Revised: January 26, 2009
The Volgenau School of IT & Engineering
Applied IT Department

IT 343 Section 002, Wednesday 4:30-7:10 PM, Prince William Campus, Room 258.- 3 credits - CRN 14604
Instructor: Dr. William Pegram, wpegram@gmu.edu, Website: www.billpegram.com

Required Text and Reading Material:

Text: Schwalbe, Kathy, Information Technology Project Management, 5th Edition, Thompson Course Technology 2007. ISBN-10: 0-324-66521-0, ISBN-13: 978-0-324-66521-5. Do not worry about whether the book "comes with" Microsoft Project since you will have access to that through the MSDNAA. Price (including normal shipping and tax): www.ichapters.com (hardcopy $82.94) (includes free download of first chapter) or e-book ($46.49 - PDFs of chapters, typically good for 180 days), www.amazon.com ($83.65).

Case Studies: A packet of case studies from the Harvard School of Business is also required reading. The list price for the packet of cases is approximately $50.

  1. BAE Automated Systems (A)
  2. BAE Automated Systems (B)
  3. Singapore TradeNet
  4. Managing Conflict in a Diverse Workplace
  5. The Rise and Fall of Iridium
  6. Timberjack Parts
  7. A&D High Tech (A)
  8. A&D High Tech (B)

Course Objectives:

Course Schedule

The course schedule page can be found at www.billpegram.com It will be revised during the semester. If you miss class, make sure to check the schedule page for new material and changes.

Course Structure

The course will be conducted as a mixture of lecture and discussion. Most class sessions will be treated as two sessions: one devoted to a lecture, one to discussion of a case study. Students are expected to actively participate. A team of students will be assigned to research the case study and present their findings to the class as a foundation for subsequent discussion. All students are expected (1) to have read the case study presented and (2) to be prepared to participate in the subsequent discussion.

Writing Intensive Requirement

This course fulfills the University Writing Intensive Requirement for the IT major. It does so through requiring students to write two memorandums and a longer paper, described below.

Memoradums Memoranda should be approximately 750 words.

Longer Paper: Students will write a longer paper of approximately 2,000 words. A draft will be submitted, which will be reviewed and returned with comments. Finally, a revised version will be submitted adhering generally to the APA style guide.

Microsoft Project Exercise:

In conjunction with the A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success Case Study, students will create a plan in Microsoft Project. In conjunction with the follow-on A&D High Tech (B): Managing Scope Change Case Study, students will simulate execution of that plan using Microsoft Project. The MS Project exercise will be submitted and graded. Students may download a copy of Microsoft Project through the Microsoft Developers' Network Academic Alliance, to which the Volgenau School subscribes.

Presentations:

Students will sign up to be part of a team of no more than 5 people to present on some aspect of one of the Harvard Business School Case Studies. Each student will prepare and present a presentation coordinated with the rest of their team on part of their team's assigned case. The combined presentations of the team should cover its assigned case. Presentations will be evaluated on coordination, content, delivery and class response.

Grading Policy

Your grade will be a function of the 2 memorandums (12% each), MS Project Exercise (12%), Presentation (12%), 2 midterms (12% each), the longer paper (20%), and final (20%).

GMU Email

Emails sent to the entire class will be sent to your GMU email address. If you do not check this frequently, I suggest you set this address up for automatic forwarding to an account you check more frequently. To do this, log on to your email with a browser other than Internet Explorer 7 (in IE7, the options menu within email does not display). You may email the instructor from any email and I will customarily reply to the address sending the email.

Academic Honesty

Students are encouraged to help each other out. On homework assignments and projects, students may ask for and receive some assistance from others, unless otherwise directed by the instructor.  Yet those helping a student should avoid "doing the work" for the student.  No assistance is permitted on exams and quizzes.

ODS Statement:

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see instructor and contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at (703) 993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the ODS.