MIS750, Strategic Project Management
Spring 2015
San Diego State University
College of Business Administration
Department of
COURSE INFORMATION
Class Days: Wednesday
Class Times: 1900-2140
Class Location: EBA339
Office Hours Times (and by appointment):Tuesday 18001900, Wednesday 1500-1800
Office Hours Location: SSE 3206
Units: 3
Course Overview
MIS750, Strategic Project Management is a part of the PM emphasis and focuses on organizational-wide project management

Description from the Official Course Catalog - Managing projects and programs to implement business strategies.
Project selection, programs, and portfolios; project organization; resource conflict and resolution; stakeholder
management; project team management; project risk assessment and mitigation. (Formerly numbered Information
and Decision Systems 750.).

Description of the Purpose and Course Content The purpose of this course is to prepare students to lead/participate
in leading project management activities in an organization. Additionally students will learn the importance of and
how to align project management in support of organizational strategy. Finally, students will become familiar with
the Project Management Institute’s approach to strategic project management.

Real Life Relevance – Project Management is an applied discipline. This course is relevant for anyone wishing to
manage projects, specifically as part of a Project Management Office, PMO. Additionally, the course is relevant for
accountants, financial managers, and management as it prepares students to align projects with organizational
strategy

Relation to Other Courses: This course builds on MIS695, Business Systems Analysis and Design, and MIS697, Project
Planning and Development. Combined, these three courses form the basis of an emphasis in project management.
Student Learning Outcomes
PM/MSIS students will graduate being able to:
1. Explain strategic frameworks for project management.
2. Assess strategic issues in project selection.
3. Define program and portfolio management.
4. Determine criteria and priority to resolve resource conflicts for multiple projects.
5. Develop program and portfolio risk assessment and mitigation plans.
6. Elaborate cultural and globalization impacts on project team management.
7. Design project organizational structures and project governance.
8. Identify and manage project stakeholders.
9. Explain the role of a project management office.
10. Evaluate project management process maturity.
Enrollment Information
Please include information about enrollment for the course. For example:

Prerequisites – BA628, Operations and Supply Chain Management

Recommended – MIS697, Project Planning and Development
Course Materials
Two PMI, Project Management Institute, standards are required for the course:


The Standard for Program Management, 3rd ed., ISBN: 9781935589686, PMI, 2012
The Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd ed., ISBN: 9781935589693, PMI 2012
Additional materials will be posted on Blackboard
Course Structure and Conduct
MIS750 is a combination seminar and lecture based course. Students are expected to be prepared for class and to contribute
to class discussions. Class nights are broken into two sections:
The first portion of the class is dedicated to answering questions on the assigned reading. Lecture/discussions will not focus on
going over the reading assignments. Students are expected to read assignments prior to class and come prepared to use the
readings to support class discussion. This portion of the class is for students to ask questions about portions of the readings
they do not understand or want clarification on.
The second portion of the class is dedicated to the topic of the night. The topic of the night will be some aspect of the reading
material that the instructor feels needs expanding. This may be specific issues, applications, or related topics not covered by
the readings.
Assignments are a mix of individual and team assignments.
Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your responsibility to contact
Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you should contact
Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations
based upon disability cannot be provided until you have presented your instructor with an accommodation letter from Student
Disability Services. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Academic Honesty
The University adheres to a strict policy regarding cheating and plagiarism. These activities will not be tolerated in this class.
Become familiar with the policy (http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/srr/conduct1.html). Any cheating or plagiarism will result in
Cheating is defined as the effort to give or receive help on any graded work in this class without permission from the instructor,
or to submit alterations to graded work for re-grading. Any student who is caught cheating receives an F for the class, will be
reported to Judicial Procedures, and be recommended for removal from the College of Business.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated and rampant or repeated plagiarism will be treated as cheating. Plagiarism is claiming other’s
work for your own. This can be done by not properly citing or referencing other’s work in your papers, copying other’s work
into your own (even if cited and referenced), and/or copying other’s work into your own without citing or referencing the
source. Citation and referencing errors will result in grade deductions for the first offense, repeated offenses will result in
reduction by a full grade on the assignment, an F for the assignment, or an F for the class depending upon the severity and
intent of the offense.
Examples of Plagiarism include but are not limited to:

Using sources verbatim or paraphrasing without giving proper attribution (this can include phrases, sentences,
paragraphs and/or pages of work)

Copying and pasting work from an online or offline source directly and calling it your own

Using information you find from an online or offline source without giving the author credit

Replacing words or phrases from another source and inserting your own words or phrases

Submitting a piece of work you did for one class to another class
If you have questions on what is plagiarism, please consult the policy and this helpful guide from the Library
Turnitin
Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to
Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com
reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. You may submit your papers in such a way
that no identifying information about you is included. Another option is that you may request, in writing, that your papers not
be submitted to Turnitin.com. However, if you choose this option you will be required to provide documentation to
substantiate that the papers are your original work and do not include any plagiarized material.
Assessments and Grading
Course grades will be assigned in accordance with San Diego State University policy (see Graduate Bulletin, pp. 62-64).
Graduate grades shall be: A (outstanding achievement, available for the highest accomplishment), B (average, awarded for
satisfactory performance), C (minimally passing), D (unacceptable for graduate credit, course must be repeated), F (failing).
Table 1. Your course grade will be based on the following weighted components
Component
Weight
Individual paper designing a strategic PM
initiative for a specific organization/industry
40
Individual Paper designing a social media
program for an organization
25
Group Paper designing a portfolio management
system for an organization
25
Participation
10
Individual paper designing a strategic PM initiative for a specific organization/industry. This paper requires the student to pick
an organization (it can also be an industry) and using the material covered in the first six weeks design a strategic project
management initiative. Topics to be covered include (and are not limited too) type of projects to be solicited, project selection
criteria, what level of risk the organization is willing to accept, identify links to competitive strategy, measures of project
performance, if a PMO is to be established and how, how it will be implemented, etc. Also include a short paper in the turn in
answering the four questions as described below. Further clarification will be generated during the first six class meetings. This
paper is due on March 11.
Individual Paper designing a social media program for an organization. This paper is based on the four weeks of program
management discussion and should be based on the Program Management Standard. Topics to be covered include (but are not
limited too) a program description, how the program aligns with organizational strategy, components of the program, program
governance, stakeholders, benefits and how they are measured, and program life cycle. Also include a short paper in the turn
in answering the four questions as described below. Further clarification will be generated during the class meetings discussing
program management. This paper is due on April 8.
Group Paper designing a portfolio management system for an organization. For this assignment students will form teams of
between 6 to 8 students. This assignment is to use the Portfolio Management Standard to create and document a portfolio
management system based on one of the team member’s first individual assignment. Topics to be covered include (but are not
limited too) portfolio strategic management/alignment, governance, communication management, and risk management.
Further clarification will be generated during the class sessions discussing portfolio management. This paper will be turned in
on the finals night, May 13, and will count as the course’s final’s activity
Each Individual assignment will include a short paper that answers four introspective questions: What the student did, What
were the results, What did the student learn, How does it relate to class. The below describes how to answer these questions:


Question: what did you do? - Provide a description of what you did. I know you probably followed the directions
provided so don’t do a step by step account of the directions. What I am really interested in are the actual data
manipulations and actions you performed, any problems you encountered, what you did to overcome them, and any
insights you learned about the technology. Finally, the better/clearer/insightful your write up is the better it scores.
Question: what were the results? - Provide any printouts produced and answer the thought questions. To improve
the score on this section you should also explain what the printouts and questions mean. What are the implications
for security? Remember that I value the journey, so take the time to tell me the story and determine the value of your
printouts and answers.


Question: what did you learn - I can't tell you what you learned. What I will say is that I reward insight. Insights are
aha moments (a term in use long before Oprah wanted to copyright it). If you see new ways of doing things, new
insights to your thought processes, potential future applications be they personal or work related, crossovers to other
topics, these are what I reward more than just telling me you learned lots. I expect you to learn lots but it isn't untill
you explain where and what that I see that you really did. Ok, so sometimes you don't learn much. I'll still grade this
area high if you tell me why, what you know, how this works on what you've done in the past, etc. Sometimes when
you start doing this you see that what you've learned is reinforcing what you've done and sometimes you even have
small aha moments. Bottom line is to be reflective, think a few minutes or overnight about what you've done and
how it fits into your nomological net (your personal set of knowledge base structure, those theories and beliefs that
guide how you evaluate and use knowledge). Then write the section, when I see this done I always score the section
higher.
Question: how does it relate to the material that was covered in the class? - As a minimum discuss specific topics that
relate to what we've done and at least mention the obvious ones. Be specific, cite the section/chapter/reading it
comes from. Also cite the topics/presentations that relate. The top scores come from also citing articles from the
suggested readings and outside readings.
Class participation is worth 10 points. Participation is not just showing up to class. Participation is active interaction in
discussions, asking questions, answering questions, providing context and opinion. Students who only attend class and do not
participate in discussion will earn no better than an 8 for participation, students who actively engage in class discussions and
attend consistently will earn scores above 8 depending on their level of participation. If students are not good at talking in class
participation points can be earned by conducting email/online discussions with me and/or by coming to my office. Finally, part
of the participation grade will be determined based on a team participation evaluation conducted the last class night.
Students are expected to be prepared to discuss the assigned readings and to attend class. It is understood that there may be
occasions when you will have to miss class, on these occasions I request you send me an email letting me know prior to class.
Should it be necessary that you miss class on the night an assignment is due or the exam or presentation is scheduled I request
notification prior to the absence so that exams/presentations can be rescheduled. I will accept assignments via email on the
due date as long as a hard copy is submitted at the next class the student is at.
Excessive absences, more than 4, or a lack of participation, or excessive unrelated conversation, or excessive use of computers
for non-class work will result in a 5% grade deduction. Excessive will be in my opinion but students will be warned and given an
opportunity to improve before the deduction will be assessed.
A 10% penalty will be assigned for late assignments. No assignment will be accepted if over 2 weeks late.
All turn in work needs to be typed, have a cover page, and be single-spaced. Be sure to include your name, the class, and what
the turn in work is on the cover sheet.
Course assessment will be based on the assignments discussed above. Grading will be based 75% on content, 15% on
organization, formatting, citations, etc., and 10% on grammar. The grading scale is:
Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
Cother
Range
>=
>=
>
>=
>=
>
>=
>=
<
94%
90%
87.5%
83%
80%
77.5%
73%
70%
70%
Grade of Incomplete. A grade of Incomplete (I) indicates that a portion of required coursework has not been completed and
evaluated in the prescribed time period due to unforeseen, but fully justified, reasons and that there is still a possibility of
earning credit. It is your responsibility to bring pertinent information to the instructor and to reach agreement on the means by
which the remaining course requirements will be satisfied. The conditions for removal of the Incomplete shall be reduced to
writing by the instructor and given to you with a copy placed on file with the department chair until the Incomplete is removed
or the time limit for removal has passed. A final grade is assigned when the work agreed upon has been completed and
evaluated. An Incomplete shall not be assigned when the only way you could make up the work would be to attend a major
portion of the class when it is next offered. Contract forms for Incomplete grades are available at the Office of the Registrar
website
Tentative Course Schedule
Table 2. The course schedule, including topics and class activities listed by week, is presented in the following table
Week
1: January 21
2: January 28, 29
3: February 4
Topics
Introduction/Strategic Project
Management
Strategic PM and Aligning with
Organizational Objectives, Identifying
and Selecting Projects
Strategic PM and Organizational
Initiatives
4: February 11
Implementing Strategic PM
5: February 18
Issues in Strategic PM
6: February 25
PMO, Project Management Office
7: March 4
8: March 11
15: May 6
Program Management Overview
Program Alignment, Benefits, and
Stakeholders
Program Governance
Program Life Cycle Management and
Supporting Processes
No class, spring break
Portfolio Management Overview and
Process Groups
Portfolio Strategic Management
Portfolio Governance Management
Portfolio Performance Management
and Communication Management
Portfolio Risk Management
16: May 13
None
9: March 18
10: March 25
April 1
11: April 8
12: April 15
13: April 22
14: April 29
Changes to the course schedule, if any, will be announced in class.
Activities
Portfolio Std Ch 1, Program Std Ch 1, Wang
Computers Article, Strategic Thinking for PM
Project Management and Organizational Strategy,
The Strategic Role of Project Management
Enabling Organizational Change Through Strategic
Initiatives, Strategic Project Management as a
Component of Innovative Organizations
Review Implementing Organizational Project
Management
What is Project Strategy, Measuring the Strategic
Value of PM, Project Scheduling Rules
Strategic Initiative Management: the PMO
Imperative, PMO Aligning Strategy and
Implementation
Program Management Standard Ch 1 and 2
Program Management Standard Ch 3, 4, 5
Turn in first individual assignment
Program Management Standard Ch 6
Program Management Standard Ch 7 and 8
none
Portfolio Management Standard Ch 1, 2, 3
Turn in second individual assignment
Portfolio Management Standard Ch 4
Portfolio Management Standard Ch 5
Portfolio Management Standard Ch 6 and 7
Portfolio Management Standard Ch 8, Strategies for
Project Recovery,
Final Turn In