Many thanks for your patience and understanding over the last few weeks as well as the many kind emails I received: they are all very much appreciated.
So: welcome to the OU module M883 - Software Requirements for Business Systems.
Your first port of call for materials and general information should always be the module website: if you look at the "Resources" section (right hand sidebar) you will see links to module resources, including electronic versions of the study guides, the TMA scripts and supporting papers and the wikis for the collaborative exercise.
The module is based around the set book, "Mastering the Requirements' Process" (2nd edition) by Suzanne Robertson and James Robertson, with additional information, guidelines and self-assessment materials provided in the associated study guides. You should by now have received all your materials, if there are any problems please contact me.
Assessment is through three Tutor Marked Assignments, or TMAs, and an exam in April. Due dates for the TMAs can be found on the study calendar on the course website – as most of you have realised, the first is only a week away!
I will generally keep in touch with the group by email, though you are welcome to phone me at any time. This blog will be used for course related posts, while my own blog (http://needsmust.wordpress.com) is more generally related to requirements' engineering, often derived from questions I receive by email. I would encourage you to subscribe to both for the duration of the module at least. I will aim for about one a week, though not immediately after the TMA due dates. There are two reasons for this: one I will be busy marking, and two if there are late TMAs still to come I don’t want to give those people an unfair advantage!
If you haven't already, I would encourage you to have a look at the website, which also includes links to a number of additional papers that form an integral part of the course materials as well as background reading, copies of the course software and pdf versions of the study guides and the assessment materials (the TMA questions and guide, specimen exam paper and solutions) There is also a link to the course conference where you can exchange experiences with other students and to the course wiki.
This is a feature that you may not have come across in other courses and which you will be expected to use for collaborative work: please note that this work is an assessed part of your TMAs. You will be assigned to groups of about 6 people for this collaboration: I would suggest you exchange personal emails and maybe telephone numbers with the other members of your group.
Please do your very best to keep to the due dates for your TMAs. If you do have problems, please contact me before the due date and we can discuss a short extension. I have a small amount of discretion for the first two TMAs but none for the final one which must be submitted on time. However, please remember that you are no longer the only person affected by your delay: as in most software projects other people - your collaboration group - are dependent on your input. There are suggested deadlines for the collaborative work about a week before the TMAs are due. So please ensure your collaborative contributions are made in good time otherwise they will not count towards your mark.
However since this email is itself so late I will be extra sympathetic on this occasion - if you need extra time email me, but please do your wiki contribution as soon as possible and in any event before the 29th.
If you do this and fulfil your obligations to your group I will be more likely to look favourably on requests for extensions for the remainder of the work!
In this module the TMAs are submitted electronically, through the eTMA system. If you are not familiar with this I would encourage you to submit the "test" TMA, which appears as "TMA 00", to upload a file and check that there are no problems. You could use this to tell me a little about yourself, and it is also a good idea to include examples from any drawing tools you are planning to use - this will check that we have compatible software.
Just to tell you a little about myself. I am a systems' design consultant with more than 20 years experience working in telecoms, and more recently energy, industries as well as with public administrations and voluntary organisations. I first came to the OU as a student in the early 1990s, so I do understand the difficulties of balancing work, life and study.
If you have any questions or comments about the course, or about the Open University in general, please feel free to contact me. The best way of contacting me is by email, either at s.d.tyrrell@open.ac.uk or sebastian.tyrrell@ieee.org. I would generally check my email at least daily, although sometimes not at weekends. If you prefer to contact me by phone then evenings and weekends are the best times, and my mobile (+353 86 3120 974) will usually reach me. Other numbers you might like to note are:
Hom- +353 76 602 6049
British number - +44 2895 81 0330
One final point to note: if you need to submit an assignment in paper form (for example because of a problem with the eTMA system) then please contact me first to ask where I will be! I travel a good deal, especially between Ireland and Germany, and it would be a real shame if your TMA turned up on the day I left and sat waiting for me for 10 days.
Please do get in touch to confirm that you have received this mail, and to tell me a little about yourself and your reasons for choosing this course.
I am looking forward to working with you over the next few months. Good luck, and feel free to contact me with any questions.
