Faculty Contact Information:
Instructor: William Keller
Mailing Address: U of Maryland, Unit 29216, APO AE 09102
Email Address: wkeller@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
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Consultation:
| Please contact by e-mail for either a virtual or real chat. Am available by e-mail 7 days a week. | |
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:
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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. | |
Recommended Journals:
| 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. | |
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 - 89%
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. | |
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:
Participation 10%
Midterm Examination: 25%
Final Examination: 35%
Project Assignments 30%
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Description of Course Requirements:
Participation: In distance education courses, participation is required and graded. Distance learning is not self-paced work. Students are expected to participate in the weekly discussions, contributing to the topic question or Web exercise assigned by the instructor. Additionally, students are expected to respond to at least one other student's contribution. I will be highly active in the discussions in order to facilitate an interactive discussion and encourage participation throughout the term.
Submitting Assignments
· Graded writing assignments should be submitted as directed in the assignment or conference message.
· Conference topics are posted and discussed online as individual responses to a topic or thread.
· Responses to conference tasks are presented as directed by the instructions in the individual task.
The Course Long Project
(CLP = "Clip")
The CLP is divided into 5 (five) units, each with a different due date spread throughout the term. Please submit each CLP on or before the due date.
You will complete each section separately and submit it separately (as a Microsoft Word attachment) to your Assignment Folder on or before the due date. The due dates for each section of the CLP will be posted in the Syllabus/Schedule with reminders in each of the Weekly Conferences.
The description of the work to be done will also be explained in each of the Weekly Conference modules. You will not, however, be required to "put it together" at the end; moreover, I do not want you to put it together. Please pay close attention to the length of the suggested CLP assignments. I do not want any CLPs over 3 pages; most will be less.
Each CLP is 20 points. 5 of the 20 points for each CLP (CLPs-1 through CLP-4) are directly related to following instructions/directions, organization, grammar, verb tenses, pronoun use, spelling, punctuation, and writing competency and other requirements such as "late" submissions. Why? This is a requirement for the comprehensive exams and it is expected of graduate students.
Plan How to Succeed in a Web-Based Course
In this Web-based course, you employ two powerful complementary learning strategies: independent learning and cooperative learning. The graded assignments ask you as an independent learner to apply the advice in the textbook to assigned tasks. The conference topics also ask you to apply the textbook information to specific situations and cases. The benefits of cooperative learning come from your interactive participation in the conference topics and tasks. The sense of community that develops from frequent participation in the conference is a huge promoter of your success in this course.
Both of these methods of learning take time. To do well in this course, devote blocks of time regularly each week to independent and cooperative learning in Project Management. Set aside specific times when you will work on the reading and writing assignments and when you will log in to the course conference and respond to the topics and tasks.
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Course Schedule:
Week 1 25 – 31 August
TOPIC: Course Overview
1. Read all Topics in these sections: Syllabus, Course Content, and Week 1 of the Conferences area
2. Complete all Required Assignments in Week 1 of the Conferences area
3. Install and explore Microsoft Project
4. Read Chapter 1 of the text
5. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 1
Week 2 1 – 7 September
Topic: Introduction to Project Management
1. Read all Topics in Week 2 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 2
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 2
4. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 2
Week 3 8 – 14 September
Topic: Introduction to Project Initiation
1. Read all Topics in Week 3 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 3
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 3
4. Submit CLP- due 14 September
5. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 3
Week 4 15 – 21 September
Topic: Project Organization
1. Read all Topics in Week 4 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 4
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 4
4. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 4
Week 5 22 – 28 September
Topic: Introduction to Project Planning
1. Read all Topics in Week 5 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 5
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 5
4. Complete CLP-2 due 28 September
5. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 5
Week 6 29 September –5 October
Topic: Conflict Negotiation
1. Read all Topics in Week 6 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 6
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 6
4. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 6
Week 7 6 – 12 October
Topic: Budgeting and Cost Estimation
1. Read all Topics in Weeks 7 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 7
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 7
4. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 7
5. Complete Midterm Exam
13 –26 October MIDTERM BREAK
Week 8 27 October –2 November
Topic: Scheduling
1. Read all Topics in Week 8 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 8
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 8
4. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 8
Week 9 3 – 9 November
Topic: Resource Allocation
1. Read all Topics in Week 9 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 9
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 9
4. Complete CLP-3 due 9 November
5. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 9
Week 10 10 –16 November
Topic: Monitoring and Information Systems
1. Read all Topics in Week 10 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 10
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 10
4. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 10
Week 11 17 – 23 November
Topic: Control
1. Read all Topics in Week 11 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 11
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 11
4. Complete CLP-4 due 23 November
5. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 11
Week 12 24 – 30 November
Topic: Auditing
1. Read all Topics in Weeks 12 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 12
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 12
4. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 12
Week 13 1 – 7 December
Topic: Termination
1. Read all Topics in Week 13 of the Conferences area
2. Read Chapter 13
3. Respond to the Discussion Topic in Week 13
4. Complete CLP-5 due 7 December
5. Complete any other assignments or requirements in Week 13
Week 14 8 – 14 December
Topic: Conclusion of Project Management and Final Exam Week
1. Read the article in Week 14 of the Conferences area
2. Participate in the Discussion Topic in Week 14
3. Complete the Final Exam as required
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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:
Bill Keller has his MBA from the University of Maine and a BBA in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts. He has two years of Doctoral studies in Accounting at Ohio State University with minors in Industrial Engineering and Statistics. He is originally from Rockland, Massachusetts that is midway between Boston and Plymouth.
He has been teaching with the University of Maryland - European Division for 14 years. During that time, he has taught at Military Education Centers in Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia, England, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Turkey and Spain. He is normally in Rota, Spain where he teaches at the Navy College at Naval Base, Rota. He has prior teaching experience at Kent State University, the University of Toledo, Framingham (Mass) State College and Massasoit Community College.
He has prior work experience in both Public Accounting (CPA) and Private Accounting before entering the academic environment. During that time he had a successful small (only 2 horses) harness racing stable although was more successful when he was not the horse trainer. Professor Keller spent 3 years in the US Army with tours in Germany and Vietnam. Sports of all types are an interest area. Favorite team is the Boston Red Sox and roots for all Boston teams.
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