Welcome to DISS-725
The System Development Process

The technological advances, in particular in information technology (IT), have had a profound impact on the way we operate in our daily lives both personally and professionally. The explosive growth of IT is touching and changing the lives of practically everyone on the planet, from high-tech company professionals to pre-elementary students. The combination of IT, people, and processes leads to what is known as information systems (IS). As such, it is imperative that novice researchers who wish to study IS will have a solid understanding of the principles of information system development (ISD), ISD analyses, design methodologies, and ISD processes.

This course is designed to stimulate theoretical and practical thinking relative to the development and implementation of IS at the doctoral reasearch level. This doctoral course includes lectures, class discussions, student presentations, and assignments.

DISS-725 - CE1 The System Development Process (4 credits)
Winter 2013 - January 7, 2013 - April 28, 2013
On-Campus: Check Cluster Schedule for Room assigned - DeSantis Building
8am - 12pm

Send me all correspondence to levyy@nova.edu. When sending me e-mail, please make sure to:

• Send me e-mail from your NSU e-mail address ONLY -- this is GSCIS policy! (Also note that e-mails sent from non-NSU e-mail address maybe detected as spam and will not be received or answered!)
• Type "DISS-725" in the subject line.
• Type your full name in the message.
• Type your BlackBoard username in the message.
• Type your NSU e-mail address in the message.
• When sending issues about group work, please CC all group members on your e-mail so I can reply to everyone and have all informed.

E-mails will be usually answered within 24 hours on weekdays and within 48 hours on weekends or official holidays, although in most cases, I will answer you even before. If I'm out of town and have posted a note to the site about it, you will get an automated respond and I will answer it when I get back or have access to the Internet from that location. 

    Acquire advanced knowledge and deeper understanding of system development process including theories and studies related to system life-cycle models, system development strategies, and implementation success. Review of relevant research in the area of techniques, methods, and tools for the analysis and specification of information systems. Review of studies dealing with design principles, requirements gathering, reusability, and quality assurance. Moreover, review of studies and theories relevant to verification and validation process, integration and acceptance testing, reliability measurements, system testing techniques, end-user computing, implementation effectiveness, and system value. Additionally, review of classical theories in information systems and system analysis and design.

    IS is an extremely exciting field. By all means, to get the most out of this course, strive to have fun, both when participating in class and when working on assignments. I think and hope that you will enjoy it.

This course will utilize BlackBoard as supplement for in-class activities. Assignments, projects and class discussions will take place in the BlackBoard site assigned to this course.

There will be four major assignments in this course. Additional information  will be provided during the class meetings as noted in the calendar. Moreover, additional information on each assignment is also provided under each of the assignment guidelines in the "Course Content" section of the course's BlackBoard site. All assignments should be uploaded into the Dropbox area in BlackBoard. Additional information on the uploading process will be provided in our first class meeting.

Grading Scale:

• Class attendance is MANDATORY at all class meetings.
• Mutual respect and courtesy.
• Professional quality in the organization, completeness, neatness, and timeliness of any material submitted will be expected.
• Late assignments will not be accepted! However, the professor realizes that exceptional situations (such as justified emergencies or medical situations) do occur. In such cases, please inform your professor via e-mail to obtain special permission for late submission, prior to the deadline.
• A student may not do additional work or repeat an examination to raise a final grade.
• All papers and assignments should include a certificate of authorship signed by the student.
• The professor is not obligated to communicate with students via e-mail or telephone about the course or assignments after final grades have been submitted. However, official Challenge of Course Grade and Student Grievance Procedure, as outlined in the graduate catalog, will be processed.
• Students should be aware that any submitted work for this course may be subjected to detection of breach of copyright.

Although some sections above are parts of this course's syllabus, this is not the course syllabus. The purpose of this page is to allow students and prospective students to gain understanding on the nature of this course. The course syllabus will be provided via WebCT and will be available for all students who register for this course.

Looking forward seeing you in my class!

	Yair Levy, Ph.D. (levyy@nova.edu) Professor of Information Systems Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences- A National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education Copyright ©  - Dr. Yair Levy, all rights reserved worldwide. Modified  January 15, 2013