|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BA 471: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Oregon State University
Spring 2006
[Schedule] [PowerPoint
Slides]
Instructor: Susan de la Vergne
Bexell 309
(541) 737-3089
susan.delavergne@bus.oregonstate.edu
Office Hours: M
10-12 W 11-1
Course Overview:
Information
Technology (IT) has been transforming business operations for decades, and the
pace of change is only increasing. BA
471, Management Information Systems, is an overview of essential concepts and
practices in IT and their relevance to business strategy, decisions and
operations. The course equips students
with a broad and deep understanding of IT topics that will enable them to be
successful in this, the Information Age.
A combination of
lecture, readings and assignments will be used to cover a range of subjects,
including:
-
An
overview of technology basics (hardware, software, database, network)
-
“Systems”
thinking and design
-
IT
as a competitive advantage for companies (Is it one?)
-
The
strategic role of IT in business operations
-
IT
as an investment – the financial implications of expensive technology choices
-
The
relationship between business users and IT organizations; how IT is organized
-
Systems
development life cycle, including Quality Assurance
-
IT
controls and governance
-
IT
and the global workforce; outsourcing and “off-shoring”
Course Materials:
|
Textbook: |
Authors: |
Ralph Stair
and George Reynolds |
|
|
Title: |
Principles of Information Systems |
|
|
Edition: |
Custom Edition
(selected chapters from seventh edition) |
|
|
Publication: |
Thomson Course
Technology (© 2005) |
Additional readings will be assigned. Most are noted on the course schedule.
Course Objectives and Learning
Outcomes:
After completing this course, you should be able to:
- Understand information systems, their role in businesses (strategic, operational, tactical, etc.);
- Understand what comprises information systems, the hardware and software technologies integrated to deliver the technology businesses require;
- Recognize the competitive edge – and limitations – that information technology offers to business, as well as its effects on productivity;
- Understand key IT concepts; be able to differentiate between data and information, product and process, data warehouse and data mart, quality assurance and quality control, project management and IT functional/line management, etc.;
- Provide an overview of programming languages, the different generations of languages and current trends;
- Understand the basic architecture of the world-wide web, as well as some of its governing protocols;
- Interpret a relational data model and understand its role in data base design;
- Explain the principles and role of Open Source Software, its major players and representatives;
- Successfully collaborate with others, and use the practices of project management, to work on group tasks;
- Communicate – verbally and in writing – in acceptable business English about information technology practices and principles;
- Explain the practice and relevance of both the governance and auditing of information systems.
Course Approach
The course will combine lecture, readings, individual and group assignments. It is expected that all readings on the course schedule be completed by the date listed on the schedule.
Team presentation and report: Because working in teams towards a shared goal is a common and effective way that businesses organize and perform work, students will organize into teams of three or four to prepare 20-minute presentations and written reports on a specific IT topic. (Choose from the list provided or you may develop your own IT topic to research and present, with the instructor’s concurrence).
Participation scores will be evaluated based on the quality of each individual’s contribution to the classroom lecture/discussion and group contribution.
- Attendance matters. You can’t participate if you’re not
there.
- Contribution
to Discussion: All
business students need to demonstrate that they can contribute
meaningfully to group discussions.
A student who comes to class every day, demonstrates a professional
demeanor, is polite and respectful, but does not participate in class
discussion will earn low credit for class contribution (60% of
contribution points). Students who
contribute occasionally (every week or so), but who don’t do much to
advance the discussion will earn a higher grade (70-80%). Students who consistently contribute to
the classroom discussions and advance discussions meaningfully will
receive the highest grades (90-100%).
- Group Participation:
Students will be asked to evaluate the contributions of their peers
– i.e., individual team members in the group research project. These
evaluations will significantly influence the participation score.
- Cold-Calls:
Students may be called upon in class to demonstrate a basic
understanding of the assigned readings or discussion in progress.
- Exams:
There will be one midterm exam and one final exam. All students are expected to be present
for the exams at the time, date and place that appears on the schedule
(unless for some reason it changes, in which case that will be announced
in class). No make-up exams will be
given without the instructor’s prior approval and even then only for
previously unforeseen circumstances beyond a student’s control (e.g.,
medical emergencies, appropriately documented).
- Quizzes:
There will be a few quizzes throughout the year to reinforce the
learning about a recent topic.
Presentation
Topics: General Requirements
Groups of four (4) people
research a special IS topics listed below.
Each group presents a 20-minute
overview of the topic to the class (for presentation dates, refer to the schedule).
The group may request that the
class to prepare itself for the special topic presentation by reading a short
article or paper if:
- The paper/article
is available on the Web.
- The
paper is approved by the instructor.
- The
students are notified at least one week prior to the presentation that
they are to do the reading.
- Each group
will prepare a written report on its topic and the results of the
discussion. The report is due one
week after the date of the group presentation!
- Each
report must be submitted in both hardcopy and as a Word file (attachment
to email). The electronic version
of the report will be made available to the class for study through a
link on the schedule page.
Report Guidelines
- A
sample outline:
- Title
Page:
- Project
Title
- Name
Authors
- Course
and Instructor
- Date
- Abstract (a very brief, no more than 1/3
page summary of the report)
- Introduction
- Various
sections presenting the results of your research.
- Summary
of the class discussion
- Conclusion
- References
Use the following format:
Smith, T.J. (2001) An Overview of Systems Design; Hammersmith Publ., Ottawa, Ontario.
Smith, T.J. (2001) System Design Methods; Journal of System Design, 12, 551-561.
Smith, T.J. (2001) Systems Design; New Developments; Available: http://www.wherever.com/smith/hereitis.pdf.
- Format
requirements:
- Use
headings and separate your text in logical blocks and segments.
- Number
your pages.
- Integrate
figures and tables into the text; do not add them as an appendix
in the back of the report.
- Caption figures and tables (use Microsoft
Word support for this).
- Spell
check (both automatically and manually!).
- Check
your grammar, diction (word choice), punctuation, the organization of
your ideas (does it flow well?).
- Peer
review!
The Topics
Business
Intelligence. Business
Intelligence is the exploration or mining of business data in search of
meaningful patterns. Provide a brief overview of this technology and its
relevance in business and government settings. In your presentation, make sure
that you discuss the concepts of a data warehouse and data marts.
Geographic
Information Systems. GIS
or spatial information systems are becoming an important component of business
computing. However, GIS are 'special' in that they require special database and
processing technology. Provide an introduction to GIS and its increasing
relevance in business.
IT
Outsourcing. Provide an
overview of the outsourcing of software development phenomenon. What are some of the issues associated with
using contract personnel? How big a
phenomenon is this? Is it growing? Why?
What trends can be observed? What does it mean for the future of
computing – in the west and in other countries?
DB Market.
Who are the major players in the database market? At which sectors of the database market are
their products targeted? Who is competing with whom? How big are these
companies? Who owns them? What products do they offer? What role does database software play in
their product portfolio?
Disaster
prevention and recovery. The laws of system entropy, natural disasters,
acts of terror and computer crime are but some of the things that can destroy
an organization's information flow and storage.
Explore how companies are protecting themselves against these mishaps.
Are the information systems in our college and university properly protected
against these things? If not, what advise would you have to mitigate this
situation?
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems – What are ERP’s? Who are the major players in the ERP
market? What capabilities to ERP systems
provide? What are the limitations of
ERPs? What are some of the pros and cons
of deciding to invest in an ERP?
HTTP. The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
governs the Web, but how does it work? Who invented it? Why? How is it involved
when we use the Web?
W3C. Provide an overview of the World-Wide
Web Consortium. Who are these people and what do they do? Who listens to them?
What sort of influence do they have? What business processes do they follow?
What is the relationship between W3C and so-called 'open standards?'
XML. Provide an overview of the concept,
uses and impacts of Extensible Markup Language. Who invented XML? When and Why?
What role is XML playing in the information systems world? What sorts of tools
have been developed around XML?
Knowledge management. Digital Library (DL) technology
provides new ways for businesses to manage their institutional memory. Provide
an overview of DL technology, some of its implementations (e.g., www.NSDL.org),
metadata and metadata harvesting and briefly discuss some of its best-known
products (e.g., Fedora and DSpace).
Linux. Provide an overview of the various Linux
distributions. What are they? What are their differences, advantages and
disadvantages? How do you get these distributions and how do you install them?
How do you keep them updated? Provide a demo using a Linux distribution. Your
instructor will make a Linux system available to you in case you need one.
OSS Business Models. Provide an overview of the various
business models that have been developed around Open Source Software. How do
companies create businesses based on something that is free and open? Are these
business models sustainable? Do they falsify business models based on
exclusion; e.g., businesses based on patents?
IBM, Microsoft, Sun
Microsystems, HP and Apple
are all technology companies yet each of them rode the dot-com wave in entirely
different ways. Provide an overview of these companies, their products markets
and business and financial performance. Compare the trajectories of their stock
prices for the last 10 years or so and try to explain the different patterns.
Finally, speculate on the future of these companies. Which would you invest in and why?
Web
services are a new
technology for data exchange between computers. Explain what web services are
and how they work. Make sure you provide a brief overview of the SOAP/WSDL and
UDDI and REST protocols.
Compliance, Governance and Sarbanes-Oxley
– When Enron and WorldCom imploded, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
of 2002 requiring that corporate officers signed statements attesting to the
integrity of their company’s financials.
This legislation has significantly affected IS operations. Provide an overview of CobIT controls, and
discuss them in comparison to other models that can be used in IS/IT operations
(e.g., ITIL, CMMi). What controls are
needed to ensure the integrity within systems, and how do these models promote
strong controls? What are the pros and
cons of using the various models? How
does using these models promote better controls that then lead to honest
financial reporting?
To get a start on
some of these topics, refer to the chapter-specific references in your course
book, use Internet search engines or use the OSU on-line bibliographic resources
for articles and subjects.
Some specific magazines and journals you might want to consult:
- InformationWeek.
- BusinessWeek.
- Datamation.
- MIS Quarterly.
- Intern. Journal
of Electronic Commerce.
- Journal
of Electronic Commerce.
- Internet
Computing.
- DATA BASE
for Advances in Information Systems.
- Communications of
the ACM.
- CIO Magazine.
- ComputerWorld.
Grading:
|
Grade Element |
Weight |
|
Quizzes |
10% |
|
Midterm |
20% |
|
Team presentation, report |
25% |
|
Final |
30% |
|
Participation |
15% |
|
Grade Minimum Scores |
||||
|
|
B+ 87% |
C+
77% |
D+ 67% |
|
|
A
93% |
B
83% |
C
73% |
D
63% |
< 60% = F |
|
A-
90% |
B-
80% |
C-
70% |
D-
60% |
|
Course
Policies
- If you miss class:
It’s your responsibility to acquire class notes, assignments,
information, etc., from a classmate.
- Late assignments:
Assignments will not be accepted for full credit after the due
date. If you have a legitimate personal
emergency (illness or injury, for example), let the instructor know right
away. Be prepared to document your
emergency. If the instructor
approves of your submitting a late assignment, a 20% penalty may result
for each day the assignment is late.
- Behavior:
Professional demeanor is expected at all times. This includes demonstrating respect for
others, positive contributions to discussions and active engagement in the
activities in progress.
NB: This syllabus is a guide (not a contract) and
may be changed as necessary. Changes
will be announced in class, and the syllabus will be updated at least one class
prior to the due date for an assignment.
Students with
Disabilities
Oregon State
University is committed to providing equal opportunity to higher education for
academically qualified students without regard to a disability. Students with disabilities are encouraged to
contact the Office of Students with Disabilities (SSD) to learn more about
their rights and responsibilities.
Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, who
have any emergency medical information the instructor should know of, or who
need special arrangements in the event of evacuation, should make an
appointment with the instructor as early as possible, no later than the first
week of the term.
Academic Honesty
Students are
expected to uphold the OSU standard of conduct for students relating to
academic dishonesty. As described in the
OSU Schedule of Classes, “…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….”
Students assume
full responsibility for the content and integrity of the academic work they
submit. The guiding principle of
academic integrity is that a student's submitted work, examinations, reports,
and projects must be that student's own
work for individual assignments, and the group’s own work for group
assignments/projects. Students are
guilty of academic dishonesty if they:
1.
Use
or obtain unauthorized materials or assistance in any academic work (i.e.,
cheating).
2.
Falsify
or invent any information regarded as cheating by the instructor (i.e.,
fabrication).
3.
Give
unauthorized assistance to other students (i.e., assisting in dishonesty).
4.
Represent
the work of others as their own (i.e. plagiarism).
5.
Modify,
without instructor approval, an examination, paper, record or report for the
purpose of obtaining additional credit (i.e., tampering).
The penalty for
academic dishonesty is severe. Any
student guilty of academic dishonesty may be subject to receive a failing grade
for the exam, assignment, quiz, or class participation exercise as deemed
appropriate by the instructor. In
addition, the penalty could also imply that the student receive a failing grade
for the course and be reported to the University officials at the College of
Business, and the officials at the Office of Student Affairs.
Any student who is
unclear about whether a particular situation may constitute academic dishonesty
should meet with the instructor to discuss.