SYLLABUS

SYST 530 - Systems Management and Evaluation

 

Fall 2004

 

Professor:�� Dr. Philip Barry

 

Work Phone: (703) 883-7826

 

FAX:�� (703) 993-1706

 

E-mail:[email protected]; [email protected]

Office: GMU:Science and Technology II

Office Hours:By appointment

 

Class Location:Innovation Hall 136

 

TA:�� TBD

 

Course Description:

Provides the necessary techniques for evaluating the cost and operational effectiveness of system designs and systems management strategies.

Performance measurement, work breakdown structures, cost estimating and quality management are discussed.

Configuration management, standards, and case studies of systems from different applications areas are discussed.

 

Course Hours:Tuesday 7:20 pm� 10:00 pm�������

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Text:�� Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Schedulingand Controlling, 8th edition (2003); Harold Kerzner. John Wiley and Sons ISBN 0-471-22577-0

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Class Website: TBD

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Grades:���������������� ����� 35% - group case study

���������� ����������������� ����� 20% - paper

����������� ����������� ����������� 15% - exam 1

����������������������������������� 25% - exam 2�������������������������

������������������������������� ��� 5% - class participation

 

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LATE PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!

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Grade Element Discussion

SYST 530 - Systems Management and Evaluation

Fall 2004

 

 

Group Case Study

 

The Group Case Study is the focal point of student effort within this course. Groups may meet during class time, but individual preparation may be expected outside of the classroom. There will be groups of several people self-formed during the second meeting of the class.On the designated weeks a different group will be assigned as the discussion leader for the case study.The group lead is responsible for sending out the presentation materials for the case study to the class and the instructor two days prior to presentation.For more detail please see the page entitled Case Study Guidance in this packet.

 

Paper

 

Each student will be required to write a paper on an area pertinent to this class (e.g. leadership, performance measurement, etc.). There will be two deliverables for this paper.The first deliverable is an overview of the prospective paper to include an annotated outline.This is an optional deliverable and will not be graded.However, it is strongly encouraged, as it has been shown to provide valuable guidance.The second deliverable is the completed paper and it will be graded.It will be due 2 Nov 04.

 

Guidelines:The completed paper must be at least 10 pages long, use no more than 1 1/2 line spacing, and contain at least 10 references.Reference pages, tables of contents, figures, etc. do not count towards the page count.References must be from academic or professional publications to include books, journals, conference proceedings, etc.; the class text, informal conversations or instructor notes are not acceptable.The paper will be graded based on the original contribution of the author.For example, if you chose a paper that examined leadership you would be expected to compare and contrast leadership styles and give your analysis not just document leadership styles.You are required to use a professional format such as one used in an IEEE journal.Do NOT turn in 10 pages of uninterrupted prose.

 

Exams

 

There will be two exams.Both exams will be in-class and will cover relevant material in the course.Both exams will be open book.

 

Class Participation

 

This class will be very interactive.5% of your grade will be determined by your active participation in class discussions and lectures in addition to your participation in formal status reviews for your project.Merely attending class is not considered class participation.

Description of Case Study

 

We will use case studies as a learning mechanism to explore the project management tools and techniques introduced in the lecture segment.Students will form into groups and will be responsible for weekly assignments that explore the aspects of the case study.The weekly assignments will be collected in a case study notebook that the students will maintain and turn in at the end of the semester.The professor will also provide problems within the case study that will require the students to use the techniques discussed in class to best learn the tools and techniques of project management.

 

As part of the case study students will be required to make several presentations in class.The presentations will focus on the project related homework assignments given in the previous week.Students will be required to present the problem, identify all of their relevant assumptions, discuss the approach taken, identify elements of uncertainty, and explain why their approach is the best approach that can solve the problem.Students will then lead a discussion with the rest of the class to solicit the views of their colleagues and explore angles that perhaps were not considered during their analysis of the problem.

 

There will be two case studies examined during the semester.Half of the groups in the class will work the first case study while the other half of the students will work the second case study.Collaboration between groups will be strongly discouraged; independent work will be rewarded.�� The students will be required to periodically bring their case study notebook to class. Each member of the group will be required to participate in the oral presentations.Part of your class participation grade will depend on your participation in the oral presentations.Additionally, on the final day of class all groups will make a presentation of their case study.Obviously, differing approaches to the problem are expected in that there is in fact no �right� answer.However solid engineering approaches based upon the lectures that we have discussed in class will be expected.We will talk more about the final presentations as the semester progresses.You will receive outlines of the case studies next week in class.

 

Intermediate work products for the case studies will be posted on the class web page.

 

Additional Sources

 

Additional Sources:There is a wealth of good literature available on the subject matter of this course.

 

         Harvard Business Review (super for the leadership and management portion of the course) and an excellent source of case studies

         INCOSE Insight (informal and short, but educational articles)

         INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal

         PMI Project Management Journal

         PMI PM Network

         IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics

         IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management

         IEEE Engineering Management Review

         DSMC Systems Engineering Fundamentals (http://www.dsmc.dsm.mil/pubs/gdbks/sys_eng_fund.htm)

         EIA/IS 731 Systems Engineering Capability Model (http://www.incose.org/lib/731-news.html)

Note that there are three main bodies of knowledge that intersect in this course:systems engineering (INCOSE, IEEE), leadership and management (Harvard Business Review), and project management (PMI).


 

CLASS SCHEDULE

 

Week 1>������������� 31 Aug - Introduction

�������������������������� ����� Background and Introductions

�������������������������� ����� Lecture: Systems Engineering Life Cycles and Processes

�� ����� Reading:Chapt. 1

 

Week 2>������������� 7 Sep

�������������������������� ����� Lecture:Requirements Engineering and Concept of Operations

�������������������������� ����� ADDIS Game

�������������������������� ����� Form Groups

��������������� ���������������� Introduction to the Case Studies

�� ����� Develop a Concept of Operations and An Initial Requirements

����������� Specification for your case study

�������������������������� ����� Reading:TBD

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Week 3>����������� 14 Sep

�������������������������� ����� Lecture: Planning the Technical Effort

�������������������������� ����� In-class exercise: Project Overrun (pg. 635) led by Instructor

�� ����� Develop a WBS for your case study � Trace to Requirements

��������������������� ���������� Reading:Chapt. 11.

 

Week 4>������������ 21 Sep

����� Lecture: Scheduling

������������������������� ����� Case Study Presentations

����� Based on the WBS, develop a schedule for your case study � ID

Critical Path

������������������������� ����� Reading: Chapt. 12

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Week 5>���������� 28 Sep

�������������������������� ����� Lecture: Organizational Structures and Staffing

�������������������������� ����� Case Study Presentation

�������������������������� ����� Reading:Chapt. 3 and 4

����������������������� ������� Design the organization structure program for your case study.

����������������������������������� Propose notional staff.

 

Week 6>����������� 4 Oct

�� ��� Exam I � Half Class

�� Case Study Presentation���


Week 7>���������� 11 Oct����������������������

���� Lecture: Pricing and Estimation

����� Based on the WBS and schedule, develop a cost estimate for your���

������ case study

������������������������� ��� Case Study Presentations

��� ������������������������� Reading:Chapt. 14

 

Week 8>���������� 18 Oct

���� Lecture: Risk Management & Technical Performance Measurement

������������������������� ��� Case Study Presentation

��� Based on the WBS and schedule, develop a qualitative and

������ quantitative risk assessment for your case study.Identify and employ

����� TPMs.

������������������������ ����� Reading:Chapt. 17

 

Week 9>��������� 25 Oct

�������������������������� ����� TBD

 

Week 10>������� 2 Nov

����������������� ������������� Lecture:Quality Management

������������������������ ����� Case Study Presentation

���� Develop a quality management program for your case study

������������������������� ����� Reading:Chapt. 20

������������������������ ����� Papers Due � NO LATE PAPERS

������������������������� ����� Homework: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

����������������������������������������� Send results to Professor by 26 Oct 04

 

Week 11>������ 9 Nov

����� Exam II � Full Class

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Week 12>������� 16 Nov

������������������������� ����� Exam Review

������������������������� ����� Lecture: Special Topics Organizational Design/Myers-Briggs

Personality Test

������������������������� ����� Case Study Presentation

�� ��Instructor challenge problem 1

������������������������� ����� Reading:Chapt 7-8

 

Week 13>�������� 23 Nov

�������������������������� ����� No Class��������������

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Week 14>�������� 30 Nov

Lecture: Decision Support Systems

���������� ���������������� Case Study Presentation

����� Instructor challenge problem 2

����� Reading:TBD

 

 

Week 15>������� 7 Dec

�������������������������� ����� Enterprise Architecture

�������������������������� ����� Course Evaluations

����������������� �������������� Reading TBD

�������������������������� ����� Final Presentation Format for Case Study Reviewed

�� ����� Optional Instructor challenge problem

 

Week 16>������� 14 Dec

�� ����� Case Study Final Presentations and Notebooks