SYLLABUS

SYST 530 - Systems Management and Evaluation

Fall 2007

 

Professor:

Dr. Philip Barry

Assignment Submission:

WebCT usage is required in the class; instructions are below.

Work Phone:

(703) 983-7826 �(with voice mail)

FAX:

(703) 993-1706 (SEOR Office)

E-mail:

[email protected]

Office:

Science & Technology 2, Room 111

Office Hours:

By appointment

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:

Thursday 7:20 to 10:00 p.m., Innovation Hall 134

Text:

Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, 9th edition (2005); Harold Kerzner. John Wiley and Sons ISBN 978-0-471-74187-9

Disabilities Statement:

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 993-2474.  All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC.

Grades:

35% - group case studies

 

25% - paper

 

20% - midterm

 

20% - final

 

Group Case Studies

The Group Case Study is the focal point of student effort within this course.� The group case study tracks one notional project throughout the semester, requiring students to develop relevant artifacts from the lectures.� Groups of 4-5 people will form during the second meeting of the class.� Each week the group will be given an assignment to develop an artifact that would be used to manage the case study.� Groups can meet during class time, but preparation will be expected outside of the classroom.� Weekly assignments will not be graded.� At the end of the semester the group will be required to turn in one notebook that contains all of the work products assigned during the semester.�

�         Status Reports � The groups will be expected to give status reports during the semester.� The status reports are part of the grade for the case study.� Everyone in the group is expected to present part of the status report.� Students should use the status reports to gain concurrence on weekly assignments.

�         Final Presentation � The final presentation will be made in class to a panel of outside experts.� The presentation will provide a broad overview of the work products and the strategy adopted during the semester.

Lessons Learned from Previous Classes:

�         Document Lessons Learned During the Course of the Semester � This will be one of your assignments for the final binder

�         Don�t get behind on your weekly group assignments � these will pile up and make the end of the semester very unpleasant if you do ignore them

�         If you have questions, ask the professor for guidance either informally (e-mail) or formally during a status brief.� Document the guidance given in your binder.

�         Set up a Yahoo Discussion group, Sharepoint site, �blog site or some other way to communicate electronically

�         Frequent communications within the group are essential

�         Some previous groups have appointed roles to group members with good success

 

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 will be an annotated outline for the paper which will not be graded but is highly recommended..� The second deliverable is the final paper that will be due 8 Nov 07.� The final paper must be at least 12 pages, 1 1/2 spacing, with at least 15 references.� Acceptable references do not include class notes or the Kerzner text.� The paper will be graded based on the original contribution of the author.� It will not be satisfactory to just document leadership styles, for example.� The author would be expected to compare and contrast leadership styles and give an opinion on the subject.� Students are expected to use a recognized technical format for the paper (e.g., ACM, IEEE).� The paper is expected to be conference quality; misspellings, poorly formed sentences, unsubstantiated assertions and first person prose are unacceptable.

Exams

Two exams:� The first will be in-class and will cover the first part of the semester.� The final will be in-class and will cover the second part of the semester.� Exams are open book and open note.�

 

Late Papers

Late papers will not be accepted and will be returned ungraded.� If business travel or other reasons prevent you from coming to class, e-mail your assignment or post it to WebCT by the time it is due in class and send me an e-mail explaining what you have done.�

 

 

CLASS SCHEDULE

Week 1>

30 Aug

�      Introductions

�      Discuss syllabus

�      Course Introduction

�      Lecture 1 � Systems Engineering Overview

 

 

 

Week 2>

6 Sep

�      Lecture: Chapter 2 - Project Management Growth: Concepts and Definitions

�      Form Groups

�      Introduction of Case Study

�      Group Assignment 1 � CONOPs and Requirements

�      In-Class Exercise

 

 

 

Week 3>

13 Sep

�      Lecture: Chapter 3 � Organizational Structures

�      Group Assignment 2 � Organizational Structure

�      In-Class Exercise

 

 

 

Week 4>

20 Sep

�      Exam 1

 

 

 

Week5>

27 Sep

�      Exam Review

�      Lecture: Chapter 11 � Planning

�      Group Assignment 3 - WBS

�      Group Presentation -1

 

 

 

Week 6>

4 Oct

�      Lecture: Chapter 12 � Network Scheduling

�      Group Assignment 4 � Networked Schedule

�      Group Presentation -2

 

 

 

Week 7>

11 Oct

�      Lecture: Chapter 14 � Pricing and Estimatng Techniques

�      Group Assignment 5 - Pricing

�      Group Presentation - 3

�      Annotated Outlines Recommended Due Date

 

 

 

Week 7>

18 Oct

�      Lecture: Chapter 16 � Trade-Off Analysis

�      Group Assignment 6 - Trades

�      Group Presentation - 4

 

 

 

Week 8>

24 Oct

�      Lecture: Chapter 17 � Risk Management

�      Group Assignment 7 � Risk Management

�      Group Presentation -1

 

 

 

Week 9>

1 Nov

�      Lecture: Chapter 20 � Quality Management

�      Group Assignment 8 - Quality

�      Group Presentation - 2

 

 

 

Week 10>

8 Nov

�      Lecture:� Personnel Issues

�      Final Binder Guidance

�      Group Assignment 9 - Personnel

�      In-class exercise

�      Final Papers Due! � No LATE PAPERS!

 

 

 

Week 11>

15 Nov

�      Exam 2

 

 

 

Week 12>

22 Nov

Happy Thanksgiving � No Class

 

 

 

Week 14>

29 Nov

�      Exam Review

�      Lecture:� Chapter 19 -Contracts and Procurement

�      Group Assignment 10:� Professor Challenge 1

�      Group Presentation -3

 

 

 

Week 15>

6Dec

�      Enterprise Architectures

�      Group Assignment 11:� Professor Challenge2

�      Group Presentation - 4

 

 

 

Week 16>

13 Dec

�      Final Presentations� No LATE PAPERS!