IS CURRICULUM |
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| The Department of Information Systems provides courses in Information Technology (IT) and how it can be used to support new models of business, to restructure organizations, and to achieve competitive advantage. For example, dot com companies rely heavily on IT for their web presence, for gathering information on customers, for customizing services and products, and for exchanging information with other businesses. An IS major or co-major is desirable for working in new economy firms, for the IS departments of major firms, for Management Consulting, for technology liaison positions, or for general management or marketing positions in "high tech" firms. The curriculum contains introductory courses for students with little or no background in information systems as well as advanced technology and management courses for practicing information systems professionals. Students may construct a program to meet their own needs whether interested in majoring in IS, co-majoring, or taking one or two courses as electives outside the major. | |||
INFORMATION SYSTEMS ELECTIVES: 2000-2001 |
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| Revised | B20.2314 | Managing the Digital Firm (Fall & Spring) (formerly: Transforming Organizations with Information Technology) | |
| Revised | B20.2317 | Information And Internet Technologies (Fall & Spring) | |
| B20.2318 | Information Technology: Strategy & Management (Fall & Spring) | ||
| New | B20.3130 | Knowledge Management & Decision Systems, mini (Spring--paired with B20.3131) | |
| New | B20.3131 | Technology Project Management, mini (Spring--paired with B20.3130) | |
| Revised | B20.3322 | Designing & Developing Web Based Systems (Spring) (formerly: Advanced Software) | |
| New | B20.3330 | Field Studies in the New Economy (Spring) | |
| Revised | B20.3336 | Data Mining & Knowledge Systems (Spring) (formerly: Knowledge Systems in Organizations) | |
| B20.3338 | Electronic Commerce (Fall & Spring) | ||
| Revised | B20.3350 | Financial Information Systems (Spring) | |
| B20.3351 | Risk Management Systems (Fall) | ||
| Revised | B20.3356 | Business Process Design & Implementation (Fall) (formerly: Information Technology for the Service Industry) | |
| New | B20.3362 | Current Topics (Fall--Advanced Technology) | |
| B55.2310 | Managing Financial Business (Spring) Interdisciplinary--IS/Finance/Management | ||
CHANGES IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS CURRICULUMFall 2000 & Spring 2001 |
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1. NEW IS ELECTIVES: |
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2. REVISED IS ELECTIVES: |
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Old Program/Titles |
New Program/Titles |
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| B20.2314 | Transforming Organizations with IT | B20.2314 | Managing the Digital Firm (extensively revised) |
| B20.2317 | Information Technologies | B20.2317 | Information & Internet Technologies (revised) |
| B20.2318 | IT: Strategy & Management | B20.2318 | IT: Strategy & Mangement (Revised) |
| B20.3322 | Advanced Software | B20.3322 | Designing & Developing Web-based Systems (extensively revised) |
| B20.3330 | Field Studies in the New Economy | B20.3330 | Field Studies in the New Economy (new in Spring) |
| B20.3336 | Knowledge Systems in Organizations | B20.3336 | Data Mining & Knowledge Systems (extensively revised in Spring 2000) |
| B20.3338 | Electronic Commerce | B20.3338 | Electronic Commerce |
| B20.3350 | Financial Information Systems | B20.3350 | Financial Information Systems |
| B20.3351 | Risk Management Systems | B20.3351 | Risk Management Systems |
| B20.3356 | IT for the Service Industry | B20.3356 | Business Process Design & Implementation (extensively revised) |
| B55.2310 | Managing Financial Business | B55.2310 | Mananging Financial Businesses (Interdisciplinary: IS/Finance/Management) |
DESCRIPTIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS ELECTIVES |
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B20.2314 |
Managing the Digital Firm |
3pts |
Fall & Spring |
| (formerly: Transforming Organizations with Information Technology) | |||
| This course focuses on the use of both traditional and Web-based information technologies to manage the firm. These technologies make possible new business models, new organizational structures, and new management processes. Topics covered in new technology infrastructure and architecture, major functional applications of IT within the firm, new IT-based business models, enterprise systems, knowledge management, multinational systems, managerial decisions about technology, and new organizational forms. | |||
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B20.2317 |
Information & Internet Technologies |
3pts |
Fall & Spring |
| This course introduces the technical concepts underlying current and future information systems, with an emphasis on Internet-related technologies. The course begins with the fundamentals of computer systems, databases, and networking. Then special emphasis is given to technologies that underlie the World Wide Web and e-commerce, including HTML, XML, emerging interoperability standards, security, search, information retrieval, agent technologies, data warehousing, and data mining. This course provides both a refresher to basic concepts as well as coverage of cutting-edge technologies. It assumes no prior knowledge of technology or programming, beyond experience with personal computers. Course requirements include homework assignments and a term paper. | |||
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B20.2318 |
Information Technology: Strategy & Management |
3pts |
Fall & Spring |
| The course discusses the role of information technology in corporate strategy along with key issues in managing information technology (IT). Different generic strategies are discussed along with how IT plays a part in implementing them. Cases and lectures are used to demonstrate how technology can be used to both gain and sustain a competitive advantage. Emphasis in the course is on how IT can contribute to organizational effectiveness. The course also covers critical issues in managing the technology function as a strategic asset. The use of IT in corporate strategy depends on an appropriate technological infrastructure and on the ability of the firm to successfully manage its technology. | |||
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B20.3130 |
Knowledge Management & Decision Systems |
mini 1.5pts |
Spring (paired with B20.3131) |
| The focus of this course is a blend of theories, approaches and technologies for managerial problem solving and knowledge management. The course reviews common fallacies and pitfalls in decision making and seeks to equip students with the knowledge of managerial techniques and information technologies for effective organizational decision making. Students will be exposed to methods and technologies for leveraging intellectual capital, both at an individual and firm level. Major topics of the course include "decision traps", problems in dynamic decision making, systems thinking, decision support, and technologies that facilitate knowledge sharing, knowledge management and organizational learning. | |||
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B20.3131 |
Technology Project Management |
mini 1.5pts |
Spring (paired with B20.3130) |
| This mini course equips students to manage large-scale information technology projects that have a significant impact on the organization. Technical topics include: project specifications, risk analysis, cost estimation and budgeting, time and resource scheduling using critical path methods, and implementing a project control system. Managerial topics include: stakeholder analysis, building partnerships in the organization, change management, work redesign and performance measurement systems. | |||
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B20.3322 |
Designing & Developing Web-Based Systems |
3pts |
Spring |
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(formerly: Advanced Software) This course covers the management and development of web-based information systems. Students will analyze, design and develop web-enabled database applications using several different approaches. Emphasis will be on concepts and architecture of new technologies. Topics include: the CGI processing model and its alternatives, Java applets, Java servlets, JDBC; application service providers; multi-tier client-server computing; object-oriented models; active server pages and other server-based processing alternatives; distributed data bases; distributed business objects such as CORBA; text processing applications (PERL, awk, etc.); and platform options (Windows NT vs. Unix). |
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B20.3330 |
Field Studies in the New Economy |
3pts |
Spring |
| This course offers a first-hand examination of business challenges in the digital economy by taking advantage of the Stern School's unique location in the middle of Silicon Alley. Students participating in the course visit New York area digital commerce firms, analyze their strategies and activities, and then prepare case studies and teaching notes based on these companies. These cases: (1) identify the changing issues being faced by companies operating in this environment; (2) demonstrate how customers operating in this environment are coping with rapidly evolving changes; (3) present a framework for identifying success factors for these companies compared with counterparts elsewhere in the economy. Teams of faculty and business executives guide and assess student activities. | |||
B20.3336 |
Data Mining & Knowledge Systems |
3pts |
Spring |
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(formerly: Knowledge Systems in Organizations, revised and merged with B20.3355 Data Mining in Finance) Data Mining is the process of converting the raw data into useful information or knowledge required to support decision making. It automates the process of knowledge discovery, making us orders of magnitude more productive in our search for useful information than we would be otherwise. It also increases the confidence with which we can make business decisions. The course focuses on two subjects simultaneously: (1) the essential data mining and knowledge representation techniques used to extract intelligence from data and experts, and (2) common problems from the fields of Finance, Marketing, and Operations/Service that demonstrate the use of the various techniques and the tradeoffs involved in choosing from among them. The areas explicitly covered in the course are: OLAP, neural networks, genetic algorithms, rule induction, fuzzy logic, case-based reasoning, and rule-based systems. |
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B20.3338 |
Electronic Commerce |
3pts |
Fall & Spring |
| The Internet and the emerging "information superhighway" are dramatically altering the way we transact goods and services. This course examines how new information technologies and networks will affect the exchange of goods and services between buyers and sellers in the twenty-first century. How will advertising, purchasing, customer service, and trade settlement processes change? What are the economics of different electronic commerce models for these processes? The course evaluates key corporate strategies and initiatives in electronic commerce and the enabling network and user interface technologies that will redefine business as we know it. These technologies include the Internet, interactive television, virtual reality, digital cash, etc. The course considers the economics of electronic commerce and the costs of organizing and implementing different models of electronic trading. | |||
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B20.3350 |
Financial Information Systems |
3pts |
Spring |
| This course investigates the role of information technology (IT) in financial market operations and in enhancing the competitive performance of financial services firms. It examines the development and use of financial information systems such as trader workstations, electronic payments mechanisms, funds transfer networks, and securities market trading and back-office processing systems. The objectives are to build an understanding of the IT impacts on banking and markets, to gain knowledge of the leading-edge applications of systems, and to develop skills in implementing computer-based financial analysis and models. | |||
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B20.3351 |
Risk Management Systems |
3pts |
Fall |
| Concepts of risk management have taken on new meaning and importance as financial assets and raw material prices have become more volatile in an age of global markets. In response, risk management systems have an all-pervasive, systematic presence in corporations. This course examines the systems implications of the various tools, methods, and approaches to managing risk, including how exchanges manage the risk of default through centralized clearing entities; counterparty risk management techniques of nonexchange traded products; methods and systems to manage and monitor financial portfolio risk; tradable products (futures, options, forward, and swaps) that allow the transfer and offsetting of risk; systems and modeling techniques that allow the quantification of risk and determine prices for derivative products; corporate systems for aggregating component risk into the balance sheet; and cash flow and capital risk. | |||
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B20.3356 |
Business Process Design & Implementation |
3pts |
Fall |
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(formerly: Information Technology for the Service Industry) This course focuses on the design, management, and implementation of IT-supported business processes. The evolution of information technology and the near ubiquity of the Internet give business firms the opportunity to completely redesign their business processes, to develop systems faster, and to implement systems in entirely new ways. Topics covered in this course include business process analysis and design, implementation, change management, and performance measurement systems. Relevant technologies include Web-based application service providers, workflow management systems, knowledge management systems, and enterprise systems. Students learn how to analyze a business problem, design new business processes, and manage the implementation process. They also gain an understanding of the technology support structure required for successful implementation of organizational and interorganizational processes. |
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B20.3362 |
Current Topics (Fall 2000: Advanced Technology) |
3pts |
Fall |
| This course will provide a thorough examination of several key technologies that drive major advancements in e-business and new business opportunities that they create. Some examples of these technologies include information retrieval, information extraction and data mining, personalization and customer relationship management, agents and intelligent assistants, wireless and information integration technologies. The course will cover the technical foundations of some of these technologies and then will examine them from the following two perspectives: (1) how new business models and new business problems in e-commerce create a need for some of these new technologies (business pull); (2) how some of these enabling technologies create new business paradigms and new business models (technology push). The course will also examine various forms of interaction between these two forces, and how they create a virtuous cycle of major advances in business and society in general. The students will also study key companies in the "spaces" created by these technologies, how they position themselves in these spaces, and how they compete and collaborate among themselves. As a part of the course, the students will also try to look into the future and estimate where these technologies and the high-tech companies occupying these "spaces" are heading, and what is in store for them. Finally, the students will discuss what the "next big things" are and examine entrepreneurship opportunities associated with them. | |||
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B55.2310 |
Managing Financial Businesses |
3pts |
Spring |
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Interarea course - IS/Finance/Management This course covers cross-departmental issues such as financial analysis of competitive performance, global economic and regulatory issues, business strategy, human behavior in complex organizations, and information technology. The course encourages awareness of important management requirements for the financial services industry, and provides a framework for understanding how these are implemented and carried out in successful and unsuccessful firms. This interarea course forms an integrative learning experience for students majoring in finance, information systems, or management and is cotaught by professors from these departments. |
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