SE 477 Software and Systems Project Management
Summary
Project Management is presented from a practitioner's view. The four basic building blocks of software project management: people, process, tools, and measurements are covered. Special emphasis is placed on professional standards such as the Project Management Book of Knowledge and IEEE Software Engineering Standards. Specific topics include Managing People, Selecting Project Tools, Leadership & Motivation, Software Development Processes, Estimation, Risk Analysis, Scheduling and Tracking, Leveraging Measurements, and Project Completion. Consideration is given to project cultural issues.
Software development projects pose significant project management challenges due to project complexity and tight scheduling demands. This course provides a fundamental understanding of the project management concepts, techniques, and tools needed to plan, implement, control, and deliver a product and successfully complete a project. It is important to realize that an IT project consists of more than the system/software development life cycle. This course discusses how the software development life cycle is a subset of the overall project life cycle and shows how the two life cycles can be integrated. We discuss some of the specialized techniques and tools of software development and how they relate to project management techniques and tools.
The course is organized around the phases of a typical IT project and the corresponding software development life cycle. Topics covered include:
- Project management basics
- Project and software development life cycles and how they relate
- Project management and team activities in both the project and software development life cycles
- Initializing a project
- Analyzing and planning a project, including:
- Project time management:
- Activity identification
- Activity duration estimation
- Activity sequencing
- Activity resource estimation
- Schedule development using the critical path method (CPM)
- Project risk management, including:
- Understanding risk and the risk management model
- Risk management planning
- Risk identification, with emphasis on risks encountered in the IT environment
- Qualitative risk analysis
- Risk response planning
- Risk monitoring
- Project execution, monitoring and control, and close out
- People skills (a.k.a. 'human resources')
The course attempts to be consistent with the standards, principles, and processes of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). However, there may be some minor differences in approach, vocabulary, and techniques.
The course consists of lectures, reading, individual homework assignments including a journal, a mid-term exam, a final exam, and a team project. Online students work remotely on the team project with in-class students and/or other online students. Both exams are delivered electronically online.
Class homepage: http://condor.depaul.edu/~dmumaugh/classes/SE477W12
On-line access: Also we will use Course On-line (COL) for assignments, submissions, lecture recordings, etc. [http://col.cdm.depaul.edu]
Examinations: examinations will be administered using Desire2Learn (https://d2l.depaul.edu/).
Texts
No textbook is required for this course. [As in buying it.]
Choose one of the texts listed below. You can access a textbook online at the DePaul Libraries Web site, http://www.library.depaul.edu/. [Electronic Books: Books 24x7: BusinessPro (Look for a folder labeled SE477) and Books 24x7: ITPro]. Of course if you really want to, buy one of the following. The one I tend to use most is: PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Sixth Edition.
Material from the following sources is used in the course. This list is provided for your reference only you need not purchase any textbook. All of these references are available online via Books 24/7 at the DePaul Libraries Web site, http://www.library.depaul.edu/.
- A Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge, Fourth Edition (PMBOK Guide), Project Management Institute, 2008.
- Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures, Second Edition, Project Management Institute, Project Management Institute, 2006.
- Fundamentals of Project Management, Third Edition, James P. Lewis, AMACOM, 2007.
- Information Systems Project Management: How to Deliver Function and Value in Information Technology Projects, Second Edition, Jolyon Hallows, AMACOM, 2005.
- Managing Information Technology Projects: Applying Project Management Strategies to Software, Hardware, and Integration Initiatives, James Taylor, AMACOM, 2004.
- PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, 6th Edition, Kim Heldman, Sybex, August 2011 (my recommendation)
- Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, Eighth Edition, Harold Kerzner, John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
In addition, there is a
reading list/reference web page with material cited there.Grading
Coursework includes both individual and team assignments.
Individual assignments require reading about topics in project management and writing short but substantive summaries and analyses of the reading. One assignment will be to organize a project schedule, another will require a risk management assessment, and one will be a retrospective case study of a large, failed project.
Team assignment is done as part of a team consisting of four or five students. The team will provide a Project Management Plan for a medium sized project. All students on each team are expected to contribute equally to each assignment. At the end of the quarter, students must complete a peer review of their teammates. The peer review assesses the participation, quality of work, and cooperation of all members of the team. The review is used, in part, in determining each student's project grade component, which constitutes 30% of the overall grade.
Unless otherwise specified, all assignments must be submitted via Course OnLine and are due by 11:59 PM (CT) on the assignment due date. No late assignments are accepted via COL.
Online exams. There will be two exams to tests comprehension of vocabulary, concepts, and the practical elements of project management. The exams are delivered online via Desire2Learn.
The following table details the weighting of the grades:
Homework 20%
Journal 10%
Project 30%
Mid-term exam 20%
Final exam 20%
Important note: No extra-credit assignments are offered; it is a far more effective use of time to put the effort that would be expended on extra-credit work into the regular homework assignments instead.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) model, for example through courses such as SE425, SE430 Object-Oriented Modeling, SE 470 Software Processes, ECT455, IS425, MIS555 or through appropriate work experience.
Journal
Students will keep a journal. This will cover collateral reading assigned, questions asked in class, and your thoughts on course material. The journal entries should comment on the readings and the lessons learned.
Other Course Information
Student Support. Support for both in-class and online students is provided through weekly office hours dedicated to the course and through a mailing list. Students in the Chicago area may come to the instructor's posted office hours. Most questions should be directed to the mailing list. Email should be used only for personal issues or for student-specific coursework questions. Make all questions clear, concise, and specific. Note: The instructor does not preview homework assignments.
Exceptional Circumstances. Every effort is made to accommodate students who encounter exceptional personal circumstances during the quarter. Students who experience unanticipated personal, work, health, or family emergencies should notify the instructor by email or phone as soon as possible with a brief explanation of the circumstances and any anticipated impact these might have on coursework. Students who have anticipated exceptional circumstances such as secular or religious holiday observances, medical treatment, or work-mandated travel should notify the instructor as early as possible of these circumstances and any anticipated impact these might have on coursework. In both unanticipated and anticipated cases, a suitable plan for dealing with the coursework impact is agreed upon by the student and instructor. In some cases, suitable documentation of the exceptional circumstances may be requested by the instructor.
The schedule:
About the order of presentation of topics:
This schedule represents the course's anticipated ordering and list of topics. Some additions, deletions, or rearrangement of the topics may occur. All of the following topics are covered within the ten-week quarter.
Special Notice
This term (Spring 2012), the campus will be closed on May 21. Also, there are no classes on Memorial Day. To make up for this, we will have the lectures for the Risk Management topics (Weeks 6 and 7) deferred until the end and present them using COL
only. They will be encore presentations from February 2012, but still valid. As a result the order of classes will change and the order of assignments will change.
Introduction and Overview: Class Administrivia: Roll, Syllabus. Introduction: Roadmap for Software Project Management; Fundamentals; Software Process or What is a project? Project characteristics; Classic Mistakes;
Software project management overview: Project life cycle; Project managers; Project organization; Putting a process in place; Software process; Phases for software project management; Defining the project; Project charter; Statement of work (SOW); Preliminary Scope; Project management tools
Project Planning Initial Phase: System Development Processes; The Project Management Plan; Scope Management; Creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Charter; WBS details; Project Planning Activity: Activity Definition; Activity Sequencing; Estimating size and complexity
Project Planning Activity: Activity Resource Estimating; Activity Duration Estimating; Project Planning Schedule Development: Scheduling: Gantt Chart and PERT and Critical Path Method (CPM); Schedule compression; Resource leveling;
Risk Management: Planning, risk identification, quantification and prioritization
Presentation deferred to May 21 on COL only.
Risk Management: Risk analysis, response planning, avoidance, mitigation, monitoring
Presentation deferred to May 28 on COL only.
Project Processes: Execution; Monitoring, control and tracking; Project velocity; Earned Value Analysis;
Miscellaneous: Quality Control, Planning and Assessment; Change control and project tracking; Final stages: Project Recovery; Project closeout; Project Success
Managing the Project Team: Project and Team Organization; Project Management Context; Project environments: cultural and social, international and political, physical; Managing the Project Team; Shaping project culture
This syllabus is subject to change as necessary during the quarter. If a change occurs, it will be thoroughly addressed during class, posted under Announcements in D2L and sent via email.
Evaluations are a way for students to provide valuable feedback regarding their instructor and the course. Detailed feedback will enable the instructor to continuously tailor teaching methods and course
content to meet the learning goals of the course and the academic needs of the students. They are a requirement of the course and are key to continue to provide you with the highest quality of teaching. The
evaluations are anonymous; the instructor and administration do not track who entered what responses. A program is used to check if the student completed the evaluations, but the evaluation is completely
separate from the student’s identity. Since 100% participation is our goal, students are sent periodic reminders over three weeks. Students do not receive reminders once they complete the evaluation.
Students complete the evaluation online in CampusConnect.
This course will be subject to the university's academic integrity policy. More information can be found at http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/ If you
have any questions be sure to consult with your professor.
All students are expected to abide by the University's Academic Integrity Policy which prohibits cheating and other misconduct in student coursework. Publicly sharing or posting online any prior or current materials from this course (including exam questions or answers), is considered to be providing unauthorized assistance prohibited by the policy. Both students who share/post and students who access or use such materials are considered to be cheating under the Policy and will be subject to sanctions for violations of Academic Integrity.
All students are required to manage their class schedules each term in accordance with the deadlines for enrolling and withdrawing as indicated in the University Academic Calendar. Information on enrollment, withdrawal, grading and incompletes can be found at http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Current%20Students/Pages/PoliciesandProcedures.aspx.
Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain confidential.
To ensure that you receive the most appropriate accommodation based on your needs, contact the instructor as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week of class), and make sure that
you have contacted the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) at:
Lewis Center 1420, 25 East Jackson Blvd.
Phone number: (312)362-8002
Fax: (312)362-6544
TTY: (773)325.7296