Downloadable PDF

 

Instructor:

Geza Bottlik, E-mail: bottlik515@gezabottlik.com

Office Hours:

Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. GER 202

 

Phone 213 – 740 –5050

Class time/place:

Thursday 6:30 P.M.    9:10 P.M.  RTH109

TA:

Mohan Mayank mmohan@usc.edu

TA Office hours:

TBD

                       

 

Test Schedule:

Midterm 1:

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.

Midterm 2:

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.

Final:

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.

                       

 

Web Page:            www.gezabottlik.com

                       

                        At the site you will find:

·                    The syllabus

·                    Lecture Notes, Assignments and due dates, solutions

·                    Messages of current interest - e.g. a cancelled class (it won’t happen!)

·                    The DEN website is useful for e-mail, the discussion board and group pages

                        Your responsibility:

·                    Register on and learn how to use the site

·                    Check your email and the discussion board on a regular basis

·                    Download the lecture notes and assignments for each class

·                    Review your grades to track your progress and standing in the class.

                       

Assignments: Readings, Problems, and Exercises will be included in each week’s assignment. Usually, they are assigned on Wednesday and are due on the following Wednesday at 6 P.M.and will be returned during the following week if points were deducted or comments added. It is imperative that you prepare for class  -- you will find it extremely difficult to follow the discussion if you have not read the material. Late homework cannot be accepted, unless prior arrangements have been made (e.g. out of town funeral). Homework is to be in digital format, a single document (no zip files), submitted through the assignment manager on the DEN website. The problems must be in the order assigned. Out of sequence problems will receive no credit.

 

The assignments should be as professional in appearance as if you were preparing reports at work or for publication. Clearly label the assignment number, the date and your conclusions for each problem, followed by the supporting calculations.

Homework will be specified either as individual or team. It’s OK to work on individual homework together, but finish it by yourself and indicate whom you worked with on top of the first page. Each student must turn in a separate homework, unless it is a team assignment. Generated data and essay questions must be unique to each student. The same rules apply among teams for team homework.

 

 


Objectives of the course

The major objective of this course is to have you understand the key principles associated with effective project management and their application within today’s environments and to have acquired or honed basic skills in defining, planning, initiating and monitoring engineering projects using proven techniques and commonly available computer software tools. You should also understand methods for solving and avoiding common difficulties associated with project management.

 

Grading:

 

Project

5%

Homework

25%

Midterm 1

15%

Midterm 2

20%

Final exam

25%

Participation (attendance, asking questions, making contributions, postings on the discussion board)

10%

 

Participation for DEN students includes, e-mail, call in, and submitted questions and comments for the lectures, postings on the discussion board and is expected every week. Real time participation via WebEx is encouraged but is not essential for receiving full credit for participating.

A further note on participation: You are expected to come to class prepared and actively participate in class discussions. Some of the methods of evaluating this – good listener, points relevant to the discussion, willingness to bring up new ideas, evidence of analysis, clarify and build on previous points.

The grade for the course will only be based on the required work listed above and cannot be improved with additional work. Note that participation is 10% - so participate!

 

The required texts are:

 

“Project Management”, Jack R. Meredith and Samuel J. Mantel, 6th Ed. John Wiley and Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-71537-9

“Using Microsoft Office Project 2003” Tim Pyron, QUE, 2004, ISBN 0-7897-3072-3

 

 


Course Outline:

 

08/27

Introduction, Strategies ( Sessions 1)

09/03

The Project Manager (2)

09/10

Organizations (3)

09/17

Planning (4)

09/24

Conflict, Negotiation (5)

10/01

Midterm 1 (6)

10/08

Budgeting ,Scheduling (7)

10/15

Resources (8)

10/22

Information Systems (9)

10/29

Midterm 2 (10)

11/05

Summary and review of Microsoft Project (11)

11/12

Control, Audit (12)

11/19

Termination (13)

11/26

No lecture (14)

12/03

Review and project discussion (15)

12/10

Final

 

References:

  1. “Negotiation Analysis”, by Raiffa, Richardson and Metcalfe, Harvard University Press, 2002 ISBN 0 – 674 – 008890 –1
  2.  “Project Management”, Harold Kerzner, 8th Ed. ITP
  3. “Core Concepts: Project Management in Practice” 2nd Ed.Mantel, Meredith, Shafer and Sutton.  John Wiley, 2005

 

 

Project

Approval of the selected project must be obtained from the instructor by 11/05/06. Please submit a one page description. Consultation with the instructor and the TA is encouraged.

 

Project report           

The report is limited to no more than 6 typed (double spaced) 8 1/2 by 11 pages. It is to be submitted as a digital file on the Assignment Manager on the DEN website.

 

The report must include:

            -                        A cover page with name, title and an abstract not to exceed 100 words

            -                        Text containing definition, development of the topic, analysis and conclusions and

                                    descriptions of your processes

-                     References (books and articles): title, author, publication, date, volume and pages

-                     Calculations, extensive graphs, etc. should be in an appendix – there is no length limit to the appendix.

 

ALWAYS BE SURE TO GIVE THE SOURCE OF ALL YOUR INFORMATION. ANYTHING TAKEN VERBATIM FROM SOMEONE ELSE MUST BE IN QUOTATION MARKS AND REFERENCED. THIS INCLUDES PARTIAL SENTENCES.

 

This is intended to be an interactive class and your participation should increase as the semester progresses. Attendance at all classes is expected of everyone. Frequent absences will result in a reduction in grade. Punctuality is expected. If you are late, be sure not to disturb the class as you enter.

 

PLEASE DO NOT BRING FOOD OR DRINKS TO THE CLASS. (Water in plastic bottles is OK)

 

The midterms and final will be based on problems similar to the ones assigned in the homework and the discussions in class. All tests are open book and open notes. The use of laptops is also OK. Students are expected to apply what they should have learned up to that point to analyzing situations, identifying the problems and applying the appropriate techniques to solve them.

 

NEATNESS, SPELLING, AND GRAMMAR COUNT. THEY ARE AN EXPRESSION OF YOUR COMMITMENT TO DO A GOOD JOB.

 

Last, but most important:

The School of Engineering and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering adhere to the University’s policies and procedures governing academic integrity as described in Scampus. Students are expected to be aware of and observe the academic integrity standards described in Scampus. I will enforce these standards -- in other words, if you cheat and get caught you will get an F in the class.

Any Student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester.  A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP.  Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.  The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.