WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
College of Business and Technology (AACSB Accredited)
SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCES
Spring 2016
Corporate Information Systems
IS 524-002: T: 2:00-4:30 PM Stipes 214
PROFESSOR:
Dr. Chandra S. Amaravadi
442D Stipes Hall
Office phone: 309-298-2034.
Office hours: 8:30-10:30 am T, W, TH main campus, Stipes 442D.
Email: c-amaravadi@wiu.edu (preferred method of contact)
Website: http://www.faculty.wiu.edu/C-Amaravadi/ its case sensitive
TEXTBOOK AND REQUIRED MATERIALS:
There is no text book for the course.
Management Information Systems: Managing the digital firm, 13th edition by Kenneth Laudon and Jane
Laudon and published by Pearson publishing is recommended as a supplementary book. The role of this
book is supplementary, with respect to providing you with basic concepts concerning Information Systems.
You will have to rely primarily on lecture notes in the form of power points available via the course web site,
and class discussions for the main material. In addition to these we will also rely on discussion articles.
You may have to download and run software available on the internet.
CATALOG DESCRIPTION & COURSE OBJECTIVES
A survey of information systems in organizations including their role, associated technologies, functionality, development, impacts
and management.
The objective of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of various types of
information systems used in organizations including databases, transaction processing, decision support etc.
COURSE EVALUATION
The evaluation will be based on a combination of examinations, assignments, participation and quizzes as
follows:
Category
Midterms 2 x 50
Final
Quizzes (6 x 10 – 1 x 10)
Assignments
Participation
Total
Points
100
50
50
120
50
370
Letter grades will be based on total percentage points with A’s in the range of >=90%, B’s between 8089.9%, C’s between 70-79.9% and D’s between 60-69.9% as shown below:
Grade
A
B
C
D
F
Percentage
>90%
80-89.9%
70-79.9%
60-69.9%
<60%
Exams: There will be two midterms and one final examination. All exams will thoroughly test your
conceptual and analytical abilities and your ability to react to novel situations/problems as mandated by
AACSB guidelines. Read accreditation standards, section on participant standards (
http://aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards.asp ).
The exams will consist of two parts, Part I has 40 multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, T/F type questions. Part
II will have short answer questions. Short answer questions can consist of a problem, application of theory or
other analytical question. You will need to know concepts and key frameworks to understand and answer
these type of questions. Being able to analyze a situation in the background of course concepts is required.
There is no provision for missed exams or quizzes. Exceptions will be made in extreme circumstances, on a
case by case basis but the instructor’s permission has to be sought prior to the exam or quiz.
Quizzes: There are nine quizzes which will consist mostly of T/F questions. One quiz will be dropped.
The quizzes will generally cover material from the last topic/chapter.
Assignments: Assignments will take the form of software and written assignments available from the course
web site (generally posted the day you are expected to start). There are six assignments which will take
between 4-6 hours each on the average. The assignments are challenging. Please note that instructions for
assignments will not be spelled out in detail. Since managerial work requires the ability to deal with
ambiguous/novel situations, you will be presented with situations where you will need to solve problems and
overcome challenges.
Assignments must be of high quality – please proof for grammar and typos. All typed work should be
doublespaced and have regular 1” margins. Slipshod work, illegible or messy text will be severely
penalized or rejected altogether. At the same time, please do not go overboard on them, it is important to fulfill the
requirements. Please hand assignments to instructor in class on the day they are due. Here is a tentative list
of assignments:
Assignment
Ass#1
Ass#2
Ass#3
Ass#4
Ass#5
Ass#6
Description
Introduction to organizational theory
Introduction to DBMS with Access
Data modelling
Corporate website development
Management Support Systems
Continental Airlines article Q & A
# of points
20
20
20
20
20
20
Except for unavoidable circumstances (such as a job interview), late assignments will not be accepted. In
such cases, you must notify and take the instructor’s permission in advance.
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Participation:
Since managerial work involves extensive communication, oral communications is an
important component of your grade. Participation will be evaluated on a daily basis from the second week on
and is based on both frequency and quality of discussion. Valid forms of contribution include, but are not
limited to: addressing issues raised in class, discussing current developments in the field or general
developments in the field (this has lower value), relating work experiences to topics discussed in class, and
discussing current or future trends. On occasion participation may be evaluated through quizzes given
without notice.
It is imperative that you participate on a daily basis. Without exception, everyone is expected to participate.
Participation requires preparation. Please review your notes before coming to class. It is extremely
important to be mentally prepared for the topic to be discussed. If an article is assigned please be sure to read
it and take notes Discussion questions are posted on the course web site.
Please do not engage in diversive activities (such as talking or leaving the class without prior notification) as
this will result in penalties -- a participation grade of zero for repeated violations. I am very strict about
this.
Discussion articles: Due to the limitation of text books, we will rely on a number of articles to supplement
the class lectures and discussions. These are posted online or made available to you in class as the case may
be. Usually discussion articles will have questions that are also posted online or made available to you.
Article
Article#1
Article#2
Article#3
Article#4
Article#5
Article#6
Title
Kodak case
The second machine age review
Accenture retail vision
Decision situation: the case of HP and PCs
Real-time business intelligence: best practices at Continental
Airlines (this is an assignment)
Rolls Royce, memories fade but knowledge shouldn't
MBA STUDENT EXPECTATIONS/GRADUATE COURSE EXPECTATIONS
In accordance with AACSB guidelines http://aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards.asp, MBA students are
expected to:
a) Have a good conceptual understanding of the subject
b) apply this knowledge to new and novel situations
c) persevere when faced with challenging or difficult assignments
d) perform up to the standards set for them by their instructors
e) display initiative
University Links
a.
ADA:
If you have a disabling condition that requires an accommodation for tests or class structure,
please advise the instructor. Refer to the following link for a more complete explanation of this policy:
http://dss.wiu.edu/.
b.
Student Rights and Responsibilities: http://www.wiu.edu/provost/students.php.
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ADDITIONAL EXPECTATIONS
The difference between an MBA program and any other program is that there are behavioral expectations;
The program is not simply a sequence of courses to be taken. These behaviors are generally programmed
into the curriculum and include (but are not limited to):
1. Communicate effectively -- please speak clearly and with sufficient volume as if you are addressing a group of
employees. Proof your written submissions to avoid errors.
2. Get to the point – when asked what type of a system allows patients to diagnose their illnesses by entering
their symptoms into it, do not respond by saying that “the inputs are symptoms, the output is a set of
diagnoses so it must be a decision support system.” Get to the point by saying “its a decision support
system or an expert system” and then provide the justification.
3. Recognize the most important issues and place them first, regardless of whether it is a quiz, exam, class
discussion or assignment. Consider the following example: a company has implemented a satellite-based
information system and reaped the following benefits:
 Reduction in personnel and inventory as a result of efficient business operations.
 Reduction in number of different systems.
 Organization is more competitive
 Executives, managers and employees having access to current information from any location.
Are these listed in order of importance?
4. Do not ignore previous discourse -- After spending time on technical issues for an entire semester, when asked
about the social impact of Brain-Machine interfaces, one student responded by saying “invasion of
privacy.” This discounted everything that was discussed previously because only technical and
functional-area issues were discussed in the course.
5. Deliver on the requirements – Too often students miss out on the main requirements when it comes to
addressing questions. If you are asked to include 12 entity classes in an ER diagram, please make sure
that your submission has 12 entity classes. This is perhaps the most important requirement.
6. Display initiative -- Please keep in mind that things will not be delivered to you on a platter so that you will
have scope to exercise initiative. One student sent me three emails just to find an article on the web
(even when provided with issue#, title and author). I will do my best to avoid telling future managers
which foot to place first when crossing a street.
7. Refrain from giving answers that fall outside the knowledge base of the course, unless that particular issue has not
been discussed. For instance, if we’ve discussed that the major challenges in the field are: the a)
globalization challenge, b) IT investment challenge, c) Strategic challenge, d) Architecture challenge, and
if you were asked about the challenges in IT and you respond by discussing security issues, you will not
get any credit.
8. Be thorough – please avoid knee-jerk reactions (what comes off the top of your mind) to questions raised in
class or on assignments/exams. Think about it from all angles. When one student was asked “Where
can databases be used?” he answered “in production.” Notice that this is too limiting.
9. Manage stress – If you cannot get something done, its not my fault! It’s part of an exec’s job to get
frustrated. Suppliers may not deliver on time, employees may not perform as per expectations, a peer will
not release a resource that is required by you etc. On the course, you may not be able complete one step
in an assignment. You need to research online or ask the professor about how to deal with frustration.
10. Commit to the program – I cannot tell you how many times I have seen students come to class without even
printing their power points. You are “shooting yourself in the foot” here. Make sure you make a
commitment that inspite of everything that can go wrong, you will still try to fulfill your obligations in the
course. This said, please keep in mind that I do not expect students to be 100% perfect.
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IS524 COURSE SCHEDULE SPRING 2016
Date
Agenda
Assignments/
Readings
ass#1 start.
quiz 1
quiz 2, ass#1 due, discuss
article#1*
Related
Material
Ch. 1
01/19
01/26
02/02
Basics of organizations, course introduction
Basics of information technologies
Intro to IS524
02/09
Midterm I
02/16
02/23
03/01
03/08
03/15
03/22
Introduction to databases (database I).
Database planning & analysis (database II).
Database planning & analysis; (database II)
E-commerce
Spring Break, no class
Midterm II
discuss article#2, ass#2 start.
quiz 3, ass#2 due, ass#3 start
Ch. 6
Ch. 6
Ch. 6
Ch. 10
03/29
04/05
04/12
04/19
04/26
05/03
05/10
Management Support Systems – I.
Management Support Systems – I…
Management Support Systems -- II
Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems.
Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems
Knowledge Management, Course Wrap Up
Final Exam
ass#4 due, ass#5 start.
quiz 4, discuss article#4.
ass#5 due.
quiz 5, Ass#6 start (article#5).
Ass#6 due
quiz 6, discuss article#6.
ass#3 due, ass#4 start.
Ch. 5, 7
discuss article#3.
Ch. 12
Ch. 12
None
None
Ch. 11
Ch. 11
Note: The syllabus and course schedule are subject to change with notice
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