School of Information Systems & Technology
Faculty of Informatics
IACT451 IT Project
Subject Outline
Autumn Session 2007
Head of School –Associate Professor Peter Hyland, Student Resource Centre, Tel: (02) 4221 3606
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Subject Coordinator: |
Dr Akemi Chatfield |
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Telephone Number: |
02 4221 3884 |
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Email: |
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Location: |
Building 3, Room 104 |
Dr Chatfield’s Consultation Times During Session
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Day |
Time |
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Monday |
12:30 – 14:30 |
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Friday |
12:30 – 14:30 |
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Subject Lecturer: |
Mr. Wei Gao |
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Telephone Number: |
TBA |
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Email: |
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Location: |
Building 39, Room 217 |
Mr. Wei Gao’s Consultation Times During Session
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Day |
Time |
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Monday |
13:30 – 15:30 |
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Tuesday |
10:30 – 12:30 |
Subject Organisation
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Session: |
Autumn and Spring session, Wollongong Campus |
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Credit Points |
6 credit points |
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Contact hours per week: |
1 hr lecture and 2 hr tutorial. |
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Lecture Times & Location: |
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Tutorial Day, Time and Location can be found at: |
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Students should check the subject’s web site regularly as important information, including details of unavoidable changes in assessment requirements will be posted from time to time. Any information posted to the web site is deemed to have been notified to all students.
This subject is a group project, conducted under the supervision of an academic staff member(s). Staff members will propose real-world IT projects ranging from the selection and implementation of IT to the development and implementation of software systems. Involves: project planning, group coordination, seminars and individual presentations, research of proposed application domain, preparation of reports and, depending on the project, various system development methodologies. Students will form teams, each of which will design, implement and document a solution to one of the proposed projects. Teams will meet weekly with supervisors to discuss progress and problems.
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
1. gather necessary information about the domain of their problem
2. develop a project plan for a small group working on an IT problem
3. execute that plan to produce a viable solution to an IT problem
4. communicate effectively (both orally and in writing) the results of their investigation
5. communicate effectively with their team members
Attendance Requirements
It is the responsibility of students to attend all lectures/tutorials/labs/seminars/practical work for subjects for which you are enrolled.
Attendance and participation in lectures, tutorials and web-mediated activities is a requirement for the successful completion of this course. Failure to do so may result in a fail grade being recorded. A good indicator of satisfactory attendance is approximately 80% of the allocated contact hours. Attendance per se is not an assessable component of the course.
It should be noted that according to Course Rule 003{Interpretation Point 2 (t)} each credit point for a single session subject has the value of about two hours per week including class attendance. Therefore, the amount of time spent on each 6 credit point subject should be at least 12 hours per week, which includes lectures/tutorials/labs etc
Satisfactory attendance is deemed to be attendance at approximately 80%* of the allocated contact hours. Attendance rolls may be kept for lectures, TUTORIALS and laboratories. If you are present for less than 80%* you need to apply for special consideration, otherwise a fail grade may be recorded.
Students MUST attend their allocated tutorial unless they have the written permission of the subject coordinator.
Lecture Schedule (Subject to Variation)
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Week |
Lecture Topic |
Tutorial Focus |
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1 |
Introduction to IT Project annual course What is a Project? Why IT project management? |
No tutorial |
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2 |
The business context: Strategy, structure, management processes, people and IT Project structures |
Project team selection & PM roles The first assignment: Project scope statement Discussion: Project sponsors and other stakeholders |
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3 |
Project management competence Project team building, conflict and negotiation |
Discussion: “A case study: The education of Jerry” Introduction to interactive PM skills |
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4 |
Managing needs and requirements |
Discussion: “First things first: Prioritizing requirements” Introduction to Microsoft Project |
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5 |
Scope management
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Project scope statement: An example Student Project |
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6 |
Escalation of IT project scope: A major cause of IT project failure |
Student Project The project scope statement due |
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R e c e s s |
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7 |
Project selection and portfolio management |
Feedback on the first assignment Student Project |
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8 |
Risk management |
Student Project |
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9 |
Cost estimation and budgeting |
Student Project |
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10 |
Project scheduling |
Student Project |
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11 |
Resource management |
Student Project |
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12 |
Project evaluation and control Project closeout and termination |
Student Project Interim Project Report due |
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13 |
The subject & final exam review |
No tutorial |
This subject consists of a 1 hr lecture and 2 hr tutorial.
Subject Materials
There is a compulsory textbook for this subject: Hartley, S. (2003). Project Management: A Competency-Based Approach. Australia: Pearson Education Australia.
For further reading, students will find the following texts useful:
· Marchewka, J. (2003). Information Technology Project Management. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
· Schwalbe, K. (2006). Information Technology Project Management (4th ed.). Canada: Thomson Course Technology.
· Kapur, G. (2005). Project Management for Information Technology, Business and Certification. USA: Prentice Hall.
· Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/pmbok.html.
In addition, the following books may be valuable for writing proposals, specifications and project reports; effective project group work and meetings; interviews; communication of technical information; leading project team; managing conflict in project teams:
· Lewis, J. (1998). Team-based project management. New York: American Management Association.
· Davies, J. (2001). Communication skills: A guide for engineering and applied science students. USA: Prentice Hall.
These readings/references are recommended only and are not intended to be an exhaustive list. Students are encouraged to use the library catalogue and databases to locate additional readings.
It is important for students to read all the assigned reading materials posted on UOW e-Learning prior to attending lecture and tutorial.
This subject has the following assessment components, across the WHOLE of the subject.
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Assessment Items & Format |
Percentage of Final Mark |
Due Date |
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1. IT Project Scope Statement: Team |
5% |
Week 6 – Autumn Session |
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2. Interim Project Report: Team |
25% |
Week 12 – Autumn Session |
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3. Business Knowledge & PM skills: Individual |
5% |
Weeks 2 – 12 |
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4. End of Autumn Session Exam: Individual |
15% |
Exam Week – Autumn Session |
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5. Business Knowledge & PM skills: Individual |
10% |
Weeks 2 – 12 – Spring session |
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6. Final Project Report |
25% |
Week 12 – Spring Session |
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7. End of Spring Session Exam |
15% |
Exam Week – Spring Session |
Unless otherwise notified by the subject coordinator, all written assignments must be submitted electronically through UOW e-Learning.
Late Assignments
Penalties apply to all late work, except if special consideration has been granted. Late submissions will attract a penalty.
· A hard copy is also required with a SISAT assignment coversheet by assignment due date. The coversheet must be signed by all the team members certifying submitted assignment is in accordance to the University plagiarism policy requirement.
· All assignments are expected to be completed independently. Plagiarism may result in a FAIL grade being recorded for that assignment.
This Assessment Schedule Covers Both Autumn and Spring Sessions 2006
All assessment must be completed.
· Submitted material will be returned in tutorials.
· All assignments must include references using Harvard Referencing guide or APA (see the University library URL
stylehttp://www.library.uow.edu.au/helptraining/guides/citeharvard.html). Use one referencing guide of your
choice consistently for all your assignments.
All written work will be graded with the following criteria in mind:
1. the extent to which the question has been correctly interpreted and answered;
2. Originality;
3. Demonstrated understanding of the main concepts of the course;
4. Clarity and structure of written work and oral presentations;
5. The level of communication skills demonstrated
6. Awareness of the literature, which is measured in part by the quality, relevance and quantity of references included in team assignments.
Tutorial Structure
Some tutorials will have assigned reading tasks and discussions. The remaining tutorials will be allocated to team project work. Each group will have an appointment with the tutor every second week starting in week 3; this time (approximately 20 minutes) will be used for asking questions and to present progress reports. The last 15 minutes of each tutorial will be allocated as open time for general discussion.
Each team member will be assigned a role in the project by the tutor. Each role requires the student to work on different tasks. Although these roles vary, the success of the project will depend upon your ability to co-operate with team members in order to achieve the common goal. In particular, you must ensure that the project sponsor (i.e. your tutor) is aware of progress on the project. Business knowledge sharing and effective communication with team members and stakeholders including the project sponsor are a salient part of business knowledge and project management skills development in this annual subject.
During the session you may choose to manage this process with regular project reviews (e.g., held each fortnight with the project sponsor), after each meeting you might decide to prepare and post to UOW e-Learning the "Minutes of Meeting" etc. Students should ensure that this role is shared evenly. The complete set of "Minutes" must be appended to Interim Project Report and Final Project Report.
As partial requirements of the Interim Project Report and Final Project Report, students will also be required to provide a written individual report that outlines the work undertaken by each group member and their overall contribution to the outcomes achieved. This process report is designed to support evaluation of your contribution and your overall ability to understand and apply the concepts learnt during the session.
A ‘Project Scope Statement’ template will be provided in week 2 of Autumn session.
In Spring session, students are required to complete an RFP (Request for Proposal), which is a document commonly written by a company seeking bids from potential vendors on a project. As with any complex project, an RFP requires clear communication between the client and web developer in order for the client to receive accurate bids. The RFP serves as a base line of project requirements on which competing vendors may price their services.
Proposals shall contain, but are not limited to, the following sections:
Training Document
A training document will be required to support implementation. Details of the format and contents of the Training Document will be given in lectures and tutorials in Spring session.
Project Closure and Evaluation Criteria
All work completed in sessions 1 and 2 should be aggregated into the final report. Additionally, it is critical that the final report communicate how the project will be evaluated against its original business case, project plan, budget, time-scale and tolerances.
Special consideration
An extension of time for the completion of an assignment may be granted in certain circumstances. A request for an extension must be made to the Subject Coordinator via SOLs before the due date.
Scaling
Final results in this subject may be scaled. The scaling method that will be used in this subject is as follows.
If E is the student exam mark out of 40, and A is the student assignment mark out of 60, the student final mark will be determined as follows:
if E >= 40% of the maximum exam mark: then student final mark is E + A;
if 35% <= E < 40% of the maximum exam mark: then student final mark is /min/{E+A, 47};
if E < 35% of the maximum exam mark: then student: final mark is /min/{E+A, 42}.
Tutorial Readings
· Kutsch, E., & Hall, M. (2005). Intervening conditions on the management of project risk: Dealing with uncertainty in Information Technology projects. International Journal of Project Management, 23, 591-599.
· Dhillon, G. (2004). Dimensions of power and IS implementation. Information & Management, 41, 635-644.
· Khalfan, A. (2004). Information security considerations in IS/IT outsourcing projects: A descriptive case study of two sectors. International Journal of Information Management, 24, 29-42.
· Keil, M., & Flatto, J. (1999). Information systems project escalation: A reinterpretation based on options theory.
Accounting, Management & Information Technologies, 9, 115-139.
· Davenport, T. (2005). The coming commoditization of processes. Harvard Business Review, July, 101-108.
· Gillard, S. (2004). IT Project Management: A conceptual view. Journal of American Academy of Business
· Hartman, F., & Ashrafi, R. (2002). Project management in the information systems and information technologies industries. Project Management Journal, 33(3), 5-15.
· Horine (2005). Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Project Management. Que Publishing, Chapter 16, 201-211.
· Iacovou & Dexter. (2004). Turning around runaway Information Technology projects. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 32(4), 97-112.
· Lee, J., Huynh, M., Kwok, R., & Pi, S. (2003). IT Outsourcing Evolution: Past, Present and Future. Communications of the ACM, 46(5), 84-89.
· Department of Commerce.Acquisition of ICT Guidelines (2004).
· McFarlan, F. W., & Nolan, R. (1995). How to manage an IT outsourcing alliance. Sloan Management Review, 36(2), 9-23.
· Morris, P. (1996). Project management: Lessons from IT and non-IT Projects.
Further requirements/details will be advised in tutorials.
Students must refer to the Faculty Handbook or online references which contains a range of policies on educational issues and student matters.
Please note that if this is your last session and you are granted a supplementary exam, be aware that your results will not be processed in time to meet the graduation deadline.
Plagiarism
When you submit an assessment task, you are declaring the following
1. It is your own work and you did not collaborate with or copy from others.
2. You have read and understand your responsibilities under the University of Wollongong's policy on plagiarism.
3. You have not plagiarised from published work (including the internet). Where you have used the work from others, you have referenced it in the text and provided a reference list at the end ot the assignment.
4. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
5. Students are responsible for submitting original work for assessment, without plagiarising or cheating, abiding by the University’s policies on Plagiarism as set out in the Calendar under University Policies, and in Faculty handbooks and subject guides. Plagiarism has led to the expulsion from the University.
This outline should be read in conjunction with the following documents:
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Code of Practice - Teaching and Assessment http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/codesofprac/teaching_code.html |
Key Dates |
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Code of Practice - Students http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/codesofprac/cop_students.html |
Information Literacies Introduction Program |
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Acknowledgement Practice Plagiarism will not be tolerated |
Student Academic Grievance Policy http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/codesofprac/cop_supervision.html#8 |
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Special Consideration Policy http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/courserules/specialconsideration.html |
Code of Practice-Honours |
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Non-Discriminatory Language Practice and Presentation |
Intellectual Property Policy http://www.uow.edu.au/research/researchmanagement/1998IP.html |
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Occupational Health and Safety http://staff.uow.edu.au/ohs/commitment/OHS039-ohspolicy.pdf |
SISAT Internet Access & Student Resource Centre http://www.sitacs.uow.edu.au/info/current/internet_access_and_resource.shtml |
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SISAT Computer Usage Rules http://www.itacs.uow.edu.au/info/current/support/labs/rules.shtml |
SISAT Style Guide for Footnotes, Documentation, Essay and Report Writing |
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SISAT Student Guide |
Informatics Faculty Librarian, Ms Annette Meldrum, phone: 4221 4637,ameldrum@uow.edu.au |
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SISAT Subject Outlines |
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