Databases are fundamental to the successful operation of all businesses. CIS 506 covers database theory, design and implementation in the context of adding value to business enterprises. Specific topics covered include:

• Data modeling using entity-relationship (ER)
• Query languages
• The use of indices and aggregates to improve processing speeds

Telecommunications fundamentals including data, voice, image and video. The concepts, models, architectures, protocols and standards for the design, implementation and management of digital networks. The design and development of business process-based metrics for managing transmission and switching efficiency and capacity. Emerging national and international regulatory and technical environments relevant to computer networking topics including

• Network operating systems
• E-commerce and associated web sites and practices
• Middleware for wireless systems, multimedia and conferencing

The course will focus on deriving decisional value by using new orientations to data that are afforded by state-of-the-art Online Analytical Processing Systems (OLAP) and Data Warehousing technology. The emphasis would be on retrieval and dissemination of decision supporting data by applying Relational-OLAP, Multidimensional-OLAP and Web based-OLAP to Enterprise wide data. These concepts will then be further enhanced by applications of Data Mining tools and techniques to further enhance the utility of the organizational information for strategic and tactical decision making. Students will also be given exposure to collaborative computing environments and experience its implications for managerial decision making.

This course provides a broad introductory survey to fundamental security concepts and issues including access controls, firewalls, cryptographic systems and intrusion detection/prevention. The theme of the course is that security is primarily a management issue, not a technology issue. Accordingly, projects are designed to not only provide an introduction to various tools and to illustrate concepts, but also to understand the managerial issues involved. This course is open to all MBA students; no special IT skills are required.

(Terms 7 and 8 - 1 credit each term)

This course will explore ideas for new products and services based on information technology. The new products and services can be for any of the areas of business such as supply chain management, manufacturing, marketing, management, accounting and finance. The course will emphasize definition, design and prototype building of "next generation" type products and services and not some trivial extensions of existing products and services. Guest speakers will address a variety of issues, from current technology trends and intellectual property issues to financing a new venture and the steps required to transform a brilliant idea to a real marketable product.

Project management principles and processes are essential for today's projects and managers. Many information technology/system projects tend to go over budget, not be on time and don't meet the end user's needs. This leads to customer dissatisfaction. Most often the root cause of these troubled projects can be traced to simply not following sound project management principles. In this course, students will learn the concept of a project in business settings, and practice some of the project management tools and techniques for successfully managing IT/IS project life cycles, from concept to closure (the software/system development lifecycle). Brief review of modern SDLC approaches will be addressed. After this course, students should be able to understand some of the key project management tools and techniques -

• The "toolbox" e.g., project planning, scope, risk, change and issue management
• Cost and quality control
• Service level agreements (SLAs)
• In-house vs. outsourced project management

Elective courses can be taken from other W. P. Carey MBA specializations or from information systems, according to your personal and professional interests.