Georgia State University
CIS 8000 IT Project Management
Course Description
This course examines the defining characteristics of IT projects, especially involving the
development of software intensive systems, and introduces the student to a variety of project
management techniques that can be applied in an IT project context. This course provides an
introduction to the disciplined approaches to IT project management. While IT projects are
similar in some ways to other types of projects, they pose unique challenges for the managers
and organizations that undertake them. IT project management is particularly challenging
because of several factors including: (1) the rapid pace of technological changes occurring in the
IT field, (2) the invisible nature of software, (3) the ever-present pressure to add new features
and functionality to systems, and (4) the difficulty of managing the organizational changes that
accompany most IT implementations. In spite of the advanced technology that surrounds
computer-based information systems, IT project management in most organizations is not very
disciplined. This course will give students an understanding of the most common processes,
tools, techniques, and theories that are necessary to manage IT projects. Managing IT projects
that follow both plan-driven traditional development methods as well as agile methods will be
covered.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:
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Articulate similarities and differences between IT projects and other types of projects.
Understand the role of the software development processes and the characteristics of
products resulting from that process
Apply general project management competencies to IT projects.
Apply the techniques and develop the documents related to IT project management.
Understand how to apply different life-cycle models t design IT projects.
Understand the nature of projects that plan plan-driven and agile development
methodologies.
Identify IT project risks and develop risk mitigation strategies.
Identify cases of IT project escalation and de-escalate troubled IT projects.
Understand how the organizational environment can facilitate IT project success.
Understand how to facilitate learning in and learning from IT projects.
Catalog Description
This course examines the defining characteristics of IT projects, especially involving the
development of software intensive systems, and introduces the student to a variety of project
management techniques that can be applied in an IT project context. This course provides an
introduction to the disciplined approaches to IT project management. While IT projects are
similar in some ways to other types of projects, they pose unique challenges for the managers
and organizations that undertake them. This course will give students an understanding of the
most common processes, tools, techniques, and theories that are necessary to manage IT projects.
Managing IT projects that follow both plan-driven traditional development methods as well as
agile methods will be covered.
Tentative Plan
This course has ambitious objectives and will be only as beneficial to you as you want to make it
for yourself. Due to the extensive set of topics covered, it is important for the student to keep up
with the readings and exercises as the class progresses. Although I will try to maintain the class
schedule and objectives, I may need to make adjustments.
Tentative Plan
This course has ambitious objectives and will be only as beneficial to you as you want to make it
for yourself. Due to the extensive set of topics covered, it is important for the student to keep up
with the readings and exercises as the class progresses. Although I will try to maintain the class
schedule and objectives, I may need to make adjustments.
Class Topic
Readings
Deliverables
1
Introduction
SS: Chapters 1,2,3
Profile
Introduction
to PM
Why IT projects fail
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/pro
ject/story/0,10801,99488,00.html
Companies Don't Learn From Previous IT Snafus
http://www.computerworld.com/networkingtopics/networking/mana
gement/story/0,10801,53014,00.html
Hottest IT skills
2
Project
Selection
Play: Project Management Simulation: Scope, Resources, Schedule
[Study.net]
Managing
large,
complex,
highly
compressed
projects
Listen: http://spectrum.ieee.org/podcast/computing/software/big-itprojects-fail-worldwide
Project
Charter
Read: Classic Mistakes
A case study in classic mistakes
Read: BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport
Baggage-Handling
System - [study.net]
Start
Individual
Assignment
4 (Project
Managemen
t
Simulation)
3
Software
Cost
Estimation
SS: Chapter 3
L. Kappelman, R. McKeeman, and L. Zhang, Early warning signs of
project failure,
Information Systems Management, vo. 23, No. 4, 2006. [Study.Net]
Group
Assignment
1 (BAE
Project)
R. Nelson, IT Project Management: Infamous failures, classic
mistakes and best practices,
MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2007 [Study.Net]
Read: A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success
[Study.net]
Individual Assignment 1
4
Scheduling
SS: Chapter 4
Network
Analysis and
Duration
Estimation
5
Assignment
1 Due
Test 1
Scheduling
and
Tradeoff
analysis
PERT
PERT ZTable
6
Portfolio
Managemen
t
RealOptions
McFarlan, F.W. "Portfolio Approach to Information Systems,"
Harvard Business Review,
Vol. 59, No. 5, 1981, pp. 142-150. [study.net]
R. Fichman, M. Keil, and A. Tiwana, “Beyond Valuation: Options
thinking in
IT project management”, California Management Review, Vo. 47,
No. 2, 2005 [Study.Net]
Managing
Risk
SS: Chapter 5
Keil, M, Cule, P.E., Lyytinen, K., Schmidt, R.C. “A framework for
Identifying
Software Project Risks,” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41, No.
11, November 1998,
Assignment
2 Due
pp. 76-83. [study.net]
Drummond, H., “Are we any close to the end? Escalation and the
case of Taurus,”
International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 17, No.1, 1999,
COTS
Implementat pp. 11-16. [study.net]
ion
Keil, M., and Tiwana, A. “Beyond Cost: The Drivers of COTS
Application Value,”
IEEE Software, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 64-69. [study.net]
Individual Assignment 2
An ERP Storey A, B, C and D [study.net]
7
Rational
Unified
Process
HELDMAN: Chapter 5,10
Case study on RUP: http://www106.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/4474.html?ca=dnp317
Group
Presentation
2: Prepare
presentation
on An ERP
Story
Project
Budgeting
Project
Control
SS: Chapter 7
EVA
example
CASE: AtekPC Project Management Office
Timberjack Parts: Packaged Software Selection Project [study.net]
Resource
Loading and
Leveling
Post-Project
Audit
8
Escalation
in Software
Projects
C. L. Iacovou and A. Dexter, “Turning Around Runaway IT
Projects”, California
Management Review, Vo. 46, No. 4, 2004. [Study.Net]
J. Grenny, D. Maxfield and A. Shimberg, How Project Leaders can
overcome the crisis
of silence, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 48, No. 4, 2007.
[Study.net]
Group
Assignment
3 (California
DMV or
Affordable
Care Act
Implementat
ion)
Managing
Outsourced
Projects
Report by the State Auditor of California concerning the California
DMV project
Mary C. Lacity, Shaji A. Khan, Leslie P. Willcocks, A review of the
IT outsourcing
literature: Insights for practice, The Journal of Strategic Information
Systems,
Volume 18, Issue 3, September 2009, Pages 130-146
Agile
Methods
Agile
Project
Managemen
t
Agile
Simulation
IT project
evaluation
Individual Assignment 3
T. Abdel Hamid and S. Madnick, “Lessons Learned from Modeling
the Dynamics
of Software Development,” Communications of the ACM, 37, 10,
October 1994,
pp. 29-36. [study.net]
R. Baskerville, B. Ramesh, L. Levine, and J. Pries-Heje, “High
Speed Software
Development Practices: What works, What doesn’t”, IEEE IT
Professional, July-Aug,
2006. [Study.Net]
Assignment
3 Due
Complete
Individual
Assignment
4 (Project
Managemen
t
Simulation)
L. Cao, B. Ramesh, T. Abdel-Hamid, “Modeling Dynamics in Agile
Software
Development”, ACM Transactions on Management Information
Systems,
December 2010, pp. 1-26. [Study.net]
CASE: Jharna Software. [study.net]
Techniques For Measuring IT's Effectiveness, Information Week,
Oct. 23, 2006.
Test2
Prerequisite Policy
This course is part of a series of courses designed to teach systems analysts and designers of
tomorrow. As such, it requires a good background in computers. A student must fulfill the
following course prerequisites as listed in the Catalog description: CSP: I, II, III, IV, V, VI.
Course Material
A. Required Textbook
None
B. Reference Material

Heldman: K. Heldman, Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Wiley,
2013. (Copy distributed to you) – FOR PMP Exam

K. S. Rubin, Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process
(Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Cohn)) Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition
(August 5, 2012) (Noted as Rubin in Syllabus copy distributed to you)

Jag Sodhi and Prince Sodhi, IT Project Management Handbook, Management Concepts
© 2001 (Noted as SS in Syllabus)

Ken Schwaber, Agile Project Management with Scrum, Microsoft Press © 2004 (192
pages), ISBN:073561993X

Kenneth R. Bainey, Integrated IT Project Management: A Model-Centric Approach,
Artech House © 2004 (504 pages), ISBN:1580538282

B. Walters and Z. Tang (Eds), IT-Enabled Strategic Management: Increasing Returns for
the Organization, Idea Group Publishing, 2006.

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Third
Edition, Project Management Institute © 2008, ISBN: 1933890517. Excerpts from the
2000 edition of the PMBOK are available for free download from PMI (www.pmi.org).
 Richard Bechtold, Essentials of Software Project Management, Management Concepts
2007, ISBN: 1567261868 (Chapter 1).
C. CLASS HANDOUTS / OVERHEADS: Available on Desire2Learn
TOOLS
1. COCOMO tool available at http://diana.nps.edu/~madachy/tools/COCOMOII.php
2. Mirosoft Project 2013. The best way to obtain access to MS Project is through the
CIS Department and the Microsoft Developer's Network Academic Alliance (Microsoft
DreamSpark). The CIS Department at GSU is now licensed under the MSDN Academic
Alliance (MSDNAA) Program which enables every student and faculty member to access
all of the software available under the Program. Microsoft's e-academy is responsible for
making this software available to everyone for direct download over the Internet. The
MSDNAA database of CIS courses registered students was compiled from those students
who were registered as CIS Majors and were taking classes this semester ONLY. If you
have flagged your GSU Directory Information as "BLOCKED-CONFIDENTIAL", you
will have to come to the Department and sign a release. This is done only ONCE per
semester. To become an eligible user, you have to be a current CIS course student and the
upload will automatically register you sending all the information to your student email
account @ GSU. Please refer to DREAMSPARK Master End-User License Agreement.
Students and faculty can access this software at http://msdn.e-academy.com/gsu_cis.
Here you can download and access the complete suite of Microsoft developer tools,
servers, and platforms. There is no charge to download the software as long as you are an
eligible user in the System. There are some selected products that have the option of
purchasing the media for a minimum charge.
 DO NOT wait until the day before the assignment is due to make sure you can access the
software. It can take several days to get your information into the system. The software
packages on DREAMSPARK are not demos; they are full copies.
 Be forewarned that the MS Project software you will need for this course is not installed
in the university computer labs.
3. Software Project Simulation
The simulation of software projects will be demonstrated using a system dynamic simulation
tool.