Post-Graduate Diploma in Information Technology Management

Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology Management

CODE

MODULES

SEMESTER CSEM03

Research Ethical Professional and Legal Issues

1/2

CITM03 Electronic Commerce 1 CIFM03 Quality and Information Systems Strategies 1 CISM03 Intelligent Systems for Management 1 CIFM12 Managing Projects, People and Finance 2 CISEM04 Risk and Opportunities of Systems Change in Organisations 2

CONTENTS

a) Research Ethical Professional and Legal Issues
• Nature of research, types of research, research process and its management, ethical issues in research, Outlining research problems and developing research questions.
• Research methods, qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Literature surveys and critical analysis and evaluation of sources.
• Data collection and data analysis.
• Critical evaluation and appraisal of published work and data sets.
• Recognition of appropriate and inappropriate use of approaches and statistics.
• Writing a technical paper, use of graphics, the publication process, reviews and the role of the reviewer. The use of peer review and appraisal. Presenting work orally and by other appropriate means. Structuring a research report and dissertation.
• Professional, ethical and legal issues that relate to the relevant programme of study. For example, critical examination of: the BCS code of conduct, the ACM code of Ethics, and the UK Data Protection Act).

b) Electronic Commerce
This module shall introduce the students to the development, trends and standards associated with networks, the Internet and web, and electronic commerce. In the course of the module students will be exposed to e-business models, e-commerce classification, the development of online trading mechanisms, typical B2C and B2B scenarios, and corresponding application architectures, online transaction systems, supply chains, value chain management, customer relationship management, business process integration, interoperability and legacy system issues. The security of e-commerce shall be briefly reviewed; security strategies, firewalls and network security, encryption, and authentication. Also, the impact of e-commerce on privacy, social and ethical issues shall be considered.

Note: the above topics indicate content, any change would be in line with current trends.

c) Quality and Information Systems Strategies
• To introduce students to the concepts of quality management especially as they relate to the software development environment. Students shall be exposed to: the components of quality management systems, international standards for IT quality (ISO9001, TickIT), quality assessment procedures, review and examination of current QMS standards, Software Process Improvement Standards, and QMS and SPI paradigms.

• Review of the case for strategic planning and information systems, Nolan’s stage model, Mc Farlan & McKeney strategic grid, strategic impact, competitive advantage, methodologies for strategy formulation, organisation of IT departments, selection methodologies, and the Applications Master Plan - determinants and influences.

Note: the above topics indicate content, any change would be in line with current trends.

d) Managing Projects, People and Finance
• Project management: What is Project Management;
• Project evaluation;
• Project planning;
• Network planning tools;
• Project hazards and contingency planning;
• Monitoring and Control;
• Project management methodologies, including PRINCE2;
• Use of project management software.
• Managing People: What is People Management; Organisational structure; Motivation. Theories; Leading the Team; Teams and Teamwork; Conflict; Power and Decision Making; Managing Change.
• Managing Finance: Key Financial Statements used in organisations (An introduction to business organisations and accounting; Financial statements – the Balance Sheet; Financial statements – the Profit and Loss Account; Financial statements – the Cash Flow Statement); Business Performance Analysis; Using accounting data in a range of decision-making situations (Costs and decision making; Planning and budgeting; Investment decisions; The importance of working capital).

e) Risk and Opportunities of Systems Change in Organisations
This module introduces:
• information systems pathology: analysis of reported cases of systems success and/or failure to determine key factors, techniques such as post-implementation reviews, risk checklists.
• assessing and managing the risks involved: risk identification and analysis techniques. Generic risk management framework. Example risk management methods (such as RAMESES, SEI-SRE, Riskit).
• identifying opportunities and managing creativity: creative problem solving approaches (e.g. Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, TRIZ), and techniques (such as the ‘9-Windows’ System Operator tool, the contradiction matrix). Evaluation of relationship between risks and opportunities.

f) Intelligent Systems for Management
• This module introduces the trends, tools, techniques and current developments in the area of Intelligent Systems and their applications in management. The systems approach. Intelligent systems/agents. Adaptive and learning systems. Active information systems. Machine learning techniques. Information management. Knowledge management. Intelligent knowledge-based systems. Expert systems. Data warehousing and Data mining. Data warehousing for decision support. Data mining methodologies and best practices. Data mining techniques. Use of data mining techniques for business applications.