M&IS 44044 - Systems Analysis II

Department of Management and Information Systems

SYLLABUS

Fall 2003

COURSE INFORMATION:

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:

COURSE MATERIALS:

COURSE OBJECTIVES, REQUIREMENTS & EVALUATION:

GRADES: Grades will be based on the following:

 The following scale indicates the minimum course percentage required for each letter grade:

Letter-grade determinations will be made on the following percentage basis:  A>90%; B>80%; C>70%; D>60%; F<60%.  A lower curve may be substituted at the discretion of the instructor. Grade curving is only done at the end of the term for final grades.  Do not try to anticipate the curve - target the score that will get you the desired grade on the straight scale above.  **Students are welcome at any time to inquire into their current grade status during office hours.

1. Quizzes: Each quiz counts the same amount and this grade will be based on the student's mean quiz score.  The lowest quiz score for a quiz that the student took will be dropped.  Quizzes missed due to unexcused absences will not be dropped. 

2. Quality of Activity Log Entries:  Each student will fill out an online activity log documenting meetings attended and project activities performed. Each student will also need to review their group members previous week's entry.  If you complete this task each week in a timely fashion and descriptions of activities are lucid and complete you should receive full credit for this portion.  If not, deductions will be taken by a subjective assessment by the instructor as to how serious the deficiencies are.  The type and number of activities performed is not a portion of this score (see peer and instructor evaluation). 

3. Quality of Analysis & Design of Application: All students on a team will be assigned the same score for this portion of the grade. Basic requirements and deliverables are:

• Requirements and Grading Points
  1. Timeliness!
  2. Completeness
  3. Cohesiveness
  4. Readability
  5. Content
• Deliverables
1. Investigation Report
2. Analysis Report
3. Design Report

4. Quality of Implementation of Application: All students on a team will be assigned the same score for this portion of the grade. Basic requirements and deliverables are:

• Requirements and Grading Points
  1. Timeliness!
  2. Completeness
  3. Cohesiveness
  4. Readability
  5. Content
• Deliverables
  1. Implementation, Maintenance and Review Report
  2. Fully functional, error-free application
  3. All your well-documented code

5. Peer Evaluation of Individual Performance: You are free to organize and run your groups in any way you like subject to specific guidance below.  Evaluations will be absolutely confidential.  Evaluations will be made on these factors:

1. Quality of work performed by the student.
2. Level of effort.
3. Participation in group meetings.

Evaluations will be done on a rating scale, ranging from 1 to 15, where one is pathetic and worthless, and 15 is perfect and invaluable. A score of 8 is considered minimally satisfactory.  It would be possible for a student to do superb work on a small part of the project (a 15 for quality but a 1 on effort) and receive a low overall grade due to effort level. As an additional measure students will rank their peers in each area from most valuable to least valuable.  I understand that you may feel all members were valuable so the "least valuable" may not be considered a poor outcome.  This is why both the rating and ranking are being done.  Students often resist this component.  The reason this is necessary is the only people that can evaluate a person's performance on a project such as this, with complete information, are the person's peers on that project.  In addition, it is common industry practice to use peer reviews, especially in project-oriented environments.  Most of you will have to, at some point, evaluate peers and/or subordinates in a business environment.  These evaluations may affect the person's career and livelihood.  Failure to be completely objective on these types of evaluations will likely eventually affect your career/livelihood.  This is good practice.

Evaluations in the third area will be based on the same scale, but reflect attendance at group meetings. A score of one means the person never attended a single meeting. A score of 15 means the person attended every meeting.

There are two rules in effect with respect to peer evaluations.

1. No one should turn in a low evaluation (below 8) of another group member unless I have been notified that this person is not pulling his or her weight. This notification should occur as soon as the problem becomes apparent. This requirement corresponds to the requirement most organizations have that an individual must be counseled if their performance could lead to dismissal.
2. Each member of the group must be allowed to play a significant part in the development and implementation of the project. If an individual feels that he/she is being shut out by the group, the individual must notify me early (the earlier, the better). This requirement does not mean that each group member must be involved in every aspect of the project, but it is meant to prevent one or two individuals from monopolizing the project and then giving poor evaluations later.

I will take care of any counseling necessary in response to problems of the types mentioned above.

6. Instructor's Evaluation of Individual Performance: Each student will receive two performance evaluation scores. The first performance evaluation will occur at midterm. The second evaluation will occur at the end of the semester. Both evaluation scores will be equally weighted.

• Individual performance will be evaluated on three measures: quality of work, level of effort, and level of participation.
• This evaluation will be based primarily on the weekly log entries as well as group members' agreement with these entries. 
• Attendance and participation in group meetings with the instructor along with other communications (such as email) will also be considered.
• Positive participation in the course's threaded discussion page (solutions provided, helpful hints, good web sources, etc.) will mitigate somewhat (and subjectively) against negative points in the above elements.

7. Final Presentations: Each group will present their completed project to the class.  Well-designed, informative presentations should receive full credit.  Deductions are based on subjective assessment by instructor.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE: 

The Following Policies Apply to All Students in this Course

A.     Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

B.    Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Friday, September 5, 2003 to correct it with your advising office.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

C.    Academic Honesty:  Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course.  Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

D.    For Fall 2003 the course withdrawal deadline is Saturday, Saturday, November 1, 2003.  Withdrawal before the deadline results in a "W" on the official transcript; after the deadline a grade must be calculated and reported.

E.    Students with disabilities:  In accordance with University policy, if you have a documented disability and require accommodations to obtain equal access in this course, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester or when given an assignment for which an accommodation is required.  Students with disabilities must verify their eligibility through the Office of Student Disability Services (SDS) in the Michael Schwartz Service Center (672-3391).