| Dr. Murali Shanker, A401 BSA |
| E-mail: mshanker@kent.edu |
| Phone: (330) 672-1165 |
| Class Times: Section 001 : 1:45--3:00 T, TH, 210 BSA; Section 002 : 5:30--6:45 T, TH, 206 BSA |
Flashline: http://flashline.kent.edu
Course WebCT: http://class.kent.edu/SCRIPT/ksu1670/scripts/serve_home
Syllabus: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~mshanker/Classes/SylF04_SysAna_I.htm
Study Guides: Modern
Systems Analysis & Design; Essentials
of Systems Analysis & Design
Wiki: http://tnc.bsa.kent.edu/cgi-bin/wiki.pl
Oracle Tutorial:
http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/bp/app/hoffer/oracle/tutorial/
Oracle License Agreement (click
on Terms and Conditions, Choose country, and then Students under search results)
This is an introductory course in Systems Analysis and Design. Students will be presented with the concepts, techniques, and methodologies that are required for the successful development of information systems. Both theoretical and applied aspects of the field will be emphasized.
Last day to drop a course: 6 November 2004
Prerequisites: M&IS 24053, Introduction to Computer Applications.
Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being
deregistered from the class.
Enrollment: It is the student’s responsibility to ensure proper enrollment in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure proper enrollment. Should you determine an error in your class schedule, you have until 11 September 2004 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.
Students With Disabilities: University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have 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 the Student Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit http://www.kent.edu/sds for more information on registration procedures).
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 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.
There will be 9 quizzes, 3 examinations, 1 project, and 4 cases. All quizzes, examinations, and projects will be taken online. Examinations and quizzes will consist mainly of multiple choice questions. In some cases, you may get questions that will require you to match the answer to the question, or even a short-answer question. All online testing material can be found at the course web site on WebCT, and can be taken from anywhere (home, work, school, BSA computer labs, in the airport, from a hammock sipping Guava juice, etc.) the student has access to the Web. All tests are open-book, open notes, but before taking any test, the student will be asked to indicate his/her agreement to an Academic Honesty Statement. This statement will certify that the student agrees to abide by university rules on cheating, and any failure to do so will result in a failing grade. Thus, for example, while you are allowed to use books and notes for the tests, it is cheating if you ask other students to help you while taking the tests. This statement is available online at your course website. Do this first before doing anything else.
Quizzes: There are 9 quizzes for this class. Only the best 8 quizzes will count towards your grade. Each quiz is worth 10 points. The amount of time allotted for each quiz may vary, but will typically be around 25 minutes. You will have only one attempt to take each quiz. Results for the quizzes will be known only after the quiz closes for all students. For each chapter of your book, there is a companion study guide that provides multiple-choice, true-or-false, and essay questions. This study guide can be accessed from within WebCT for each chapter, or just use the links at the top of this syllabus. The maximum points from quizzes is 80.
Examinations: There will be three examinations. Only the best two of the three examinations will count towards the course grade. Each examination is worth 50 points. Each exam (including the final) will take approximately 75 minutes. All examinations are cumulative. You will have only one attempt to take each examination. Results for the examination will be known only after the examination closes for all students. The maximum points from examinations is 100.
Projects: There will be one project worth 30 points. Projects will be done in groups, and will use a collaborative open tool called Wiki (http://tnc.bsa.kent.edu/cgi-bin/wiki.pl). Unlike most technological implementations for collaboration, Wiki sites allow any student to view and edit any wiki page. Thus, if this syllabus were posted on a wiki site, you could edit it. Topics for the project will be assigned in class. Projects will be graded based on their content, accuracy, and the organization according to the following breakdown:
That is, a project should be well written, organized, and informative. In addition, individual contributions will be taken into account while grading the project. Thus, it is possible that not all members of the group get the same score for the project. The maximum points from projects is 30.
Cases: There will be 4 cases. Many of the cases will be done in groups. Topics for the cases will be assigned in class. While class time will be dedicated for the groups to discuss the cases, work will also have to be done outside of classes to complete them. Cases will be graded on their content, accuracy, organization, and presentation. Each case is worth 25 points, and will assigned as follows:
The maximum points from cases is 100.
Thus, the maximum points for this course is 310 (100 + 80 + 30 + 100).
Attendance: It is not mandatory to attend classes, except when cases are discussed. Students are required to attend all case-related class and lab days to get any credit for the cases.
Groups: Projects and cases will be conducted by groups. Your instructor (i.e., me :-)) will randomly assign each student to a group. Results of this assignment will be posted on your WebCT site.
Dates and Timings: Test (quizzes, examinations, projects, and cases) dates are posted at your course website, and also given below. Tests can be taken at any time during which they are available. As a warning, please do not wait until the last minute to take your tests. As you must realize in dealing with technology, several things can and will go wrong. The only condition under which I will extend the due dates is if the WebCT server goes down on the last available day. Any problems with your computer, will not change the due date. As such, it is your responsibility to ensure that you complete the tasks in a timely fashion. You will get zero (0) points for all missed tests. Please ensure that your tests have been graded correctly, and notify the instructor immediately of any concerns. Specifically, you will have one week after the test scores are posted to notify the instructor of any errors.
Software: Many of the cases will require the use of Oracle CASE tools. These tools will be available from the computer labs in room 230 BSA (use only the computers with CRT monitors, not those with the LCD screens). Instructions for using the CASE tools will be available on your website soon. Before students can use these tools they will have to agree to the Oracle licensing agreement.
Extra Credit: Periodically, you may be given additional homework / quizzes in class or online, each of which will count as extra credit towards your final grade. As missed quizzes / examinations cannot be made up, it is in your best interest to attend class regularly. Please check your electronic calendar regularly for any announcements about quizzes, etc.
Academic dishonesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, online quizzes) 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. Students must indicate their acceptance to this policy before they are allowed to take any quiz or exam.
Grading Scale: A: [279,310] points, B: [248,279) points, C: [217,248) points, D: [186,217) points, and F: [0,186) points.
None of the tests can be made up. You will receive a score of zero (0) for any missed tests.
One of the following two textbooks is required:
Study guides for both books are available at the companion website, and can be accessed from either the links at the top of this syllabus, or from your WebCT site. The study guide contains practice questions from each chapter. Please go through the study guide before taking any quiz or exam. Recently, a fourth edition of Modern Systems Analysis and Design has been published. I will be using some of the material from this new edition. Slides for the extra material will be available on your WebCT site.
Kent State University uses Flashline to provide single sign-on access to all students, faculty, and administrative systems. That means, students signing on to Flashline will have access to their e-mail, web for students, and WebCT without having to sign on again. As such, all navigation is best done after logging into Flashline. The Flashline home page is at http://flashline.kent.edu. For help, click http://www.kent.edu/flashline.
This course use a system called WebCT to organize and present online content. WebCT allows the instructor to provide a comprehensive solution to presenting online content, and student management. Thus, in addition to taking online examinations, and reading material from online content, the student is able to track their progress, interact with fellow students through chat and e-mail, and even make online presentations. The following pages give a brief introduction to WebCT for your course. A note of caution. While WebCT provides communication tools like e-mail, chat, etc., please use the communication tools under Flashline instead.
To log into WebCT, do the following:
The following tables contains the class schedule. Note that all online tests (except the final exam) begin on the Monday of the week they are assigned, and are available until Sunday 11:50 p.m. (ET) of that week.
| Date | Modern Systems Analysis and Design | Essentials of Systems Analysis and Design |
| Aug 31 |
Introduction |
|
| Sep 2 |
Chapter 1: The Systems Development Environment |
Chapter 1: The Systems Development Environment |
| Sep 7 |
The Origins of Software (4th edition - Modern Systems Analysis and Design) |
|
| Sep 9 |
Chapter 3: Managing the Information Systems Project | Chapter 2: Managing the Information Systems Project |
| Sep 14-16 | Project Management Example, and Case 1 assigned | |
| Sep 21 |
Chapter 5: Identifying and Selecting Systems Development Projects |
Chapter 3: Systems Planning and Selection |
| Sep 23 |
Chapter 6: Initiating and Planning Systems Development Projects | |
| Sep 28 |
Chapter 7: Determining System Requirements |
Chapter 4: Determining System Requirements |
| Sep 30 |
Chapter 8: Structuring System Requirements: Process Modeling | Chapter 5: Structuring System Requirements: Process Modeling |
| Oct 5-12 |
Case 2 assigned / presented | |
| Oct 14 | Project 1 review | |
| Oct 19 |
Chapter 9: Structuring System Requirements: Logic Modeling | Chapter 6: Structuring System Requirements: Conceptual Data Modeling |
| Oct 21 |
Chapter 10: Structuring System Requirements: Conceptual Data Modeling | |
| Oct 26-Nov 2 |
Case 3 assigned / presented | |
| Nov 4 |
Chapter 12: Designing Databases | Chapter 9: Designing Databases |
| Nov 9 |
Chapter 12: Designing Databases | |
| Nov 11 | No Class | |
| Nov 16-18 |
Case 4 assigned / presented | |
| Nov 23 | Chapter 13: Designing Forms and Reports | Chapter 8: Designing the Human Interface |
| Nov 30 |
Chapter 14: Designing Interfaces and Dialogues |
|
| Dec 2-7 |
Chapter 15: Finalizing Design Specifications
Chapter 16: Designing Distributed and Internet Systems |
|
| Dec 7 | Project 1 due | |
| Dec 9 |
Chapter 17: System Implementation | Chapter 10: System Implementation |
| Final Exam | Dec 9 -- Dec 15. All tests close by midnight on December 15. | |
| Test | Chapters (Modern Systems Analysis
& Design) |
Beginning Date | Ending Date (11 p.m., ET) |
| Quiz 1 | 1 |
Sep 6 | Sep 12 |
| Quiz 2 | 3 |
Sep 13 | Sep 19 |
| Case 1 | Sep 14 | Sep 16 | |
| Quiz 3 | 5 |
Sep 20 | Sep 26 |
| Quiz 4 | 6 |
Sep 27 | Oct 3 |
| Quiz 5 | 7 |
Oct 4 | Oct 10 |
| Quiz 6 | 8 |
Oct 4 | Oct 17 |
| Case 2 | Oct 5 | Oct 12 (in class) | |
| Project 1 | Oct 14 | Dec 7 | |
| Exam 1 | 1 -- 10 |
Oct 25 | Oct 31 |
| Case 3 | Oct 26 | Nov 2 (in class) | |
| Quiz 7 | 12 |
Nov 8 | Nov 14 |
| Quiz 8 | 13 & 14 |
Nov 29 | Dec 5 |
| Case 4 | Nov 16 | Nov 18 (in class) | |
| Quiz 9 | 15 & 16 |
Dec 6 | Dec 12 |
| Exam 2 | 1 -- 17 |
Dec 6 | Dec 12 |
| Exam 3 | 1 -- 17 |
Dec 13 | Dec 17 (Friday) |