THE WALLACE E. CARROLL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MD 240: Management Information Systems
Fall 2000

Instructor: Greg Heim
Office: Fulton Hall 352A
BC Phone/Voicemail: 617-552-0462
Home Phone/Voicemail: (prior to midnight)
BC E-Mail: heimgr@bc.edu
Wireless Web E-Mail: Send mail at (http://www.messaging.sprintpcs.com/sms/) using cell phone number:
Please do not abuse this means of contacting me, as I can receive only 50 of these messages per month.
Web Page: http://www2.bc.edu/~heimgr/md240f00/index.html

Class Schedule: Tuesday/Thursday 12:00-1:15

Office Hours:
Tuesday 1:30-2:30, Thursday 1:30-2:30, and by appointment.


Course Premise and Objectives:
As technical advances in Information Technology (IT) proceed at a staggering pace, business managers and professionals are continually challenged to plot the most appropriate course for personal and corporate IT usage. Few modern managers can expect to be effective in their administration of complex modern organizations if they do not possess a reasonable understanding of contemporary Information Systems (IS) and their impact on organizations.Your success as a business manager and professional will be strongly affected by your ability to make informed and intelligent decisions regarding your organization's IT direction and usage.You will undoubtedly be called upon to participate in systems design and acquisition decisions, monitoring and evaluation activities, and resource allocation for existing and proposed systems.

While past Information Technology was primarily used for automating mundane tasks of internal users of one or several organizations, current applications are expected to serve much broader business goals. Information Systems now connect internal users to other internal users, interconnect functional areas of the corporation, connect supply and distribution channels to the shop floor, and connect the customer to the corporation 24 hours a day.

This course will examine the basic components and concepts of Information Technology from a managerial and professional end user perspective. The course objective is to introduce you to the terminology and technologies of the IS function, and to create a dialogue through which we can examine the capabilities and visions of existing (and proposed) IT approaches. We will analyze case studies of actual IT successes and failures in the business world, and attempt to generalize from these cases to other organizations and circumstances.

Textbook:
Turban, McLean and Wetherbe, Information Technology for Management: Making Connections for Strategic Advantage, 2nd Edition (Update Edition), John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
Additional Readings: WWW-based articles and handouts.