Welcome to FIT9006 IT Management for Semester 1, 2009. This 6-point unit is one of the foundation units in Master of Business Information Systems (MBIS) course, and its predecessors, the Master of Business Systems (MBusSys), and the Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS). The unit has been designed to provide you with an understanding of the contexts within which information technologies are used in organisations, and the challenges posed by IT management. It explores many aspects of IT management, with emphasis on the relationship between theoretical knowledge and its practical application, using cases and real examples. The concepts developed in this unit are extended in a range of level 5 units with a management focus.
This unit presents IT management as a project-based activity, oriented towards fulfilling corporate goals, meeting business operational requirements and delivering value for an organisation. Initially the unit establishes core concepts: the strategic contexts of IT management, systems and information systems, systems development, business processes and their modelling, and how IT is used to support core business processes. It then provides an overview of project management processes, tools and techniques as applied to both inhouse and contract software development projects. IT-related issues and trends that pose complex challenges to the effective management and organisation of the IT resource in contemporary organisations are explored. The unit emphasises the centrality of ethical principles and practice in IT management.
Upon completion of this unit, students will have had the opportunity to acquire knowledge and understanding of:
At the completion of the unit, students would have been exposed to attitudes that value:
At the completion of the unit, students will have had the opportunity to acquire basic skills in:
At the completion of the unit, students will have had the opportunity to acquire understanding of the IT management and project management processes not only in terms of objective criteria like budgets, resources and software tools, but also as social activities and relationships involving individual, group and corporate-wide objectives and imperatives.
For on campus students, weekly workload commitments involve a total of 12 hours, including:
You will need to allocate up to 5 hours per week in some weeks, for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.
Off-campus students generally do not attend lecture and tutorial sessions, however, you should plan to spend equivalent time working through the relevant resources and participating in discussion groups each week.
This is a postgraduate Foundation studies unit. The only prerequisite is entry into the Master of Business Information Systems, the Master of Business Systems or the Master of Information Management and Systems programs or equivalent graduate programs.
FIT9006 is a core ‘Foundation unit' in the Master of Business Information Systems, the Master of Business Systems and the Master of Information Management and Systems programs, and is a prerequisite for many of the advanced units in these degrees. You may not study this unit and IMS9043 in your degree.
Monash is committed to ‘Excellence in education’ (Monash Directions 2025 - http://www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions/directions.html) and strives for the highest possible quality in teaching and learning.
To monitor how successful we are in providing quality teaching and learning Monash regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through Unit Evaluation Surveys. The University’s Unit Evaluation policy (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/unit-evaluation-policy.html) requires that every unit offered is evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys as they are an important avenue for students to “have their say”. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.
Faculties have the option of administering the Unit Evaluation survey online through the my.monash portal or in class. Lecturers will inform students of the method being used for this unit towards the end of the semester.
Contact hours : Tuesdays, 2.00-6.00 pm; Thursdays 2.00-4.00 pm; but preferably email first to confirm an appointment time.
Students are studying FIT9006 at Caulfield campus and by off-campus learning. Discussion groups are available in the unit's MUSO/Blackboard site to allow you to share thoughts and questions related to the content and delivery of the unit. It is advisable to use these discussion groups as the first point of contact for such questions so that all students have the benefit of the answer.
Communications about personal matters, such as requests for extensions, study problems or the like, should be directed to your lecturer by email, telephone or meeting. [It is best to make an appointment by email or phone with Kerry if you want to set up a meeting to discuss personal matters].
FIT9006 provides students with a comprehensive set of study notes, readings, tutorials to facilitate your learning. The lectures and tutorials will build on these teaching resources rather than reproduce them, and are an opportunity for you to raise questions.
Lectures: Emphasis in lectures will be given to providing an overview of the concepts and discussing some of the debates that these issues provoke. You are expected to read through the study notes and readings as an adjunct to the lecture, as two hours is far too short to cover all the important concepts in detail.
Tutorials: Each week's material is accompanied by a set of tutorial questions that take various forms:
You will be expected to have completed all or a subset of the tutorial tasks prior to attending the class. Tutorials are very short and, to use the time constructively to support your learning, the focus will be on discussing your answers and questions. Normally your lecturer will advise you which questions will be addressed during the tutorial class.
The two assignments will provide you with feedback of your grasp of the content as well as record a mark toward your final grade.
On-campus students should register for tutorials/laboratories using the Allocate+ system:
http://allocate.cc.monash.edu.au/
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.
| Week | Topic | Study guide | Key dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unit overview & Strategic contexts of IT management | TUTORIALS | No tutes this week |
| 2 | IT Strategy and Business Strategy | IT/IS failures | Tutorials commence this week |
| 3 | Foundation concepts: Systems and information systems | Organisational strategies: a resource-based view | |
| 4 | Foundation concepts: Business processes and business process improvement | Aligning IT strategy with business strategy | |
| 5 | Business processes and business process modelling | Modelling business processes 1 | |
| 6 | IT/IS provisioning | Modelling business processes 2 | Assignment 1 due (Monday 6 April) |
| Mid semester break | |||
| 7 | IT/IS project management overview | IT/IS project management 1 | |
| 8 | Issues in managing IT/IS projects | IT/IS project management 2 | |
| 9 | IT outsourcing | IT/IS project management 3 | |
| 10 | Ethics for IT professionals | IT outsourcing | Assignment 2 due (Monday 11 May) |
| 11 | Legal issues for IT professionals | Ethical issues for IT/IS professionals | |
| 12 | Managing IT in organisations | Legal issues for IT/IS professionals | |
| 13 | IT strategy review. Revision and Unit Evaluation | Exam revision | Semester 2 ends |
There is no single prescribed text book , as no one text adequately covers the range of topics that we deal with in FIT9006. Some useful texts on IT management and related topics are listed below under 'Further reading'. Other weekly readings are available on the Library web site, in the FIT9006 reading list.
Further reading
To access weekly lecture and tutorial materials, students will need access to an Adobe Acrobat reader, and Microsoft Office software.
Microsoft Project will be the project management software used, and Microsoft Visio will be used for preparing charts and diagrams for tutorials and assignments. Students may also use other relevant drawing or other software they have access to, eg SmartDraw.
Off-campus students will be provided with academic licenses for these products. On-campus students may use the software in the computer labs.
Alternatively, software may be purchased at academic price at good software retailers on provision of evidence of enrolment (your current student card).
Study resources we will provide for your study are:
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/
As the required reading for the unit is provided in the Library web site, be sure to familiarise yourself with this resource early.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:
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
Assessment for the unit consists of two assignments with a collective weighting of 40%, and an examination with a weighting of 60%.
Detailed assignment specifications will be made available in the Assignments folder on the unit MUSO web site.
To pass this unit you must achieve:
Your score for the unit will be calculated by:
Your mark on Assignment 1 (/20) + Your mark on Assignment 2 (/20) + Your exam mark (/60) = Your final mark (/100)
Should you achieve less than 40% on the assignments overall, or less than 40% on the exam, the highest mark allocated will be 44 N.
Title : Assignment 1: IT Systems Failure
Description :
Weighting : 20%
Criteria for assessment :
Your assignment submission will be evaluated using these criteria:
Due date : Week 6 (Monday, April 6, 2009)
Title : Assignment 2: Managing IT/IS projects
Description :
Weighting : 20%
Criteria for assessment :
Due date : Week 10 (Monday, 11 May, 2009)
Weighting : 60%
Length : 3 hours
Type ( open/closed book ) : closed book
On-campus Students
Submit your assignment to your tutor during the specified tutorial. Please ensure that the appropriate cover sheet is correctly filled out and attached.
Off-campus Students
Submit your assignment electronically via MUSO by the due date, or alternatively post a hard copy to the lecturer. Please ensure that the appropriate cover sheet is correctly filled out and attached.
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 the unit lecturer at least two days before the due date. You will be asked to forward original medical certificates in the case 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.
Assignments received after the due date without an approved extension will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total assignment marks per day late. Assignments received later than two weeks after the due date will not normally be accepted.
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 to three weeks after assignment due date (or after assignment receipt, if later than the assignment due date).
For on campus students, assignments will be returned during class times; off campus students' assignments will be posted back to them. Marks may be made available to students individually via MUSO.
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.
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.
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 that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:
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.