Take My Liberty BUSI 680 Class

Larson and Gray is read one chapter a week. Week one introduces modern project management and the PMBOK framework, with assigned Bible readings alongside.

Week two covers organizational strategy and how projects are selected and prioritized, from financial models such as net present value to scoring models that weigh strategic fit.

Week three covers organization structure and culture, comparing functional, matrix and dedicated team arrangements and the cultures that help or hinder projects.

Week four covers defining the project: the scope statement, the work breakdown structure and the responsibility matrix.

Week five covers estimating project times and costs, top-down and bottom-up, and the reasons estimates so often run low.

Week six covers developing the project schedule with network diagrams, the critical path and slack.

Week seven covers managing risk, from identification and assessment to response and contingency planning.

Week eight covers scheduling resources and costs, including resource leveling and the time-phased budget.

Each week has a recorded presentation and a 50-point quiz. Forum threads are due in odd weeks and group replies in even weeks; the bibliography falls in week four and the case in week eight.

BUSI 680 is carried chapter by chapter, since each forum and the case draw directly on the week's reading.

Individual posts stay between 500 and 750 words, use the chapter's own tools and terms, cite three journal studies and tie a passage of Scripture to the point being made. A thread on project structure, for example, can compare matrix and dedicated teams for a hospital IT rollout and tie the discussion of authority to Jethro's advice to Moses on delegation.

Group replies are collaborative, so your contribution is drafted to fit the group's direction, with its own sources, ready for you to share with your group.

For the bibliography, a tight subject is picked so that ten current studies form a conversation, for instance tracking cost and schedule performance on government construction or blending agile sprints with stage-gate planning.

The case builds a risk response matrix with at least three likely risks and their responses, contingency plans, triggers and owners, then a Gantt chart of the schedule with answers to the case's questions.

You post and submit everything yourself, and the quizzes are yours.

BUSI 680 work goes to a project manager holding the PMP, often with experience in construction, IT or healthcare projects.

That background shows in the case, where risks are the ones a real stadium project would face, such as weather delays, permit holdups, steel price increases or labor shortages, and each response names who owns it and what triggers it.

It shows in the Gantt chart too, built in project software or Excel with logical dependencies and a critical path that matches the network logic in chapter six.

The forums benefit from the same experience, with examples from real projects rather than textbook illustrations alone.

Before anything reaches you, another project manager checks its length, citations and formatting, and one writer stays with you for all eight weeks.

Each forum post also leaves room for the PMBOK's process groups, so readers can see where a topic sits in initiating, planning, executing, monitoring or closing.

The quizzes are the first pressure point. With one every week, worth 400 points in all, they leave little time for the written work.

The source rule is the second. Across eight posts that is two dozen journal citations, and the bibliography adds ten more.

Group replies are the third. They must be collaborative and critical, which depends on teammates contributing on time.

The bibliography is the fourth, since all ten articles must be no older than five years and focused on a single concept.

The case is the fifth. Building a Gantt chart with correct dependencies takes practice, and the risk matrix must be specific to the case rather than generic.

Group members join from different time zones, which makes the even-week deadlines harder to coordinate.

Forum 1's thread is due in week one, so the course is easiest to hand over before it opens.

Each thread reaches you early in its odd week, and your group reply contribution early in the following even week so your group has time to combine it.

The bibliography arrives before the week four deadline with all ten articles checked for date and relevance.

The case study, with matrix and chart, arrives early in week eight.

On the quote, each forum, the bibliography and the case have their own lines, with the bibliography and the case the two largest.

Students who join late are quoted only for what remains.

A student who only needs help in the second half can start with Forum 3 and the case.

Each item is dated to your section's calendar.