IS 483 Information Systems Management

Summer II 2004 Loop Campus

Thomas E. Long   email:  tlong@cs.depaul.edu

Office:        Office Hours:  Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30 - 5:30 pm

 

Telephone:  630-258-0899

 

Course Description:

IS 483 is designed for all IT professionals who are interested in knowing more about how IS is managed, the roles 
that various professionals play, and the key issues involved in coordinating and monitoring IT activities.  This 
course looks at what IS managers do and how they do it.  In particular, this course details not only the role of the 
Chief Information Officer but also the roles of other various IS managers who handle the operational concerns.  
The course looks at how the fit between information systems and corporate strategy influences the structure and 
staffing of information systems.  Then, this course details the functions that IS performs for organizations, 
user training and help desk support, procurement and outsourcing, operations management, network management, 
and, lastly, human resource trends in compensation staffing and benefits.  
This course also looks at what constitutes good management behavior, how good managers spend their day, and 
the skills that IS managers need in contrast to the skills IS professionals need.

A major focus is the procurement process and another major focus is the use of Service Level Agreement for managing both services that IS obtains from vendors and services that IS provides to others.

Prerequisite: IS 421

Detailed topics with links to the web Packet pages containing the reading assignments are on        Weekly Topics Page.

Course Objectives:  

By the end of the course, students will understand the role of IS managers in an organization, will be able to analyze typical
 business situations, develop alternatives, select a solution and develop an implementation plan from the perspective of an IS
 manager; Students will analyze and determine the appropriate measures for various IS activities.  Teams develop a
 Request for Proposal and specify the overall content of a resulting outsourcing contract or individuals develop a Service Level Agreement for managing staff and outsourcers.  Students will also get tools for  evaluating and analyzing proposals from vendors.

Text

 There is no text book for this course.  

  Harvard Business School Case: Sturdivant Electric Corporation Case        (HBS 173-123)        which is available at the
 bookstore.  Only Required    for students who lack IT work experience for completion of Assignment 1.

 All readings are accessed through the web from the course web based packet pages  which are linked from  
 the right column of     Weekly Topics.

Session Format:

Short discussion on how this week's assignments fit into previous work or Briefing Panels

Short discourse on reading's highlights

Class continues with one of the following:
  a presentation from an outside speaker 
  discussion based on the weekly questions from that week's packet
  in-class exercises  
  short case studies

Overview of next week's reading and assignment.

Grading Breakdown:

Assignment #1:  30%

Assignment #2:  30%

Assignment #3:  30%

Class Participation:  10%

Grade Scale:

A+    99-100

A        92-98

A-        90-91

B+        88-89

B           82-87

B-        80-81

C+        77-79

C        72-76

C-        70-71

F        <70

Academic Honesty

This course adheres to the university policy on academic honesty. See Rules of the Game for more details.

Assignment # 1 (Individual)

Assignment 1 has the detailed specifications.  The student analyzes a personally familiar IS organization on its approach to IT human resource management by
analyzing its manager's leadership behavior, the degree of fit between the leadership style used and what the situation requires.  The student then determines
the effectiveness of the leader using the Flamholtz framework.  This paper is due in Class 5; this paper is not accepted on or after the week 10 session.

Assignment #2 (Individual)

Because the Core Knowledge Exam often occurs right after the end of the quarter, each student signs up for a subtopic listed on the signup sheet.  
Subtopics are grouped within the 10 topics listed in the  Core Knowledge Study Guide.     
The student picks a topic from the discussion forum list, updates the discussion forum with the choice with the resulting schedule appearing on the  COL Discussion Forum  
The student then finds readings on the web that relate to the chosen topic (the source) and update the discussion forum with article title and web address so no one else picks that paper as a source.  Therefore,  every source in a topic is different.  The source document must be at least 6 pages when printed.  If it is less, then another  reading is added to meet the six page requirement.
The student then prepares a briefing paper from the  source (see above) or sources. . 
This briefing paper  is in a modified outline format in MS Word with relevant references clearly noted as well as the source's title, authors, and web address. 
See the exemplar. 

The panel briefing outlines more detailed information than what the topic's lecture was able to cover.  The Panel Briefing does not repeat the lecture material found in the Lecture Notes on that topic.  Students cannot use any required or recommended readings as a source for their  panel briefing.

Those students signing up for the same topic, serve on a panel together.   
The  COL Discussion Forum  indicates the week that each topic is due.  No briefings are accepted on or after  week 10 session.  
The briefing paper is submitted on the session day indicated as an email attachment in MS Word.  

        Assignment #3 (RFP - team or SLS - individual)

        

A student can opt to join a team and prepare the RFP (Request for Proposal), or the student can opt to individually prepare a draft a SLA (Service Level Agreement) between IS and an internal department or between IS and one of its vendors.

RFP Option: 
Each team prepares an organizational analysis detailing relevant factors in the organization , the Request for Proposal (RFP), a cost-benefit analysis and the rationale for the vendor selected..  This paper covers some major aspects of procurement that center around the RFP.  Teams decide on the

The team presents the Proposal Process to the class in a short presentation and discussion.  
This paper, the presentation, and the completed peer evaluation form are due by noon on the day following the Class 10 session.

SLA Option:
Each student prepares an organizational analysis that gives background on the need for the SLA.  The student then prepares a draft Service Level Agreement which reflects not only the needs, goals, and  responsibilities of IS but also of the contracting partner.   The student includes the metrics that will monitor the performance.

The student presents the SLA to the class in a short presentation and discussion.  If the student cannot attend class then the student must make arrangements with the instructor to make a telephone presentation.
This paper and the presentation are due by noon on the day following the Class 10 session.


Detailed specifications are in  Assignment 3-RFP  and Assignment 3-SLA.

Participation

Based on attendance and contributions to discussion.  Questions in the packets are the basis for class discussions. 
 Therefore, by preparing answers to the questions prior to class gives the student the foundation for contributing to class discussion.  For those students who are unable to come to class, they can participate by addressing the discussion questions found in the COL Discussion Forum labeled Participation.  This forum has entries for each class session. 

Extra Credit:

Students who email instructor with a short summary of an interesting web reading
including the web address receive an extra credit based on the relevance of the reading to the course.  
The summary may be emailed to the rest of the class.

Late Submittals

All late submittals are penalized using the following schedule unless arrangements are made with the instructor using email 
prior to the assignment due date.  However, assignment 1 or assignment 2  must always be submitted before the week 10 session.

The penalty is 15% of the maximum assignment points  for each week late. 

For example if assignment 1 which has a maximum point value of 20 is 2 weeks late, 
then the grade is reduced by 6 points  or (20 points * 2 weeks * .15).  
So  if the assignment earned 19 points, it is reduced by 6 points for a final grade of 13 points.

Core Knowledge Exam

Please link to the study guide  
for information on the topics covered in the exam and the link to the current Core Knowledge Test Bank

* This syllabus is subject to change.  
However, any changes will be thoroughly discussed in class.  

Last updated by Tom Long 7/13/04