The University of Texas at Dallas

Global Leadership Executive MBA Program

MIS 6204: Information Technology and MIS Fundamentals

Section: MIMS
Fall 2008: August 11 – September 21, 2008

Professor Contact Information

Narendra Dev Phone: (408) 334 0781

Carolyn Reichert Phone: (972) 883.2726 (W) Fax: (972) 883.6164

Course Manager (972) 867.7088 (H)
E-Mail: Use Blackboard e-mail
Office Location: SM 1.506
Office Hours: By appointment

Course Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and/or Other Restrictions

Operations Management 6301 is a pre-requisite for this class.

Course Description

Provide a basic understanding of the key business issues in IT, some of the concepts and best
practices from leading companies in this field.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

• Explain the role of information technology as a strategic business transformation tool

• Evaluate and analyze IT and business process outsourcing

Text: The Executive’s Guide to Information Technology

John Baschab & Jon Piot, Wiley, 2007, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-0-470-09521-8

Articles: Listed by Week Due

Cases: Listed by Week Due

Schedule of Assignments

Web conference: Introduction and Orientation

Web conference Date: Sunday, August 10: 6:00 PM CST
________________________________________________________________

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Week 1: The benefits of IT in a Business Enterprise
Dates: August 11 – August 17
Readings: Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in the text
“Six Decisions your IT People Should Not Make”, by Jeanne W.
Ross & Peter Weill, HBR, Nov 2002

Assignment: Responses to week #1 questions

Due date: Posted to Digital Drop Box by August 17 midnight CST

Discussion Forum: Individual responses to Bb topic posted to the Discussion Forum by

August 17
_________________________________________________________________

Week 2: IT Organization and Human Resource Practices

Dates: August 18 – August 24
Readings: Chapters 5 and 11 in the text
“IT Doesn’t Matter”, by Nicholas G. Carr, HBR, May 2003

Assignment: Responses to week #2 questions

Due date: Posted to Digital Drop Box by August 24 midnight CST

Discussion Forum: Individual responses to Bb topic posted to the Discussion Forum by

August 24
________________________________________________________________
Week 3: IT Operations and Application Management
Dates: August 25 – August 31
Lecture: Week 3: IT Operations
Readings: Chapters 8, 9 and 10 in the text
“Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System”, Thomas Davenport,
HBR July-Aug 1998

Assignment: Responses to week #3 questions

Due date: Posted to Digital Drop Box by August 31 midnight CST

Team Assignment: Case Presentations

Due date: PowerPoint Slides posted to Digital Drop Box by August 29, 6 pm CST

Web conference: Team Presentations for Teams 1 through 4

Web conference Date: Saturday, August 30: 9:00 – 11:00 AM CST.
Team #4: 9:00 - 9:30 am CST
Team #3: 9:30 – 10:00 am CST
Team #2: 10:00 - 10:30 am CST
Team #1: 10:30 – 11:00 am CST

Team #1: Information Technology and Clinical Operations at beth Israel Deaconess medical
Center, HBS case 9-607-150, Oct 2007
Team #2: Information Technology & Innovation at Shinsei Bank, HBR case 9-607-010, Oct
2007
Team #3: CareGroup, HBR case 9-303-097, Aug 2005
Team #4: Zara: IT for Fashion, HBS case 9-604-081, Sept 2007
________________________________________________________________

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Week 4: Outsourcing, Vendor Selection, Management
Dates: September 1 – September 7
Lecture: Week 4: Outsourcing
Readings: Chapters 12 and 13 in the text
“Why Outsourcing is in”, Chung, Jackson & Laseter, Strategy+Business,
May 5 2003
“The Core Competencies of the Corporation”, C.K. Pralahad & Gary
Hamel, HBR, May-June 1990, reprint # 90311

Assignment: Responses to week #4 questions

Due date: Posted to Digital Drop Box by September 7 midnight CST

Team Assignment: Team Case Presentations

Due date: PowerPoint Slides posted to Digital Drop Box by September 5, 6 pm CST

Web conference: Team Presentations for Teams 5 through 7

Web conference Date: Saturday, September 6: 9:00 – 11:00 AM CST.
Team #5: 9:00 - 9:30 am CST
Team #6: 9:30 – 10:00 am CST
Team #7: 10:00 - 10:30 am CST

Team #5: Volkswagen of America: Managing IT Priorities, HBS case 9-606-003, June 2007
Team #6: CISCO Systems, HBS case 9-301-099, Oct 2001
Team #7: Jamcracker, HBS case 9-602-007, Aug 2002
________________________________________________________________

Week 5: Team Case Presentations

Dates: September 8 – September 14

Discussion Forum: Individual responses to Bb topic posted to the Discussion Forum by

September 14

Reference videos: 1. The machine is us (web 2.0)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g,
2. Web 2.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsa5ZTRJQ5w

Team Assignment: Case Presentations

Due date: PowerPoint Slides posted to Digital Drop Box by September 12, 6 pm
CST

Web conference: Team Presentations for Teams 1 through 4

Web conference Date: Saturday, September 13: 9:00 – 11:00 AM CST.
Team #4: 9:00 - 9:30 am CST
Team #3: 9:30 – 10:00 am CST
Team #2: 10:00 - 10:30 am CST
Team #1: 10:30 – 11:00 am CST

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Team #1: UCB: Managing Information for Globalization and Innovation, HBS case 9-
303-091, April 2004
Team #2: Cathay Pacific: Doing more with Less, HBS case 9-303-106, Dec 2003
Team #3: Boeing Australia: Assessing the merits of implementing a sophisticated e-
Procurement System, Asian center of business studies cases, HKU238, Aug 2003
Team #4: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., HBS case 9-304-019, Dec 2003
_____________________________________________________________

Week 6: Guest Lectures

Dates: September 15 – September 21

Readings: 1. Chapter 4 in the text

2. New PCAOB Auditing Standard on Internal Control over Financial
Reporting, KPMG, May 2007
3. ITIL Catches on, by Gary Anthes, Computerworld, Oct 31, 2005

Discussion Forum: Individual responses to Bb topic posted to the Discussion Forum by

September 21

Guest lecture
(recorded): 1. Introduction to SOX, Larry Melillo,
2. ITIL – practical or overkill?, by John Baschab,

Team Assignment: Case Presentations

Due date: PowerPoint Slides posted to Digital Drop Box by September 19, 6 pm
CST

Web conference: Team Presentations for Teams 5 through 7

Web conference Date: Saturday, September 20: 9:00 – 11:00 AM CST.
Team #5: 9:00 - 9:30 pm CST
Team #6: 9:30 – 10:00 pm CST
Team #7: 10:00 - 10:30 pm CST

Team #5: Government e-Procurement: Electronic tendering system in the Hong Kong SAR,
Asian center of business studies cases, HKU238, June 2002
Team #6: South Australia Government – Outsourcing, from Global Information Technology
outsourcing by Lacity & Willcocks, March 2004, pg 40-65
Team #7: Dupont – Outsourcing from Global Information Technology outsourcing by Lacity &
Willcocks, March 2004, pg 65-85

Evaluations: Peer Evaluations due September 21

Course Evaluations due September 21

Grading Policy and Evaluation

Grading Formula

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 Weekly responses to questions (4): 20%
Discussion forums (4): 20%
Team Case Study Problem #1 30%
Final case presentation 15%
Final case written analysis 15%
Team Case Study Problem #2 30%
Final case presentation 15%
Final case written analysis 15%

Written Assignments
Evaluation of written assignments and project papers will be based on thoughtful, analytical,
well-constructed responses demonstrating knowledge of the topic by citing examples of the key
concepts present in the readings or cases.

• A ---Excellent: Understanding of all key issues; no important analytical errors or

omissions; concise, very well written and organized, makes appropriate use of charts
and tables.
• B---Good: Understanding of most issues; only a few important issues not discussed;
few analytical errors; well-written and well-organized, makes appropriate use of
charts and tables.
• C---Adequate: Understanding of many issues, but not all important aspects covered;
various analytical errors; excessive case recitation unsupported by analysis; poorly
written or organized, makes inappropriate use of charts and tables.

Team Case Study Problem 30% each case

A case study will be posted on Blackboard in the course material area. The instructor will
provide a list of questions relevant to the case which the students should cover in the course of
their case analysis. The team report should be limited to 3 to 5 PowerPoint Slides which are
presented at the second/third web conference and a written report of 6-8 pages (double spaced)
should be posted to the Discussion Board in the appropriate area where designated. Each
team will be provided ½ hour for the presentation and presentation responsibility should be
distributed among team members. Absence of any team member at their case presentation
is an automatic drop-down to B grade for the missing team member. Students are
encouraged to attend all case presentations since this will be a synthesis of the learning in this
course. Detailed instructions on the case study are posted in the corresponding week.

Responses to questions on weekly reading/lecture 20%

These are usually multiple choice questions, to reinforce the understanding of the reading
assignment and the lecture. Edit the file in MS Word, reflecting your answers. Answers should
be posted to the Digital Drop Box no later than Sunday of the week the article is discussed.

Discussion Forums 20%

The discussion forums will be on topics related to the assigned reading. Students are expected
to post responses that reflect content knowledge, analytical skills and add value to the
discussion topic. Grades for discussions forum participation will be based on the quality of the
response.
• A: Excellent contribution --- Insightful; key points and ideas set tone of other
contributions.

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 • B: Good contributions --- Used key points and issues to add value to the overall
discussion thread.
• C: Acceptable contribution --- Contribution was on topic; built on other’s ideas.
• D: Unacceptable contribution --- Contribution did not add value.
• F: No posting

Note: One-liners in discussions forums are not encouraged. The participant needs to present
original thought in the discussion forum. If you are agreeing or disagreeing with a position, you
need to provide reasoned thought in your arguments, to persuade the readers to your point of
view.

Course & Instructor Policies

Format for Written Assignments

Written assignments should be Word documents (no html formats) that are:
• Double-spaced, 12 pt. Arial or Times New Roman font
• Citations properly formatted in MLA style
• Clearly identified by author or team
o For an individual assignment, the student name needs to be on the first page of
the document AND as part of the document name, i.e. Jonessocres.doc when it
is submitted.
o For a team assignment, the team number and names of team participants on the
first page AND the team number as part of the document name i.e.
Team2MNCs.doc when it is posted
o There is no need for a separate cover pages

Submission
Assignments should be posted on Blackboard (Bb) within the course area by the due date.
Assignments are submitted to the Digital Drop Box under Tools tab. Be sure to use the SEND
command to submit to the Drop Box. Do not use ADD command to post.

Late Assignments
If you need to miss an assignment deadline, you must pre-notify the instructor and course
manager before the deadline. You should provide the reason for missing the deadline and an
alternative date for submitting the assignment. The instructor and course manager must
approve the extension and the new deadline. If you do not pre-notify the instructor, the instructor
may determine the appropriate grade deduction for the assignment.

Evaluations:

Peer Evaluation
Students need to complete a peer evaluation for each team assignment. The peer evaluation is
an electronic document whose link is located on Blackboard (Bb) in the course area under the
Information button. Students allocate 100 points among the team members to reflect the level of
contribution made by each team member on a specific assignment.

Course Evaluation
The completion of a course evaluation is a course requirement. Students need to complete a
course evaluation form which is an electronic document whose link is located on Blackboard

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(Bb) in the course area under the Information button. Students who do not submit a course
evaluation by the due date will receive an incomplete grade for the course.

UTD Policy on Cheating:

Students are expected to be above reproach in all scholastic activities. Students who engage in
scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in
the course and dismissal from the university. "Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited
to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are
attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any
act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts."
Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision
3.22. Professors randomly use “Turnitin.com” to screen papers against other published works
on the web to insure against plagiarism.