Faculty Contact Information:
Ms. Juliet Eiselstein
email: jeiselst@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
Telephone: 956-813345
PSC 818 Box 699
FPO AE 09644
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Consultation:
Office hours: Before/after class or by appointment.
Class meets: 19 Jan - 12 Mar 04/1845 - 2130 hours.
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Required Texts and Readings:
Bruner, R., Eaker, M., Freeman, R., Spekman, R., and Teisberg, E.
(1998). The Portable MBA (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley and
Sons, Inc. -- Chapters 1, 6
O'Brien, James A. (2003). Management Information Systems: Managing
Information Technology in the E-Business Enterprise (6th ed.).
New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Supplementary Readings:
The standard for papers in the graduate program is the APA style. All participants in this course and all graduate INSS, MGMT, PUAD, and ECON courses should have a copy of the style guide:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition. Washington DC: Author.All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills.
Throughout the course, the instructor will assign specific articles that students are expected to read and discuss as part of the “Participation” component of the course grade.
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Recommended Journals:
A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge, and pay-per-view academic journals are available through the MIS Webboard at http://webboard.ed.umuc.edu/~mis.
Governing.com is especially useful, as are the publications of the various professional societies (such as ACM -- the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE Computing Society, and the various management professional societies). In addition, there are many trade journals (such as eWEEK) that MIS professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on-line.
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Course Description:
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3 semester hours credit. Prerequisites: Undergraduate principles of management and economics, or permission of the Program Director. Introduces basic management information systems concepts and examines the fundamental types of information systems. Personal, work group, and enterprise information systems are discussed. The challenge and use of information to gain competitive advantage are also examined. Other topics to be discussed include: the economics of information, use of value added concepts to evaluate information system effectiveness, and the application of system theory to information system architecture.
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Course Goals:
As a required course in both the M.S. in Management Information Systems and the M.P.A., as well as the Information Systems Analyst Certificate, the Certificate in E-Government and the Certificate in Public Management, this course seeks primarily to:
1. improve the professional skills of the participants,
2. provide students with a foundational knowledge of the various
roles of information systems in organizations, and
3. assist degree-seeking students in preparing for the comprehensive
exam, and
4. improve the students' comprehension of the link between information
management and public administration.
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
1. Compare and contrast the various roles information systems play
in organizations and discuss how these roles are reflected in the
organization's structure,
2. Analyze different organizational situations involving the use of
information systems and/or the application of information
technology and make recommendations for improvement,
3. Analyze and demonstrate the impact of advancements of information
technology on organizational variables (such as: communications,
work groups, management decisionmaking, and security),
4. Demonstrate knowledge of basic techniques and elementary skills in
in using application software (such as: databases and spreadsheets),
5. Demonstrate familiarity with the literature in information systems
or a field of their own interest (e.g., medicine or welfare) with
a focus on the use of information technology in that field,
6. Demonstrate knowledge of the other functional areas of an
organization (such as: finance, marketing or public relations,
operations, human resources, and research and development) so that
information systems analysis of any organization can be performed
in a more comprehensive fashion,
7. Analyze ethical issues surrounding the use of information technology
in organizations,
8. Discuss the importance of networkds to organizations, including
issues of security and privacy,
9. Analyze the extent to which an organization's use of information
technology contributes to its competitive advantage, and
10. Apply value added concepts in the evaluation of information system
effectiveness.
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Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 92%+ B 80 – 91% C 70-79%
F Below 70% F(a) or regular non-attendance F(n)
Please note that the Bowie State grading system does not include the grade of D.
Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC – Europe policies. Please refer to the UMUC – Europe Graduate Catalog available at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs/index.html or your local Education Center.
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Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
15% Midterm Examination
20% Final Examination
15% Organization Analysis Paper and Presentation
15% Comps-question Paper and Presentation
10% Portable MBA Paper and Presentation
15% Applications Exercises, Discussion Questions
10% Participation
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Description of Course Requirements:
Midterm and Final Examinations will be in-class. At least 50% of each exam will be closed-book.
Portable MBA Paper and Presentation
Each student will make a 10-minute presentation on a chapter from the book The Portable MBA. The instructor will assign the chapters. There may be more than one student assigned to the same chapter, depending on class size. Visual aids and inclusion of additional information from sources beyond the textbooks are highly encouraged. These chapters will be covered on the exams. Minimum requirements for the chapter review are:
Chapter review must include a summary and at least five (5) major points, and must compare and contrast the ways in which the chapter topics apply in the business world and in public administration.
Comps-question Paper and Presentation
Each student will be assigned a comps-type question. The student is to research the question, using several sources in addition to the textbooks, write a 4-7 page paper answering the question, and prepare a PowerPoint presentation of the answer to the class. More than one student may be assigned the same question, but the work is to be done independently.
Organization Analysis Paper and Presentation
Each student will select an organization or company, and investigate how is manages its information system(s), and the ability of the(se) information system(s) to support the needs of the company or organization in the future.
1. No later than Thursday, 12 February, you must submit a one-page proposal (Word or WordPerfect document) identifying the organization or company (and the industry in which it operates), a description of why you have chosen this company or organization, and the sources you expect to use for your research (you may add sources as your work progresses). You will receive feedback from the instructor on within two days regarding the suitability, scope, etc. of your proposal.
2. Once approved, perform an analysis of the company or organization. This should consist of an in-depth study that provides a brief overview of the company or organization, discussing the appropriateness of their current systems, and assessing the future potential of these systems to support growth, reduce costs, maintain competitive advantages, and otherwise support the future needs of the organization. The results of the analysis should be presented as a consultant hired to recommend an improved system to the board of directors, which outlines a go-forward systems approach for the next decade and beyond. Include financial (cost to implement) and Return on Investment (ROI) data.
3. Documentation should consist of an 8-10 page paper, double-spaced, with standard margins and type font/pitch.
The final version of your paper will be due, as a Word, WordPerfect, or pdf document, no later than Tuesday, 9 Mar.
All papers must conform to the APA style. The paper should be in the format described in the guidelines for the INSS 690 final paper (see http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~meinkej/inss690/apaguidelines.pdf). A Powerpoint summary of using references in the APA style can be found at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/pp/APA2.PPT and a more extensive description of the APA style is available at http://owl.english.purdue.edu.
Applications Exercises, Discussion Questions:
Exercises and questions from the O’Brien text (and other sources) will be assigned throughout the course. Some of these will be done in-class, others will be assigned as homework exercises.
Participation:
From time-to-time, questions will be asked in class (by the instructor and/or by students) for which you will be told to search out an answer (using the web, library, or other sources) and share the information found with the rest of the class.
Absences:
If you must miss class, you are responsible for getting information from fellow students regarding what you missed. Assume that there will be discussion and/or lecture information that is not in the textbook. Realize also that the Course Schedule shown below is subject to change by the instructor as needed. The instructor is willing to help you regarding what you missed, but will not have notes regarding the discussions that take place in the classroom, nor on the presentations, and cannot repeat the class.
If you must miss an exam, you are responsible for making arrangements with the instructor, in advance if possible.
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Course Schedule:
Projected Course Schedule:
Note that chapters indicated in parentheses are in the O’Brien text.
Note also that chapters are NOT being covered in the order in which they appear in the textbook!
Students are expected to have read the chapter(s) and other assigned readings BEFORE the class period in which they are to be covered.
20 Jan 04:
Introductions
Review syllabus, guidelines, and requirements
22 Jan 04:
Foundation of Information Systems in Business (Ch. 1)
27 Jan 04:
Computer Hardware (Ch. 13)
Telecommunications and Networks (Ch. 4)
29 Jan 04:
Computer Software (Ch. 14)
Data Resource Management (Ch. 3)
3 Feb 04:
Introduction to e-Business Systems (Ch. 5)
Enterprise e-Business Systems (Ch. 6)
5 Feb 04:
Electronic Commerce Systems (Ch. 7)
Midterm Review
10 Feb 04:
Portable MBA Paper due and presentations
12 Feb 04:
Midterm
One-page Proposal of the Organization Analysis Paper due
17 Feb 04:
Developing Business/IT Strategies (Ch. 9)
MBA Chapter 9 - Innovation and Technology Management
19 Feb 04:
Decision Support Systems (Ch. 8)
Developing Business/IT Solutions (Ch. 10)
24 Feb 04:
Enterprise and global Management of Information Technology (Ch. 12)
26 Feb 04:
Comps-question paper due and presentations
2 Mar 04:
Competing with IT (Ch. 2)
MBA Chapter 13 - Strategy: Defining and Developing Competitive Advantage
4 Mar 04:
Security and Ethical Challenges (Ch. 11)
Review
9 Mar 04:
Organization Analysis paper due and presentations
11 Mar 04: Final Exam
(Comprehensive, with heavier emphasis on material since the Mid-term)
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Academic Policies:
Please refer to the UMUC - Europe Graduate Catalog, available online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs/index.html or from your local Education Center, for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
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Faculty Bio:
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Ms. Eiselstein earned the BS in Information Systems Management from University of Maryland University College - Europe, and the MS in Management Information Systems from Bowie State University. She has worked over 24 years at various positions as programmer, systems analyst, network and system administrator, IT instructor, and project manager in the areas of operations, systems analysis and design, plans and integration, transportation and logistics, engineering and implementation, for the military. Her current emphasis is in information systems security.
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