Location: Harrogate

Time: Weekends Jan. 20/21, Feb. 3/4, 17/18, March 3/4 . 9.00 to 16.00

Brief description of course: (3 semester hours)

A business is primarily an organization of people with resources at their disposal and certain objectives to be achieved. For the organisation to function effectively it requires information systems designed to support managerial decision-making and procedures for performing business activities. Information systems development requires a tool kit of techniques and procedures; it also requires good communication skills. The analyst needs to interact with many people: users, programmers, managers, senior executives and others on whom s/he is dependent for both information and co-operation.

The task of the information systems analyst is both fascinating and challenging not least because the requirements of any information system are continually evolving as business objectives are modified in response to changes in the business environment. The challenge is to develop quality systems capable of being adapted to meet the rapidly changing requirements of an organization and to develop them fast.

This course will provide an in-depth look at each phase of information systems development - what it is and how to go about doing it. Requirements acquisition methods will be reviewed and evaluated with respect to different application areas. Life cycle as well as heuristic approaches to system development will be examined and discussed. Organizational and behavioral issues with respect to information system development will be considered. Analysis and design coursework will be required

To provide a general knowledge and understanding of all phases of information systems development. Students will be able to study an information system, define user requirements for a new system, propose and evaluate alternative solutions, develop a design for the new system, analyze and present costs and benefits for each phase of the development, and understand system project management issues.

Course text: Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World by John W Satzinger, Robert B Jackson, and Stephen D Burd, published by Course Technology, 2000.

Prerequisite: INSS 510, 520, 530 or permission of instructor.

Students are expected to attend all classes and are responsible for all material covered during the lectures. While the text for the course provides an excellent foundation, the lectures will include further examples and examinations will be based on the lecture material.

There will be a number of practical assignments which follow through on the systems analysis and design process for a particular case study. Students will work in groups of 2 or 3 to accomplish several of these in class each weekend and between weekends. Assignments will be graded and will count towards the final grade for the course.

Assignments and examinations will be assessed and grades awarded in accordance with the following scales :

A : 90 - 100, B : 80 - 89, C : 70 - 79, F : < 70

For group work, the same grade will be awarded to each member of the group.

Credit will be given for both content and clarity of written presentation.

Students are advised that the grade for work submitted after the due date without an accepted excuse may be reduced.

The final grade for the course will be determined from the weighted sum of the percentage grades assigned for each of the examinations and assignments.

Instructor: Dr. Richard J. Housden

Professor Housden is an Emeritus Professor of the Open University. He received his MA(Hons) in Mathematics and qualified teacher status in Mathematics from Cambridge University and the Academic Postgraduate Diploma in Numerical Analysis and Doctor of Philosophy (Computer Science) from the University of London He is a Chartered Information Systems Engineer and Chartered Mathematician. He has some forty five years experience of teaching, curriculum development and course accreditation. Until his retirement in 1997, he was Professor of Computing at the Open University (UK) where as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Resources) to July, 1995, he had overall responsibility for all University resources: financial, human and physical including responsibility for IS Strategy and IT Strategy. He has been a term appointed lecturer for the University of Maryland and for Boston University from time to time since 1985.

Office hours: Dr.Housden will be available for consultation for 30 minutes before and after each class meeting. He may be contacted by telephone at home most evenings on Milton Keynes (01908) 583488 or by electronic mail. His address is:

15 Wood Lane, Aspley Guise, Milton Keynes, MK17 8EJ.

Email : R.J.Housden@open.ac.uk .

INSS 540 Information Management Analysis & Design, Tentative course schedule.

This assignment will be set on the material covered in the first weekend for completion by the class meeting of the second weekend of the course.

Students will work in small groups (of 2 or 3) to carry out a detailed analysis and/or design of an information system for a particular application. The assignments will include development of data and process models for the system including entity-relationship diagram, data flow diagrams, object models, and geographical models as appropriate.

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