MBA PROGRAM
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY and MANAGEMENT SPECIALIZATION
Module Descriptions
BAIT 500: Information Technology and the Organization
Information Technology (IT) has become a vital part of the operations and management of organizations of every kind and size. Increasingly, the successful manager is the one who knows how to take advantage of this situation by deploying IT in the most effective manner. This course provides a general introduction to the role of IT in organizations. It addresses three inter-related themes:
- How has IT changed the nature of the modern business world?
- How can IT be used by an organization to achieve strategic advantages?
- How can IT improve one’s own effectiveness as a manager?
BAIT 501: Survey of Information Technology Applications in Business
This course covers the general structure of information systems applications and their use by the various functional areas of business — production, human resources management, financial resources management, marketing, and logistics. Special emphasis is placed on emerging and innovative IT. Participating students will have an opportunity to select a project on a functional area and technology of interest.
BAIT 502: Fundamentals of e-Business Technology
This is a hands-on course on e-Business and e-Commerce technologies for current and future managers. Students will be exposed to components and environmental dynamics that make up a typical e-Business or e-Commerce site. This knowledge will prove useful later when a strategic decision to go online is being comtemplated. The goal of the course is to prepare students to identify situations where an e-Business or e-Commerce solution is required and garner support for the corporate resources that will be necessary to carry out the solution. The course will cover:
- the hardware and software components of a web-based e-Business or e-Commerce solution
- the security, workflow, and other policy related strategies behind
- out-of-the-box solutions and other emerging technologies.
BAIT 503: Developing Business Information Systems
Prerequisite:BAIT 501 or instructor’s consent
Transaction processing is still the core of IT applications in business. Most mission- critical information systems for both large and small organizations are essentially transaction processing systems. Examples are inventory management, payroll, order-processing, accounting, airline reservations systems, banking systems, and customer management. Understanding how such systems work, can be an important asset for the business professional. The course provides understanding of how transactions processing systems work and issues surrounding their development. Concepts will be practiced via hands-on experience using Microsoft Access.
BAIT 504: Business Database Technology
Prerequisite: BAIT 502 or instructor’s consent
Many business and public organizations have become critically dependent on their databases. Example are banks, insurance companies, airlines, and utilities. Effective use of modern database technology has thus become crucial to the operations of such organizations. This course will provide the student with the understanding of database technology and its use. In addition to understanding database concepts and design considerations, the course will provide an opportunity for hands-on experience with one of the most widely used business database system (Oracle).
BAIT 505: Business Data Communications Technology and the Internet
Prerequisite: BAIT 501 or instructor’s consent
Business telecommunications is one of the fastest growing areas in industry today. The use of local- and wide-area networks has become common place. Firms are increasingly using client-server architecture, the Internet, intranets, groupware, and electronic commerce to transform internal operations and redefine interaction with clients and suppliers. Understanding of these technologies and the ways they can help organizations be more effective, efficient, and competitive can be helpful in any business career path such as finance, marketing, logistics, and general management.
The course is designed to provide a foundation of this subject. Having in mind the general MBA student, the course emphasis is on management and strategic use of emergent telecommunication technologies.
BAIT 506: Business Modeling for Information Technology Applications
Prerequisite: BAIT 500 and BAIT 501
Business modelling is used extensively in activities such as information systems analysis and business process reengineering. The concept of business modelling is similar to that of producing an architectural plan for a building. It is a common language, usually based on graphic symbols, that both users and systems analysts can understand.
The course will provide knowledge in the most commonly used modelling methods such as dataflow diagrams, entity-relationship models, object-oriented enterprise models, and workflow models. Computer-based modelling tools will be used.
BAIT 510: Managing Business Information Technology Projects
Prerequisite: BAIT 501 or instructor’s consent
This course is designed to familiarize students with information technology (IT) project management issues, problems, approaches and techniques. Despite four decades of experience in managing IT projects, failure rates are still high and the damage done is sometimes disastrous.
The course takes a broad view of IT project management. It emphasizes the early stages of IT projects, i.e. project vision and initiation, its relation to the specific business culture, technology, strategy and environment, plans for organizational change, project management plans, financing, organization and risks, and possible approaches, frameworks and methods for their assessment and control, as these are considered more problematic, from management point of view, then the software development stages.
BAIT 511:Managing Information Technology
Prerequisite: BAIT 501 or instructor’s consent
The course is designed to familiarize the students with problems, challenges, and approaches in managing information technology (IT). This course takes an analytical view by critically discussing IT management principles, approaches, frameworks, models, and practices. Topics addressed in this course include: (1) how appropriately is the information technology strategy linked to the business operational needs and internal structures, its external situation and relationships, and strategy?; (2) How effectively are the firm’s IT internal and external resources being integrated into and utilized by the firm?; and (3) How does the firm control and evaluate the impact of IT on its employees and customers and on its relationships with partners?
BAIT 513: Implementing e-Business in the Organization
Prerequisites: BAIT 501 or instructor’s consent
This course covers emerging information technologies, their application and impact, and the rapidly changing information technology industry including major players, trends and policy issues. Typical technologies discussed may include: the Internet, Groupware and Intranets, Client/Server Architecture, Workflow Automation, and Digital Documents. Industry segments covered include hardware, software, data communications, office products (e.g., document processing), and consulting.
BAIT 514: Technology and Development of e-Business Applications
Prerequisites: BAIT 503, BAIT 504 (BAIT 504 can be taken at the same time)
With the emergence of e-business, organizations are moving their transaction processing systems to operate via the Internet. Such systems may operate as Intranet applications within the business, as Extranet applications between the firm and its business partners, or provide access to customers via the Internet. The module addresses the technological structure, architecture, development tools and methods for constructing such Web-based applications. It includes a project to develop an interactive web-based transaction processing system.
BAIT 527: Business Intelligence for Management
Prerequisites: None.
It has been proposed that modern executives are not really successful because they have extensive knowledge and experience in their industry. Instead, what they are ALL really good at is managing data and information. All actions are knowledge driven. All knowledge is information driven and all information is data driven.
But not just any data. Much of these are metrics. The challenge is not deciding how much is enough – less is more. The challenge is deciding what to measure and how to collect the data to measure performance. Understand that we eventually become what we are measured by because people adapt! Jack was a dull boy not because he was all work and no play. Jack was a dull boy because no one offered him an incentive to play!
Recent years have seen the emergence of a group of technologies, commonly termed Business Intelligence Technologies that enable management to identify interesting trends and relationships about their customers from massive databases of operational data.
This course intends to help students understand what Business Intelligence is, what it can do, and what it cannot. Students also learn the capabilities and components of a real-world Business Intelligence tool. An invited industry guest speaker will complete the experience with anecdotes from the trenches. The rubber hits the road!
