CIVL3812: Project Appraisal (2013 - Semester 1)
| Unit: | CIVL3812: Project Appraisal (6 CP) |
| Mode: | Normal-Day |
| On Offer: | Yes |
| Level: | Senior |
| Faculty/School: | Civil Engineering |
| Unit Coordinator/s: |
Dr Liu, Li
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| Session options: | Semester 1 |
| Versions for this Unit: | |
| Site(s) for this Unit: |
http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au/current/undergraduate/units_of_study.shtml |
| Campus: | Camperdown/Darlington |
| Pre-Requisites: | None. |
| Brief Handbook Description: | This UoS is a third-year core unit for students enrolled in any of the undergraduate streams in the School of Civil Engineering and elective for all other branches of engineering and other faculties. The objectives of this unit of study are to develop students' ability to critically analyse issues involved in project appraisal and to equip students with the concepts, tools and analytical processes to effectively carry out project appraisal tasks for businesses, non-profit organisations, and governments. At the end of this unit, students should be able to comprehend and relate to real-life examples the fundamental concepts in project appraisal (e.g. the meaning of time value for money, equivalence); calculate common financial indicators for a given project and explain the relevance of each to the appraisal of the project; rank projects by combining both financial and non-financial indicators (e.g. environmental and social); understand how risks and uncertainties affect evaluation outcomes and be able to deal with uncertainties and risks in analysis; apply techniques to account for the effects of inflation/deflation and exchange rates in analysis; understand the concept and mechanisms for depreciation and carry out pre-tax as well as post-tax analysis; understand the assumptions, pros and cons of each evaluation method and be able to explain why a particular method is appropriate/not appropriate for a given project. The syllabus comprises time value of money, cost of capital, simple/compound interest, nominal/effective interest, cost/benefit analysis of projects; equivalence, net present worth (value), future worth (value), annual worth (value), internal rate of return, external rate of return, payback period, cost-benefit analysis, cost-utility analysis, identifying and quantifying non-financial benefits/externalities, price changes and exchange rates, techniques for multi-criteria group decision-making, economic analysis of business investment projects, depreciation, capitalisation and valuation studies, replacement of assets, real option, project risk analysis, decision-tree analysis, binomial method, WACC, MARR, equity capital, debt. |
| Assumed Knowledge: | MATH1005. |
| Lecturer/s: |
Dr Liu, Li
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| Tutor/s: |
Seyed Bani Hashemi Chaharom can be contacted via email: seyed.banihashemi@sydney.edu.au Mohammad Mojtahedi can be contacted via email: Mohammad.Mojtahedi@sydney.edu.au Alexander Soo can be contacted via email: asoo9542@uni.sydney.edu.au Jareena Khanal can be contacted via email: jareena.khanal@gmail.com Fahad Allahaim can be contacted via email: fall5762@uni.sydney.edu.au |
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| Timetable: | CIVL3812 Timetable | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Time Commitment: |
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| T&L Activities: | There will be two one-hour lecture sessions each week. Following each lecture session, tutorial sessions will be conducted. Since we are taking a problem-centred approach, it is not sufficient to totally rely on lectures. You should prepare for each lecture session by going through the nominated readings for each lecture session (See the learning programme page) before the lecture, digest course content and work on the problem set from each class. To achieve the learning outcomes, each student is expected to spend about 10 hours on the subject each week, including two hours on lectures, two hours on tutorials and six hours self study. In addition to attending lectures and tutorials, it is essential that you complete the online quizzes in time. |
Attributes listed here represent the key course goals (see Course Map tab) designated for this unit. The list below describes how these attributes are developed through practice in the unit. See Learning Outcomes and Assessment tabs for details of how these attributes are assessed.
| Attribute Development Method | Attribute Developed |
| Ability to work both creatively and systematically in developing effective, sustainable solutions to complex practical problems | Design (Level 2) |
| An ability to apply the basics of mathematics to the economic evaluation of engineering projects | Maths/Science Methods and Tools (Level 1) |
| An appreciation of the business context and financial considerations for engineering projects | Professional Conduct (Level 2) |
| In-depth skills and knowledge on the economic evaluation of engineering projects | Project Management and Teamwork (Level 2) |
For explanation of attributes and levels see Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table.
Learning outcomes are the key abilities and knowledge that will be assessed in this unit. They are listed according to the course goal supported by each. See Assessment Tab for details how each outcome is assessed.
Design (Level 2)
1. Understand the assumptions, pros and cons of each cash flow evaluation method and able to explain why a particular method is appropriate/not appropriate for a given project.
2. Understand the challenges of multiattributed decision-making and able to apply an appropriate model to a given project for effective decision making.
Project Management and Teamwork (Level 2)
3. Comprehend and relate to real-life examples the fundamental concepts in project appraisal (e.g. the meaning of time value for money, equivalence).
4. Calculate common financial indicators for a given project and explain the relevance of each to the appraisal of the project.
5. Understand how risks and uncertainties affect evaluation outcomes and able to deal with uncertainties and risks in analysis.
6. Apply techniques to account for the effects of inflation/deflation and exchange rates in analysis.
7. Understand the concept and mechanisms for depreciation and carry out pre-tax as well as post-tax analysis.
8. Understand the basic concepts in financing and be able to carry out basic financing analysis.
Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 2)
9. Rank projects by combining both financial and non-financial indicators (e.g. environmental and social).
| Assessment Methods: |
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| Assessment Description: |
Online quizzes: 24 online quizzes with 5 questions each. Best 15 results are counted towards your total mark. Mid Semester exam: 1.5 hours, covering content over the first seven weeks of study. Final Exam: 2 hours, covering all content of this Unit of Study. Participation: evaluated on the preparedness for tutorial problems and contribution to tutorial discussions. |
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| Grading: |
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| Faculty Policies & Procedures: | Academic Honesty in Coursework. All students must submit a cover sheet for all assessment work that declares that the work is original and not plagiarised from the work of others. Coursework assessment and examination policy. The faculty policy is to use standards based assessment for units where grades are returned and criteria based assessment for Pass/Fail only units. Norm referenced assessment will only be used in exceptional circumstances and its use will need to be justified to the Undergraduate Studies Committee. Special consideration for illness or misadventure may be considered when an assessment component is severely affected. This policy gives the details of the information that is required to be submitted along with the appropriate procedures and forms. Special Arrangements for Examination and Assessment. In exceptional circumstances alternate arrangements for exams or assessment can be made. However concessions for outside work arrangements, holidays and travel, sporting and entertainment events will not normally be given. Student Appeals against Academic Decisions. Students have the right to appeal any academic decision made by a school or the faculty. The appeal must follow the appropriate procedure so that a fair hearing is obtained. Note that policies regarding assessment submission, penalties and assessment feedback depend upon the individual unit of study. Details of these policies, where applicable, will be found above with other assessment details in this unit outline. All university policies can be found at http://sydney.edu.au/policy Various request forms for the Faculty of Engineering and IT can be found at http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/forms/ |
| Prescribed Text/s: |
Note: Students are expected to have a personal copy of all books listed.
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| Recommended Reference/s: |
Note: References are provided for guidance purposes only. Students are advised to consult these books in the university library. Purchase is not required.
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| Online Course Content: | http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au/current/undergraduate/units_of_study.shtml |
Note that the "Weeks" referred to in this Schedule are those of the official university semester calendar https://web.timetable.usyd.edu.au/calendar.jsp
| Week | Description |
| Week 1 | Introduction |
| Introduction— Time-Money relationship | |
| Week 2 | Application of Time-Money Relationship |
| Equivalence I | |
| Week 3 | Equivalence-II |
| Project Evaluation Methods | |
| Week 4 | Comparing alternatives-I |
| Project Evaluation Methods-continued | |
| Week 5 | Comparing alternatives-II |
| Depreciation and income taxes | |
| Week 6 | Price changes and exchange rates |
| Depreciation and income taxes-Continued | |
| Week 7 | Price changes and exchange rates-continued |
| Replacement analysis | |
| Assessment Due: Mid-Sem Exam | |
| Week 8 | After-tax Replacement studies |
| Week 9 | Dealing with uncertainties |
| Week 10 | Benefit-cost analysis |
| Week 11 | Risk analysis & DTA |
| Week 12 | Financing |
| Dealing with multiattributed decisions | |
| Week 13 | Project Appraisal in Practice |
| Revision | |
| Exam Period | Assessment Due: Final Exam |
Course Relations
The following is a list of courses which have added this Unit to their structure.
Course Goals
This unit contributes to the achievement of the following course goals:
| Attribute | Practiced | Assessed |
| Design (Level 2) | Yes | 22.22% |
| Project Management and Teamwork (Level 2) | Yes | 66.66% |
| Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 2) | No | 11.11% |
| Maths/Science Methods and Tools (Level 1) | Yes | 0% |
| Information Seeking (Level 2) | No | 0% |
| Professional Conduct (Level 2) | Yes | 0% |
These goals are selected from Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table which defines overall goals for courses where this unit is primarily offered. See Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table for details of the attributes and levels to be developed in the course as a whole. Percentage figures alongside each course goal provide a rough indication of their relative weighting in assessment for this unit. Note that not all goals are necessarily part of assessment. Some may be more about practice activity. See Learning outcomes for details of what is assessed in relation to each goal and Assessment for details of how the outcome is assessed. See Attributes for details of practice provided for each goal.
