Information and Telecommunication Systems 644
Strategic Issues
SPRING QUARTER 2012
CALL #12502
Instructor: Dr. Phyllis Bernt
Office: Lindley Hall 296
Phone: 593-0020
E-mail:
Office Hours: 2:00 – 3:00 pm MW; 3:00-4:00 pm TTH, and by appointment
Course Web Site: http://www.its.ohiou.edu/bernt/ITS644/index.htm
Reading Materials:
· Phillips, J. IT Project Management on Track from Start to Finish.
· Course materials available through the course website; the class
password is required.
Class Meetings (Lindley 298): 1:10-3:00 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays
Objectives:
This course deals with strategic issues involved in deploying voice, data, and information technologies and services within user organizations and by vendor enterprises. The topics covered in the course include IT governance, basics of project management, the RFP process, IT compliance, and disaster recovery/business continuity planning. The desired outcomes for the course are that you gain the ability to explain issues involved in IT governance, outline the various components of the project management process, draft and respond to an RFP, explain the issues involved in IT compliance, explain the need for disaster recovery/business continuity planning, and explain the steps involved in establishing disaster recovery/business continuity plans.
Attendance:
This is a graduate class, and as such, class attendance is required. Lack of attendance will be reflected in the course grade.
Academic Misconduct:
The Ohio University code of student conduct, as outlined in the Graduate Catalog, prohibits any form of academic dishonesty, cheating or plagiarism. The Catalog defines academic misconduct as including “dishonesty in assignments or examinations (cheating); presenting the ideas or the writing of someone else as your own (plagiarism); or knowingly furnishing false information to the University by forgery, alteration, or misuse of University documents, records, or identification. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, permitting another student to plagiarize or cheat from your work; submitting an academic exercise (written work, printing, sculpture, computer program) that has been prepared totally or in part by another; acquiring improper knowledge of the contents of an exam; using unauthorized material during an exam; submitting the same paper in two different courses without the knowledge and consent of your professors; or submitting a forged grade change slip.” Students are encouraged to review this section of the Catalog and to be aware that such action can result in a failing grade, or even in expulsion, depending on the seriousness of the offense.
In-Class Conduct:
Students are expected to come to class prepared to participate and to behave in a professional manner. Reading newspapers, having private conversations, sleeping in class, or other activities during class are distracting to others. Any such improper behavior will be corrected. Students are asked to turn off their cell phones and to confine any laptop use to note taking.
Course Requirements:
RFP Team project 150 points
Compliance paper 50 points
Project Management exercises (10@10 pts.) 100 points
Reading reflections* (15@ 10 pts.) 150 points
450 points
*does not include readings on RFPs or “Detailed Risk Assessment Report”
Grading:
Grades will be assigned according to the following grading scale, translated into percentages:
90-92 / A- / 70-72 / C-
87-89 / B+ / 67-69 / D+
83-86 / B / 63-66 / D
80-82 / B- / 60-62 / D-
77-79 / C+ / 59—0 / F
Attendance and class participation will also be considered in the final grade.
Schedule of Class Meetings:
There are several major themes that will be addressed in this course, and the syllabus is roughly divided into sections to reflect those themes.
Tuesday, Mar 27 Introduction to the course
The strategic role of IT in user organizations has become a question of increasing interest and controversy over the past several years. Associated with this question is the issue of IT governance within user organizations.
Thursday, Mar 29 Read “IT Doesn’t Matter” and “How We Got Into This Mess—Learn from the Past,” and “Introduction: Make IT Matter!”
Tuesday, April 3 Read “Five Key IT Decisions: Making IT a Strategic Asset” and “Information Technology Governance in Higher Education” and “Corporate Governance of IT: A Framework for Development”
Thursday, April 5 Read “IT Governance Archetypes for Allocating Decision Rights” and “A Conceptual Framework for the Integration of IT Infrastructure Management, IT Service Management, and IT Governance” and “Global IT Management: Structuring for Scale, Responsiveness, and Innovation”
The issue of compliance is increasingly important for IT departments in user organizations, especially in the financial and health fields
Tuesday, April 10 Read “IT Compliance and Control” and “Global Report on the Status of IT Compliance Processes” and “The IT Compliance Equation: Understanding the Elements”
Thursday, April 12 Compliance framework papers due
Incidents like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have made disaster recovery and business continuity planning increasingly important and IT plays a major role in these processes.
Tuesday, April 17 Read “Information Technology Disaster Recovery Plan: Case Study” and “Dispelling 10 Common Disaster Recovery Myths: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina and Other Disasters”; also read “Information Technologies for Business Continuity: an Implementation Framework”
.
Thursday, April 19 Look at “Detailed Risk Assessment Report”
Accenture RFP distributed
The RFP process plays an important role in purchasing activities, especially in government procurement. RFPs are important to the user organizations who issue them and to the IT providers who respond to them. This section of the course will deal with RFPs through the Accenture challenge project.
Tuesday, April 24 Read “The Paradox of Telecom RFPs,” How to Write an RFP”, “Writing a RIM Request for Proposal” and “The Model RFP” (They’re all short)
Thursday, April 26 Accenture Vendor Q&A
Tuesday, May 1 No class meeting; work on RFP responses
Thursday, May 3 No class meeting; work on RFP responses
Tuesday, May 8 RFP responses due by email to Accenture by 6:00 PM EST
Thursday, May 10 Presentation of RFP’s to Accenture; also ITS Day
Project management is an important area both in user organizations and in IT provider companies. Being able to deliver a project on time and on budget is a valuable skill.
Tuesday, May 15 Read “Initiating the Project” and “Planning the Project” in IT Project Management
Thursday, May 17 Read “Working with Management” and “Managing the Project Scope”
Tuesday, May 22 Read “Creating the Budget” and “Building the Project Plan”
Thursday, May 24 Read “Organizing a Project Team” and “Managing Teams”
Tuesday, May 29 Read “Implementing the Project Plan” and “Revising the Project Plan”
Thursday, May 31 Read “Enforcing Quality” and “Completing the Project”
Thursday, June 7 12:20 – 2:20 ; scheduled final exam period; may be used as a catch up day if needed
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