Related Course/s:

Aims & Objectives:

During the unit, we aim:

• To provide an extending engineering management skill set to prepare candidates for the management requirements of engineering projects and finance and accounting activities
• To emphasise that competence in engineering management, business and social responsibility are essential components of the profession of engineering
• To engender the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for successful engineering practice
• To introduce the concepts of literature review and thesis writing

At the end of this unit students will be able to:

• Recognise and assess management requirements of project initiation, implementation and termination
• Use project management tools, techniques and practices to plan and control projects that achieve stated requirements on time and within budget
• Understand the importance of project selection and selection models
• Appraise the role, task, functions and characteristics required of an effective project manager
• Assess the merits of alternative project organizations and select an appropriate organisation for a specific project
• Plan a project including the creation of a statement of work, a work breakdown structure and an appropriate set of supporting work packages
• Create a network diagram to represent a project and the logical inter-relationship of activities within a project
• Apply appropriate network techniques such as PERT and CPM
• Assess risk inherent within a project based on both critical paths within the project and time variation within project activities.
• Crash a project when shortened completion deadlines are required
• Allocate resources to project work packages
• Schedule work packages
• Apply resource loading and resource levelling techniques for optimal outcomes within a project
• Recognise the practices for project budgeting and cost estimation
• Develop an appropriate project cost accounting system and measures of project performance
• Explain the role and nature of accounting and distinguish between finance and accounting
• Create and evaluate measures and reports of financial position for a business enterprise
• Create and evaluate measures and reports of financial performance via P&L accounts
• Identify and explain the nature of limited liability companies and their accounting rules
• Create and evaluate measures and reports of cash flows via Cash Flow statements
• Analyse and interpret financial statements via major categories of ratios
• Analyse cost-volume-profit and margins for financial and business decision
• Deduce full unit cost in both single and multi product/service environments
• Use a budget to provide a means of exercising control over a business
• Explain and apply investment appraisal methods to decide on an investment opportunity

Teaching Methods:

Assessment:

Generic Skills Outcomes:

• Ability to apply knowledge of basic science and engineering fundamentals
• Ability to communicate effectively, not only with engineers but also with the community at large
• Ability to undertake problem identification, formulation and solution
• Ability to utilize a systems approach to design and operational performance
• Ability to function effectively as an individual and in a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams, with the capacity to be a leader or manager as well as an effective team member
• Understanding of the social, cultural, global and environmental responsibilities of the professional engineer, and the need for sustainable development
• Understanding of the principles of sustainable design and development.
• Understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities and commitment to them
• Expectation of the need to undertake lifelong learning, and capacity to do so

Content:

• Design goods and services
• Managing quality
• Operational decisions on processes, location and layout
• Inventory and supply chain management
• Just-In-Time and lean production concepts
• Engineering project manager roles, characteristics, traits, ethics

• Application of strategic management frameworks such as product life cycle, SWOT analysis
• Market equilibrium and supply and demand concepts
• Major macro economic factors such as unemployment rate, inflation etc and their impact on business environment

Marketing and innovation (15%)

• Marketing mix, product, place, price and promotion
• PEST analysis   
• Marketing segmentation
• Understanding of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship

• Principles of accounting, financial statements, analysis, cash management, financial expenditure, depreciation and budgets
• Cost accounting: product process, project overheads
• Standard and marginal costing
• Break-even analysis
• Project estimating, costing, budgetary controls

• Legal practice relevant to engineering projects and activities: torts, contracts, tendering, arbitration, breach of contract, contracts management
• Commercial law: sale of goods, intellectual property and its protection, product, professional and criminal liability, trade practices, OH&S obligations

Textbooks:

Recommended Reading:

References: