81511 - Project Management In Offshore Activities

Learning outcomes

The student will be introduced to the management of projects in the specific framework of the off-shore industry, with the aim of understanding the activities required to effectively manage a large-scale off-shore project.

Course contents

UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA – SCUOLA DI INGEGNERIA e ARCHITETTURA – LM in Offshore Engineering - Course: Project Management in Offshore Activities - Second Cycle AA 2023-2024

Class schedule: 14:00-18:00 - Campus RAVENNA - Teacher: J. Agnelli

Class Day of week (year 2024): Monday  from 14.00 to 18.00 starting  February and ending  June 2024

Content of each of the 12 Classes:

Project Set-up Class I

The project and its basics. Governance, powers & interests, requirements, the structure versus the scope

Project Set-up Class II

The Project in the operational structures: roles and responsibilities Project Manager and Team members. The deliverables. Exercise on WBS & OBS in a specific offshore case study.

Project Organization Class III

The project Start-up. Basic strategies: economy and finance for the project. Budget & project control of physical + time advancements. The cash flow.

Project Organization Class IV

Time management & Critical Path Method: exercise on Gantt scheduling and CPM for an offshore case. Basics of the Earned Value system for Project Control. Cases/Exercises on a real R&D project financed.

Strategic Drivers Class V

The management of information. Quality for the project: managing the changes. The success through the team: building the team.

Strategic Drivers Class VI

Cases/Exercises on team building and teamwork.

Risk, Negotiation & Procurement Class VII

The supply chain. Managing Conflict and the Art of Negotiation. The Game Theory and practical negotiation examples, markets and markets failure, externality. Role playing exercise based on a specific project of R&D: a case study

Risk, Negotiation & Procurement Class VIII

Basics of risk management. Exercise: risk analysis for an offshore case.

People & Context Class IX

Relations & networking. Effective and open personal communication during the project. Self control. Exercises on communication in interpersonal cases.

People & Context Class X

The behavioral competences of a PM associate: the “soft skills” in practice. Workshop: interactive exercises on behavioral approaches in situations involving the PM and the Team.

People & Context Class XI

Being reliable. Ingenuity and resourcefulness. Integrity & leadership: the values.

Project Success Class XII

The project within the company. Stakeholder management. Result orientation. Public incentives. Project Close Out and the lessons learned.

To be planned a possible additional session for review – recap for exam

Dates to be planned for visits to offshore Companies in Ravenna area (to be advised 2 weeks before visits).

Readings/Bibliography

Please refer to IPMA ICB4 as the international standard for project management which will be followed during the Course.

The English version of the ICB4 standard can be freely downloaded from the PIMA site: digit https://shop.ipma.world and follow the instructions

Teaching methods

The slides (in English language) for every lesson will be made available to the students registered on the Iol platform three days after the date of the lesson. The course content will be entirely covered by lectures. The course includes visits to Companies, which will cover some practical aspects of the lectures. Weekly assignments will be given to students for improving and testing their abilities on the course.

Assessment methods

A final written test is planned, based on questions intended to assess the knowledge and understanding of the topics covered by the course. Furthermore, the student should present the solutions of homework assignments.

The assessment of the "expected learning outcomes" is composed of:

Test composed of 10 questions (1 or 10 points each, up to 30 points).

To obtain a passing grade (minimum is 18 points**) students are required to demonstrate a knowledge of the key concepts of the Project Management (WBS, CBS, Gantt Chart, Deliverables, Milestones, KPI, Markets) some ability for critical application, and a comprehensible use of technical language. Higher grades (maximum is 30 points, with honors) will be awarded to students who demonstrate an organic understanding of the Project Management, a high ability for problem solving of real cases (exercitations), and a clear and concise presentation of the contents.

An extra optional oral examination can be planned for improving the final mark obtained.

** in case of failure students can take any next final term, generally there are 6 final terms per academic year.

Teaching tools

The teaching tools are overhead projector, projector, Microsoft Teams, and PC. Whiteboard as well as e-mail will be used to provide extra material of each class to students based on the lessons given. E-mail for the weekly assignments, the course includes some real cases of R&D projects financed in which examples and problems are solved and analyzed.

Office hours

See the website of Jacopo Agnelli