BADM590-IT – Information Technology Consulting Project Management Section 1 – Course Description and Syllabus Spring 2009 Instructor: Office: Cell Phone: E-mail: Class Location: Compass / Blackboard Class Meetings On-Line Office Hours: Matthew Nelson, Ph.D., CPA Room 5 Wohler’s Hall (586) 995-6559 mlnelsn1@illinois.edu Room 2043 1BIF On-line Compass Course “BADM590 – MIS Consulting - Nelson, Spring '09” 6:00 ~ 8:50pm, Tuesday Anytime you see me in ‘Who’s On-line” Blackboard’s Instant Messenger Anytime you see me in Skype (Skype ID: Ossrules) Monday: 1:30pm to 2:30pm Wednesday: 1:30pm to 2:30pm And by appointment IT CONSULTING PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSE OVERVIEW The figure below provides some “connections” between the course objectives and various activities that will be completed in the course. BADM590-IT Spring 2009 Syllabus ©Copyright 2009 Matthew L. Nelson Page 1 of 4 COURSE DESCRIPTION: The primary goal of BADM590-IT is to allow the student to become aware, comprehend, explore and manage significant issues confronting management information systems consultants. The course strives to reach a balance between ‘general’ management consulting principles and information technology (IT) specific topics. To achieve these course goals, the course is structured around five core objectives pertaining to management consulting tools & techniques, IT valuation methods & issues, the consulting engagement process, IT to Business alignment, and information technology trends & impact assessment. To accomplish these objectives the course provides students an opportunity to conduct real-life case-orientated analysis, prepare the most prevalent types of consulting engagements, and research & review materials from the industry’s most successful thought-leaders in these areas. It is the professor’s sincere hope that this innovative course design will maximize the students’ learning experience, time and value of completing this class. PREREQUISITES: Maintain an open-mind and an insatiable appetite to learn! COURSE OBJECTIVES: BADM590 predominant learning objectives are in the following areas: A. Increased awareness of recent and emerging technological trends and procedures for assessing their impact on organizations / industries. B. Understand the ongoing debate regarding the value of Information Technology from multiple perspectives, and learn commonly accepted techniques from industry for evaluating IT investments at the system level. C. Become familiar with a variety of management consulting tools, techniques and procedures and the application of these tools in IT cases and traditional consulting engagement scenarios. D. Gain an in-depth understanding of the management consulting engagement process, the industry, their business models, strategic differentiators and challenges moving forward. E. Research and increased awareness of the how organizations align their IT support units and effective procedures for shifting IT alignment from one model to another. BADM590 will also provide exposure and hands-on skills and experiences in the following areas: The relationship between information systems and the external & internal environment of the organization The nature of information and its’ flow within the organization The role of information systems in adding value to products and services and in providing strategic and competitive advantages. The role of IT as an enabling mechanism for globalization and its’ impact on social change. Careers in management information systems and IT consulting. Application of important consulting traits such as (a) improving the ‘generalizability’ of issues and methods to a variety of circumstances and industries, (b) becoming a prescriptive writer instead of a descriptive writer, (c) improving the ability to evaluate situations from multiple levels (from a 30,000 foot level to very low levels of granularity). Many others if the student maintains an open-mind and an insatiable appetite to learn! BADM590-IT Spring 2009 Syllabus ©Copyright 2009 Matthew L. Nelson Page 2 of 4 CLASS PROCEDURES: The course is organized into twelve learning modules (Modules A through L). Each learning module includes one to two lectures, lecture slides, and an on-line quiz. For each learning module, students will be expected to read the chapter(s), attend lectures, participate in class room discussions, and complete the on-line quiz. In addition, every other module will include an assignment (either a case study or a consulting engagement scenario) that is to be completed and discussed in class. The course will make extensive use of the Blackboard Learning System (available through the Compass Portal) with a designated folder for each learning module. Class time will consist of a combination of lecture, discussions, question and answers and several in-class activities. E-copies of the course’s syllabus, schedule, lecture slides and other course documents are available on the courses Blackboard. Any student in need of a special accommodation should contact the staff in the Office of Disability Resources and Educational Services at (217) 333-1970 (voice/TTY) or at (http://www.disability.uiuc.edu/). Any one cheating on an exam, quiz, (or aiding another individual), or assignments will receive an “F” in the course and will be referred to Office for Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) (http://www.conflictresolution.uiuc.edu/). See the Code of Student Conduct and other student conduct materials at (http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/policy/code/). EVALUATION AND GRADING: Grading Scale: 90%+ A Range, 80% ~ 89% B Range, 70% ~ 79% C Range, 60% ~ 69% D Range, Below 60% F. Grading components are tentatively based on the following 540 points in total. Engagement Scenarios (3 @ 50 points) 150 Case Studies (4 @ 35 points) 140 Assignment #8 (50 points) 50 Exam (2 @ 75 points) 150 On-line Quizzes (10 top scores @ 5 points) 50 Total 540 TEXT-BOOKS (Required) 1. The Advice Business: Essential Tools and Models for Management Consulting, by Charles J. Fombrun and Mark D. Nevins. ISBN #0-13-030373-9 (2004). ENGAGEMENT SCENARIOS: Three Engagement Scenarios (worth 50 points each) have been developed specifically for this course with these objectives in mind: (1) Provide students an opportunity to apply management consulting tools and techniques taught in the course, (2) Increase awareness of recent emerging technological trends, (3) Gain hands-on experience and familiarity with some of the most common types of consulting engagements in industry. An overview of these assignments will be discussed during lectures prior to their due date. They can be completed on an individual basis or you may partner with one additional student in the course. If you choose to partner with someone in the course, be sure to split the workload evenly and to CLEARLY indicate both names and student IDs on the final submission. The Engagement Scenario descriptions and requirements are available and should be submitted electronically through the course’s Blackboard web-site. Students are encouraged to submit responses prior to the due date / time, as the system does not accept late submissions. In case of a Blackboard system failure, students may submit responses through e-mail to the instructor (as a back-up plan). Students are also highly encouraged to review the grading rubric for Engagement Scenarios prior to submitting their completed assignment. All engagement scenarios will be graded using the same Engagement Scenario Rubric. Students should come to class prepared to discuss and participate in group discussion panels & debates regarding engagement scenarios on the due date of the engagement scenario. EXAMS Two exams are schedule for this course worth 75 points each. The exams will be administered during the regularly scheduled class meetings and must be completed on an individual basis only. Any one cheating on a test or aiding another individual will receive an “F” in the course and will be referred to Office for Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) (http://www.conflictresolution.uiuc.edu/). It is anticipated that the structure of exams will reflect a balance between multiple choice questions and more on applied short-answer questions. As the date of the exam approaches closer, more specific information will be provided. BADM590-IT Spring 2009 Syllabus ©Copyright 2009 Matthew L. Nelson Page 3 of 4 QUIZZES There is one on-line quiz per module in this course. Each quiz is to be completed on an individual basis only through the course’s Blackboard web-site. The intent of quizzes is to enhance your learning of the textbook and lecture material. Students can expect similar questions and question types on exams. The quizzes are set up to provide you with instantaneous feedback about your individual performance and allow you to see if you have learned the material. Each quiz consists of five questions composed primarily of multiple choice questions. although quizzes may be taken at anytime during their “availability window”, once you begin a quiz it must be completed within 8 hours. (Even if you properly save the quiz, close the browser window and return later…the quiz still must be completed within 8 hours of its’ inception. Please note this is a Blackboard imposed constraint, not the instructors!) Thus students are strongly encouraged to complete a quiz in ONE SITTING. Also note, only one attempt is permitted with each quiz question (thus, you cannot go back to a quiz question after it has been answered and the response saved). In addition, do not proceed or “skip” to the next quiz question without answering the current quiz question (Blackboard does not permit you to go back and respond to unanswered questions, even though it gives you an option to “skip” questions). To minimize your consequences of unexpected events (network failures, computer crashes, ISP failures, unexpected power outages, family emergencies) only the highest ten quiz scores will be counted (out of the 12 available quizzes) regardless of the module. Each quiz is worth 5 points each (for a total of 10 *5 = 50 points). Again, it is strongly recommended to complete quizzes in one sitting and concurrently with each learning module. Any one cheating on a test or aiding another individual will receive an “F” in the course and will be referred to Office for Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) (http://www.conflictresolution.uiuc.edu/). CASE STUDIES Four standard Harvard Business Review (HBR) case studies that address various aspects of the IT industry are covered in this course. The cases are available in a PDF file format through the course’s Blackboard web-site. Each case will have 5 to 7 case study questions assigned that students will need to use the case write-up and / or the textbook to respond. Case Study questions are to be completed on an individual basis only. See the course schedule for due dates of each case study. Students are encouraged to review the Case Study Grading Rubric prior to responding to case study questions. All case studies will be graded using the same Case Study Grading Rubric. All cases should be electronically submitted in a Word Document format through the course’s Blackboard web-site (by uploading their Word document to the appropriate case study assignment in Blackboard). Students are encouraged to submit case study responses prior to the due date / time, as the system does not accept late submissions. In case of a Blackboard system failure, students may submit case study responses through e-mail to the instructor (as a back-up plan). “ASSIGNMENT #8” Assignment 8 is a catch-all (if you will) of the final assignment in the course that is worth 50 points (regardless of the option selected). Students have three options to complete Assignment 8: (1) Make a current events presentation to the class, (2) Be a “consolidator” of the current events presentations by students from through-out the semester, succinctly summarize the results, provide a hard-copy take-away report for the class and make a final presentation to the class or (3) Complete one final IT Engagement Scenario. Options 1 and 2 have a predefined number of open ‘slots’ for students, so please notify the instructor as early in the semester as possible if you select Option 1 or 2. Current Events Reporting The Information Technology industry is changing at a rapid pace. To stay competitive and marketable, you must maintain a great awareness of your environment. We are going to use approximately 15 to 20 minutes of most lecture class periods to help establish a life-long learning habit so that you can maintain current in the rapidly changing IT environment. Two students will present and discuss a recent academic research article or business article or newspaper clipping of legitimate quality of source (tier A, B or C) to class. Each presentation should be no longer than 7 minutes and the presenter must provide an electronic copy of the presentation and a paper-copy of the article to the professor (the presentation file will be made available to the entire class and the current events ‘consolidator’ through Compass). There are two themed areas to focus the topic of the presentation (1) IT in Health Care or (2) Effective Project Management Techniques. Please see the Current Events grading rubric prior to making a current events presentation. Key points to consider: (1) Summarizing key points of the article for the class, (2) Actively encourage discussion of the topic from the class (3) The quality of presentation BADM590-IT Spring 2009 Syllabus ©Copyright 2009 Matthew L. Nelson Page 4 of 4