FIT9006 Information technology management - Semester 1, 2013

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 requirements

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

Campus Lecturer

Tutors

Academic Overview

Learning 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.

Unit Schedule

Week	Activities	Assessment
0		No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0
1	Fundamentals of IS/IT & IT management	Tutorials begin in Week 1
2	Strategic contexts of organisations
3	IT strategy and business strategy
4	IT strategy alignment
5	IT governance
6	IT project success and failure	Assignment 1 due Friday 19 April 2013
7	Modeling business/organisational processes
8	IT budgeting
9	IT outsourcing
10	IT provisioning
11	Legal issues for IT professionals	Assignment 2 due Friday 24 May 2013
12	Review of key concepts of IT management, exam preparation and review	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 learning system.

Assessment Summary

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

Assessment Task	Value	Due Date
Assignment 1: IT Strategy & Business Strategy - An Investigation	20%	Friday 19 April 2013
Assignment 2: Investigating an Instance of IT Project Failure	20%	Friday 24 May 2013
Examination 1	60%	To be advised

Teaching Approach

Lecture and tutorials or problem classes

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)

Academic Integrity - Please see the Demystifying Citing and Referencing tutorial at http://lib.monash.edu/tutorials/citing/

Assessment Tasks

Participation

• Assessment task 1

  Title:

  Assignment 1: IT Strategy & Business Strategy - An Investigation

  Description:

  This assignment is designed to test students' understanding about the importance of IT strategy and its alignment with business strategy in organisations.  

  Weighting:

  20%

  Criteria for assessment:

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

  • completeness (contents 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:

  Friday 19 April 2013

• Assessment task 2

  Title:

  Assignment 2: Investigating an Instance of IT Project Failure

  Description:

  This assignment is designed to test students’ understanding about how various key factors contribute to the failure of IT systems projects in organisations.

  Weighting:

  20%

  Criteria for assessment:

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

  • completeness [contents (e.g. factors) addressing the key areas]
  • correctness (demonstrating research skills by identifying and using relevant sources)
  • 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:

  Friday 24 May 2013

Examinations

• Examination 1

  Weighting:

  60%

  Length:

  3 hours

  Type (open/closed book):

  Closed book

  Electronic devices allowed in the exam:

  None

  Remarks:

  Examination paper will have three parts: multiple choice questions, mini-cases, and discussion questions.

Learning resources

Reading list

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

1. Suraweera and Cragg (2010) “IT management in SMEs”, IGI Global, Chapter 6.1, pp.1743-1749

2. Piccoli, G. (2008) Information systems for managers: text & cases, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Chapters 1-2, pp.1-9, 21-40

3. Kangas, K. (2003) “The resource-based theory of the firm: the new paradigm for information resources management?”, In “Business Strategies for Information Technology Management”, IRM Press, Chapter IX, pp.129-148

4. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Feedback to you

• Informal feedback on progress in labs/tutes
• Graded assignments with comments
• Solutions to tutes, labs and assignments

Extensions and penalties

Returning assignments

Assignment submission

Online submission

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

Required Resources

To access weekly lecture and tutorial materials, students will need access to 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, e.g. 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 prices 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.

Other Information

Policies

Graduate Attributes Policy

Student services

Monash University Library

Disability Liaison Unit

Your feedback to Us

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 included in Lecture 1 in response to feedback.