Kennesaw State University

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Spring 2007

IS 8950/01 – IS Policy & Strategy

ONLINE ONLY OPTION

 

Course Description:

This is a capstone course that integrates the MSIS program’s coursework into a comprehensive overview of IS as a strategic organizational building block.  The course investigates IS management, strategic perspectives for aligning competitive strategies, and core competencies associated with IS.  Also covered are the development and implementation of policies and plans to achieve integration goals while defining the systems that support the operational, administrative, and strategic goals of the organization, its business units, and individual employees.  Practical approaches to managing the IS function in organizations, including the various challenges of controlling the use of legacy IS, while experimenting with emerging technologies, are discussed from a strategic perspective.  An overview of the strategic roles of the CIO and CTO are included.

 

 

Prerequisites:

IS 8005 or permission of the graduate program director.

 

 

Textbook & Resources:

American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th Ed.). Washington, DC. [ISBN 1-55798-791-2]

Applegate, Lynda M., Austin, Robert D., & McFarlan, F. Warren (2007). Corporate information strategy and management: Text and cases. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. [ISBN-13: 978-0-07-294775-5 or ISBN-10: 0-07-294775-6]

The textbooks will be used to support the learning outcomes for this course through readings, examples and exercises. Online cases, articles and other resources will be made available on the course web site.

Instructor:

Amy B. Woszczynski (wo-ZIN-ske), Ph.D.

Office:

CL 3005

Email Address:

awoszczy@kennesaw.edu (24/7 availability, preferred form of communication)

 

NOTE: When you send me e-mail, please use a descriptive subject and include “IS 8005” in the subject field.

Phone:

770.423.6572 (may take 2-3 days to respond)

Office Hours:

Mondays, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Tuesday, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Wednesdays, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

and by appointment

**Please note that occasionally, I will have meetings or other University activities during scheduled office hours. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to make an appointment to see me.**

Fax Number:

770.423.6731

Website Address:

http://vista.kennesaw.edu

GoogleTalk ID

awoszczy

 

Course Objective:

In this course, students will develop an understanding of the strategic use of IS from an executive technical and business perspective at the enterprise level.  Students are expected to understand the internal management of IS services from the point of view of the CIO/CTO and to examine alternative strategies and tactics available to senior management to achieve goals.  Each working student should be able to examine the current and potential impact of information and IS on all aspects of their firm and industry.  Other students without practical experience will be able to understand the strategic information and IS focus as well as imperatives of potential employers.

Learning Outcomes:

As a result of completing this course, students will be able to:

 

  • Understand why IS strategic planning is essential to organizational success.
  • List and analyze the full range of benefits and potential pitfalls associated with the strategic use of IS.
  • Recognize how an organization establishes the means to manage IS as an integral part of its approach to strategic management.
  • Identify components of the IS strategic plan.
  • Discuss current issues in IS strategic planning.
  • Work effectively as a team member during the analysis of a case study and resulting formal presentation.
  • Analyze and critique IS strategy journal articles.

 

Classroom Policies:

Make-Up Exams:

There will be no make-up assignments. It is the student’s responsibility to arrange for an excused absence before the assignment due date. A grade of zero will be assigned for all assignments missed without an excused absence. If an emergency arises on the day of an assignment, and the instructor deems that the absence is excused, then – at the instructor’s discretion – either the weight of other assignments may be increased in place of the missed assignment or a substitute assignment may be given. Written verification of the excused absence must be provided to the instructor.

 

Guidelines for Submitting Work:

All hard-copy submissions should be arranged properly and stapled together. If assignments are due in class, they must be submitted at the beginning of the class period. If assignments are due on WebCT, you may not e-mail me the assignment instead of uploading it to WebCT. Late assignments will not be accepted! If you have any questions about your grades, contact me immediately. The end of the semester is too late to argue for grade changes on earlier assignments. Note that all assignments should follow APA guidelines, except where specifically instructed otherwise. Formatting guidelines will be available on WebCT, and students should adhere to standards in the APA Guide.

 

Attendance:

Class attendance is up to the student. However, high grades are clearly a function of attendance, good notes, questions, and productive studying. Active class participation is encouraged and welcomed. Late arrival, early departure, excessive conversation with other students, and the like are unacceptable.

 

Participation:  A critical component of all graduate courses is an active and debate and discussion. Feel free to offer your comments and to challenge (in a positive way please!) other class members on their observations during case study discussion periods.

 

Instructor Absence:

Normally, I will be in class on time. If I am more than 15 minutes late and prior arrangements have not been made, the class is canceled. If an emergency causes me to miss class, I will make every effort to notify students in advance. You are encouraged to check the class web site for daily updates.

 

Lecture Notes:

All lecture notes, announcements, assignment guidelines, and the like will be available on the class Web site: http://vista.kennesaw.edu.

 

Withdrawal Policy:

The last day to withdraw without academic penalty is 3/2/07. Ceasing to attend class or oral notice thereof DOES NOT constitute official withdrawal from the course. Students who simply stop attending classes without officially withdrawing usually are assigned failing grades. Students wishing to withdraw after the scheduled change period (add/drop) must obtain and complete a withdrawal form from the Academic Services Department in the Registrar’s Office.

 

Email Policy:

 

The instructor will reply to e-mails that list the course number and section in the subject line of the e-mail (IS 8005/01). E-mails with other subject lines may not reach the instructor's mailbox.

 

WebCT Vista does not currently allow you to forward messages to an external account. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to check Vista messages frequently for class updates.

 

Enrollment Policy:

Only those students who are enrolled in the class may attend lectures, receive assignments, take quizzes and exams, and receive a grade in the class. If a student is administratively withdrawn from this course, they will not be permitted to attend class nor will they receive any grade for the class.

 

Electronic Devices

**NOTE: Not applicable for online classes!!**

In order to minimize the level of distraction, all beepers and cellular phones must be on quiet mode during class meeting times. Students who wish to use a computer/PDA for note taking need prior approval of the instructor since key clicks and other noises can distract other students. Recording of lectures by any method requires prior approval of the instructor.

 

 

                                                  

Tentative Course Schedule: Subject to change

 

Week

Topic

Readings

 

1

Due 1/14/07

Course Overview: syllabus, introduction to Vista, online academic honesty quiz

Li & Fung (A) case example

 

2

Due 1/21/07

Introduction to course

IT and Strategy

 

AAM: Ch 1

LeapFrog case

 

3

Due 1/28/07

IT and Organization

AAM: Ch 2, 2A

 

4

Due 2/3/07

Extending the Enterprise

AAM: Ch 3

Global Healthcare Exchange case

 

5

Due 2/10/07

Business Models

AAM: Ch 3A

 

 

6

Due 2/17/07

Making the Case for IT

AAM: Ch 4

Reading 1-5: IT Doesn’t Matter

Case 1-3: Wyndham International (individual assignment – all students complete)

 

7

Due 2/24/07

Internetworking Infrastructure

AAM: Ch 5

 

8

Due 3/1/07

Midterm exam

 

 

March 3-9

No class, holiday

 

 

9

Due 3/17/07

Reliability and Security of IT Services

AAM: Ch 6

Postgirot Bank and Provment AB case

 

10

Due 3/24/07

Managing the Diverse IT Infrastructure

AAM: Ch 7

 

 

11

Due 3/31/07

Organizing and Leading the IT Function

AAM: Ch 8

Case 2-3: Ford Motor Company (individual assignment – all students complete)

Cathay Pacific case

 

12

Due 4/7/07

Managing IT Outsourcing

AAM: Ch 9

 

 

13

Due 4/14/07

Portfolio Approach to Manage IT Projects

AAM: Ch 10

Royal Caribbean case

 

14

Due 4/21/07

Challenges to Manage in a Network Economy

AAM: Conclusion

 

15

Due 4/22/07

GROUP PROJECT PRESENTATIONS (posted)

 

 

FINAL

Due 4/29/07

Final Projects Due (posted to WebCT Vista)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

READINGS/CHAPTERS LEGEND: AAM: Corporate Information Strategy and Management

 

 

Special Dates:                                                                                                                                 

 

Last day to withdraw without penalty: 3/2/2007

 

Holiday, no class: 3/3/2007-3/9/2007

 

Graduation: 5/10/2007 and 5/11/2007

 

Grades Due: 5/8/2007

 

Notes:

  • Any student who needs special assistance or accommodations, please e-mail me at the beginning of the semester.
  • Refer to University material for information on date changes.

 

 

Class Format:

This class will follow an online only method of instruction. It is critical that you spend a significant portion of time checking WebCT Vista discussion board postings and interacting with your classmates.

Due Dates:

Due dates are as listed in the syllabus.

Diversity Statement:


All courses offered by the Computer Science and Information Systems department will adhere to the KSU policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, disability, national origin, or sexual orientation.

Lecture Notes:

Lecture notes will be posted on WebCT Vista. See http://vista.kennesaw.edu. Notes will generally be in the form of PowerPoint slides.

 

Assignments:

Students will complete individual assignments (IRB, annotated bibliography, oral presentation, individual paper, and statistics activity) and a group project and presentation during the course. The project serves as the final exam for the course. Students will also complete various online activities.

 

Grading rubrics are available on WebCT.

 

Project Requirements:

Details on the project will be posted on WebCT and discussed in class.

 

Case Study Analysis:

Traditional case analysis uses three basic questions to drive the analysis:

 

1)       What is the problem? The basic assumption is that there is no decision to be made if there are no problems. To understand the problem, we need to know the business of the firm (business model), how well the firm is doing (market share, profits, etc.), industry and competition. What is (are) the decisions being considered and why? This is what each group (and individuals) will do in the case preliminary analysis and what each group discussion board should attempt to answer. As the course progresses, we will see analytical tools and frameworks to improve your analysis of the problem definition.

2)       What are the alternatives? There is always the “do nothing” alternative. If everything went well (rosy scenario) what would we like to do? If everything went wrong (doomsday scenario) what should we do? What can we do in between the rosy and the doomsday scenarios? What are the pros and cons of each alternative?

3)       What are your recommendations? What criteria should we use to select the most suitable alternative in the case? Why are you recommending one alternative versus another? How does this alternative satisfy your criteria? How will you implement the alternative you selected?

 

The final case report will include the revised preliminary analysis (what is the problem) and add the alternatives you identified with pros and cons of each one, the criteria you used to select an alternative as your recommendation and how to implement the alternative. Each case study analysis should be approximately 3-10 double-spaced pages.

 

Links:

Department web site: http://science.kennesaw.edu/csis

 

 

Computer Labs:

 

Please be aware of and follow all computer lab user policies.

Burruss Building

The labs on the fourth floor of the Burruss Building are open 7 days each week as follows:

M-Th 7:45am - 11pm
Friday 7:45am - 5pm
Sat 10am - 6pm
Sun noon - 8pm

The Burruss labs are open most holidays. Be prepared to show your current student ID card upon entering the lab. The telephone number of the Burruss Building lab is 770-423-6110.

 

Science and Mathematics Building

The lab in SC 228 of the Science and Mathematics Building is open as follows:

M-Th 10am - 9pm
Fri & Sat 10am - 3pm
Sun closed

The telephone number of the Science and Mathematics Building lab is 770-499-3351.

 

 

Owl Printing System:

 


The OwlPrint system (student network printing/copying solution) is available in the KSU library as well as all the open labs and lab/electronic classroom combinations across campus.  

 
Students must have an OwlPrint card to use printing/copying services. While in a classroom situation, faculty/staff will use their department OwlPrint cards to give student access to the printer/copier.

 

Assessment/Weight

 

Midterm Exam / 25%

The mid-term exam will consist of short answer and/or discussion questions related to the topics covered in class and the textbook. The midterm exam will be due at 11:45 pm on 3/1/07.

Discussion Board

Activity / 20%

Since this is an online class, student participation in discussion board activity is essential for success. Students will be evaluated on participation, timeliness of submissions, thoughtful analyses of the discussion board topics, and communication skills.

Project / 25%

The class will self-select into project groups (approximately 2-4 students per group).  If you prefer, you may complete the final project individually. However, the project must meet the same standards of rigor and completeness whether completed individually or as part of a group. Each group will develop and/or critique the IT policies and strategies of a selected organization. The group will submit a presentation to the class via Vista and will submit a written report. 

 

The written report should be of sufficient length to adequately explore the topic and must include a minimum of 5 outside references.  In addition to being double-spaced (including the reference page), students are required to use the APA Guide (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) when formatting the paper. The written report must be posted by 11:45pm on 4/29/07.

 

By 1/28/07, one or more members of your project group should setup a time to chat with me about your project. All group members are invited to participate, but only one group member is required to be present at the chat session.

 

By 2/3/07, one member of each group should e-mail the following information: group member(s), group name (if any), and 2-3 sentences describing the project that will be completed. If you would like a private discussion group for your team, please let me know. Please be aware that I will monitor and respond to private discussion board postings as needed. Unless there is a specific question for me, I typically will not contribute to the group discussions. You are not required to setup a private discussion board in Vista.

 

By 3/24/07, you must submit an interim deliverable of your project to me via e-mail. I will provide feedback and return the project to you in about a week.

 

You also must submit a presentation of some sort for the class to view and critique. Be creative! You may record your presentation, and then upload to the Presentation bulletin board. You may use MovieMaker or another standard Windows program. Whatever method you choose to submit your presentation, it must be viewable using standard Windows file types, or you must provide a viewer compatible with the program you use. You classmates will contribute to the evaluation of your presentation, so creativity and innovation will probably win more points! Project presentations must be posted by 11:45pm on 4/22/07.

Case Studies / 30%

 

Each student will summarize three case studies.

 

Students will be divided into assigned discussion groups for the case studies listed on the syllabus. After each group member discusses the case, one or more group member will be assigned to write-up an analysis based on group discussion and individual analysis. The other group members will be evaluated based on thoughtful and timely analysis and contribution to the discussion. Case reports (only for those individuals assigned) are due as follows:

 

LeapFrog: Due 11:45 pm on 1/28/07

Global Healthcare Exchange: Due 11:45 pm on 2/10/07

Postgirot Bank and Provment AB: Due 11:45 pm on 3/24/07

Cathay Pacific: Due 11:45 pm on 4/7/07

Royal Caribbean: Due 11:45 pm on 4/21/07

 

In addition to the individual submission of a case study based on group collaborative discussion, all students will be required to submit two additional case study analyses as individual assignments. Individual case study analyses for all students are due as follows:

 

Wyndham International: Due 11:45 pm on 2/17/07

Ford Motor Company: Due 11:45 pm on 3/31/07

 

Each case study analysis will count as 10% of the final grade, for a total weighting of 30%.

 

Group discussion board assignments will be made after drop/add is completed so that we have an accurate count of students in the class. I will setup discussion boards for each group and assign one or more members of the group to submit individual case study analyses as appropriate.

TOTAL / 100%

 

 

Grade Evaluation

 

 

 

A

90% - 100%

B

80% - 89%

C

70% - 79%

D

60% - 69%

F

59% or below

 

 

Student Course Evaluation:

A standard questionnaire will be administered during the last two weeks of the semester in all classes. Since this is an online course, students will complete the end of course evaluation within Vista. I will setup the standard questionnaire in WebCT Vista as an ANONYMOUS survey. Students may complete the form there, and I will not print the anonymous surveys until AFTER grades are posted.

 

Additional questions developed by the college or instructor(s) may be included as well. It is important that each student provide meaningful feedback to the instructor(s) so that changes can be made in the course to continually improve its effectiveness. We value student feedback about the course, our teaching styles, and course materials, so as to improve our teaching and your learning. At a minimum, the following two questions will be asked: 1) Identify the aspects of the course that most contributed to your learning (include examples of specific materials, exercises and/or the faculty member's approach to teaching and mentoring), and 2) Identify the aspects of the course, if any, that might be improved (include examples of specific materials, exercises and/or the faculty member's approach to teaching and mentoring).

Acquiring Final Grades:

In an effort to better utilize our technology resources, Kennesaw State University has instituted the reporting of end of term grades by phone. This is in addition to the web version of grades, which has been in effect for several terms. All current semester term students may call 770-420-4315 and select Option Number 4 to secure their end of term grades. With this new development, printed grade reports will not be mailed at the end of the term. Students needing verification of grades or enrollment should request either an official transcript or enrollment verification through the Office of the Registrar.

 

Academic Integrity Statement:

Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University's policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentation/falsification of University records or academic work, malicious removal, retention, or destruction of library materials, malicious/intentional misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an "informal" resolution by a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conduct's minimum one semester suspension requirement.

 

Students are encouraged to study together and to work together on class assignments and lab exercises; however, the provisions of the STUDENT CONDUCT REGULATIONS, II. Academic Honesty, KSU Undergraduate Catalog will be strictly enforced in this class.

 

Frequently students will be provided with “take-home” exams or exercises. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure they fully understand to what extent they may collaborate or discuss content with other students. No exam work may be performed with the assistance of others or outside material unless specifically instructed as permissible. If an exam or assignment is designated “no outside assistance” this includes, but is not limited to, peers, books, publications, the Internet and the WWW. If a student is instructed to provide citations for sources, proper use of citation support is expected. Additional information can be found at the following locations. 

 

http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html

http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/citing.htm

http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/journalism/cite.html

http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/papers/copyright/ipdummie.html

http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html
http://plagiarism.phys.virginia.edu/links.html
http://www.arts.ubc.ca/doa/plagiarism.htm
http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/%7ejanicke/plagiary.htm
http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/plagiarism.htm
http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm
http://www.engr.washington.edu/~tc231/course_info/plagiarism.html
http://quarles.unbc.edu/lsc/rpplagia.html

 


 

APA Documenting Examples:

All MSIS students are required to have a copy of the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual, available in the KSU bookstore and elsewhere.

 

When any portion of another author's work is used, whether it be from a course textbook or outside work, including the World Wide Web, in whole, in part, or paraphrased, that work must be cited. Proper citation formats are provided on the reverse of this document. Failure to do so can result in Academic Misconduct Proceedings.

Acceptable Reference Formats (from North and Blade, 1998 (see below) reprinted with permission)

 

There are two components to a proper citation: the text citation and the reference or endnote. The text citation will usually consist of the author or authors' last name(s) and the year of the publication. The endnote citation will read as follows:

 

Books

Author. (Date). Book title. City: Publisher.

 

A reference for a single-author book:

 

North, M. M. (1996). Virtual reality technology. New York: Best Press.

 

A reference for a multi-author book:

 

North, M. M. & Blade, R. A. (1998). How to build skills for research. Colorado Springs: IPO Press.

**Also note that references in APA format use hanging indent and should be double-spaced.**

 

Journals

Author. (Date). Article title. Journal Title. Volume (Issue), pages.

 

Journal Reference

 

Kelly, F. G. (1997). Networking made efficient. Journal of Computer Networking. 45 (3), 54-61.

 

(Here is an article in Volume 45, Issue 3, spanning pages 54-61)

 

Conference Proceeding

 

Conference proceedings follow the same general format as journal references but also include the conference location (in the following example, Nice, France).

 

Vanner, F. D. (1996). A survey of medical issues using virtual reality. Proceedings of the Virtual Reality Medical Technology. 119-132. Nice, France.

World Wide Web (from http://www.apa.org/books/pubmant.html):

 

Entire site no specific page

 

Kidspsych is a wonderful interactive Web site for children (http://www.kidspsych.org).

 

No reference entry is needed.

 

 

Citing Specific Documents on a Web Site:

 

American Psychological Association. (1995, September 15). APA public policy action alert: Legislation would affect grant recipients [Announcement]. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved January 25, 1996, from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/ppo/istook.html

An independent document (no author identified): 1

 

Electronic reference formats recommended by the American Psychological Association. (2000, August 22). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved August 29, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html

If the primary author is not available for the body citation, the first key word is to be used (Electronic, 2000).

 

 

Acknowledgment and Acceptance of Academic Integrity Statement:

 

In any academic community, certain standards and ethical behavior are required to ensure the unhindered pursuit of knowledge and the free exchange of ideas. Academic honesty means that you respect the right of other individuals to express their views and opinions, and that you, as a student, not engage in plagiarism, cheating, illegal access, misuse or destruction of college property, or falsification of college records or academic work.

 

As a member of the Kennesaw State University academic community you are expected to adhere to these ethical standards. You are expected to read, understand and follow the code of conduct as outlined in the KSU graduate and undergraduate catalogs. You need to be aware that if you are found guilty of violating these standards you will be subject to certain penalties as outlined in the college judiciary procedures. These penalties include permanent expulsion from KSU.

 

Read the Academic Integrity Statement and then take the electronic quiz that indicates that you understand the ethical standards expected of you in this academic community, and that you understand the consequences of violating these standards.