MIS 34068 Fall 2012 Polites

MIS 34068:  Systems Analysis and Design

Fall Semester 2012

Section 001 – CRN 15676

Monday / Wednesday – 2:15 to 3:30 PM

Classroom:  BSA 205

Greta L. Polites

            Assistant Professor

Department of Management & Information Systems

College of Business Administration

Email:                   gpolites@kent.edu  (include “MIS 34068” in the subject line)

Phone:                 (330) 672-1166 (office), (706) 621-2073 (cell – 9am to 5pm)

Office:                  BSA A406

Office Hours:         MW 1-2 PM, and by appointment

Course Web Site:   BlackBoard

This course introduces students to the methods, tools, and techniques used to analyze and develop information systems in organizations today. It can thus be viewed as the cornerstone upon which all subsequent IS activities are based. If you intend to pursue a career in IS, the skills you learn in this class are designed to have immediate applicability. If you intend to pursue a career in another discipline, the knowledge you obtain in this class will help you better appreciate the role of the IS department in your organization, and better understand how to manage and support IS-related projects.

Some sections of this course (particularly the UML portion) will require you to work hard and devote a fair amount of time outside of class to developing the necessary skills. There will be a number of individual and group assignments in this unit designed to help you with this process, regardless of your prior background and exposure to these topics. Where UML is concerned, “practice makes perfect” is a fitting axiom.

A systems analyst shall be responsible for studying the problems and needs set forth by an organization, and for determining how people, methods, and computer technology can best accomplish improvements.

Most organizations expect systems analysts to be knowledgeable in three general areas:

·         Interpersonal skills: The systems analyst should be effective in both verbal and written communications, should be able to facilitate meetings, and should be a competent change agent.

·         Information systems: The systems analyst should be familiar with general IS concepts such as the systems development life cycle, prototyping, process and data modeling tools and techniques, rapid and joint application development, and programming.

·         Functional business areas: The systems analyst should be familiar with one or many of an organization’s functional areas (e.g., accounting, marketing, sales).

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

·          describe the basic concepts and principles associated with the systems development life cycle (SDLC), which includes systems planning, analysis, design, implementation, and support.

·          explain the roles and responsibilities of systems analysts in organizations today.

• use a simple CASE tool to create UML diagrams that accurately model system requirements.
• design and prototype forms, reports, screens, and user-computer dialogs which convey the look and feel of a new system to end users.
• apply what you have learned in a practical manner, by identifying a need for a new or improved IS in a specific local organization, documenting and modeling the business requirements for that system, creating and maintaining a project plan, performing a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed system, and presenting your final proposal before a group of your peers.

MIS 24053 (Introduction to Computer Applications) or equivalent

MIS 24065 (Web Programming) or equivalent

Minimum grade of C; may not be taken concurrently.

Systems Analysis and Design with UML (4^th Edition, 2012) by Dennis, Wixom, and Tegarden

Wiley Publishers, ISBN 978-1118037423

Points for the course will be distributed as follows.

Under no circumstances will "extra credit assignments" or "makeup points" be offered to individual students as a result of poor individual performance on an exam, quiz, homework assignment, or the course as a whole.  This is not fair to other students in the class. All grades in this course are final and non-negotiable. I do not curve (up or down).

Note: The group project grade will not be counted if all other individual grades are not at least at the C level.

Due Dates

All assignments are due at the beginning of class on their due dates.  Since we go over the answers to all participation assignments in class, I will not accept for a grade any handwritten work that is turned in to me after we have already discussed the answers, nor will I accept for a grade any electronic work that is emailed to me after I have already collected everyone else’s papers. I will check the timestamp on all emailed assignments to determine whether they were submitted by class time (2:15 PM). Homework assignments that are not turned in when I ask for them in class will likewise be considered late and will be penalized (a minimum of one letter grade) or rejected altogether.

Individual Work

Participation and homework assignments are to be completed individually. This means that you are not to solve problems together, compare answers prior to turning in the work, or otherwise use other people’s answers or previous work. Collaborative efforts on individual work are considered violations of academic honesty, and will be penalized accordingly.

Group Work

Assignments in this category are to be completed as members of a team. Team members should be available to help each other. If a team member must miss class, the other members of the team should make sure that he/she receives any notes and handouts from that class and is informed of any assignments or activities discussed during class. All team members are expected to participate in all team activities. Your team must be self-managing, and you will have the opportunity to evaluate your team members on their contributions at the end of the semester.  Please note that all group work must be original work, created by the members of that group specifically for this class.  Use of work by people outside of the group, or work previously done by members of the group, is not allowed and is considered a violation of academic honesty.

Group Project

The purpose of the group project is to provide you with the opportunity to apply the tools and techniques you have learned in class to a real world problem, within a project team environment. Your individual project grade will be calculated as a function of the team grade and your peer evaluations.  Restrictions on group project work are the same as those in “Group Work” above.  More detailed information concerning the group project will be provided in class and posted in BlackBoard.

Note on Group Project Grading: Group project grades will not be counted if other (individual) grades are not at least at the C level.  If you do not have acceptable performance on the analysis and modeling techniques tested in class, your project work will not help you.  You must learn these techniques!

Attendance

This course relies heavily on participation, and you cannot participate if you are not in class. The UML section of the course is particularly difficult if you do not attend class regularly. More than 3 absences without a note from the Dean will result in a 0 for your attendance grade.  Leaving early for a vacation or holiday trip is not an acceptable excuse, so please plan your travel accordingly.  Hangovers, incarceration, job interviews, and exams in other classes are also not acceptable excuses. Note that being in attendance means being in class when I take roll.

Attendance at presentations (both your own and those by other groups) is very important.  Students who miss a presentation will receive an automatic 50-point (2.5%) deduction to their overall course grade, unless they have received an excused absence from me. Grades for participation assignments and the group project may also be affected by excessive absences, so it is in your best interests to attend class regularly.

You alone are responsible for obtaining information from missed classes from other students and/or BlackBoard (this includes handouts and changes to course requirements, due dates, and the course schedule).  It is not my responsibility to fill you in on what you missed. Please inform both me (by email) and your group ahead of time of an expected absence.

When you enter the workforce, you will be expected to arrive at work on time every day.  Therefore, please show respect to me and your classmates by arriving to class on time. At the end of any class in which you arrive after roll is called, please see me and explain why you were late.  Attendance credit might or might not be given depending on the reason for being late, the amount of class time missed, and whether or not you have a pattern of being late.

Electronic Devices

Electronic devices (e.g., laptops, cell phones, smart phones, iPads, iPods) are a distraction to you, me, and your classmates. As such, the use of all types of electronic devices is explicitly forbidden during class time, except during class periods when we are using CASE tools for UML modeling exercises. I will notify you in advance when it is acceptable to use a laptop in class for this purpose.

Exams

Two in-class exams will be given.  Exams may contain objective questions, applied problems, and/or short answer/essay questions.  In the case of documented illness, emergency, or a University-approved event causing a student to miss an exam, a special makeup exam might be given or other arrangements might be made.  However, in fairness to all students, I must have documentation as justification for missing an exam – no exceptions!  This means that, for example, if you are sick with the flu on exam day, you need to go to University Health Services or another doctor because you will need a note from him/her to justify your absence.  Please note that I will not excuse anyone from taking an exam on the scheduled day/time simply because they have an exam in another class on the same day.

All exams must be returned to me for safekeeping after we go over them in class. If you leave the classroom with a copy of your exam (or if I catch you taking photos of an exam on your cell phone or other electronic device), you will receive a 0 on the exam and be referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Quizzes

Quizzes are intended to test whether class members are keeping up with the reading. They are intended to be easy if you have done the reading, and difficult if you have not.  A pop quiz is possible on any day that reading is assigned.  Pop quizzes might or might not be given during the semester depending on whether I feel that incentive is necessary to ensure that students are doing the assigned reading.  If given, each pop quiz will count as one of the percentage points out of the 10% participation portion of your course grade (see “Grading Information” above).

Participation Assignments

Each participation assignment, which is like a short homework, counts as one of the percentage points out of the 10% participation portion of your course grade (see “Grading Information” above).  Participation assignments are graded on an “effort” basis, i.e., you get full credit if it appears that you made a strong effort at completing the assignment and turned it in on time.  There is no makeup for a participation assignment, and you must actually attend class and turn in the assignment on time in order to get credit.  If you have an excused absence from class on the day that a participation assignment is due – defined as an absence of such a nature that you were also prevented from completing the assignment and submitting it to me by email prior to the start of the missed class – that assignment will not be factored into your course grade.  Please make a copy of each participation assignment submission and bring both the original copy and the copy to class on the day it is due.  I will collect the original from you, and you will keep the copy so that the assignment can be discussed in class.

Homework Assignments

There will be several (3-4) homework assignments, which each count toward an equal part of the 15% homework portion of your course grade (see “Grading Information” above).  Unlike participation assignments, homework assignments are graded for accuracy and completeness. Professionalism also counts, so homework assignment submissions should be neat, readable, spellchecked and grammar-checked.  Please make a copy of each homework submission and bring both copies to class on the day it is due.  I will collect one copy from you, and you will keep the other copy so that the assignment can be discussed in class.

The following policies apply to all students in this course:

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

2. Students have the responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Student Tools on Flash-Line) 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 Sunday, September 9, 2012 to correct the error.  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.

3. For Fall 2012, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 4, 2012.

4. Academic honesty:  Per KSU policy, “cheating” means intentionally misrepresenting the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., exams, projects, assignments) so as to accrue undeserved credit, or cooperating with someone else in such misrepresentation.  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.

5. Students with disabilities:  University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/ for more information on registration procedures).

This schedule contains a general layout of the course; however, changes will be necessary.  It is therefore important to attend class, monitor your email, check BlackBoard, and obtain notes from classmates when you are absent so that you remain informed.  Topics, assignments, and due dates are all subject to change.

Please note that for some topics, we will not cover all of the material in the associated textbook chapter. I will assign the exact pages to be read at the appropriate time in the course. Some topics will also be supplemented with readings from outside the textbook.