George Mason University
School of Information Technology and Engineering
Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research
SYSTEMS DEFINITION AND COST MODELING
SYST510-001 72861 – Fall 2007
Wednesdays 7:20pm to 10:00 pm - Location: Thompson Hall 110
Aug 27, 2007 - Dec 18, 2007
Syllabus

Professor: Dr. Tan N. Nguyen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DrTanNguyen)
Telephone: (703) 993-1670 (GMU) or (703) 338-7935 (C)
E-mail: tnguy1@gmu.edu
Office Hours: By appointment
Home Page: http://classweb.gmu.edu/classweb/tnguy1 (public)
and http://webct.gmu.edu/ (for SYST510 webct registered students only)

Course Description
SYST 510 Systems Definition and Cost Modeling (3:3:0).
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Comprehensive examination of the methods and processes for the identification and representation of system requirements. Investigation of the systems acquisition life cycle with emphasis on requirements definition, including functional problem analysis. Examination of the systems engineering definition phase including requirements, problem analysis, definition, and functional economics. Specification of functional and nonfunctional requirements, and associated requirements prototyping. Functional economic analysis, including the use of prevailing cost estimation models and planning and control of common operating environments. Lecture and group project including creation of requirements and use of cost estimation model. Case studies of some current U.S. Federal governmental or commercial enterprises are presented. In addition, the professor will discuss topics related to "real-life" project management, enterprise architecture, enterprise integration, systems engineering, enterprise engineering, and some practical issues with solutions from his experience in large scale systems development, operating systems, data communications, computer networks, and distributed systems integration.

WebCT Requirements
WebCT usage is required in the class: http://webct.gmu.edu/ Students need a WebCT ID and password to login. Their WebCT ID is their Mason mail user name (e.g. the WebCT ID for jdoe@gmu.edu would be jdoe). All assignments have due dates and submissions after the due date/time will not be possible, since WebCT will automatically block “submit my homework” option. From time to time, WebCT works too slowly. Especially from a dial-up internet connection, WebCT access may not be so efficient all the time; students are encouraged to submit their work earlier than the deadline. If you experience any problem while accessing/using WebCT, please send an e-mail to Dr. Tan Nguyen, tnguy1@gmu.edu

Honor Code
Honor Code procedures will be strictly adhered. Students are required to be familiar with the honor code. You must not utilize unauthorized material or consultation in responding to your tests, homework, and assignments. There are several web sites that publish homework solutions, project assignment programs, etc. Numerous professors used the homework solutions from the textbook as their standard grading keys and also published the solutions on the Internet. You may use those solutions as references but you are not allowed to copy them directly. Violations of the honor code will be reported. Obvious honor code violations (exact copy of work, etc) will be graded as 0/100 (zero percent).

Textbook
Systems Analysis and Design, 3rd Edition
Alan Dennis, Indiana Univ.
Barbara Haley Wixom, Univ. of Virginia
Roberta M. Roth, Univ. of Northern Iowa
ISBN: 978-0-471-72257-1
©2006
576 pages

Grades:	10% - homework
	5% - Statement of Work (SOW) Development
	15% - Presentation
	25% - Product Deliverables
	20% - Midterm Exam
	25% - Final Exam

The following table is used to convert the final numerical grade to a letter grade:  

Grade G	Letter Grade
[96,100]	A+ or A
[92,96)	A-
[87,92)	B+
[82,87)	B
[77,82)	B-
[51,77)	C
[0, 50)	F

IMPORTANT NOTE:  It requires an exceptionally challenging performance to earn 92% or greater

There will be 4 homework assignments, a group project, a midterm exam, and a final exam. The midterm exam will be a take home exam, and the final exam will be both take-home and in class (open book). Students will be formed in groups. Each group will present an in-class presentation and submit project deliverables.

Group Project

The Group Project is the focal point of student effort within this course. Although groups may be able to meet during class time occasionally, the majority of effort toward the group projects will be expended outside of class. There will be groups of several people self-formed during the first meeting of the class. Each group will have two roles: User Group and Requirements Group.

Beginning User Group Activities: As a user, the group will formulate a Statement of Work (SOW) that they will pass to their “requirements group”. Requirements groups will be assigned after the SOW is completed.

Beginning Requirement Group Activities: Each group will exchange their SOW with their assigned requirements group. The SOW that they receive from their requirements group will form the basis for their role as a Requirement Group. In this role, they will

· study the SOW they have received,

· elicit requirements from the requirements group to develop a Systems Requirement Specification (SRS) including problem analysis and system definition models,

· run cost models and document their final SRS.

Each member of the group will be required to run a different cost model (e.g. COCOMO2, CostXpert, etc.) This individual run of the model will constitute the second test for the course. The final analysis of the cost models will be a comparison of the individual models with a determination by the group of the final estimation they submit. Their requirements group will be doing these same functions with the SOW they receive.

Ending User Group Activities: After completion of the SRS and cost models, the requirements groups will again exchange documents: the SRS and Cost Model document. In the User Group role, each group will evaluate the products of their requirements group. A recommended evaluation strategy will be given to you.

Ending Requirement Group Activities: At the end of the semester, each group will present their work including the SRS and Cost Models. Groups will be required to hand in their final package to the professor including:

· original annotated SOW they wrote,

· preliminary annotated SRS,

· final SRS,

· group Cost Model evaluation, and

· evaluation of Requirements Group SRS and Cost Models.

In addition, each person in class will be required to do an evaluation of the other members of their group. The format of this is contained in a separate handout. This evaluation will be private. It should be included in a sealed envelope with student signature across flap as part of the final package.

SCHEDULE DRAFT (To be Finalized)

Week 1	Aug. 27	¨ Handout syllabus, Honor Code, WebCT ¨ Groups: Form Groups, Work on SOW
Week 2	Sept. 5	¨ Lecture: Requirements Engineering Processes [Chapters 1] ¨ Groups: Work on SOW
Week 3	Sept. 12	¨ Lecture: Requirements Engineering Processes [Chapter 2] ¨ Lecture: Requirements Elicitation, Analysis, Validation [Chapters 3, 4] ¨ New Topics ¨ Groups: Work on SOW ¨ Homework #1 Release
Week 4	Sept. 19	¨ Lecture: Requirements Elicitation, Analysis, Validation [Chapters 3, 4] ¨ Modern Topics ¨
Week 5	Sept. 26	¨ Lecture: Requirements Management, Methods [Chapters 5, 6] ¨ Groups: SOW (via WebCT) due to professor ¨ Groups: presentation of SOW ¨ Groups: SOW returned; Requirements Group assignments given; Bring copy of SOW to class to give to your Requirements Group
Week 6	Oct. 43	¨ Lecture: Requirements Management, Methods [Chapters 5, 6] ¨ Modern Topics ¨ Groups: Requirements elicitation & SRS writing
Week 7	Oct. 10	¨ Lecture: Non-Functional Requirements [Chapters 7, 8] ¨ New Topics ¨ Groups: Requirements elicitation & SRS writing ¨ Homework #2 Release
Week 8	Oct 17	¨ Lecture: Non-Functional Requirements [Chapters 7, 8] ¨ Groups: Preliminary SRS due to professor (via WebCT)
Week 9	Oct 24	¨ Midterm Examination Release
Week 10	Oct. 31	¨ Lecture: Cost Modeling ¨ Modern Topics ¨ Groups: Return preliminary SRS; SRS revision and cost models ¨ Midterm Examination Due
Week 11	Nov. 7	¨ Lecture Cost Modeling ¨ Groups: SRS revision and cost models
Week 12	Nov. 14	¨ Lecture: Cost Modeling ¨ Modern Topics
	Nov. 21	¨ Thanksgiving Recess: No Class
Week 13	Nov. 28	· Lecture: Cost Modeling · Groups: Exchange SRS and cost models with Requirements Group; final presentation preparation and evaluation of requirements group SRS & cost models
Week 14	Dec. 5	¨ Student group presentations of final SRS and cost model ¨ Take-home Final Exam Part 1 (covers Cost Modeling)
Week 15	Dec. 12	¨ Final Part 1: Individual Cost Models due (hard copy only) ¨ Final Part 2: Group Deliverables Due: to include SOW and Evaluation for each project from Users Group as well as SRS, Cost Model, and Final SRS for each project from Requirements Group