STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

COLLEGE AT OLD WESTBURY

BU 4045 001                                                  

Topics in MIS                                                

Spring 2006 (T/TH 4:40pm-6:20pm)          

Dr. A. Ebrahimi

Office:                 D222
Office Number:    (516) 876 - 8594
E-mail:                ebrahimia@oldwestbury.edu

Site:                    www.drebrahimi.com

Office Hours:       Tuesday-Thursday       (2:45pm-3:45pm AND 8:10pm - 8:40pm)
                           Monday-Wednesday    (7:15pm-8:15pm AND 7:50pm - 8:20pm)

Texts:

 Management Information Systems by James A. O’Brien, 6^th Edition - http://www.mhhe.com/business/mis/obrien/jointis8.htm

C++ Programming Easy Ways (Volume 1 & 2) by Dr. A. Ebrahimi, American Press

http://www.programmingeasyways.com

Article:

Why Should Managers Become Better Acquainted With Programming Issues  Why managers should be acquainted with programming

A.1. Course Description:

Topics in MIS will explore and investigate the current trend and technology used for managing information systems in a business world. Topics may vary depending on current issues.

Project:  Students are to investigate the current trend used in IS of a particular company and re-build and implement a simple working system. This year the topic will introduce how the sound (voice) and artificial intelligence (expert system) will be used in managing information of a commercial system.

Student must document the system under research and present the working system to the class. Students are required to have a good knowledge of programming and databases. Students are encouraged to work as a team.

A.2. Intended Audience: MIS majors

A.3. Course Objectives:

The learning objectives are for the students to attain:

·        An understanding of how information technology and e-business applications contribute to efficient business operation, management decision making and strategic advantage

·        An understanding of how information systems are designed and implemented

·        An understanding of how information systems resources are managed

B. Course Prerequisites: good knowledge of programming and databases

C. Mode of Instruction: The class consists of both lecture and lab.

Dr. Ebrahimi will lead the project aspect of the course including the research on the existing MIS and re-implementation of a prototype.

D. Student Responsibilities:

Students are expected to regularly attend lectures, complete project and project presentation, and pass midterm and final examinations.

E. Grading:

Class participation                    10%

Midterm and project                 45%

Final and project                       45%

Total                                        100%

Course grades will be assigned according to the following scale:

92 - 100 %                  A                    

89 - 91 %                    A-                   

86 - 88 %                    B+                  

82 - 85 %                    B                     

79 - 81 %                    B-                   

76 - 78 %                    C+                  

73 - 75 %                    C                    

69 - 72 %                    C-                   

66 - 68 %                    D+                  

62 - 65 %                    D                    

59 - 61 %                    D-                   

58% and Below            F                     

 Main Topics:

 Class Assignments:

Assignment I

Assignment II

Assignment III

TEST 2

                       ___________________________________________

THE FINAL PROJECT CONSIST OF 6 PHASES: 

Explore, investigate and evaluate three existing information systems from the same sector in the business world.  Indicate pros and cons of each system including the interface that is being used (friendly, overwhelming, simple, security, problems, errors, etc.), followed by your own and others opinions and findings. In addition you may use search engines, and journals for your research. Document each system and voice your own opinion. Create snapshots of the research pasted into Microsoft Word or create web page to show your findings. As the topic of the semester, research how these systems incorporate multimedia (voice recognition, image, etc.) and intelligence.

You will deTuestrate your findings in a presentation.

LAST DAY for Presentation is: May 04, 2005

Phase I-Introduction

Detailed Breakdown of Phase I  (10 minutes presentation)

Introduction of each system (20 pts total + extras):

• History and Background (9 pts)
  • Sector of business
  • What is uniqueness and special features, and weakness?
  • What, Who, Why, Where, Which, When, Whom, How (BUSINESS SECTORS)
  • competitiveness: quality, cost, differentiation
     
• Clarity and Tools for Presentation (2 pts)
  • Voice Clarity
    •  Managers should be heard
  • Tools
    • Documentation
    • Domain name, Your own domain (2 pts)   
    • Web host (paste everything there or upload it) (2 pts)
      • Geocities
      • Angelfire
      • Tripod
      • Cjb.net
    • Print handouts
    • Rely on your website and research for presentation
      • backup (on disk and/or paper)
         
• Collaboration with other projects(1 pt)
   
• Analysis of the phase and replication (Copy, Paste, and Edit) (pick the best of 3 mission and vision of Business sectors and eliminate the worst) (4 pts)

• Extra (5+ pts)
  • Contacting System executives
    • Talk with them
    • Inside Stories
    • Invitation to class

 Phase II- Web Site Analysis( APPEARANCE)  

(7C's Analysis such as Content, Correctness, Current, Compelling, Consistency, Completeness, Community)

Detail breakdown for phase II:

Web site analysis, comparison of the 3 Systems(20 points).

Appearance, 7 C's Analysis (color, font, clarity, why I like it, why I don't like it, overwhelming, too simple)(10 points).

Intelligence(2 points).

Multimedia(2 points).

If the domain name sounds like it's name(2 points).

loading Speed(2 point).

Personal opinion(2 points).

(you should have LIVE Demo as well as back up with PowerPoint /Webpage )

 Phase III- HTML Analysis

Code analysis (view source). 

Know the 10 commandments of HTML (p.246)(10 points).

Identify 3 tags that you have learned(3 points).

Identify 3 tags that you are unaware(3 points).

Replicate the Html Codes (4 points).

Phase IV- (Java and VB) Script Analysis (page 696)

Identify a program that has the following parts (declaration, assignments, if, loop, class, array, identify the function call)(10 points).

Identify 3 JavaScript codes that you have learned(3 points).

Identify 3 JavaScript codes that you are unaware(3 points).

Replication of JavaScript (4 points).

Phase V- Interface Analysis (programming part)

Simple interface design replication. Demo how your systems are interacting with the interface such as login or search (5 points)

Explain how does it work to the best of your knowledge. Demo it possibly (3). Show how data  from is transmitted versus URL.

Understanding of search program (any language C++, Java, Perl, C#, and Visual Basic). (5 points)

You are replicating your interface in simplest form.

 CGI programming replication (7 points)

Server site. Post the program on the server.

Protocol analysis.

Security and Validation test(3 points).

Phase VI- Database Analysis and Summary

Database Analysis. demo how the system uses database and what kind of databases they have. You may need to research this extensively (10 points)

database replication (10 points)

Server Analysis and web host analysis.

Analysis of the ‘Host’ (Oracle, SQL).

                                  _____________________________________________________________________

The following are some of the sectors:

Technology, telecommunication, financial, retail, transportation, utility, internet, entertainment, media, etc.

You will pick up three from the above. For example from the telecommunication sector you could use Nextel, Sprint, and AT&T.

The following companies have incorporated Voice into their systems:

AT&T, Sprint, United Air, American Airlines,

For internet companies you could use:

Ebay, Amazon.com, and Yahoo.

For retail you could use:

Estee’ Lauder, King Kullen, and Wal-Mart.

For Entertainment:

Time Warner, Sony, Disney.

For Financial:

Citigroup, Bank One, and the Bank of New York.

For Technology:

Dell, IBM, Microsoft.

You are allowed to choose your own sector and companies, but one suggestion is to choose a company that you are involved with in your daily life. It is important that you choose from the same field, so you will be able to better compare the three. Your suggestions and Solutions for the problem are welcome.

 Analysis of the code.  Source code and script analysis. 10 Commandments of HTML.