BCIS 4720   Web Based Information Systems

Syllabus Resources Personal Tasks Teams Project New Grades Examples PowerPoints Evaluation Forms C# Textbook Apps VB Textbook Apps Review Questions Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 e_Commerce Site Form Presentation Evaluation Form Personal Site Form Current Teams Old Teams Overview Milestone 1 Milestone 2 Milestone 3 Milestone 4 Milestone 5 Milestone 6 Milestone 7 Last Semester Assignments

BCIS 4720 – Web Based Information Systems

INSTRUCTOR:		Dr. John Windsor
OFFICE:		BUSI 338H (940-565-4147)
E-MAIL:		windsor@unt.edu
OFFICE HOURS:		By appointment
SEMESTER:		Fall Semester 2009

 

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3 hours. This course provides tools, skills, and an understanding of technology, business concepts and issues that surround the emergence of electronic commerce on the Internet. In addition to acquiring basic skills for navigating the Internet and creating a personal electronic presence of the World Wide Web (WWW), the student will develop an understanding of the current practices and opportunities in electronic publishing, electronic shopping, electronic distribution, and electronic collaboration. The student will also explore several of the problem areas in electronic commerce such as security (authentication, privacy), encryption, safeguarding or intellectual property rights, acceptable use policies, and legal liabilities.

The course uses a combination of lectures, classroom demonstrations, self-learning, guest speakers, and project work. Web experience is not required, although completion of the Analysis and Design course (BCIS 4610) is required. Since this course is end-product focused, the instructor expects you to put into practice the organizational, design, and software skills learned in previously completed BCIS courses.  If you have completed BCIS 4650, you will benefit from the user interface design and software skills taught in that class.  A willingness to experiment with and explore all of these technologies is necessary.

TEXTBOOKS (REQUIRED):

Schneider, Gary. Electronic Commerce, Eighth Edition.  Thomson Course Technology (2009), ISBN 978-1-4239-0305-6.

Boehm, Ann, Murach's ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with VB 2008. Mike Murach & Associates, Inc. (2008),  ISBN 978-1-890774-47-9).
or
Boehm, Ann, Murach's ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with C# 2008. Mike Murach & Associates, Inc. (2008),  ISBN 978-1-890774-48-6).

TEXTBOOKS (OPTIONAL)

Johnson, Jeff.  GUI Bloopers. Morgan Kaufmann (2000), ISBN  1-55860-582-7.

SOFTWARE :

You will use Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional (in the COBA labs or elsewhere) and SQL Server 2005 (on the ATLAS and JANUAS severs at http://atlas.itdsdom1.unt.edu/bcis4720).  VS 2008 Pro comes with SQL Server Express.  If you decide to experiment with this version, download the free SQL Server Management Studio (VERY helpful) from Microsoft at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/.   Shortly after the start of the term, you will also have access to the online Microsoft Store (http://msdn08.e-academy.com/unt_bcis/), where you can purchase VS 2008 Professional for $16.99 plus shipping.  DO NOT USE VISUAL STUDIO 2005 or 2003 IN THIS COURSE.  DO NOT USE MS FRONTPAGE, MS SHAREPOINT DESIGNER, EXPRESSIONS WEB, OR ADOBE DREAMWEAVER IN THIS COURSE.  DO NOT USE ANY OTHER WEB PAGE DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE IN THIS COURSE WITHOUT INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION.

Course Objectives AND (METRICS):

Upon completing this course the student should:

• Have a general understanding of the Internet and related technologies (Exam and Projects).
• Have built Web pages using Visual InterDev at least at a basic level (Projects).
• Be able to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of an Electronic Commerce site (Exam and Projects).
• Have built a prototype Electronic Commerce site for a company (Project).
• Be able to specify the development of Electronic Commerce capabilities in a company (Exam and Projects).
• Have an understanding of electronic commerce and the interplay between technology, managerial and policy issues that will shape its future (Exam and Projects).
• Recognize and understand ways of using Electronic Commerce technologies to improve intra and inter-organizational processes (Exam).
• Be able to analyze the impact that Electronic Commerce is having and will likely have on key sectors of the economy and assess the strategic implications this analysis holds for an organization (Exam).
• Have an understanding of policy issues related to privacy, content selection, intellectual property rights, and establishing identity that are germane to Electronic Commerce (Exam).

 

SEMESTER SCHEDULE

(BLUE = PERSONAL ASSIGNMENT; GREEN = TEAM ASSIGNMENT)

All assignments are due on the respective date shown below.

LIST OF PERSONAL AND TEAM ASSIGNMENTS

There are more details about many of these assignments at http://atlas.itdsdom1.unt.edu/bcis4720/, where you may need to login to access the Milestones.

Each student will have a personal web site on ATLAS.  Post all individual assignments to your personal site.   Then mail the assignment's complete URL to the instructor (windsor@unt.edu).  The date and time stamp of your email determines whether or not your assignment is in on time.  Further, take steps to ensure that the instructor has received your message, since I will assume that if I do not receive your email you did not send it.  Assignments are due in my e-mail by midnight on the due date. Late assignments lose 10 points for each day or part of a day that they are late. The course web site includes copies of the evaluation forms used for many activities, so you will understand clearly what the grading criteria are.

PERSONAL ASSIGNMENTS:

Web Home Page with Master Page - Create a web home page to identify you to perspective employers.  This page will conform to the requirements presented during the first class meeting.  You must use space provided on the ITDS Department's server. DUE WEEK 4 (SEPTEMBER 22).

Challenge/Response Web Page -  This is an ASP.NET assignment. Create at least 2 web pages, the second (the "response") accessible only  upon successful completion of the first (the "challenge" -- a login page with UserID and PW)  Assume user will enter the challenge data correctly.  In this activity, create and use both a session state variable and an application state variable. DUE WEEK 5 (SEPTEMBER 29).

Input Validation - This is an ASP.NET assignment.  Modify your login page to test user input.  There is no requirement to use every validation control. But you do have to validate both the UserID and Password for appropriateness, given whatever entry criteria you have displayed to the user.  What I the user enters nothing? What is the user enters garbage and you wanted a numeric entry? Etc.  DUE WEEK 6 (OCTOBER 6).

Evaluation of an Electronic Commerce Site - Each student will select a different electronic commerce site (i.e., a "primary business" site, not a 3rd-party site like Google), subject to instructor approval (a simple or complex web site does not automatically qualify).  DUE WEEK 3 (SEPTEMBER 15). 

Using information provided in Schnieder and in class, analyze this site for its design strengths and weaknesses.  NOTE that you must evaluate ALL of the site's pages.   Submit a written report (double-spaced, using MS Word)detailing your findings.  You will use a 7-point Likert scale for part of the evaluation.  NOTE that it is in your best interest to CLEARLY EXPLAIN AND JUSTIFY IN WRITING each required item in the assessment, since those grading your work will be evaluating it using their professional opinions.  DUE WEEK 5 (SEPTEMBER 29).

Read from a Database - This is an ASP.NET assignment.  You are to practice reading from a SQL Server database (STUDENT4720).  Create a page containing a TextBox for User Name and Password.   The page should verify the user is in the USER Table of the Database, and report the Email Address and Year of Birth of the user.  If the user is not in the database control should be transferred to a page reporting the problem and inviting the user to register with the site.  DUE WEEK 8 (OCTOBER 20).

Write to a Database -This is an ASP.NET assignment requiring the use of code-behind.  Create a new web page that will allow a client to register on a site.  The registeration information should be written to the USER table in the STUDENT4720 database.  The test of the page should be the ability of the new user to "login" to the website.  DUE WEEK 10 (NOVEMBER 3).

Update a Database - This is an ASP.NET assignment requiring the use of code-behind. Create a new page that will allow a client found in the USER table to modify any of the information about themself found in the USER table.  DUE WEEK 11 (NOVEMBER 10).

Create/Use a Web Service - This is an ASP.NET assignment.  DUE WEEK 13 (NOVEMBER 24).

TEAM ASSIGNMENTS:

Team Formation & Name - Pick your members, 3 persons per team. Each team submits their group name, which will become a web site where the team posts their assignments.  DUE WEEK 2 (SEPTMBER 8).  

Each student team will develop a prototype electronic commerce site for any topic they wish, subject to good taste, UNT regulations, and instructor approval.  Use of sound or animation is optional.  Clearly mark your site as a class project!  Team activities include all of the following:

Project Plan - Each team will develop a project plan using MS Project for their proposed e-commerce site.  Submit the initial plan on Week 5 and update weekly until the project is complete on Week 15.  FIRST DUE WEEK 5 (SEPTEMBER 29).

Business Proposal - Each team will develop a business proposal for their electronic commerce site.  This proposal will include the business case, financing needs and projected cash flow for the company.  It will also include a discussion about why this business is appropriate for an Internet implementation.  NOTE that all of this needs to be carefully thought-out.  Just throwing things in, as if making a pot of soup, will NOT get the job done.   DUE WEEK 6 (OCTOBER 6).

Electronic Commerce Site Design Documentation - Each team will prepare full system documentation, including site navigation and screen designs for the electronic commerce site (paste screen captures into MS Word, with both display areas and user-activated functionalities numbered and clearly described).   DUE WEEK 7 (OCTOBER 13).

Prototype of an Electronic Commerce Site -  Again, clearly mark your site as a class project!  The instructor will provide details of the design requirements in class.  DUE WEEK 15 (DECEMBER 8).

Software Demonstration. Each team presents their finished work to the rest of the class. Assume that the audience consists of fellow software engineers (who may not know much about your topic) who are critiquing your team's work before presentation to the client.  Include in your talk:

1. A brief introduction about the nature of the project;
2. Constraints or difficulties encountered and solutions used (be specific); if your application uses other software, explain as needed (note that "lack of time" is never an acceptable constraint or excuse!);
3. A critical analysis of your project's strengths and weaknesses;
4. A realistic version 2 proposal (assume a 3-month horizon and $65 hr./software engineer), including Gantt chart and table of development costs; and
5. A demonstration of your application.

All team members are expected to participate equally in the oral presentation. Use PowerPoint and/or other presentation aids. Give the instructor a copy of the PPT handout and what-ever other documents you would want the client to see during your talk; handouts for the rest of the class are optional. Assume a maximum of 20 minutes; organize your time as you see fit (ex., 10 min. talk, 10 min demo; 5 min talk, 15 min. demo, etc.). Your skill as a public speaker, as well as the organization and content of your material, impact your grade. I expect you to apply your BCIS 3615 knowledge and skills in this oral. Professional dress is optional and not a grade issue.    DUE WEEK 15 (DECEMBER 8).
 

SEMESTER GRADE BREAKDOWN:

FINAL EXAM	15%
MID-TERM EXAM	15%
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS           Your Site         Challenge/Response       Input Validation       Site Evaluation       Read from a Database       Write to a Database       Update a Database       Create a Web Service	20%         3%         2%         2%         3%         3%         3%         3%         3%
PROTOTYPE OF SITE       Project Plan       Design Documentation       Business Plan       Final Documentation       Presentation       Site Operation	50%        5%        5%      10%        5%        5%      20%
Grand Total	100%
PLEASE NOTE: THERE IS *NO* EXTRA CREDIT.

  Spelling and grammar errors will cost up to 10% of your grade for that item.  Each error found costs you 1 point.

COURSE POLICIES

SUBMISSIONS.

Assignments are due in the instructor's e-mail by midnight on the due date. Late assignments lose 10 points for each day or part of a day that they are late.  The instructor will define the assignments sufficiently in advance of their due dates to allow students adequate time for their completion. Consequently, there is no allowance for computer failure and/or downtime, printer delay, or whatever.  Turn in whatever you have by the scheduled time for any partial credit you may have earned. All successful companies expect business professionals to schedule their work efficiently and to allow for unexpected failures (i.e., contingency planning).  The instructor will report assignment grades at the class website.  All website grades are unofficial.  If you discover what you believe to be an error in your grade, notify the instructor at once.  Once final grades are recorded, they will not change unless you discover an error in the calculation process.

The mid-term exam will be 90 minutes in length.  Additionally, there may be a comprehensive exam at the end of the semester for any exam missed for validated reasons of illness or death in the immediate family.  The instructor will schedule this exam (if needed) at his convenience during final exam week.  Any curve applied to the regularly scheduled exams does NOT apply to the comprehensive exam, which will not have any curve.

As per UNT policy, the grade of "I" may not be assigned except for appropriately documented emergencies (illness or death) and then only within the guidelines of stated University policy.

JOB PERFORMANCE AND TEAM DYSFUNCTION.

Working together in project teams is an integral part of the BCIS Department’s curriculum. As such, it is also an integral part of this course. It is your responsibility to work diligently and harmoniously with all the other members of your team. Likewise, it is in the team’s best interest to resolve all job performance problems internally. However, if these internal efforts fail, the result is a dysfunctional team.

If the team leader, or two or more members, decides that the team has become dysfunctional because of a member’s poor job performance, s/he must prepare a written report for the instructor describing the nature of the performance problem, and the team’s efforts to resolve it. Attach evidence as needed in support. Personality conflicts are not grounds for firing a team member.

The instructor will schedule a meeting of the entire team to discuss the performance problem and to mediate a solution. If a solution is not found the team can, by majority vote, fire the member for poor job performance. A fired member cannot do the semester project alone. He or she must join another team. If a fired student is unable to persuade another team to accept him/her, that student will either drop the course (with a grade of “WF”) or receive (after the last day to drop) an “F” as the course grade (since teamwork is an integral part of this course). Keep in mind that firing a member does not lessen the central requirements of the team project, although the team might reduce peripheral elements (with instructor permission). Except for very extraordinary reasons, no team can resize to more than 4 members or less than 2.

AUTHORSHIP.

Each team member will participate equally in the software construction and debugging process. One of the ways I check for this is to look at the code's documentation for evidence of who created and/or debugged what. If I fail to see any written record of your contribution to the software development,  you can receive a ZERO for that part of the team project. Therefore document your authorship of everything you create!

MISCELLANEOUS.

Anyone retaking this class may not use code or any other materials they or their team developed in a prior class. Violations of this policy constitute unethical conduct (see below).

Absenteeism. I expect prompt and regular class attendance from all students. An “absence” is defined as missing all of a class, or part of a class either before or after a class break. If you have more than three unexcused absences from class, I reserve the right to drop you from the course with a grade of WF. Time conflicts caused by work schedules or other outside activities do not constitute an official excuse from attending class – or from meeting your project team obligations. Remember also that I do not accept late assignments for any reason. I encourage you to submit assignments early or have a friend deliver your work for you if it becomes necessary.

Cell Phones and Pagers. When these devices “sound-off” during class, they greatly disrupt the learning process. Consequently, you are not to have cell phones or pagers turned on during class time. If one of these devices “sounds-off” during class time, I will tell the student to leave the class (with an unexcused absence and forfeiting any portion of grade available to be earned on that day) and see the COBA Dean of Students about the problem. Continual disruptions of class by the same student will result in permanent removal of the student from class and a report to the COBA Dean of Students (who may take additional disciplinary action). If you have a genuine emergency on a given day that requires use of these devices during class time, discuss the matter with the instructor in advance to obtain an appropriate policy.

Laptop Computers and PDAs. If you use them for taking notes in this class, that is fine. But you are not to use them to check email, do work for other classes, play games, etc. Do so, and I will ask you to leave the class (with an unexcused absence and forfeiting any portion of grade available to be earned on that day) and see the COBA Dean of Students about the problem. You attend class to learn, not to fill a seat to avoid an unexcused absence.

Ethical Behavior in ITDS Classes. The ITDS Department expects its students to behave at all times in an ethical and legal manner. There are at least two reasons for this. First, ethical behavior affirms the personal value and worth of the individual. Second, both IT and Decision Science professionals frequently handle confidential information on behalf of their employers and clients. Thus employers of BCIS and DSCI graduates expect ethical conduct from their employees because that behavior is crucial to the success of the organization.

Academic dishonesty is a major violation of ethical and legal behavior. The ITDS Department defines academic dishonesty as claiming the work of others as your own, or using illegal or unapproved means to raise your grade in a class. Examples include: copying answers from another person’s paper; using unapproved notes during an exam; copying computer code from another person’s work; having someone else complete your assignments or take tests on your behalf; stealing code printouts, software, or exams; recycling assignments submitted by others in prior or current semesters as your own; and copying the words or ideas of others from books, articles, reports, presentations, etc. for use as your own thoughts without proper attribution (i.e., plagiarism). It does not matter whether you received permission from the owner of the copied work; claiming the material as your own is still academic dishonesty.

The ITDS Department believes it is very important to protect honest students from unfair com-petition with anyone trying to gain an advantage through academic dishonesty. Consequently, there will be in-class testing to validate all major assignments you complete out of class. This may be accomplished by examination, oral reports, individual interviews or any other means your professor may deem appropriate. You must pass these validation tests with a grade of “C” or better to have your out-of-class work count in your term grade. Further, the student grade for academic dishonesty in ITDS classes is an immediate “F” for the course involved and referral of the case to the COBA Academic Advising Office.

In BCIS 4720, your performance on the two exams will validate your graded work done out of class (i.e., there will be questions on each exam about your assignments).  A student earning less than 70 on a given exam will have the difference subtracted from his/her total score for all individual and team work. A student earning 70-79 will have no effect on his/her total for all individual and team work.  A student earning 80-89 will have 3 bonus points added to his/her total score for all individual and team work.  A student earning 90-100 will have 6 bonus points added to his/her total score for all individual and team work. Based on past experience, any student earning less than 60 on the first midterm should drop the course.

Unethical Conduct. Unethical personal conduct or inappropriate use of University computing resources will result in a failing grade for the course and reporting the case to UNT.

Americans with Disabilities Act (1992). The College of Business Administration complies with this Act in making reasonable accommodation for qualified students with disability. If you have an established disability as defined by this Act and would like to request an accommodation, please see the instructor as soon as possible (see page 1 of this syllabus for contact in-formation). Note: University policy requires that students notify their instructor within the first week of class if they need an accommodation. If you experience a temporary physical disability during the term, please contact the COBA Dean of Students for appropriate assistance. Any student with a temporary or permanent disability must still complete all course requirements.