FIT4037 Case study - Semester 1, 2009

Unit leader

Lecturer(s) :

Tutor(s) :

Additional communication information

Dr Des Casey

Room H7.73 H Block Caulfield Campus

Caulfield School of IT

Tel: 9903 1081

des.casey@infotech.monash.edu.au

In this unit we provide a simulation of a real world systems development experience. Groups of students work as a team with support from tutors and academic staff to develop a system for an industry case. The seminars are developed to address specific issues during system development. The studio sessions are there for students to work on their project and to receive help from tutors and academic staff.

Communication, participation and feedback

Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit. This may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions (on line and in class) as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.

It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.

Unit Schedule

Week	Topic	Key dates
1	Introduction, forming teams	2nd March 2009
2	Project management for IT projects	9th march 2009
3	Risk management	16th March 2009
4	Functional requirements	23rd March 2009
5	Testing	30th March 2009
6	TBA	6th April 2009
Mid semester break
7	TBA	20th April 2009
8	Team presentations functional requirements	27th April 2009
9	Team presentations of functional requirements	4th May 2009
10	Final documentation	11th May 2009
11	TBA	18th May 2009
12	Prototype demonstrations	25th May 2009
13	Prototype Demonstrations	1st June 2009

Prescribed text(s) and readings

There is no prescribed text, however a reading list is provided below.

N/A

Recommended text(s) and readings

Yardley, D. (2002) ‘Successful IT Project Delivery’, Addison-Wesley, UK. ISBN 0-201-75606-4

Schwalbe, K. (2004) ‘Information Technology Project Management’, Thomson Course Technology – 3rd (or 4th) Edition ISBN 0-619-15984-7

Curry, J. & Stanford, P. (2005) ‘Practical System Development: A Project-based Approach’, Pearson SprintPrint, Australia ISBN 0-7339-7336-1

Required software and/or hardware

To access weekly lecture/ class materials, you will need an Adobe Acrobat reader, and access to Microsoft Office software (PowerPoint, Word, and Excel) for document preparation.

Equipment and consumables required or provided

Students may use the facilities available in the computing labs. Information about computer use for students is available from the ITS Student Resource Guide in the Monash University Handbook. You will need to allocate up to 6 hours per week for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.

Study resources

Study resources we will provide for your study are:

• lecture notes/ppt slides and
• weekly tutorial requirements available on the unit web page.

See http://my.monash.edu.au and select Blackboard.

CASE STUDY:  You will be supplied with a case study which will be made available in week 1 tutorial.  This case study forms the basis of this course and will require you to work in groups to develop the system. 

Library access

The Monash University Library site contains details about borrowing rights and catalogue searching.  To learn more about the library and the various resources available, please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au.

The Educational Library and Media Resources (LMR) is also a very resourceful place to visit at http://www.education.monash.edu.au/library/

Monash University Studies Online (MUSO)

All unit and lecture materials are available through MUSO (Monash University Studies Online). Blackboard is the primary application used to deliver your unit resources. Some units will be piloted in Moodle. If your unit is piloted in Moodle, you will see a link from your Blackboard unit to Moodle (http://moodle.monash.edu.au) and can bookmark this link to access directly. In Moodle, from the Faculty of Information Technology category, click on the link for your unit.

You can access MUSO and Blackboard via the portal: http://my.monash.edu.au

Click on the Study and enrolment tab, then Blackboard under the MUSO learning systems.

In order for your Blackboard unit(s) to function correctly, your computer needs to be correctly configured.

For example:

• Blackboard supported browser
• Supported Java runtime environment

For more information, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/downloadables-student.html

You can contact the MUSO Support by phone : (+61 3) 9903 1268

For further contact information including operational hours, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/contact.html

Further information can be obtained from the MUSO support site: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/index.html

Unit assessment policy

obtain all of the following:

• at least 50% of the total marks for the unit
• at least 40% of the marks available for the every deliverable component including the presentation

Assignment tasks

• Assignment Task

  Title : Business Case & Requirements

  Description :

  Weighting : 10%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Due date :

• Assignment Task

  Title : Functional Requirements & Design Document

  Description :

  Weighting : 15%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Due date :

• Assignment Task

  Title : Testing Document

  Description :

  Weighting : 15%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Due date :

• Assignment Task

  Title : Technical & User Manuals

  Description :

  Weighting : 15%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Due date :

• Assignment Task

  Title : Presentation

  Description :

  Weighting : 10%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Due date :

• Assignment Task

  Title : Working Prototype

  Description :

  Weighting : 30%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Due date :

• Assignment Task

  Title : Team Project Management Document

  Description :

  Weighting : 5%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Due date :

Assignment submission

All Deliverables should be submitted to your Supervisor on the due date. The format of documents will be outlined in lectures.

Assignment coversheets

Assignment coversheets can be found : via the "Student assignment coversheets" ( http://infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/assignments/ ) page on the faculty website

Due dates and extensions

The due dates for the submission of assignments are given in the previous section. Please make every effort to submit work by the due dates. It is your responsibility to structure your study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Students are advised to NOT assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course.

Requests for extensions must be made to your tutor at least two days before the due date. You will be asked to forward original medical certificates in cases of illness, and may be asked to provide other forms of documentation where necessary. A copy of the email or other written communication of an extension must be attached to the assignment submission.

Late assignment

Late assignments submitted without an approved extension may be accepted up to one week late at the discretion of the lecturer, but will be penalised at the rate of 10% of total assignment marks per day including weekends. Assignments received later than one week after the due date will not normally be accepted.

Return dates

Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.

Assessment for the unit as a whole is in accordance with the provisions of the Monash University Education Policy at http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/

We will aim to have assignment results made available to you within two weeks after assignment receipt.

Plagiarism, cheating and collusion

Plagiarism and cheating are regarded as very serious offences. In cases where cheating  has been confirmed, students have been severely penalised, from losing all marks for an assignment, to facing disciplinary action at the Faculty level. While we would wish that all our students adhere to sound ethical conduct and honesty, I will ask you to acquaint yourself with the University Plagiarism policy and procedure (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/plagiarism-procedures.html) which applies to students detected plagiarising.

In this University, cheating means seeking to obtain an unfair advantage in any examination or any other written or practical work to be submitted or completed by a student for assessment. It includes the use, or attempted use, of any means to gain an unfair advantage for any assessable work in the unit, where the means is contrary to the instructions for such work. 

When you submit an individual assessment item, such as a program, a report, an essay, assignment or other piece of work, under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is identical with, or similar to, someone else's work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together, and discuss problems, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer. 

Intentionally providing students with your solutions to assignments is classified as "assisting to cheat" and students who do this may be subject to disciplinary action. You should take reasonable care that your solution is not accidentally or deliberately obtained by other students. For example, do not leave copies of your work in progress on the hard drives of shared computers, and do not show your work to other students. If you believe this may have happened, please be sure to contact your lecturer as soon as possible.

Cheating also includes taking into an examination any material contrary to the regulations, including any bilingual dictionary, whether or not with the intention of using it to obtain an advantage.

Plagiarism involves the false representation of another person's ideas, or findings, as your own by either copying material or paraphrasing without citing sources. It is both professional and ethical to reference clearly the ideas and information that you have used from another writer. If the source is not identified, then you have plagiarised work of the other author. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that is insulting to the reader and grossly unfair to your student colleagues.

Register of counselling about plagiarism

The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) and, where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.

Non-discriminatory language

The Faculty of Information Technology is committed to the use of non-discriminatory language in all forms of communication. Discriminatory language is that which refers in abusive terms to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or nationality, ethnic or language background, physical or mental ability, or political or religious views, or which stereotypes groups in an adverse manner. This is not meant to preclude or inhibit legitimate academic debate on any issue; however, the language used in such debate should be non-discriminatory and sensitive to these matters. It is important to avoid the use of discriminatory language in your communications and written work. The most common form of discriminatory language in academic work tends to be in the area of gender inclusiveness. You are, therefore, requested to check for this and to ensure your work and communications are non-discriminatory in all respects.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:

• Faculty of Information Technology Student Service staff, and / or
• your Unit Coordinator, or
• Disabilities Liaison Unit

Deferred assessment and special consideration

Deferred assessment (not to be confused with an extension for submission of an assignment) may be granted in cases of extenuating personal circumstances such as serious personal illness or bereavement. Information and forms for Special Consideration and deferred assessment applications are available at http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html. Contact the Faculty's Student Services staff at your campus for further information and advice.