Faculty Contact Information:
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Telephone +44-1423-844364 (from outside the U.K) or (01423) 844364 (within the UK). I can also be contacted using the e-mail address at the top of this syllabus.
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Consultation:
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I am always available for private consultation via e-mail. Telephone consultations will be by appointment only. Please schedule telephone appointments ahead of time via e-mail.
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Required Texts and Readings:
Meredith, J. and Mantel, S. (2003). Project Management: A Managerial Approach. New York John Wiley and Sons.
PMI Standards Committee. (1996). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge Upper Darby, PA: Project Management Institute. (Note that the 1996 edition can be downloaded from http://www.pmi.org/publictn/pmboktoc.htm).
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Supplementary Readings:
The standard for papers in the graduate program is the APA style. All participants in this course and all graduate INSS, MGMT, PUAD, and ECON courses should have a copy of the style guide:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition. Washington DC: Author.All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills.
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Recommended Journals:
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Publications of the various professional societies (such as ACM -- the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE Computing Society, and the various management professional societies) are strongly recommended. In addition, there are many trade journals (such as eWEEK) that MIS professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on-line.
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Course Description:
3 semester hours credit. Prerequisites: Either INSS 530, INSS 540, or permission of the Program Director. Provides an overview of the project management process as it relates to information systems. Project management techniques and methodologies for information systems development are examined. Important issues addressed include scheduling, resource allocation, risk assessment, contingency planning, management and user reporting, and automated project management systems. A survey of automated project planning tools is included.
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Course Goals:
Upon completion of the course, participants should:
1. Understand project management as applied to management of IT projects
2. Be aware of automated tools available to assist in project management
3. Be conversant with general guidelines for scheduling and planning of software projects
4. Be able to identify several standards for software development
5. Understand and appreciate the difficulties of estimating software projects
6. Be able to evaluate outsourcing as an alternative to in-house development
7. Discern variations on the software development cycle
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
1. Define major terms and concepts related to project management
2. Describe current project management and related IS issues in a variety of organizations
3. Demonstrate basic project management proficiency
4. Apply project management principles to case situations
5. Evaluate project management tools
6. Increase teamwork wherewithal
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Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 90% +
B 80 - 91%
C 70 - 79%
F Below 70%
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center or online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs.
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Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
10% - Participate in online conferences and discussions
40% - Complete a written project proposal
25% - Complete an online open book/notes midterm examination
25% - Complete an online open book/notes final examination
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Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to engage in the online conferences. Usually this requires the student to log into the classroom five to six times per week for about a half an hour per session. Each week's conferences will have numerous informational topics as well as one or two mini assignments. In the mini assignments, students will be asked questions from the textbook, which they are required to answer to receiver participation points.
Additionally, each student will be required to prepare a written project proposal. Each student will be given a budget and a choice of four Information Systems projects to choose from. The student will then apply information gained from the course and any additonal research to prepare a detailed project proposal, which will include at a minimum a work breakdown schedule (WBS), a budgetary breakdown (labor, material, hours, etc.), a schedule, and other pertinent information.
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Course Schedule:
This schedule presents 15 units or modules, with each unit corresponding to a full week of DE. Please note that the midterm will occur in week seven of the term, with a break on week 8. The final examination will occur on week 15. So, although we have 15 weeks of class, we will only be working for 14 total weeks. The following course schedule is tentative, and may be modified if required. Every effort will be made to maintain this schedule, however I will notify all students in the event the schedule changes.
Week 1:
Introductions
Review of syllabus
Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements
Orientation to subject - Projects in contemporary organizations
Students should have read chapter 1 of the text
Week 2
Week 2 conferences - Strategic Management and Project Selection
Students have read chapter 2 of the text
Instructor will release project titles to students. Students
will select a project and submit their topic back to the
instructor in week 3
Week 3
Week 3 conferences - The Project Manager
Students should have read chapter 3 of the text
Students submit project topic to instructor
Week 4
Week 4 conferences - Project Organization
Students should have read chapter 4 of the text
Begin working on project proposals
Week 5
Week 5 conferences - Project Planning
Students should have read chapter 5 of the text
Continue working on project proposals
Week 6
Week 6 conferences - Conflict and Negotiation
Students should have read chapter 6 of the text
Students continue working on project proposal
Questions before the midterm?
Week 7
Online open book/notes midterm examination
Students continue working on project proposal
Week 8
Break!
Students continue working on project proposal
Week 9
Week 9 conferences - Budgeting and Cost Estimation
Students should have read chapter 7 of the text
Students continue working on project proposal
Students provide project review (update)
Week 10
Week 10 conferences - Scheduling
Students should have read chapter 8 of the text
Students continue working on project proposal
Week 11
Week 11 conferences - Resource Allocation
Students should have read chapter 9 of the text
Students continue working on project proposal
Week 12
Week 12 conferences - Monitoring and Information Systems
Students should have read chapter 10 of the text
Students continue working on project proposal
Week 13
Week 13 conferences - Project Control and Project Auditing
Students should have read chapters 11 and 12 of the text
Students continue working on project proposal
Week 14
Week 14 conferences - Project Termination
Students should have read chapter 13 of the text
Student project proposals due by the end of the week
Week 15
Online open book/notes final examination
Students read and comment on at least one other student project
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Academic Policies:
Please refer to the UMUC - Europe Graduate Catalog, available online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs/index.html or from your local Education Center, for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
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Faculty Bio:
James Helton is a Senior software developer and analyst working for Lockheed Martion Corporation. He has been the software project lead for several medium to large size information systems projects and has experience in the project management field.
He has taught undergraduate computer science and information systems management courses for the University of Maryland since 2001, and graduate courses for Bowie State University since 2002. He has an undergraduate degree in Information Systems (1997) and a Master's degree in M.I.S. (2000).
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