Blog Assignment 4: Someone noted in a blog that you are actually volunteering for UMSL by working on this project. (Of course, you did not volunteer since it is a required part of a required course.) What is your reaction to the fact that you are doing volunteer work? DUE: November 16.

Blog Assignment 3: You have had worked on the project for a while now. Compare what you experienced with what you believed would happen. What do you think of your managers? How do their problems compare with what you anticipated their problems would be? How do their problems compare with the problems for-profit organizations? DUE: November 9, 2009.

Create a use-case diagram to describe the process in the video we saw in class. Use Visio. DUE: Wednesday, October 28, 2009.

Complete the Context Diagram and the Level 0 diagram for the National Merchandising Case. DUE: Monday, October 5.

The Group Task: You are to review the resumes and, from them, create teams of 3-5 members each. Your goal is to create a set of good systems analysis teams. They must be similar in capability across teams, and have sufficient diversity of skills within teams to expect that all will be successful. You must constuct teams that bring together the skills needed for a systems analysis project, and those teams must be approximately equal in terms of what we would expect the final grade to be. Your constraints are that you are limited to the individuals in the class and that you have only the information available in the resumes with which to work.

In addition, you must provide a justification for why you created the teams the way you did. Among the factors you must address are: (a) why did you decide on the specific sizes of the groups? (b) what criteria were necessary to put the students into groups? (c) why did you use those criteria (and not others)? (d) what factors did you consider when evaluating the criteria? This justification must reflect the systems analysis needs discussed in the text and in class as well as your experience in working in teams.

Each team will prepare one report. The reports are due on Friday, September 18 at 5 p.m.

Blog Assignment 2: Your client will visit the class on September 24 to provide the first overview of University electronic communication needs. Discuss what you think will happen. In particular identify what topics you expect the client to address, how these individuals and their staff will be different from other business managers you know, and what kinds of problems you think will be identified in the discussion. This assignment is asking you to discuss your pre-conceived opinions of your client site. DUE: October 4.

Blog Assignment 1: Each of you should now have a private blog available on MyGateway. The purpose of the blog is to encourage you to reflect on your project -- both the process and the client. It is important for you to be honest in your blog -- don't write what you think I want to hear. Grading is a function of the development of your thoughts not their similarity to what I think! For your first assignment, I want you to write about public universities. In particular, you need to reflect on why public universities exist, what different kinds there are, and their role society. Finally, discuss any volunteer work you have done for any kind of not- for-profit organization. This assignment -- and all blog assignments -- may be done in multiple installments. DUE: September 21.

Create a web page that describes your abilities and aptitudes for systems analysis. This page must describe the range of skills, and your aptitude thereon as discussed in the class materials. It must include your grades in specific IS classes, other computer experiences, your business education and experience, your GPAs, your perceived aptitude on creativity, project management, communication skills, project-relevant experience, knowledge of web pages, your strengths and weaknesses, your location, your schedule, and other items you think would explain your readiness. You may get additional items to add after discussing it in class. A grading template is available. A template for this information is available on the web. You do not need to use this template, but the information does need to be presented in a web page without identifying information. When it is complete, you will send me a link to the page and I will post it anonymously. These will be used as the basis of the group forming assignment. View past students' FAQ. This assignment will count as a "triple" assignment for homework. DUE: September 11 (email me link).