1. Lecturers

• Oktay Turetken (responsible), Rob Kusters, Baris Ozkan, Anna Wilbik, Jonnro Erasmus, Ege Adali, Student assistants: Dion Verschuren and Nick van Riel, and Guest Lecturers from Industry.  

2. Introduction

To operate in the modern business ecosystem, organizations require a range of information systems, such as enterprise resource planning systems for organizing production, executive systems for supporting decision making, customer relationship management systems, etc. This course starts with discussing the strategic importance of the effective use of these systems in organizations and in the business ecosystem. We then focus our attention on the main types of these systems including their key properties and components, basic issues related to the selection, implementation, architecture, and use of such systems. We also give a hands-on experience on an enterprise system, which is commonly used in industry (SAP ERP System).

3. Learning Objectives

Upon completing the course successfully, students will be able to:

1. explain the strategic impact of the use of business information systems (BIS) (or enterprise information systems -EIS)
2. identify different aspects of the management of the IT business function and reason about it
3. distinguish different types of EIS that are commonly used in large organizations and explain their key characteristics
4. identify different architecture styles for EIS,
5. discuss management-related aspects of EIS implementation and operation,
6. use basic functionalities of a business information system (SAP ERP),
7. collaborate in a group

4. Course Content

The course addresses the following topics:

• Strategic importance of IT as a resource: Theory about the strategic impact of the effective use of IT in achieving business objectives and its impact on work.
• Acquisition of EIS: Main decisions in acquiring EIS, roles and responsibilities, the business case, risks and risk management and ethical aspects.
• EIS Fundamental concepts: Basic EIS types, background, key components and properties of specific systems (e.g., Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, etc.).
• Management aspects of EIS: i.e., methods and approaches to EIS implementations, managing risks and critical success factors in EIS projects.
• Architectural aspects of IT systems: Overall structure of EIS software and its relation to organizational structure and business processes, new trends in EIS provisioning.
• Business intelligence and EIS
• Working in groups for practical assignments

In addition, the course has a practical part on the SAP ERP system using the GBI scenario. The course also incorporates an assignment to allow students to gain insight into a company’s experience on EIS implementation and operation. Finally, there two guest lectures by industry companies on the practical side of the topics we discuss during the lectures.

Accordingly, the course is structured into two main components:

Part of the Course	Addressed by  …	Assessed through …
1- Theoretical	Lectures – 10 x 2 hours	Written examination
2- Practical	Practice sessions – 3 x 2 hours	Assignment 1 (A, B, and C): SAP ERP practice assignments
	Company visits and interviews (by student groups)	Assignment 2: Experience Report on EIS Implementation & Operation in a Company
	Guest Lectures: Experiences from Industry	(Possibly) A part in the Written exam

 

5. Course Material

• Lecture notes (handouts)
• Course book
  • Enterprise Systems for Management, 2nd Ed. (2014) L. Motiwalla; J. Thompson; Pearson.
• Additional readings (book chapters, scientific papers, etc.)
• Material regarding instructions and assignments

Course material (except the Course Book) will be available in CANVAS (Check "Modules").

6. Schedule

The course takes place in a period of 8 weeks in the second quarter of semester A. There are 8 lecture sessions, 3 practice sessions, and 2 guest lectures.  Table 1 presents the schedule and topic for each session.

 

Week	Lecture	Topic	Book Chapter*	Lecturer	Day	Location
1	Lecture 1	Introduction to EIS	Chp.1, Chp.2 (excl. “Systems Integ.”), & Chp.10 & 11	OT	04.Sep.2018 Tue 08:45-10:30	PAVILJOEN B1
1	Practice 1	SAP SD & Assg1A	-	OT, JE, EA St.Asst.	07.Sep.2018  Fri 13:30 - 15:15	AUDITORIUM 1
2	Lecture 2	Strategic Importance of IT	[Reader]	RK	11.Sep.2018 Tue 08:45 - 10:30	PAVILJOEN B1
2	Deadline for submitting Assignment 1A - SAP SD				13.Sep.2018 Thr 17:30
2	Deadline to form your team for Assignment 2				13.Sep.2018  Thr 17:30
2	Practice 2	SAP MM & Assg1B	-	OT, JE, EA St.Asst.	14.Sep.2018  Fri 13:30 - 15:15	AUDITORIUM 1
2	PRV Session -Batch-1 (for Groups 1 to 18)	-	-	-	14.Sep.2018  Fri 15:30 - 17:15	PAVILJOEN A12a, K10 and U56
3	Lecture 3	EIS Architecture - Version 2 (with more material about CRM and SCM)	Chp.3	OT	18.Sep.2018 Tue 08:45 - 10:30	PAVILJOEN B1
3	PRV Session- Batch-2  (for Groups 19 to 36)	-	-	-	18.Sep.2018 Tue 10:45 - 12:30	PAVILJOEN A12a, K10 and U56
3	Deadline for submitting Assignment 1B - SAP MM				21.Sep.2018 Fri 23:30  <-- Changed!
3	(Self Practice 3)	SAP PP & Assg1C	No course at TUE in 21st Sep. No gathering		21.Sep.2018 Fri	No gathering
4	Lecture 4	- EIS Acquisition  - Ethics	[Reader]	RK	25.Sep.2018 Tue 08:45 - 10:30	PAVILJOEN B1
4	PRV Session Batch-3  (for Groups 37 to ..)	-	-	-	25.Sep.2018 Tue 10:45 - 12:30	PAVILJOEN A12a, K10 and U56
4	Deadline for submitting Assignment 1C - SAP PP				27.Sep.2018 Thr 17:30
4	Practice 4	SAP PS & Assg1D			28.Sep.2018 Fri  13:30 - 15:15	AUDITORIUM 1
	Lecture 5	EIS Implementation	Chp.4 (excluding subsection “Project Mng.”)	OT	02.Oct.2018 Tue 08:45 - 10:30	PAVILJOEN B1
5	Deadline for submitting ‘Assignment 2A company selection’ report				02.Oct.2018 Tue 17:30
5	Deadline for submitting Assignment 1D - SAP PS				04.Oct.2018 Thr 17:30
5	Guest Lect.1	EIS Implementation (KPMG)	-	KPMG	05.Oct.2018  Fri 13:30 - 15:15	AUDITORIUM 1
6	Lecture 6	EIS Project Management	Chp.8	OT	09.Oct.2018 Tue 08:45 - 10:30	PAVILJOEN B1
6	Lecture 7	Business Intelligence and EIS	Reader	AW	12.Oct.2018  Fri 15:30 - 17:15!!!	AUDITORIUM 1
7	No Lecture	--	--	--	16.Oct.2018 Tue 08:45 - 10:30	--
	Deadline for submitting Assignment 2B				19 Oct.2018  until 12:30
7	Guest Lec.2	Business Intelligence	-	TIBCO	19 Oct.2018 Fri 13:30 - 15:15	AUDITORIUM 1
8	Lecture 8	Wrap-up	-	OT	23.Oct.2018 Tue 08:45 - 10:30	PAVILJOEN B1
8	Deadline for submitting PRV-2 Reflection Report				23.Oct.2018      until 17:30
8	PRV- Retake: Evaluation Meetings as PRV Retake				26.Oct.2018 Fri 13:30 - 17:15	TBA
	Final examination				02.Nov.2018  09:00 -12:00
	Retake examination				30.Jan.2019 18:00 -21:00

*** Please note that, the lecture handouts and book chapters might not fully overlap content-wise.  Please put extra attention on the handouts. 

 

7. Course Assessment

The overall end-result of a student for this course will be based on a combination of scores for the:

• Final examination - 60% of the final grade 1BV21- Final test 1BV20
• Assignments - 40% of the final grade 1BV22 - Assignments 1BV30
• Professional skill (collaboration) - 0% of the grade PRV Collaboration Assignment (pass/fail, pass is required to pass the course)

Assignment 1 and 2 account for 16% and 24% of the grade, respectively (totalling to 40% in the overall.)

Final Examination: 

• The final exam will cover topics in lecture handouts (including guest lectures), indicated book chapters (see the schedule table above), and additional readings (check the 'Modules' page for the additional reading material). (Note that the exam will not cover any material regarding the SAP practices.)
• It will be a ‘multiple choice’ test.
• The structure and type of questions/examples will be discussed throughout lectures. 
• There is also a set of sample exam question posted at: 1BV20-Sample-Exam.pdf
• More about the exam will be discussed in Lecture 8 - Wrap-up.
• Please note that the multiple choice examination is delivered online through a digital testing system, so you will need your laptop for the examination.   

Please make sure that you checked the final examination dates/times/locations in My Timetable, etc.

Note that during the examination students are allowed to use a dictionary (English-to-Any Language). 

Please note that, as the assignments are only a part of the overall grade, their validity will be limited to one year. Partial results cannot be carried over to next years. Please also note that, the same rules apply also for the written examination.

8. Practice with “SAP” and Assignment 1

During the practice hours, the students will gain a hands-on experience on the general functionalities of a number of specific SAP ERP system modules (e.g. materials management, production planning and execution, sales and distribution). The students will go through several exercises (using the SAP GBI business scenario) that will take them through the basic functionalities of the system.  There will be 3 practice sessions and 3 corresponding sub-assignments.

More information about the SAP practice and assignments is available at: Practice with SAP & Assignment 1 

 

9. Assignment 2: Experience Report on EIS Implementation & Operation

The second assignment is a group work. It involves performing structured interviews with representatives of an industry company to gain insights into their EIS implementation/operation.**

The objective of the assignment is to allow students to have a close look into the diverse aspects of a real-life EIS implementation and operation. It aims to complement and reinforce the theoretical matters discussed during the lectures by letting students interview with different project stakeholders in a real business environment and learn more about diverse facets of such projects.  

You will be working in teams of max 4 students for this assignment. So, please form your team and register it in CANVAS no later than the deadline indicated (check above for "Deadline to form your team for Assignment 2"). Register at: People

(Note that, we will NOT assign you in any team. You will have to form your team yourself. And not being in a team simply means that you will fail the PRV part of this course, in turn fail the course.)

Step1: The student groups will be asked to find a company that is currently implementing or using an EIS, and report it to the lecturers. 

--> You can report the company through: Assignment 2: Reporting the company  

Step2: Using the questionnaire, the groups will be expected to conduct face-to-face meetings/interviews with the project participants and/or with some key personnel to gain insight into the implementation and operation of the BIS in the company.  The standard sections of the questionnaire is available in the assignment page.

--> You can submit your assignment report at: Assignment 2: Experience Report 

** For those student groups that provide convincing arguments to the lecturers that they were NOT able to find a company despite all their efforts, there is a non-standard alternative option for the second assignment: Assignment 2 (non-standard). Please refer to the following page for more information: Assignment 2 (Non-standard Option)

 

10. Assignment 2 (Non-standard Option)

For those student groups that provide convincing arguments to the lecturers that they were NOT able to find a company despite all their efforts, there is a non-standard alternative option for the second assignment:  Assignment 2 (non-standard).

Assignment 2 (non-standard) is a theoretical work. The student group is expected to perform a literature study and write a research report on a specific well-defined and clearly formulated topic that relates to the management of enterprise information systems. The group has to base the report on scientific literature from high quality journals and conferences.

More information is available at: Assignment 2 (Non-standard Option)

 

11.  Professional Skill ‘Collaboration’

As mentioned in the sections above, the students will work together as a team for Assignment 2. In addition to the examination and assignments, each student will also be evaluated with respect to the “Collaboration” professional skill. Note that, receiving a positive evaluation on this skill is a prerequisite to pass the course. This teamwork has to be evaluated by peers.

For more details about your responsibilities regarding PRV please check: PRV- Professional Skill ‘Collaboration’