6 ECTS credits
153 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 4020614ENW for working students in the 2nd semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
The course with code ending on 'W' is only accessible for working students or students who have permission to follow classes for working students. Regular students can register for the course with code ending in R.
Taught in
English
Partnership Agreement
Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Business Technology and Operations
Educational team
Filip Hendrickx (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
26 contact hours Lecture
127 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course confronts the student with the different strategic and managerial issues, challenges, opportunities and decisions to be made by corporations and organisations with regards to the development and use of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT). The course as well aims to provide the students with a set of conceptual tools and approaches (models, methodologies, frameworks, etc.) to handle all these different aspects.

Starting from a general definition of a business model, the impact of IS on business models and strategy is discussed, as well as ways to rethink business processes using IT, for instance by adopting a service-oriented business architecture. Moreover, IT/IS governance and enterprise architecture frameworks are being introduced as a means to improve business-IT alignment, and maturity level measurement as a means to assess an organization’s abilities and skill in aligning and executing strategic IT projects.

The course also covers topics related to IS governance, service and project management, as well as different topics related to knowledge management and business intelligence, and technological concepts like cloud computing and API first approaches.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Course handouts and papers provided through Canvas
Additional info

Presence during guest lectures is mandatory, presentations by guest lecturers are an integral part of the course material.

Teaching Methods

- Lecture: collective contact-dependent moments during which the lecturer engages with learning materials
- Seminar, Exercises or Practicals (Practical): collective or individual contact-dependent moments during which the students are guided to actively engage with learning materials
- Independent or External Form of Study (Self): independent study

This description of the teaching methods is indicative, in order to assess the expected study load.

Regular students

Lecture: 26 hours (13 x 2 hours)

Self: 127 hours

  • keeping up with the course material during the semester and run through background info, amounting to 3 hours per lecture: 39 hours (13 x 3 hours)
  • group assignment (paper and presentation): 88 hours (11 days of 8 hours)

Working students

There is no specific support for working students, but all lectures are recorded and available via Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

As a result of this course, students will understand the various functions and activities within the information systems area, including the role of IT management and the CIO, structuring of IT management within an organization, and managing IT professionals within the firm. Students will be able to indicate how IS can represent a key source of competitive advantage for firms, and explain why and how IS-related activities need to be structured in order to maximize the business value of IS within and outside the company. They will be able to enumerate and evaluate the issues and challenges associated with successfully or unsuccessfully incorporating IS into a firm, and understand how strategic decisions are made concerning acquiring IS resources and capabilities including the ability to evaluate the different sourcing options. Students are expected to be able to explain in their own words the role of IT control and service management frameworks from the perspective of managing the IS function in an organization.

Practical competencies

Students will be able to read, process and analyze scientific articles in an effective and efficient manner in order to summarize the key take aways from a business practitioners perspective. Students will be able to write a qualitative, focused executive summary report based on scientific and business research literature, as well as to present their key findings to a business savvy audience.Students will be able to read, process and analyze scientific articles in an effective and efficient manner in order to summarize the key take aways from a business practitioners perspective. Students will be able to write a qualitative, focused executive summary report based on scientific and business research literature, as well as to present their key findings to a business savvy audience.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Business Case + Oral Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Throughout the course, students will work in groups to create a business case for an IT investment for a company or organisation of their choice, within certain pre-defined boundaries, using material from lectures and papers as input.

These business cases will be reviewed both by other students and by the lecturer.

Evaluation will be a combination of:

  • peer scoring of the team's business case, based on pre-defined criteria
  • peer scoring of the team’s review argumentation for other business cases, based on pre-defined criteria
  • a score of each team member's contribution
  • lecturer's score on the business case, review argumentation and the business case’s oral explanation during an oral examination

Evaluation for students that fail in the first exam period will be as follows:

  • if the student has already participated in the group work and received grades for this part, but was absent during the exam, he/she only needs to do the exam in the second exam period.
  • if the student has already participated in the group work and received grades for this part, and participated in the June exam, he/she will have to update the business case and do the exam in the second exam period. The lecturer will give a new score on the updated business case, and a new score on the second oral examination.
  • if you have not yet participated in the group work, you will need to prepare a business case individually. Evaluation will be similar to the regular evalution, except for the team member contribution, which will not be peer evaluated.
Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Business Engineering: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Business Economics: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)
Master of International Business: Standaard traject
Master of Business Engineering: Business and Technology: Standaard traject
Master of Teaching in Economics: standaard traject (90 ECTS, Etterbeek) (only offered in Dutch)