ISM -1

Course Syllabus

Course Description

Provides a comprehensive overview of the management of information systems and the combination of hardware, software, and people vital to the successful business operation. The strategic role of information systems is examined, as well as the characteristics of computer systems, software applications, programming languages, and relational databases.

uCertify

This course will utilize a tool called uCertify, which will provide you with readings and other activities needed to complete the course. Please refer to the uCertify links in Blackboard to access this information.

Course Textbook(s)

No physical textbook is required; resources are integrated within the course.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. Analyze the key differences between data, information, information technology (IT), and information systems (IS). 2. Explain the similarities and differences of personal knowledge management tools. 3. Examine the importance of mobile systems with regard to securing information and knowledge. 4. Explain how information systems can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage. 5. Evaluate the approaches to developing organizational knowledge management strategies. 6. Assess the key issues involved in managing the components of IT infrastructure. 7. Summarize the requirements for successful collaboration in information systems management. 8. Evaluate major types of hardware and software used by organizations.

Prerequisite(s)

No prerequisite courses are required for enrollment in this course.

Credits

Upon completion of this course, the students will earn 3.00 hours of college credit.

BUS 3551, Information Systems Management

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Course Structure

1. Study Guide: Course units contain a Study Guide that provides students with the learning outcomes, unit lesson, required unit resources, assignments, and supplemental resources.

2. Learning Outcomes: Each unit contains Learning Outcomes that specify the measurable skills and knowledge students should gain upon completion of the unit.

3. Unit Lesson: Unit Lessons, which are located in the Study Guide, discuss lesson material. 4. Required Unit Resources: Units contain Required Unit Resources from one or more chapters from the textbook

and/or outside resources. 5. Suggested Unit Resources: Suggested Unit Resources are listed within the Study Guide. Students are encouraged

to read the resources listed if the opportunity arises, but they will not be tested on their knowledge of the Suggested Unit Resources.

6. Learning Activities (Nongraded): Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study.

7. Discussion Boards: Students are required to submit Discussion Board posts in Units I-VIII. Discussion Boards provide students the opportunity for student-to-student and professor-to-student interaction based on relevant course concepts and ideas. Specific information about accessing the Discussion Board rubric is provided below.

8. Unit Assignments: Students are required to submit for grading Unit Assignments. Specific information and instructions regarding these assignments are provided below. Grading rubrics are included with each assignment. Specific information about accessing these rubrics is provided below.

9. Ask the Professor: This communication forum provides students with an opportunity to ask their professor general questions or questions related to course content.

10. Student Break Room: This communication forum allows for casual conversation with other classmates.

Unit Assignments

Unit I Scholarly Activity

In this unit, you have learned about what management information systems (MIS) is and the importance of it. For this assignment, compose a paper that discusses the key differences between data, information, information technology, and information systems. Your paper, you should do the following:

Define what is meant by information. Define what is meant by data. Create two matrices (one for data and one for information) that illustrate the key differences between information and data, place the matrices into your paper, and briefly discuss the differences in one or two paragraphs. Each matrix should contain characteristics and/or facts about the subjects (data and information) that show how they are different. Define information technology. Define information systems. Using the five-component model as an example, discuss some differences between information technology and information systems. (See the unit lesson for details.)

If you are using Microsoft Word, you can develop a matrix using the product from Microsoft.com. For an example of how to create a matrix using Microsoft Word, see the Microsoft.com explanations.

You may use another computer software program that you are familiar with to create the matrices. However, you must submit your assignment in a Microsoft Word document, and the matrices should be included in the body of your paper.

Your paper must be a minimum of two pages long (not counting the title and reference pages), and you must use at least two resources as references. Any information from these resources must be cited and referenced in APA format. Your paper should also be in APA format.

Unit II PowerPoint Presentation

In this assignment, you will create a presentation for your organization explaining how successful collaboration can improve success and provide competitive advantages.

Scenario: Your organization has used a variety of collaboration systems developed by some project managers. Some of these systems were successful while others were not. Your organization has one unique challenge - many of your employees are staffed at other locations or work from home (telework). You would like to standardize the collaboration

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process to improve team communication for all company projects. In your presentation, you should do the following:

Explain why collaboration information systems are important from the organization’s perspective. Discuss how collaboration tools can improve team communication. Identify three tools that will be used for synchronous communications and three tools that will be used for asynchronous communications. Be sure to explain why you made these choices. Describe how project files such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS Project, and MS Visio will be shared with team members. Be sure to explain the rationale behind your choice. Explain how the task list for managing tasks will be shared with team members. Be sure to explain the rationale behind your choice. Discuss how this new collaboration information system could provide competitive advantages for your organization.

Your presentation should be a minimum of six slides long (not including the title and references slides). Use of images, graphics, and diagrams is encouraged.

You can use an industry of your choosing or examples from your personal or professional experiences in developing this assignment. You can also use the resources in the Suggested Unit Resources section to assist you with this assignment.

Be sure to follow the 7x7 rule (no more than 7 words per line and no more than 7 lines per slide). You are required to use speaker notes to discuss the bullet points on your slides.

You must use at least two academic resources to create your presentation, and you must cite (in APA format) any information on your slides or in your speaker notes that came from these sources.

Unit III PowerPoint Presentation

For decades, relational databases remained essentially unchanged; data was segmented into specific chunks for columns, slots, and repositories, also called structured data. However, in this Internet of Things (IoT) era, databases need to be reengineered because the very nature of data has changed. Today’s databases need to be developed with the needs of IoT in mind and have the ability to perform real-time processing to manage workloads that are dynamic. For example, relational databases should be able to work with real-time data streaming and big data (an example was presented in the unit lesson).

Scenario: eHermes wants their personnel to be able to view security video footage in real-time and provide them with the ability to query video footage for viewing. Choosing a database solution such as MongoDB would allow eHermes to store mobile self-driving video footage in the same database as the metadata.

To do this, eHermes needs a way to manage the demands of real-time data streaming for real-time analytics. Conduct some research for a NoSQL database application such as MongoDB or Cassandra that could meet this need. How would switching to a real-time database solution help eHermes remain competitive? Create a PowerPoint presentation that does the following:

Provides a brief introduction to IoT. Presents an argument to the eHermes CEO that switching to a more dynamic database structure (NoSQL real-time database) will meet the demands of IoT. Introduces some features of the database you chose, whether it is MongoDB, Cassandra, or another database. Describes how switching to a more dynamic database will give eHermes a competitive advantage?

Your presentation must be a minimum of six slides, and you must use at least two academic resources. Any information from a resource used must be cited and referenced in APA format.

Unit IV Essay

Scenario: A company called Colony Nursery and Landscaping opened a new store located a few hundred miles away from its original location. The company wants to implement an award system that awards their customers with points whenever the customer makes a purchase, but the two stores are not able to share information. Colony Nursery and Landscaping will need to implement an enterprise resources planning (ERP) system that will solve the information silo problem by collecting and making available this user data. Colony Nursery and Landscaping is hoping that by providing customers with this award system, they will be able to maintain competitive advantage. Colony Nursery and Landscaping cannot afford to purchase, develop, or maintain this system on-site, so they are investigating cloud solutions.

In addition, for many organizations, Cloud Nursery and Landscaping included, information silos make it difficult to tap into needed information. Discuss whether or not the problem of information silos can be solved by using the cloud. Some organizations do not have the resources to construct or maintain their computer infrastructure, so they utilize cloud services instead to reduce costs and improve scalability. In this assignment, you will discuss whether or not the cloud offers

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solutions for Colony Nursery and Landscaping and identify an application the ERP system could provide. Compose an essay that includes the following elements:

Define what an information silo is. Explain why information silos are a problem for organizations. Discuss why organizations are moving to the cloud. Determine whether or not using cloud services such as a cloud-based host for data storage would solve the ERP information silo problem at Colony Nursery and Landscaping. Explain how using the ERP system and awards program would provide a competitive advantage for Colony Nursery and Landscaping. Discuss why the implementation of an ERP system might require business process reengineering for Colony Nursery and Landscaping. Be sure to explain the business processes that will be affected such as the customer awards system as an example. Use diagrams or tables as needed, but this is not required.

Your essay must be a minimum of two pages long (not counting the title and references pages), and it must be formatted in APA style. You should include an introduction section that gives background and context to your reader. You must use at least two scholarly resources as references. Any information from these resources must be cited and referenced in APA format.

Unit V Scholarly Activity

Choose ONE of the scenarios below (A or B):

Scenario A

You are the business owner of a local small engine repair shop, and you have been thinking about implementing a knowledge management system for your customer service technicians. You are thinking about this because there were times when one of your technicians knew how to fix certain engine problems and others did not. Providing a central knowledge repository could help share troubleshooting and repair knowledge among your technicians.

Scenario B

You are the business owner of a local cleaning service, and you have been thinking about implementing a knowledge management system for your cleaning technicians, especially for those that troubleshoot and solve cleaning problems such as removing certain carpet and water stains or addressing mold and selecting the proper tools and products to use for other types of cleaning issues. You are thinking about this because there were times when one of your cleaning technicians knew how to properly clean carpets and others did not. Providing a central knowledge repository could help share cleaning knowledge among your cleaning technicians.

After you chose your scenario (A or B), compose a paper in response to the following items:

Explain the role of knowledge management systems. Explain what is meant by expert systems. Explain what is meant by content management systems. Discuss how the business in the selected scenario could benefit from an expert system and a content management system and provide two examples for each type of system. Discuss how the business in the selected scenario could benefit from business intelligence and provide two examples of these benefits. Discuss how the business in the selected scenario can use social media to not only obtain information and knowledge but to share it as well, and provide two examples of how the business might use social media information systems.

Your paper must be at least two pages long, and you must also use at least two scholarly sources, one of which must come from the Waldorf Online Library, in addition to your textbook. Any information from a source must be cited and referenced in APA format, and your paper must be formatted in accordance to APA guidelines.

Unit VI PowerPoint Presentation

Recently, a terminated employee used his mobile device to log into the company network and steal sensitive data. As the manager of the information technology (IT) security department, you were asked by your boss to present a summary of what the organization should do to prevent this from happening again. Create a PowerPoint presentation of your summary. In your PowerPoint presentation, you should do the following:

Explain the goal of information security in relation to mobile devices.

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Identify the three sources of threats, provide a summary of each, and at least one example of each. Explain technical safeguards and discuss which technical safeguard(s) should be used for mobile devices. Explain data safeguards and discuss which data safeguard(s) should be used in this type of scenario. Explain human safeguards and discuss which human safeguard(s) should be implemented. Discuss why the organization needs an incident response plan order to secure information and knowledge.

Your presentation must be a minimum of six slides, not including the title and references slide. Be sure that any graphics used are appropriate and support the content of your presentation. You must use at least two references in your presentation, and they should be cited and referenced in APA format. Please cite all sources used.

Unit VII Case Study

As a manager of an organization, you will often need to find ways to cut costs. One way to cut costs is to outsource by hiring another organization to perform the service. Consider the following scenario:

As a manager for the public outreach department, you realize that the current system for managing outreach issues is outdated. You would like to have a new outreach system developed using the Cloudera platform to help manage 'big data.' However, no one in the organization has the expertise. You will have to outsource the project to save on costs and avoid management problems. Two companies have sent in a bid, one from Vancouver, Canada and one from Mumbai, India. The bid from India was slightly lower than the bid from Canada. Compose a response that includes the following elements:

Define what is meant by outsourcing. Explain how Peter Drucker’s statement (covered in the textbook) about how one company’s back room is another company’s front room pertains to outsourcing. Use an example. Summarize the management advantages, cost reduction, and risk reduction of outsourcing. Summarize the outsourcing risks concerning control, long-term costs, and exit strategy. Discuss which company you would outsource to and why. Does distance matter?

Your case study must be at least two pages long, and you must use at least two references as a source for your essay. See the Suggested Unit Resources section for some sample articles on outsourcing. Be sure to cite all sources used in APA format and format your essay in APA style.

Unit VIII Essay

In this final assignment, you will develop a paper that reviews some of the main topics covered in the course. Compose an essay to address the following:

Identify the components of an information system using the five-component framework and provide a brief summary of each. Explain Porter’s five forces model. Management information systems incorporate software and hardware technologies to provide useful information for decision-making. Explain each of the following information systems and use at least one example in each to support your discussion:

A collaboration information system. A database management system. A content management system. A knowledge management/expert system. A customer relationship management system. An enterprise resource planning system. A social media information system. A business intelligence/decision support system. An enterprise information system.

Identify and discuss one technical and one human safeguard to protect against IS security threats. There are several processes that can be used to develop information systems and applications such as SDLC and SCRUM (Agile Development). Provide a brief description of SDLC and SCRUM and then discuss at least one similarity and one difference between SDLC and SCRUM. Sum up your paper by discussing the importance of MIS.

Your paper must be at least three pages long, and you must use at least two resources. Be sure to cite all sources used in APA format and format your essay in APA style.

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APA Guidelines

Waldorf University requires that students use the APA style for papers and projects. Therefore, the APA rules for formatting, quoting, paraphrasing, citing, and listing of sources are to be followed. Information about using APA style can be found in APA Style Help in the Course Menu. This area provides links to Internet sites, tutorials, and guides that provide comprehensive information on APA formatting, including examples and sample papers.

Grading Rubrics

This course utilizes analytic grading rubrics as tools for your professor in assigning grades for all learning activities. Each rubric serves as a guide that communicates the expectations of the learning activity and describes the criteria for each level of achievement. In addition, a rubric is a reference tool that lists evaluation criteria and can help you organize your efforts to meet the requirements of that learning activity. It is imperative for you to familiarize yourself with these rubrics because these are the primary tools your professor uses for assessing learning activities.

Rubric categories include (1) Discussion Board, (2) Assessment (Written Response), and (3) Assignment. However, it is possible that not all of the listed rubric types will be used in a single course (e.g., some courses may not have Assessments).

The Discussion Board rubric can be found within Unit I’s Discussion Board submission instructions.

The Assessment (Written Response) rubric can be found embedded in a link within the directions for each Unit Assessment. However, these rubrics will only be used when written-response questions appear within the Assessment.

Each Assignment type (e.g., article critique, case study, research paper) will have its own rubric. The Assignment rubrics are built into Blackboard, allowing students to review them prior to beginning the Assignment and again once the Assignment has been scored. This rubric can be accessed via the Assignment link located within the unit where it is to be submitted. Students may also access the rubric through the course menu by selecting the “Grades” link.

Again, it is vitally important for you to become familiar with these rubrics because their application to your Discussion Boards, Assessments, and Assignments is the method by which your instructor assigns all grades.

Communication Forums

Overview

These are non-graded discussion forums that allow you to communicate with your professor and other students. Participation in these discussion forums is encouraged, but not required. You can access these forums with the buttons in the Course Menu. Instructions for subscribing/unsubscribing to these forums are provided below.

Click here for instructions on how to subscribe/unsubscribe and post to the Communication Forums.

Ask the Professor

This communication forum provides you with an opportunity to ask your professor general or course content questions. Questions may focus on Blackboard locations of online course components, textbook or course content elaboration, additional guidance on assessment requirements, or general advice from other students.

Questions that are specific in nature, such as inquiries regarding assessment/assignment grades or personal accommodation requests, are NOT to be posted on this forum. If you have questions, comments, or concerns of a non- public nature, please feel free to email your professor. Responses to your post will be addressed or emailed by the professor within 48 hours.

Before posting, please ensure that you have read all relevant course documentation, including the syllabus, assessment/assignment instructions, faculty feedback, and other important information.

Student Break Room

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This communication forum allows for casual conversation with your classmates. Communication on this forum should always maintain a standard of appropriateness and respect for your fellow classmates. This forum should NOT be used to share assessment answers.

Schedule/Grading

The following pages contain a printable Course Schedule to assist you through this course. By following this schedule, you will be assured that you will complete the course within the time allotted.

Unit I Why MIS? [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit I Study Guide Chapter 1: The Importance of MIS

Discuss: Unit I Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit I Scholarly Activity 10%

Unit II Collaboration Information Systems and Strategy and Information Systems [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit II Study Guide Chapter 2: Strategy and Information Systems, Q2-1 – Q2-8 Chapter 7: Collaboration Information Systems

Discuss: Unit II Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit II PowerPoint Presentation 10%

Unit III Hardware, Software, and Mobile Systems and Database Processing [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit III Study Guide Chapter 4: Hardware, Software, and Mobile Systems, Q4-1 - Q4-7 Chapter 5: Database Processing, Q5-1 – Q5-7

Discuss: Unit III Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit III PowerPoint Presentation 10%

Unit IV The Cloud, Processes, Organizations, and Information Systems [ Weight: 13% ]

Read/View: Unit IV Study Guide Chapter 6: The Cloud, Q6-1 - Q6-7 Chapter 8: Processes, Organizations, and Information Systems, Q8-1 – Q8-7

Discuss: Unit IV Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit IV Essay 11%

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Unit V Social Media Information Systems and Business Intelligence Systems [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit V Study Guide Chapter 3: Business Intelligence Systems, Q3-1 – Q3-8 Chapter 9: Social Media Information Systems, Q9-1 – Q9-7

Discuss: Unit V Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit V Scholarly Activity 10%

Unit VI Information Systems Security [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit VI Study Guide Chapter 10: Information Systems Security

Discuss: Unit VI Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit VI PowerPoint Presentation 10%

Unit VII Information Systems Management [ Weight: 13% ]

Read/View: Unit VII Study Guide Chapter 11: Information Systems Management

Discuss: Unit VII Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit VII Case Study 11%

Unit VIII Information Systems Development [ Weight: 14% ]

Read/View: Unit VIII Study Guide Chapter 12: Information Systems Development

Discuss: Unit VIII Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit VIII Essay 12%

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