INSTRUCTOR: Dr. V.T. Raja
OFFICE: Bexell 405
PHONE: 541-737-6058
E-MAIL: Raja@bus.oregonstate.edu
OFFICE
HOURS: First week of term and finals week: By Appointment
Tuesday: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.;
Thursday: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., and by appointment.
CLASS TIMING: Section 1: TR 4 p.m.-5:50 p.m.
CLASSROOM: BEXELL 207
COURSE OVERVIEW:
This
course, a capstone course for MIS option students, is organized as a
miscellaneous topics course with a term long project component. This term the course will expose students to
a number of key concepts and timely issues related to information systems/information technology (IS/IT) applications in
organizations. In particular, the
lecture component of the course has two tracks.
The
first track covers IT strategy
concepts such as:
v
using IS/IT to
influence competition (based on Michael Porter’s Competitive Forces Model)
v
using IS/IT to
facilitate value chain activities and linkages
v
using IS/IT to
facilitate business process reengineering
v
strategic
information systems
The second
track exposes students to some fundamental issues in the e-commerce
environment from security, legal, ethical, and international perspectives. With
regard to legal issues, a guest lecture is expected to be arranged in order to cover
some current legal topics in the electronic commerce environment. With regard to security issues, students
learn about desirable properties for a secure communication. In particular,
they learn about:
v
network availability and access control
v
confidentiality
v
authentication and
v
message integrity
A framework is provided to
enable students to understand management’s role in cyber security. Students gain a fundamental understanding of
physical security, firewalls, symmetric key and public key cryptography. Applications of algorithms such as 3DES, AES,
RSA, MD5 and SHA are discussed. Students learn about Key Distribution Centers,
Kerberos, certification authorities and digital signatures.
The project component typically requires students to work on term long
group projects. Clients for the project are usually small organizations or some
division(s) of a large organization with operations in the State of
The project will be divided into different parts for
ease of implementation. Details on all
parts of the project will be provided in a separate handout. Confidential evaluations of team members and
self are included and will count towards each student’s project
performance. The project may also
involve an in-class presentation by each team, although the presentation may be
viewed as an in-class assignment and not as an explicit deliverable for the
group project.
PREREQUISITES
This is a required class for
students in the MIS option. Students
taking this course should have successfully completed BA370, BA371, BA479, and
also should be of senior standing. It is
highly recommended that students concurrently take BA372 if they have not
already completed that course.
There is no required textbook for this course. Instead, the instructor will provide lecture
notes in class. Handouts distributed in
class will be posted on the course website.
For some lectures, readings may be assigned and information about these
readings would be made available in the course website. Some readings may be accessible through web
links, the URLs of which will be announced in class.
Note: Some
announcements for this class may be made via COB e-mail.
Class
participation will be evaluated based
on: attendance, (verbal) quality contributions to classroom
lectures/discussions, punctuality, classroom conduct, and (written) quality
contributions to the instructor (e.g., a relevant article, a relevant web site,
an e-mail message following a class discussion, etc.). If an individual comes to class every day, is
punctual and polite, but does not make a strong attempt to participate, then
that individual will earn low credit for class contribution (60% of
contribution points). Individuals who
contribute occasionally, but do not do much to advance the discussion will earn
a somewhat higher grade (70-80%).
Individuals who consistently contribute to the classroom discussions and
advance discussions in a meaningful and productive way will receive the highest
grades (90-100%).
Exams are scheduled to be held in class during class time. Any changes to the time or venue will be
announced in class. Date(s) for the exam
will be announced in a separate handout that provides a schedule for BA483
lectures this term. It is the student’s
responsibility to contact the instructor directly to find out if any
announcements have been made regarding the exam date, time and venue. Exam(s) will be of a closed book/closed notes
format. A student who is unable to
take the exam during their scheduled times, must notify the instructor within
one week of announcement about exam date and make alternate arrangements for a
make-up exam with the instructor. Typically
no makeup exams will be given
if the instructor does not approve an excused absence for the student in
advance. In case of illness, appropriate
medical documentation has to be provided to the instructor.
GRADING
POLICY: Individual grades will be
based on a ‘weighted’ average as follows:
Exam 1 20%
Exam 2 25%
Class Participation 5%
Assignments 15%
Team Project 35%
------
Total 100%
-------
Individual grades will be
assigned as follows:
A: score >= 93%
A-: 90% <= score < 93%
B+: 87% <= score < 90%
B: 83% <= score
< 87%
B-: 80% <= score
< 83%
C+: 77% <= score
< 80%
C: 73% <= score
< 77%
C-: 70% <= score
< 73%
D+: 67%
<= score < 70%
D: 63% <= score
< 67%
F: score < 63%
Assignments may include mini-case analysis, in-class
presentations, and submitting handouts (e.g., PowerPoint handouts) for such
presentations. Assignments are typically
in-class assignments. Some assignment(s)
may be of a take-home nature. To receive
full credit for take home assignments and PowerPoint handouts, these should be
typed and must be of a professional quality (e.g., spell check, grammar, use of
non-sexist language). Late submission of assignments will
result in a 20% penalty for each day the homework is late. A computer/printer crash is not an acceptable
excuse for late submissions. As
mentioned earlier, the project may also involve an in-class presentation by
each team, although the presentation will be viewed as an assignment and not as
an explicit deliverable for the group project.
Students
who miss an assignment without prior
permission of the instructor are typically not allowed to make up the
assignment, except for illness with documentation, and emergency reasons supported
by appropriate documentation. In all
other cases, even if students are allowed to make up an assignment, such a make
up will have to be submitted to the instructor before the assignment feedback is provided (could be as early as next
class session), and a penalty of up
to 50% may be levied. It is the
student’s responsibility to schedule a make up assignment or exam with the
instructor at appropriate times. It is
expected that students will notify instructor via e-mail at least one day in
advance of missing any class.
Grade Appeals: If you are not satisfied with a grade you have
received for an exam, or assignment, you are welcome to discuss it with the
instructor after class hours. Written
grade appeals with appropriate justification have to be made within one week
from the time the grades are given out by the instructor. Incomplete grades will be given only under
circumstances deemed unusual by the instructor, and will require appropriate
documentation.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:
ACADEMIC
DISHONESTY AND STUDENT CONDUCT
Students are expected to
uphold the OSU standard of conduct for students relating to academic
dishonesty, harassment etc.
As described in the
"Student Life Policies and Regulations",
academic dishonesty is defined as an intentional act
of deception in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or effort of
another person or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any
academic work.
Any student guilty of
academic dishonesty is subject to receive a failing grade for the course and to
be reported to the Office of Student Affairs.
If a student is unclear about whether a particular situation may
constitute academic dishonesty, the student should meet with the instructor to
discuss the situation.
Students are expected to
uphold the OSU standard of student conduct.
Please refer to: http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/regs.htm
http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/oars.htm#acdis
for details on student
conduct and academic dishonesty. Feel
free to talk to the instructor if you have any questions about the above two
important issues.
PERSPECTIVES OF
ISSUES
A variety of perspectives
recommended by the AACSB are addressed in the BA 483 course: ethical issues
(assigned reading), political/social issues (specific lecture and assigned
reading), legal/regulatory issues (specific lecture and assigned reading), and
technological issues (integrated throughout course).