University Of Waterloo
School of Computer Science
CS 330 Winter 2005

Winter 2005 Marks: are here. See the previous marks posting for the term marks that were used to calculate your mark.

Management Information Systems

An introduction to information systems and their strategic role in business. Topics include types of information systems, organizational requirements, systems development strategies, decision support systems, data and information management, and information systems management, control and implementation. See the undergraduate calendar description and the Computer Science Undergraduate Handbook for more details.

Note:  a downloadable one-page summary of this information is available (PDF; 19KBytes).

Announcements

• April 20, 2005:

  I have posted a solution to Assignment 3, Question 1. The other questions are individual and interpretive and a model solution is not useful.

• April 15, 2005:

  Important Exam information; read this:

  • NO CHEAT SHEETS.
  • SEE THE READING LIST (WEEKS 1 TO 10) FOR WHAT'S COVERED ON THE EXAM. For week 10 it won't kill you to read an extra chapter. It might help provide some context.
  • READ THE POSTING BELOW (APRIL 8) FOR MORE INFORMATION.
  • Exam is April 21, 19:00-22:00, PAC Area 7

• April 10, 2005:

  I have updated the marks again. This now represents what I believe is the correct final version. If you are aware of any discrepancies, please let me know.

  I will be available to discuss the course by email or in person on Monday & Tuesday of this week. I will be unavailable from Wednesday the 13th to Sunday the 17th inclusive. If you wish to meet in person, send me email to arrange a time.

• April 8, 2005:

  A2 and A3 marks are available. Papers may be picked up at my alternate office DC2562 between 9:00 AM and 5:00PM. Please report any discrepancies to me via email. This posting does not include any changes from the midterm appeals that I received.

  Requests for remarking or grade appeals for A3 & A3 may be made by filling out the form and submitting to me. Put it under my door DC2562 if I'm not there.

  Final exam details: I have changed the composition of the exam from what I discussed in class. It is composed of:

  • 40% multiple choice
  • 20% short answer for which point-form is acceptable
  • 40% essay questions. There are 4 questions from which you choose 2 that are worth 20% each.

  The balance of pre/post midterm marks is about 20-25% pre- and the balance post-midterm. The textbook chapters are as discussed in here, for weeks 1 through 10 only.

• March 23, 2005:

  Midterm solutions are available. Please understand that this document was written as an internal memo between me and the markers -- each essay was subject to interpretation and overall judgement.

  The marking scheme for the essay questions was based on a flattened scheme of 100%, 90%, 80% etc. There is no point in trying to itemize single marks for such questions. If you intend to appeal your mark, be aware that there will have to be a sufficient difference to bump your mark to a different category. Note also that 100% marks on essay questions are extremely rare.

• March 21, 2005:

  Appealing marks: please see this if you wish to appeal your midterm mark.

• March 21, 2005:

  Midterms are marked and will be available this evening. You can check your mark online if you want.

• March 17, 2005:

  Remember that for A3Q1, we are mostly concerned with the structure of the table(s), not the content. Decomposing or normalizing a table splits up and rearranges the attributes. You may show the contents after the decomposition (for illustration), but the important part is to see what columns are in what tables, and what the keys are.

• March 14, 2005:

  Here is the latest revision to the marks file, containing PA3 plus corrections for A1.

• March 11, 2005:

  Here is the collection of class websites and presentation material for Assignment 2. You should read these.

• March 11, 2005:

  Better late than never: Assignment 3 is now available. The due-date has been changed to March 28.

• February 28, 2005:

  Current marks, including A1 and any corrections, are posted here.

• February 17, 2005:

  Midterm stuff I forgot to mention: no cheat sheets. In the past I have used cheat-sheets, but not this term.

  Assignment 1's are now available outside my office DC1312.

• February 16, 2005:

  Midterm stuff: the midterm is next Monday, 2005-2-21 during regular class time (1900 to 2100, ie 7PM to 9PM). You can write the exam in any of the following rooms: MC4020 (the usual lecture room), MC4039, MC4040 and MC4062.

  The first six chapters of the text will be covered by the exam. To study, read the book. If you are short of time, read the chapter summaries. Take a look at the discussion and review questions in the text, and look at the material at the publisher's website.

  There will be some multiple-choice and short-answer questions, accounting for no more than 25% of the exam. The remainder will be essay-style questions of a depth similar to the case study questions or the in-class exercises.

• February 1, 2005:

  Several people have asked me about forming groups for Assignment 2. I have created a page of people looking for group members. Contact me via email if you want to be added to (or removed from) the list. You can also use the newsgroup uw.cs.cs330 -- it exists as far as I know, although we're not using it for curriculum material.

  Another idea for an A2 topic, modivated by last night's class: analyse one (or more) e-commerce business models, see if they work & describe why (or why not); or devise a new e-commerce business model.

• January 31, 2005:

  Assignment 2 is now available; see below.

• January 30, 2005:

  Here are the current participation "marks". Use your browser's "find on page" function to look up your ID number.

  Let me know via email if I've missed anyone.

• January 26, 2005:

  Someone asked me the following about A1:

  For the assignment, you said that we can have the option of answering each question individually. In that case, do we still have to write a "proper introduction and conclusion" for each answer? (this is what you wrote in the marking scheme).

  I responded:

  Well, obviously short answers can't really have much of an intro & conclusion. That's why I prefer a single cohesive answer that you can structure as a proper essay that addresses all of the issues the questions raise.

  Even if you use the short-answer format, you should at least have a sentence that sets the context for your answer. A conclusion might not be feasible, since your answer probably *is" the conclusion.

  I really want to encourage good writing skills, and the format and structure of your answer are part of your mark.

• January 25, 2005:

  Here is a list of the PA1 "marks" -- ie it shows a 1 if I got something from you and a blank if I didn't. Use your browser's "find on page" function to look up your ID number.

  Let me know via email if I've missed anyone.

• January 24, 2005:

  Doh! I forgot to type up the A1Q2 from the text. Here it is.

  We had a participation assignment this evening. If you didn't submit it in class, send me something by 10:00 AM tomorrow (put [PA2] in the subject). Don't spend more than a couple of hours tops on this (really!).

• January 20, 2005:

  The Canadian supplement for the A1 case study is now available. Apologies in advance for any typos.

• January 17, 2005:

  Assignment 1 is now available; see below. At the moment, I have only the US 8th Edition available as a PDF. I will add the 2nd Canadian Edition version in the next day or two.

  The URL for publisher's resources website for the Canadian edition is http://wps.prenhall.com/ca_ph_laudon_MIS_2.

• January 11, 2005:

  In case you missed it, there was a "participation" assignment given out in the first class. It's due by midnight tonight. If you were not at class, or you left early, do the assignment as soon as you can.

• January 10, 2005:

  Here is a calendar of events for the term. This is subject to change throughout the term, so watch this page for announcements.

  Here is a copy of the outline slides used in tonight's lecture.

• January 3, 2005: Details of the Winter 2005 offering will be posted here shortly. Until then:
  1. The course is full and I cannot override this. The School of Computer Science uses a wait-list mechanism for full courses. If you must get into the course this term please see a CS undergrad advisor.
  2. We will be using the textbook extensively. You should buy it (either edition).

Lectures

Mondays, 7:00 - 9:50 P.M. (1900h to 2150h), MC 4020

Instructor

Trevor Grove
School of Computer Science
Davis Centre 1312
E-mail:   my CS330-course-specific email address for this term.
Voice:   519 888 4567 x4679

Office hours: by appointment, after 15:00 T, W, Th preferred.

Teaching Assistants

To be announced.

Assignments

Assignment 3 in PDF in HTML

Assignment 2 in PDF in HTML

Presentation Marking schemes:

• Website
• In-class Presentation

Assignment 1 in PDF in HTML
Case Study for Assignment 1 (US 8th Edition version).
Please note that this material was prepared by scanning and OCRing the text. As such it may contain minor typographical or formatting errors. Please use the textbook as the authoratative source. Here is the text For Question 2. Here is a copy of the spreadsheet referred to in the question.

Course Resources

Textbook: the official text is Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Second Canadian Edition; K.C. Laudon, J. Laudon and M. E. Brabston; Pearson Education Canada, 2005. The textbook used in Fall 2004 and previous terms, Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, 8th. ed.; K.C. Laudon and J. Laudon; Pearson Education, 2004 is also acceptable.

The publisher's resource site for the US 8th edition book is http://www.prenhall.com/laudon/. The URL for the Canadian 2nd Edition is http://www.prenhall.com/ca_ph_laudon_MIS_2/.

The books are on reserve at the Davis Library:

• Reserve # 1528 for the 2nd Canadian Edition, and
• Reserve # 1680 for the 8th Edition.

Publisher's Course Notes: I will not be using these notes directly but they may serve as a useful summary:

• packaged in a single ZIP file (large download)
• Individual chapters are available here.

Readings: Here is the list of assigned textbook readings, organized by week. You should try to read the assignment material before the class (well, at least read the chapter summaries!).

Additional lecture notes may be used throughout the term. Copies of these notes will be available here.

There are many additional resources for the subject of Information Systems that may be of interest.

Here are some study questions that may be useful. They are from a previous term and I cannot guarantee their applicability.

Course Workload and Marking Scheme

The marking scheme for the course will be the best of:

or

or

or

Note: the final exam mark must be 50% or greater.

Assignment Policies

Assignments will use a combination of electronic submission (possibly including creating web pages) and paper submission. Details will be provided with each assignment.

Unless otherwise indicated, assignments are to be done individually. Informal collaboration is acceptable, but work submitted for marking must be an individual effort.

The School's penalty for plagarism is severe. See http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/undergrad/programs/policies/cheating.shtml and Policy 71 Student Academic Discipline Policy.

Links & Supplementary Materials

• CS 330 Coordinator - Person responsible for the long-term structure of the course.
• There is a UNIX tutorial that you may wish to read if you are not familiar with the CS UNIX environment. The MFCF Consultants are also available to answer UNIX questions. They can be found in MC 3011, Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 17:30.

Last modified: April 10, 2005 by trg