessions and online support. All teaching materials and activities will be provided in the virtual classroom. The methodology during the 23/23 academic year includes the following activities:

• Online synchronous lectures
• Online practice and support sessions
• Virtual classroom
• Synthesis and amplification practices
• Questionnaires
• Autonomous study of content (during complete course)
• Final exam

Bibliography

Bibliography

• Alam M.D., Gühl U. (2016). Project- Management in Practice: A Guideline and Toolbox for Successful Projects. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.
• Hab G., Wagner R. (2017). Projektmanagement in der Automobilindustrie: Effizientes Management von Fahrzeugprojekten entlang der Wertschöpfungskette. Retrieved from https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783834943699
• Javorsky , A. (2018). Projektmanagement im Automotive-Bereich: Der Praxisleitfaden - In 12 Schritten zum Erfolg (Mit Agilen Praktiken). Retrieved from https://www.hanser-fachbuch.de/buch/Projektmanagement+im+Automotive+Bereich/9783446455955
• Project Management Institute (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge: (PMBOK guide) (6 ed.). Project Management Institute, Inc.
• Project Management Institute (2017). PMI Lexicon of Project Management Terms: Version 3.2. Retrieved from www.PMI.org

Reading

Teachers will provide complementary bibliography and compulsory reading throughout the course via the Virtual Campus.