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:

pbarry@gmu.edu

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!