Faculty Contact Information:
Office Hours: The instructor will be pleased to make an appointment or see the student before or after class. Mr. Rowson is always in the classroom at least a half hour prior to class.
Telephonically: Call between 1000 and 2000, leave a message if necessary. 06372 803 228
E-MAIL: This is the best method to reach me. I am on line a great deal with DE. djrowson@aol.com
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Consultation:
| One hour after class or by appointment. | |
Required Texts and Readings:
Meredith, J. and Mantel, S. (2003). Project Management: A Managerial Approach. New York John Wiley and Sons.
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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:
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Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 92% +
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:
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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. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
10% - Participate in classroom discussions
30% - Complete graduate level projects or programming assignments, write graduate level papers or case studies and orally/visually present the prepared material
30% - Midterm examination(s)
30% - Final examination(s)
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Description of Course Requirements:
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EXAMS
The Midterm and Final examinations will include questions of the type which will appear on the comprehensive exams which are required of all graduate students.
HOMEWORK
There will be several homework assignments, solving selected technical problems from the textbook.
TERM PROJECT
The purpose of the term project is to give students experience in planning and scheduling a project, and in using project management software. The final deliverables are due during the last week of the term. Your work during the term should itself be managed as a project, with milestones along the way, beginning with the selection of a topic, then a proposal. Details of milestones will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Project Scope
A range of about 50 tasks. (More if you need them and can handle them.)
You do not need to have summary tasks and sub-tasks, but feel free to use them if it improves the schedule.
At least two resources.
A schedule complex enough to have at least three different paths between start and finish.
Deliverables
* A brief (less than one page) executive summary of the project, what it is about.
* A Gantt chart of the project tasks.
* A network diagram of the project tasks.
* Resource allocation, after leveling.
* Notes on any unique aspects of this project management plan, such as constraints, critical path, spreadsheet analysis, etc.
Possible Topics
If you use a "real-world" project, you may need to scope the INSS 675 deliverables down to fit the term deadlines, even though your real project will be quite large.
Examples:
A work-related assignment which could benefit from being planned and managed as a project.
A personal activity, such as a reunion, wedding, or major trip, which could benefit from being planned and managed as a project.
A hypothetical project, where you create the pattern of tasks, etc., to meet the scope requirements and make use of the techniques you have learned in this course. | |
Course Schedule:
Weekend 1:
Sat Morning: Introduction & Overview
Sat Afternoon: Projects in Contemporary Organization Chap 1,
Strategic Management and Project Selection Chap 2
Sun Morning: The Project Manager Chap 3
Sun Afternoon: Project Organization Chap 4
Weekend 2:
Sat Morning: Project Planning Chap 5
Sat Afternoon: Conflict and Negotiation Chap 6,
Review for mid-term
Sun Morning: Budgeting and Cost Estimation Chap 7
Sun Afternoon: Mid-term Examination Chap 1-6
Weekend 3:
Sat Morning: Scheduling Chap 8
Sat Afternoon: Resource Allocation Chap 9
Sun Morning: Monitoring and Information Systems Chap 10
Sun Afternoon: Project Control Chap 11
Weekend 4:
Sat Morning: Project Auditing Chap 12
Sat Afternoon: Project Termination Chap 13
Sun Morning: Project Presentations
Sun Afternoon: Final Exam | |
Academic Policies:
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The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Code of Civility
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.
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Faculty Bio:
Mr. Rowson has been with UMUC since 1994 as a full time instructor. He has served on Okinawa and in Central Germany as well as on-line in the states in North Carolina.
Mr. Rowson holds degrees in Anthropology, Civil Engineering and Systems Management.
Mr. Rowson has been associated with the military since 1967 when he served with the US Army Second and Third Infantry Divisions. He has 28 years of active and reserve enlisted and commisioned service. He last served in the first Gulf War in Operation Provide Comfort and Desert Storm as an Asst. G-5 for the Seventh Corps.
Mr Rowson has extensive experience in Association Management and The Aerospace Industry, where he was a Systems Engineer with the Grumman Corporation on the Space Station Freedom Project.
Mr. Rowson is a veteran who understands the sacrifice made by the current serviceperson. It is a pleasure to be able to serve you all.
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