Skip to main content
Politecnico di Milano

Life cycle and project planning

This edition is closed. To enroll in this course, please go to Find courses and search for the running edition.

Learn how to plan projects, assessing their evolution over time.

Introduction to Management Engineering series

This MOOC is part of the Introduction to Management Engineering series, which is designed to introduce prospect master students and people interested in managerial disciplines into the key fundamentals of Management Engineering. Through an analytical and engineering approach, the series provides basic concepts and language in the areas of Strategy, Economics, Financial Accounting, Organization, and Operations Management.

The series is the result of a collaborative design between METID, the service of Politecnico di Milano devoted to e-learning and e-collaboration, and the Study Course in Management Engineering.

See the other MOOCs of the series.

If you are a POLIMI student you have to log in using your Person Code. This is the only way to prove your participation in this course for official recognition.

Course description

Project Management is a fundamental theme to understand and work in any business environments. One of the main skills that Project Managers need to have deals with the ability to manage the project during its entire life-cycle and to plan the work needed to achieve the final result. During the course, the various phases of a typical project are presented. Then, various practical tools are presented aiming to help professionals in actually manage their projects through useful instruments. Among the others, the Scope Statement helps managers in identifying and clearly define what is and what is not part of the project, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) helps in identifying the activities, the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) in managing the team, the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) to match activities and people, while the Gantt Chart provides a time-based view on the project.

Total workload of the course: 10 h

This MOOC is provided by Politecnico di Milano.

Information about fees and access to materials

You can access the course absolutely free of charge and completely online.

Course materials will remain available to all enrolled users after the end of the current edition, so they can return to content later. The current course edition will be followed by a new one just after its end.

Learning schedule

The course is structured in 2 weeks:

  • Week 1 – The project lifecycle and the scope management.
    This week focuses on the main tools and capabilities needed when starting a project, going through the introduction of the main phases of projects (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Closing).
  • Week 2 – Project planning.
    This week introduces the main project planning tools(Scope Statement, Work Breakdown Structure, Organizational Breakdown Structure, Responsibility Assignment Matrix and Gantt Chart).

Intended Learning Outcomes

By actively participating in this MOOC, you will achieve different intended learning outcomes (ILOs).

  1. Identify the main phases of a project in a business context.
    ESCO: project management principles.
  2. Pick the right tools to plan a project when working on it.
    ESCO: perform project management.
  3. Make a plan of a project when working on it.
    ESCO: perform planning. ESCO: perform project management.
  4. Analyze the results of a planning process when working on a project.
    ESCO: evaluate project plans.

Prerequisites

This course follows the previous one "Project Management beyond planning and control". No prior knowledge is required: attendance of the previous course is not compulsory, but it is recommended.

Activities

Over and above consulting the content, in the form of videos and other web-based resources, you will have the opportunity to discuss course topics and to share ideas with your peers in the Forum of this MOOC.

Assessment

To successfully complete this course, and henceforth receive the certificate of accomplishment, it is necessary to pass the quiz with 60%.

Certificate of Accomplishment

The Certificate of Accomplishment will be released to anyone who successfully completes the course by answering correctly to at least 60% of the questions by the end of the edition. You will be able to download the Certificate of Accomplishment directly on the website.

Once you have successfully passed the course, you can request the Certificate of Accomplishment without waiting for the end of the edition.

The Certificate of Accomplishment does not confer any academic credit, grade or degree.

European Qualifications Framework Level

EQF Level 6

Thematic area (ISCED-F classification)

0410 Business and administration not further defined.

Discussion forum

The forum of this MOOC is freely accessible and participation is not guided; you can use it to compare yourself with other participants, or to discuss course contents with them.

Contact details

If you have any enquiries about the course or if you need technical assistance please contact pok@polimi.it. For further information, see FAQ page.

Course Faculty

Tommaso Buganza

Tommaso Buganza

Tommaso Buganza is Associate Professor of Leadership and Innovation at the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano where he also is co-founder of LEADIN'Lab, the Laboratory for Leadership, Design and Innovation. He is a lecturer in Innovation Management and Project Management, responsible for the Project Management Academy and coordinator of the innovation and training area at MIP (Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business). He is scientific director of IDeaLs the global research platform of Politecnico di Milano that pioneers new ways to engage people to make innovation happen with companies. He co-founded Symplatform, the symposium on digital platforms that aims to foster a constructive discussions among scholars and practitioners.

Daniel Trabucchi

Daniel Trabucchi

Daniel Trabucchi is Assistant Professor at the School of Management, Politecnico di Milano, where he also serves as a senior researcher in the LEADIN’Lab, the Laboratory for LEAdership, Design and INnovation. He works on Innovation Management, he teaches and studies the fields of Platform Thinking, Agile Project Management and the Human side of Innovation (with a strong focus on engagement within the research platform IDeaLs). He co-founded Symplatform, the symposium on digital platforms that aims to foster a constructive discussions among scholars and practitioners.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

  1. Classes Start

    Jan 07, 2023
  2. Classes End

    May 14, 2023
  3. Length

    2 weeks
  4. Estimated Effort

    3-5 hours/week
  5. Language

    English
  6. Course Number

    PM102
  7. MOOCs For Professionals
CONTACT US FAQ