IT 425 Project Management (exists as
MSIS 425)
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Instructor: Roger Blake |
Office:
M/5-251 |
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Telephone: 617-287-7692 |
Office
Hours: Tue 2:30-4:00 PM, |
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E-Mail: roger.blake@umb.edu |
Thu 2:30-4:00 PM |
I
Course Materials
Information Technology
Project Management, Kathy
Schwalbe, Course Technology, 2006, ISBN 0-619-21526-7.
II
Course Background
It is rare to find any
individual, particularly in the field of information systems, who has not had
involvement in work on one or more projects. Information systems are most often implemented through the
use of projects. Yet, projects
involving information technology are notorious for failure. One study cited an overall success
rate for technology projects of 16.2%.
This 'success' rate was for the approximately 175,000 technology
projects embarked upon each year, with an estimated annual cost of $250
billion; further studies have shown similar success rates.
One of the causes for this
less-than-stellar track record is the lack of good project management. Studies
have indicated that the application of project management techniques is one of
the critical success factors for successful projects. (Other factors include top management support and user
involvement.)
This course introduces
students to the concepts involved in project management, including project
planning, cost estimation, project life cycles, work breakdown structures,
scheduling, staffing, and project management software tools.
III
Learning Objectives
The objectives of this
course are:
1) To introduce you to project
management as a discipline,
2) To give you an
understanding of the knowledge areas and the processes involved in project
management,
3) To familiarize you with
current software tools used in managing projects, and
4) To make you more successful
in the workplace.
IV Course Format
We will combine lectures,
mini-paper presentations, and the computer lab for this course. We will emphasize the material from the
text book as a guide to project management concepts, and illustrate those
concepts through cases from the text, cases from experience, and through
mini-papers and projects. The
computer lab will be used for applying project management software,
specifically Microsoft Project 2003. We will also make use of WebCT for this
course, primarily in order to distribute documents.
V Evaluation
There will be a mid-term, a
final, homeworks, mini-papers, and projects. The weighting of these for determining the final grade will
be as follows:
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Item |
Weight |
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Homeworks |
12% |
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Mid-term |
20% |
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Projects |
15% |
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Mini-papers |
18% |
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Final |
25% |
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Class Participation |
10% |
Note that participation is
important. However, participation is more than just showing up; you should come
to each class prepared, and be ready to ask questions. Project management is a
very wide field, and covers a lot of topics that can seem abstract, especially
if youÕve never experienced real MIS projects. There is never, ever a bad or
dumb question. At least, IÕve never heard one in all the time IÕve been teaching,
and remember that if you have a question, most likely others do too.
These administrative notes are in the form of
guidelines that will apply to our course; please make sure you have an
understanding of them:
l Under no circumstances will
the dates of exams be changed individually.
l All assignments that are
turned in late will receive half credit.
l Assignments are due at the
beginning of class.
l As with all courses in the
College of Management, this course is governed by the UMass regulations and
procedures regarding Academic Standards, Cheating, Plagiarism, and the
Documentation of Written Work as published in the Undergraduate Catalog. Students caught cheating or
plagiarizing will fail the course and a description of the incident may be
attached to his or her academic record.
l Students should be aware that,
at the discretion of the instructor, assignments may be submitted to plagiarism
detection software programs for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism.
Students in this course must be prepared to submit an electronic version of any
written assignment upon request of the instructor.
l If you do not understand an
assignment, it is your responsibility to seek clarification – please ask
questions in class.
VII Detailed Schedule
Here is our planned schedule at the outset, subject to change as the semester progresses:
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Topic |
Readings |
Due |
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Introduction to course, syllabus and to Project Management |
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Ch 1 and 2 |
Project Mgt, context of Project Mgt in MIS, SDLC |
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Ch 4 |
Project integration management, elements of a project plan |
Homework #1 |
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Ch 5 |
Project scope management, work breakdown structures |
Homework #2 |
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Paper presentations |
Colossal Failure paper |
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Paper presentations |
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Ch 5 (continued) |
Scope management, project charter |
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Ch 6 |
Time management |
Homework #3 |
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Appendix A |
Intro to MS-Project |
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Work in lab on MS-Project #1 |
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MS-Project, Pert and Gantt charts |
MS Project #1 |
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Work in lab on MS Project #2 |
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Ch 7 |
Cost management |
Homework #4 |
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Work in lab on MS Project #2 |
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No class - spring break |
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No class - spring break |
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Mid-term |
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Ch 7 (contÕd) |
Cost management |
MS Project #2 |
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Paper presentations |
Cost management paper |
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Paper presentations |
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Ch 8 |
Quality management |
Homework #5 |
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Ch 9 |
Human Resource management |
M-B profile |
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Appendix B |
PMI certification |
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Paper presentations |
Quality in IT paper |
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Paper presentations |
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Work in lab on MS Project #3 |
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Ch 11 |
Risk management |
Homework #6 |
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Work in lab on MS Project #3 |
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Ch 12 |
Procurement management |
MS Project #3 |
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Appendix E |
Project management simulation |
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Review for final |
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