MIS 6204-556 Syllabus Fall 2005

Information Technologies and MIS Fundamentals (MIS 6204-556)

Fall 2005

August 24 through October 12, 2005

Instructor: Prof. Hans-Joachim Adler, Ph.D.

Office: SM 3.227
Phone: (972) 883-4695
Email: jadler@utdallas.edu
Website: www.utdallas.edu/~hxa026000

Course: MIS 6204 Section 556

Class Hours: Wednesday 6:00-10:00pm Room SM 1.117

Office Hours: By Appointment

TA: Robert Shelby

Office: -
Phone: (972) 365-7128
Email: shelbyjr1@yahoo.com

Textbook
James A. O’Brien, George M. Marakas: Management Information Systems, 7th Edition,
McGraw-Hill / Irwin, 2006, ISBN 0-07-293588-X

CoursePacks
Xanedu / Harvard Business School, Graduate School of Business Stanford University:

Michael E. Porter: Strategy and the Internet

Robert A. Burgelman, Philip Meza: AOL: The Emergence of an Internet Media Company
Jan W. Rivkin, Michael E. Porter: Matching Dell
Richard L. Nolan, Kelley Porter, Christina Akers: Cisco Systems Architecture: ERP and Web-enabled IT
Thomas Eisenmann: Akamai Technologies
Bharat Anand, Michael G. Rukstad, Christopher H. Paige: Capital One Financial Corp.

Resources
We will be using WebCT as a software tool for the communication between the instructor,
teaching assistants (TA) and students. It is accessible from the Internet both on and off campus.
Functions included on WebCT are described in the WebCT introduction.

To enter WebCT you will need a UTD NetID and password (i.e., your UTD Unix/Email ID and
password which you may already have).

If you don’t have a UTD account yet, go to https://netid.utdallas.edu/ to initiate your account.

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Course Objective
The course is designed for students who are or who soon will become business professionals.
Students will be equipped with the information necessary to become skilled knowledge workers
and IS specialists in an increasingly fast changing and dynamic business world. The course
emphasizes the essential role of Internet technologies in providing a platform for business,
commerce, and collaboration processes among all business stakeholders in today’s networked
enterprises and global markets.
The course is loaded with real world cases and examples about how companies convert
traditional processes into digital processes, use networks to create fast-reacting virtual teams to
work together, decrease cycle time by using digital transactions with suppliers and partners to
get new products and services out before the competition, and to electronically build new
business relationships and new markets.

Grading
The grading will be based on a relative grading scheme. The student with the highest grade in the
class will be normalized to a 100%. The rest of the students will be normalized accordingly.

Exam 1 30% 36 points

Exam 2 30% 36 points
Assignments / Cases 40% 48 points
120 points

Grades will be posted on WebCT after each exam or the assignment is graded. Access to
grades will be through WebCT.

Exams
All exams are closed-book in-class tests.
Answers to all exam questions are taken from class discussions, class notes, and the textbook.
Students must bring a Scantron Sheet (Number 882-E – green form), available from the
campus bookstore, and a no. 2 pencil for each exam.
There will be no make up exam, except for the following situations: medical emergency and
business trip (written documentation may be required for both).

Assignments
The purpose of the assignments / cases is to allow students to apply principles learned in class
to real world problems. Students are working in teams which are set-up at the beginning of the
course. Assignment formats and contents will be discussed in detail in class. There will be one
grade assigned per team.

Working Together:
You are encouraged to work together in how to use computers and applications. Each student,
however, is expected to do his or her own work for the assignments. Copying another
student's work is scholastic dishonesty (see below) and will be dealt with accordingly.

Scholastic Dishonesty:
The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility with respect to academic
honesty. Because the value of an academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the
work done by the student for that degree, it is imperative that a student maintains a high
standard of individual honor in his or her scholastic work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is
not limited to, statements, acts or omissions related to applications for enrollment or the award of
a degree, and/or the submission as one's own work of material that is not one's own. As a
general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the following acts: cheating, plagiarism,

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collusion, and/or falsifying academic records. Students suspected of academic dishonesty are
subject to disciplinary proceedings. Specifically, copying another student's computer files or
buying assignments from a 3rd party could result in a grade of F and/or expulsion from the
University.

Schedule

Date Description

Aug. 24 Syllabus Course Intro, Assignments, Teams set-up

Chapter 1 Foundations of Information Systems in
Business
Fundamental Roles of IS in Business, Trends in Information
Systems, e-Business, Types of Information Systems,
Managerial Challenges, IS Components & Resources

Chapter 2 Competing with Information Technology

Competitive Strategy Concepts, Strategic Uses of IT,
Customer-Focused Business, Value Chain & IS,
Reengineering Business Processes, Virtual Company
Case Discussion / Assignment

Aug. 31 Chapter 3 Computer Hardware

Types of Computer Systems, Concepts, Peripherals

Chapter 4 Computer Software

Business Application Software, System Software, Operating
Systems, Programming Software, Web Languages &
Services
Team Case Presentations
Case Discussion / Assignment

Sep. 7 Chapter 5 Data Resource Management

Data Concepts, Types of Databases, Data Warehousing &
Data Mining, Database Development, Knowledge
Management

Chapter 6 Telecommunications and Networks

Networking the Enterprise, Business Value of the Internet,
Telecommunications Networks, Wireless Systems Trends,
Network Architectures & Protocols
Team Case Presentations
Case Discussion / Assignment

Sep. 14 Exam 1 Chapter 1-6

Chapter 7 Electronic Business Systems

Enterprise Application Integration, Transaction Processing,
Enterprise Collaboration Systems, Functional Business IS,
Sales Force Automation, Financial Information Systems

Chapter 8 Enterprise Business Systems

CRM Challenges, Business Value of ERP, EDI,
Supply Chain Management Trends
Team Case Presentations

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Case Discussion / Assignment

Sep. 21 No class

Sep. 28 Chapter 9 Electronic Commerce

Systems
Scope of e-Commerce, e-Commerce Processes, Application
Trends, B2B, B2C, C2C, Web Store Requirements,
e-Commerce Marketplaces

Chapter 10 Decision Support Systems

Components & Trends, Online Analytical Processing,
Executive Information Systems, Enterprise Portals & DSS,
Knowledge Portals, Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems

Chapter 11 Developing Business / IT Strategies

Models & Planning, Business Application Planning, End-User
Integration, Change Management

Chapter 12 Developing Business / IT Solutions

Systems Development Cycle, Systems Analysis, Prototyping,
Evaluating HW, SW, and Services, Implementation Activities
Team Case Presentations
Case Discussion / Assignment

Oct. 5 Chapter 13 Security and Ethical Challenges

Ethical Responsibility of Business Professionals, Computer
Crime, Privacy Issues, Security Management Tools, Security
Measures & Defenses, System Controls & Audits

Chapter 14 Enterprise and Global Management

of Information Technology
Global IT Management, Global IT Platforms, Global Data
Access Issues, Global Systems Development
Team Case Presentations
Case Discussion / Assignment

Oct.
12 Exam 2 Chapter 7-14

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