Syllabus

IT Resource Planning: IT343, Sections 2 & 3

Spring 2007

Professor James Moody email jmoody@gmu.edu Office Bull Run Hall, Room 122 Office Hours Wednesdays: 3:30 to 4:30 PM

Text:

Course Objectives:

1. Understand the importance of project management in improving the success of information technology projects.
2. Understand the constraints of project management.
3. Learn the project lifecycle, project management knowledge areas and process groups.
4. Learn tools and techniques of project management, such as:
   • Project selection methods,
   • Work breakdown structures,
   • Network diagrams, critical path analysis and critical chain scheduling,
   • Cost estimation,
   • Earned value management,
   • Team building.
5. Appreciate the importance of good project management and share examples of good and bad project management.

Course Structure:

The course will be conducted as a mixture of lecture and discussion. Students are expected to actively participate. Teams of students are expected to research a project management knowledge area and present their findings to the class. Students are expected to write a research paper on the management of a real-life project as a whole.

Assignments:

Assigned exercises are due as specified below. Exercises are more fully described in the assignment tool in WebCT. Late assignments will not be accepted. In some cases the exercise calls for a short paper to be written; such papers should not exceed 700 words.

Research Paper:

Students will research a project of their choosing (not necessarily, at least not required to be, an IT project) and write a paper (between 1500 and 2500 words) describing the management of the project in PMI terms, that is, mapping what was actually done by the project manager to what would have been done had the theoretical PMI project management structure been followed.

Presentations:

Developing presentation skills is important for everyone, plus it's a good way to share information. Students will sign up to be part of a team to present on each of the PMI-defined knowledge areas. Each student will prepare and present a presentation coordinated with the rest of their team on some aspect of their knowledge area. The combined presentations of the team should cover its knowledge area. Students should sign up for their preferred knowledge area as soon as possible: first come, first served. Presentations should be intended to run approximately 10 minutes. Presentations will be evaluated on coordination, content and delivery.

Exams:

There will be two exams: a Midterm and a Final. Both will be closed book, in-class. There will be no makeup exams for any reason.

Grades:

The numerical score is then translated into a letter grade using the following scale:
A: 94-100
A-: 90-93
B+: 86-89
B: 83-85
B-: 80-82
C+: 75-79
C: 70-74
D: 60-69
F: 0-59

Academic Honesty:

Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and may be punished by failure on an exam or assignment or failure in the course. They are also violations of the GMU Honor Code and may be reported to the Honor Committee.

Schedule: