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Monash University

FIT9006 Information technology management - Semester 1, 2012

This unit presents IT management as a project-based activity, oriented to fulfilling corporate goals, meeting business operational requirements and delivering value for an organisation. Core concepts are established: strategic contexts of IT management, systems, information systems, systems development, business processes and modelling, and IT as support for core business processes. An overview of project management processes, tools and techniques used for software development projects follows. IT-related issues and trends posing complex challenges to management and organisation of the IT resource in contemporary organisations are explored. Ethics in IT management is a central theme.

Mode of Delivery

  • Caulfield (Evening)
  • Sunway (Evening)

Contact Hours

2 hrs lectures/wk, 2 hrs laboratory/wk

Workload

You are expected to spend 12 hours per week on various activities including reading, communication with other students and unit lecturers, and preparation for learning tasks and formal assessments.

This includes:

  • a two-hour lecture;
  • a two-hour tutorial or laboratory (requiring preparation in advance); and
  • an average of 8 hours of out-of-class time, involving reading, class preparation, assignment work, revision, computer-based activities and time for newsgroups/discussion groups.

Unit Relationships

Prohibitions

IMS9043

Chief Examiner

Dr Steve Wright

Campus Lecturer

Caulfield

Dr Mark Belkin

Consultation hours: Tuesday mornings - phone ext 31101 for appointment

Sunway

Saadat M Alhashmi

Tutors

Caulfield

Mr Jason Lu

Mr Adel Moslehi

Consultation hours: TBA

Nergiz Ilhan

Consultation hours: TBA

Academic Overview

Outcomes

At the completion of this unit students will have -
A knowledge and understanding of:
  • the strategic contexts of IT management, including: the strategic value and impacts of IT; the strategy process; the need to effectively align business strategy and IT strategy; the value of a portfolio approach to managing IT investments and mitigating risk; the critical importance of a customer-centric approach to IT strategy; and key management roles and relationships (eg CEO-CIO);
  • the more common business processes, and the role that IT can play in managing these processes and in providing information systems that are appropriate for an organistions operational needs;
  • the technical processes of a generic SDLC model, contract development, outsourcing and package purchase as alternative approaches to providing information systems;
  • the project management processes related to in-house and contract software development, software outsourcing, package acquisition and implementation;
  • the requirements for ongoing management of the IT infrastructure of an organisation that takes appropriate advantage of technological innovation to address the short-term and long-term objectives of the business;
  • IT professional ethics, and ethical issues in the management and use of IT within organisations.
Developed attitudes that enable them to:
  • have a systematic approach to IT provisioning in a business whilst maintaining a pragmatic approach to business needs;
  • critically assess the worth of technological innovations for their contribution towards meeting business objectives in both the short-term and the longer term;
  • recognise the management of IT infrastructure as a corporate resource, and business information as critical to meeting business objectives;
  • develop a project management approach to developing information systems that are appropriate to the organisations needs;
  • maintain ethical principles and practices in IT management.
Developed the skills to:
  • apply selected systems development techniques associated with SDLC-based system developments;
  • model business processes using industry standard modelling conventions and a standard commercial business process modelling software package;
  • determine requirements and specifying development or acquisition projects, using both traditional and innovative techniques and methods;
  • apply project management techniques and using project management software.
Demonstrated the communication and teamwork skills necessary 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.

Graduate Attributes

Monash prepares its graduates to be:
  1. responsible and effective global citizens who:
    1. engage in an internationalised world
    2. exhibit cross-cultural competence
    3. demonstrate ethical values
  2. critical and creative scholars who:
    1. produce innovative solutions to problems
    2. apply research skills to a range of challenges
    3. communicate perceptively and effectively

Assessment Summary

Examination (3 hours): 60%; In-semester assessment: 40%

Assessment Task Value Due Date
Assignment 1: Analysing IT Strategy of SMEs: A Critical Analysis 20% Monday 2 April 2012
Assignment 2: Business Process Modeling and Business Process Improvement: A Case Study 20% Monday 7 May 2012
Examination 1 60% To be advised

Teaching Approach

Lecture and tutorials or problem classes
This teaching and learning approach provides facilitated learning, practical exploration and peer learning.

Feedback

Our feedback to You

Types of feedback you can expect to receive in this unit are:
  • Informal feedback on progress in labs/tutes
  • Graded assignments with comments
  • Solutions to tutes, labs and assignments

Your feedback to Us

Monash is committed to excellence in education and regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through SETU, Student Evaluation of Teacher and Unit. The University's student evaluation policy requires that every unit is evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.

For more information on Monash's educational strategy, and on student evaluations, see:
http://www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions/directions.html
http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/student-evaluation-policy.html

Previous Student Evaluations of this unit

Ongoing changes and refinements in the lecture schedule, lecture notes, tutorial materials and assignments have been made in response to student feedback. The first lecture of the series has been introduced to service student comments that they require more coverage of information technology terms with common language explanations of these terms and the functionalities they refer to. An introduction to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is also introduced in lecture 1 in response to students feed-back

If you wish to view how previous students rated this unit, please go to
https://emuapps.monash.edu.au/unitevaluations/index.jsp

Required Resources

Please check with your lecturer before purchasing any Required Resources. Prescribed texts are available for you to borrow in the library, and prescribed software is available in student labs.

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.

This software is available in the University computer labs.OCL students can submit requests (via the online service desk) to get a copy of the software sent to them as outlined on the link below. 

Refer to: http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/itsupport/msdnaa.html for more software information.  

Alternatively, software may be purchased at academic price at good software retailers on provision of evidence of enrollment (your current student card).

Recommended Resources

A list of recommended reading material is given at the commencement of each lecture. Additional material may be found by students in the library, and by visiting the Scopus research database.

Unit Schedule

Week Activities Assessment
0   No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0
1 Introduction to IT/IS in organisations Tutorial 1 begins from Week 1
2 Strategic content of IT  
3 IT strategy and business strategy  
4 IT project success and failure  
5 Modeling business/organisational processes  
6 Project management Assignment 1 due on Monday 2 April 2012
7 IT provisioning  
8 IT outsourcing  
9 Ethics for IT/IS professionals  
10 Legal issues for IT/IS professionals Assignment 2 due on Monday 7 May 2012
11 IT department - structure and function  
12 IT project teams Sample exam review during Tutorial 12
  SWOT VAC No formal assessment is undertaken in SWOT VAC
  Examination period LINK to Assessment Policy: http://policy.monash.edu.au/policy-bank/
academic/education/assessment/
assessment-in-coursework-policy.html

*Unit Schedule details will be maintained and communicated to you via your MUSO (Blackboard or Moodle) learning system.

Assessment Requirements

Assessment Policy

Faculty Policy - Unit Assessment Hurdles (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/staff/edgov/policies/assessment-examinations/unit-assessment-hurdles.html)

Assessment Tasks

Participation

  • Assessment task 1
    Title:
    Assignment 1: Analysing IT Strategy of SMEs: A Critical Analysis
    Description:
    This assignment is designed to test student understanding about the significance of IT strategy in organisations in general and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in particular. The assignment requires students to consult relevant IT related journals, text books, electronic sources and FIT9006 lecture notes on IT/IS strategy.  Please note that the terms IT and IS are used in their broad sense and hence they are considered to refer to the same concept.
    Weighting:
    20%
    Criteria for assessment:

    This assignment will be evaluated in terms of the following criteria:

    • completeness (content related factors systematically addressing the key areas)
    • correctness (demonstrating research skills by identifying and using relevant sources)
    • presence of relevant information (showing cognitive skills: analysis, evaluation)
    • and clarity of expression (showing writing skills: structure, expression, presentation).
    Due date:
    Monday 2 April 2012
  • Assessment task 2
    Title:
    Assignment 2: Business Process Modeling and Business Process Improvement: A Case Study
    Description:
    This assignment is designed to test student understanding about the significance of modeling business processes in organisations. The assignment also focuses on the business analysis and business change aspects of IT/IS. Students are required to carefully read the case description included in the Assignment document and perform a number of tasks.
    Weighting:
    20%
    Criteria for assessment:

    This assignment will be evaluated in terms of the following criteria:

    • completeness (demonstrating understanding of the basics of process modelling)
    • correctness (demonstrating process modelling skills by using such software as Visio, SmartDraw etc)
    • presence of relevant information (showing cognitive skills: analysis, evaluation of the process concepts)
    • and clarity of expression (showing writing skills: structure, expression, presentation).
    Due date:
    Monday 7 May 2012

Examinations

  • Examination 1
    Weighting:
    60%
    Length:
    3 hours
    Type (open/closed book):
    Closed book
    Electronic devices allowed in the exam:
    None
    Remarks:
    Examination paper includes 3 sections: MCQ, Mini-cases and Discussion questions

Assignment submission

It is a University requirement (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/plagiarism-procedures.html) for students to submit an assignment coversheet for each assessment item. Faculty Assignment coversheets can be found at http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/forms/. Please check with your Lecturer on the submission method for your assignment coversheet (e.g. attach a file to the online assignment submission, hand-in a hard copy, or use an online quiz).

Online submission

If Electronic Submission has been approved for your unit, please submit your work via the VLE site for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal.

Extensions and penalties

Submission must be made by the due date otherwise penalties will be enforced.

You must negotiate any extensions formally with your campus unit leader via the in-semester special consideration process: http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/equity/special-consideration.html.

Returning assignments

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

Other Information

Policies

Monash has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University's academic standards, and to provide advice on how they might uphold them. You can find Monash's Education Policies at:
http://policy.monash.edu.au/policy-bank/academic/education/index.html

Key educational policies include:

Student services

The University provides many different kinds of support services for you. Contact your tutor if you need advice and see the range of services available at www.monash.edu.au/students. For Sunway see http://www.monash.edu.my/Student-services, and for South Africa see http://www.monash.ac.za/current/

The Monash University Library provides a range of services and resources that enable you to save time and be more effective in your learning and research. Go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au or the library tab in my.monash portal for more information. At Sunway, visit the Library and Learning Commons at http://www.lib.monash.edu.my/. At South Africa visit http://www.lib.monash.ac.za/.

Academic support services may be available for students who have a disability or medical condition. Registration with the Disability Liaison Unit is required. Further information is available as follows:

  • Website: http://monash.edu/equity-diversity/disability/index.html;
  • Email: dlu@monash.edu
  • Drop In: Equity and Diversity Centre, Level 1 Gallery Building (Building 55), Monash University, Clayton Campus, or Student Community Services Department, Level 2, Building 2, Monash University, Sunway Campus
  • Telephone: 03 9905 5704, or contact the Student Advisor, Student Commuity Services at 03 55146018 at Sunway

Reading list

There is no single prescribed textbook for this unit. Each week, a list of useful references will be cited. However, parts of the following textbooks are useful.

a) Applegate, Lynda M., Austin, Robert D. & McFarlan, F. Warren. (2009). Corporate information strategy and management: Text and cases. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN 9780073402932; 0073402931.

b) Frenzel, Caroll W. & Frenzel, John C. (2004). Management of information technology. (4th ed.).Boston, MA : Thomson, Course Technology. ISBN 0-619-03417-3. 

c) Brown, Carol V. et al. (2009). Managing information technology. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson-Prentice Hall. ISBN 9780131789548; 0131789546.

d) Pearlson, Keri & Saunders, Carol S. (2010). Managing and using information systems: A strategic approach. (4th ed.).  Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 9780470343814; 0470343818.

e) Reynolds, George W.  (2007). Ethics in information technology. (2nd ed.). Australia; UK; Thomson, Course Technology.  ISBN 1418836311.

f) Turban, Efraim & Volonino, Linda. (2010). Information technology for management: Improving performance in the digital economy. (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

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