Project Management Graduate Courses

Introduction to the concepts, methods and problems of accounting and financial analysis. Includes accounting principles, measurement and disclosure issues, financial statement analysis, time value of money, cash flow projection and analysis, capital budgeting and project evaluation, bond and equity valuation, cost of capital and capital structure. 4 cr. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking.  [ 4 cr. ]

The course explores modern project management by providing an enterprise- level, experiential view of the discipline focused on connecting projects to the organization's mission, vision, and values. The theme of the course is applying key project management tools and techniques, through case-based group work, which will help students identify, analyze, and develop practical proposals to real-world issues. Groups select, plan, report, and then present on their project's scope, schedule, cost, risk, quality, and communications elements using tools such as the WBS, network diagram, PERT estimate, Gantt chart (including the use of MS Project), risk register, and heat map. Students also gain familiarity with important new concepts in project management: Agile frameworks, actionable sustainability thinking, and Benefits Realization Management, all of which will be important for their success not only in other graduate courses, but as they lead projects for their organizations so as to provide lasting, triple-bottom-line value. The course is aligned with the latest PMBOK? Guide from the Project Management Institute.   [ 4 cr. ]

This course examines the increasing importance of leadership and communications in projects. Since project outcomes and the delivery of value are accomplished through teams of people, the course aims to improve the capability of a project manager to become a project leader and to excel at motivating and inspiring their teams. Students begin by gaining a better understanding of their own social, leadership, and communications styles. Self-awareness is key to the course. We investigate motivation, conflict management, negotiation skills, and the Agile principles of stewardship and servant leadership. Grounded in the use of tools, the course will provide students with templates to enhance team collaboration and communication. The course also addresses more contemporary issues in PM, including resolving ambiguity and complexity, the use of improvised working styles, sustainable PM, and issues around power and politics within the project.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: MET PM100
This course introduces students to macro and micro approaches to project cost estimation. Case studies of both pre-project and in- process estimating examine some of the more common perils of human irrationality associated with project estimation to help develop more sensible, achievable project outcomes. Students learn how to manage both project cost and schedule objectives throughout their projects using the Earned Value and Earned Schedule Measurement Systems. Students then study risk management through an examination of both individual and overall project risk and apply their learnings using advanced risk management software in an actual case study. Students also study project quality management, procurement/contract management, and project ethics and professional conduct using case study scenarios.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq PM 100, PM200
The course focuses on the relationship among portfolios, programs, and projects, and the important strategic objectives of each endeavor. The course is designed to assist students in developing a program management framework, policy, and organizational structure. Students will develop skills and techniques for chartering constituent projects, directing and managing program execution, and managing the program team and stakeholders. The global legal, economic, cultural, and political environments in which projects operate will be contrasted, and mechanisms for resolving conflicts will be addressed.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: MET AD642
This is a comprehensive course on project and program monitoring, evaluation, and governance. Students will also understand enterprise wide-project interdependencies and determine the optimal pacing for a program to enable appropriate planning, scheduling, executing, monitoring, and controlling of the projects within a program in the future. It covers governance and evaluation methods that will be useful at various levels of large projects, including government and nonprofit organizations. This course will help project and program managers, analysts, consultants, educators, and managers in government, nonprofit, and private institutions to assess program results and identify ways to improve program performance. Other topics include: evaluation for small nonprofit organizations; assessing and improving planning, implementation and effectiveness; governance methodology and models; using evaluation tools and applications to assess factors linking projects under one program and provide the best allotment of resources between those projects; monitor complex, multi-project programs, and drill into current project details; enable collaboration and stakeholder alignment throughout a project life-cycle. Other topics include: creating a transparent and accountable organization with well-defined roles and one that is based on transparency, resource allocation and decision making and enterprise project management.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: MET PM100
The course provides an understanding of how new Agile principles and practices are changing the landscape of project management. The course is designed to give project managers fresh new insight into how to successfully blend Agile and traditional project management principles and practices in the right proportions to fit any business and project situation. The course provides a deep understanding of Agile project management principles and practices in order to see them as complementary rather than competitive to traditional project management. Topics include: Agile fundamentals, principles, and practices; roots of Agile in TQM and Lean Manufacturing; adapting an Agile approach to fit a business environment; planning and managing an enterprise- level Agile transformation; scaling agile to an enterprise level using enterprise-level Agile frameworks and Agile Project Management tools. 4cr.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course covers the quantitative analysis tools to support operations management for a supply chain that is geographically dispersed and culturally diverse. The tools necessary to assure that the products/services are delivered/provided in the quality and timely manner include demand forecasting, inventory and capacity buffer optimization, delayed differentiation, statistical risk pooling, and stochastic inventory optimization. These tools are applied to decisions such as offshoring, multi-country outsourcing, push-pull, reverse supply chains, and risk mitigation. Particular attention is given to sustainability, information technology and digitalization, and creating resiliency.  [ 4 cr. ]

The purpose of this course is to help improve business problem solving and managerial decision-making through the use of quantitative and qualitative decision-making tools and techniques. This course will provide the student with an overview of how decisions are made to solve management problems in the business environment. It introduces the fundamental concepts and methodologies of the decision-making process, problem-solving, decision analysis, data collection, probability distribution, evaluation, and prediction methods. Students will learn how to apply different quantitative and qualitative analytical tools commonly used in business to provide a depth of understanding and support to various decision-making activities within each subject area of management. Through the use of case studies of decisions made by managers in various production and service industries and a business simulation package specifically prepared for this course, the scope and breadth of decision-making in business will be described.  [ 4 cr. ]

Addresses the specifics of new product and service development and fostering innovation and technology to increase performance. Topics include generating and screening initial ideas; assessing user needs and interests; forecasting results; launching, and improving products and programs; bringing innovation to commercial reality.   [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq AD642
This course will introduce students to Project Value - - a unique perspective on classical Project Management that is focused on assuring that a project delivers value that is aligned with the mission, vision, and values of an organization. This increasingly popular framework with which to view projects and project management is derived from current research, standards, and thought leadership from PMI and other international bodies . Students will learn how to create value in projects even in today's disruptive, turbulent environment. They will learn how to apply the conceptual framework of benefits realization management (BRM) and to use tools to manage a portfolio of programs and projects strategically with an aim of sustainable project value. Value in Agile projects will be discussed. The element of the Triple Bottom Line and a focus on sustainability is part of the subject matter. Case studies and real life experiences, illustrated with guest lectures, will be intertwined with current research in project management.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course is one of the last courses that a student in the master's degree project management program is required to take. Students are expected to carry out independent research on a relevant topic in the area of project management under the supervision of the instructor. This course focuses on emerging trends and reviews unique methodologies and approaches to project management. Students are exposed to research methods and practice that contributes to original research in the emerging project management areas. Approval of the instructor is required.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course covers the concepts of object-oriented approach to software design and development using the Java programming language. It includes a detailed discussion of programming concepts starting with the fundamentals of data types, control structures methods, classes, applets, arrays and strings, and proceeding to advanced topics such as inheritance and polymorphism, interfaces, creating user interfaces, exceptions, and streams. Upon completion of this course the students will be able to apply software engineering criteria to design and implement Java applications that are secure, robust, and scalable. Prereq: MET CS 200 or MET CS 300 or Instructor's Consent. Not recommended for students without a programming background. For undergraduate students: This course may not be taken in conjunction with METCS232. Only one of these courses can be counted towards degree requirements.   [ 4 cr. ]

This course covers the concepts of the object-oriented approach to software design and development using Python. It includes a detailed discussion of programming concepts starting with the fundamentals of data types, control structures methods, classes, arrays and strings, and proceeding to advanced topics such as inheritance and polymorphism, creating user interfaces, exceptions and streams. Upon completion of this course students will be able to apply software engineering principles to design and implement Python applications that can be used in with analytics and big data. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Creativity/Innovation, Critical Thinking.

Prerequisite: Programming experience in any language. Or Instructor's consent.  [ 4 cr. ]

The goal of this course is to provide students with the mathematical fundamentals required for successful quantitative analysis of problems. The first part of the course introduces the mathematical prerequisites for understanding probability and statistics. Topics include combinatorial mathematics, functions, and the fundamentals of differentiation and integration. The second part of the course concentrates on the study of elementary probability theory, discrete and continuous distributions. Prereq: Academic background that includes the material covered in a standard course on college algebra or instructor's consent. For undergraduate students: This course may not be taken in conjunction with MET MA 213, only one of these courses will count toward degree program requirements. Students who have taken MET MA 113 as well as MET MA 123 will also not be allowed to count MET CS 546 towards degree requirements.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course presents the foundations of data communications and takes a bottom-up approach to computer networks. The course concludes with an overview of basic network security and management concepts. Prereq: MET CS 200, or instructor's consent. This course may not be taken in conjunction with MET CS 425 (undergraduate) or MET CS 535. Only one of these courses can be counted towards degree requirements.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the principles, processes, and practices of software project management. Students learn techniques for planning, organizing, scheduling, and controlling software projects. There is substantial focus on software cost estimation and software risk management. Students will obtain practical project management skills and competencies related to the definition of a software project, establishment of project communications, managing project changes, and managing distributed software teams and projects. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration.  [ 4 cr. ]

Theory and practice of security and quality assurance and testing for each step of the software development cycle. Verification vs. validation. Test case design techniques, test coverage criteria, security development and verification practices, and tools for static and dynamic analysis. Standards. Test-driven development. QA for maintenance and legacy applications. From a project management knowledge perspective, this course covers the methods, tools and techniques associated with the following processes -- Plan Quality, Perform Quality Assurance, and Perform Quality Control.   [ 4 cr. ]

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the principles, processes, and practices of agile software development. Students learn techniques for initiating, planning and executing on software development projects using agile methodologies. Students will obtain practical knowledge of agile development frameworks and be able to distinguish between agile and traditional project management methodologies. Students will learn how to apply agile tools and techniques in the software development lifecycle from project ideation to deployment, including establishing an agile team environment, roles and responsibilities, communication and reporting methods, and embracing change. We also leverage the guidelines outlined by the Project Management Institute for agile project development as a framework in this course.   [ 4 cr. ]

Students learn the latest relational and object-relational tools and techniques for persistent data and object modeling and management. Students gain extensive hands- on experience using Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server as they learn the Structured Query Language (SQL) and design and implement databases. Students design and implement a database system as a term project. Restrictions: This course may not be taken in conjunction with MET CS 469 (undergraduate) or MET CS 579. Only one of these courses can be counted towards degree requirements.   [ 4 cr. ]

Object-oriented methods of information systems analysis and design for organizations with data- processing needs. System feasibility; requirements analysis; database utilization; Unified Modeling Language; software system architecture, design, and implementation, management; project control; and systems-level testing. Prerequisite: Basic programming knowledge or instructor's consent.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course describes and compares contemporary and emerging information technology and its management. Students learn how to identify information technologies of strategic value to their organizations and how to manage their implementation. The course highlights the application of I.T. to business needs. CS 782 is at the advanced Masters (700) level, and it assumes that students understand IT systems at the level of CS 682 Systems Analysis and Design. Students who haven't completed CS 682 should contact their instructor to determine if they are adequately prepared. Prereq: MET CS 682, or instructor's consent.   [ 4 cr. ]

This course builds upon the strong technical foundation of our MSCIS and MSCS curricula, by providing students with the CIO-level management perspective and skills of an enterprise architect, in the context of the technologies that implement those architectures. Current technologies and processes explored in the enterprise architecture context include blockchain, microservices, multimodal/analytic databases, DevOps, SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), containers/Docker, and some leverage of AI techniques. We cover both the migration of legacy enterprise systems and de novo enterprise architecture development, vendor selection and management, cybersecurity in the enterprise, and complex system integration. Enterprise architecture decisions are presented in the context of the business goals and alignment that are critical for success, given globalization and the reality that "all companies are now technology companies." The course content is rich with case studies that illustrate practical application of enterprise architecture approaches and lessons learned. The course also includes a number of realistic enterprise architecture assignments and an incremental term project with components spanning the course, to provide students with hands on enterprise architecture experience. Students develop the understanding and skills needed to define and implement successful enterprise architectures that provide real strategic and concrete value to organizations, such as substantially reducing IT costs while improving performance, agility and alignment of information technology to business goals. On-campus classrooms follow a "flipped classroom" format, where significant class time is devoted to in-class group workshops. Prereq: MET CS 682. Or strategic IT experience. Or instructor's consent.  [ 4 cr. ]