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Project Quality and Risk Management

Module description

Quality and Risk are integral parts of Project Management. This module aims to provide knowledge and skills on both project quality management and project risk management. Project quality management will enable you to explore the principles of quality management and translate them into actions supporting project management success. You will gain knowledge of various quality management and project excellence frameworks, measuring performance indicators, and integrating high quality project deliverables. Project risk management will enable you to explore theoretical and practical skills for identifying, analysing, planning, and managing project-related risks in terms of scope, schedule, quality, and cost performance. Through this, you will gain insight into strategies and the tools to identify, evaluate, monitor, and control risk effectively throughout project lifecycles.  

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will equip you with the foundation required to fully understand the role that quality and risk management play within the project to enable the best business outcome. This will be achieved be exploring the role and importance of quality management, including project quality dimensions and project success factors, as well as, how to adapt modern quality management tools to deliver a project to client with the highest quality. You will also learn practical skills on risk identification, risk mitigation, and managing risks using information systems. Once completed, you will be able to recognise your own skills and the roles you can perform in ensuring that project delivery outcomes land smoothly with minimum risk exposure, and with the agreement of the business areas and stakeholders, in a way that fully supports the long-term organisational strategy. The module uses comprehensive case studies that will be discussed in the context of both project quality and risk management.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Discuss critical project quality and risk management frameworks.
• 2. Apply quality management tools to achieve project excellence.
• 3. Identify and manage impact of risks on project performance.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Critically analyse processes of quality planning, quality control, and quality assurance.
• 5. Critically analyse processes of risk identification, risk assessment, risk mitigation and risk communication.
• 6. Evaluate quality and risk elements in highly complex projects.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Effectively utilise information systems to manage project quality and risk.
• 8. Reflect upon recent changes in the global environment and how this may impact on how to manage project quality and risk in future.

Syllabus plan

Typical topics to be included on this module will include:

A. Project Quality Management:

• Project Quality Dimensions
• Project Success Criteria and Success Factors
• Project Excellence and Maturity Models
• Project Quality Management Tools
• Project Management Best Practices

B. Project Risk Management:

• Project Risk Contexts and Drivers
• Project Risk Identification
• Project Risk Analysis and Evaluation
• Project Risk Monitoring and Control
• Project Risk Management System

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to sit a further examination. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will count for 100% of the final mark and will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Edwards, P.J., Serra, P.V., and Edwards, M. (2020). Managing Project Risks. Wiley.
• Chapman, C., and Ward, S. (2012). Project Risk Management: Processes, Techniques, and Insights (2nd ed). Wiley.
• Basu, R. (2012). Managing Quality in Projects. Taylor and Francis.
• Kerzner, H. (2024). Project Management Best Practices: Achieving Global Excellence (5th ed). Wiley.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• Association of Project Management: www.apm.org.uk
• Project Management Institute: www.pmi.org

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• APM. (2019). APM Body of Knowledge (7th ed). Association for Project Management.
• PMI. (2021). PMBOK® Guide(7th ed). Project Management Institute.
• Hinde, D. (2018). PRINCE2 Study Guide. Orgtopia.

Key words search

Project assurance, project risks, project governance, quality management, risk management, project quality