Information Systems

The course provides an introduction to applications of business modeling such as entity-relationship diagrams and dataflow diagrams. This course emphasizes application of management information system tools to support modeling.

This course covers foundational concepts of information technology (IT) infrastructure. The course describes the major components of an organization’s IT infrastructure and examines essential considerations of enterprise architecture security, data management, networking, and operations. Further, the course explores key processes involved in managing an IT infrastructure, including best practices of service delivery, IT service support, and continuing maintenance.

This course considers real-world issues pertaining to the development, operations, management and maintenance of an organization’s information systems (IS) with an emphasis on effective business decision making within an enterprise system. The course also explores key considerations of security risk mitigation inherent in the operation of IS.

This course will teach students how organizations can evaluate new emerging technology trends in areas related to information systems and technology, including data and knowledge management, information networks, applications, and hardware. Knowledge from this course should enable students to help their organizations build competitive advantage by identifying, evaluating the adoption, and managing emerging technologies, as they evolve their enterprise systems.

System development and design and software engineering methodologies, with emphasis on object-oriented analysis, design and implementation of information systems, distributed information systems, information systems life cycle models, and platforms with discussions of requirements definition and management, modeling quality assurance and development environments.

System development and design and software engineering methodologies, with tools and techniques for the successful management of IT projects, project selection and approval, planning, estimation techniques, scheduling methods, budgeting, IT project organizations, and project control and assessment. Students explore each of the nine domains of project management including project planning, scheduling, risk management, cost management, and effective project control, as well as the associated pre-project and post-project activities that need to be performed for a project.

The course includes case studies to provide an overview of contemporary information systems management in a digital enterprise. It focuses on the relevant issues of effective management of information services activities and highlights the areas of greatest potential application of the technology. The course emphasizes the skills and knowledge to identify and communicate business system needs, select the right information systems and integrate these systems into organizations to improve business performance. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the CGEIT (Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT) certification exam from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

Design elements, methods, and software metrics for usability assessment and improvement of interface design and architecture. This course emphasizes the critical need for site design for efficient user navigation to needed materials from the information services of large organizations.

This course is a study of effective and productive interfaces. Topics may include design and evaluation of interactive computer systems, input and output devices, screen layouts, machine design, health issues and ergonomics, and organizational impacts.

This course provides an introduction to analysis, design, and implementation of decision support systems for engineering and business applications. Through an examination of the course concepts related to decision support systems, it will become apparent how decision support systems can assist and improve upon organizational decision-making measures. Operation research modeling techniques and software are integrated with databases systems and computer interfaces to create systems that aid managerial decision making. Structure, models, and modern corporate decision support applications are emphasized through the use of cases to provide a hands-on approach designed to enhance student model-building.

This course covers theories, practices and techniques applicable to modeling, designing, developing and managing data assets under varied production operations for large organizations. Database architectures for large-scale commercial products, or production-grade services will be explored, while exposing students to the use of data management systems to collect data, manage organizational data resources, and disseminate information, this course provides students with a comprehensive view of the business data life cycle, from system requirements to data preparation and warehousing.

This course is an introduction to computational theories of human cognition such as knowledge representation, problem solving, search, natural language processing, learning, etc. In addition to covering the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, the course also provides an opportunity to explore the contemporary cognitive computing topics such as data mining, machine learning, predictive analytics, big data and its applications. This is designed as a graduate seminar like course emphasizing study and discussion of a collection of contemporary technical papers. The students are expected to achieve an overview of recent research and application areas of cognitive computing.

This course critically examines Information Systems Audit, Control (governance), and Compliance concepts and management practices in the context of Information Systems Management. The course will introduce the fundamentals of information technology (IT) auditing and assurance methodologies, major rules of regulatory compliance (SOX, HIPAA, etc.) as well as IT governance frameworks such as COBIT. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) Certification from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

This course covers the foundation of risk management in technology related areas. Students will be introduced to the concepts and framework of information risk management and fundamentals, information assurance, risk management requirements at an organizational level, risk assessment/mitigation strategies, and tools to monitor risk management solutions. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control) certification exam from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

The use of pervasive technology means an overabundance of information sharing, including personally identifiable, confidential, and secret information. This course teaches students through examination of concepts related to information security methods of identifying and categorizing information risk that can be used to improve organizational effectiveness. By understanding aspects of information from technical, formal, and informal approaches, students will better understand the challenges modern organizations face securing data in order to design appropriate solutions unique to individual requirements for both small business and enterprise environments. Structure, models, and modern awareness campaigns are explored to provide a hands-on approach designed to enhance student learning. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) certification exam from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

This course focuses on planning and designing a network infrastructure for an enterprise, including designing the domain architecture, while accounting for the evolution of inputs and outputs, to suitably satisfy customer needs. The course addresses the criteria and methods to be applied in evaluating and selecting optimum networking technologies and management tools for an enterprise, as well as planning and strategizing resources for a given network infrastructure (servers, network elements, storage). Some key networking technologies are based on the notion of virtualization. Virtualization relies on a technology platform for the creation of logical instances of IT resources. A transparency layer allows physical IT resources to map to multiple virtual images of themselves so that their underlying capabilities can be shared by multiple users. The course covers the different types of IT network resources that can be virtualized, including servers, storage, network and power. At the end of the course, the students will tackle the development of a business continuity plan, with emphasis on planning and delivering network services to support the business objectives of the organization, including monitoring, reporting, troubleshooting, and automating response capabilities.

The goal of this course is to provide an opportunity to the MSIS student to gain value-adding experience toward becoming a professional who is both highly self-directing and able to use consultative supervision. The internship is designed specifically to enable the MSIS student to apply classroom knowledge to the work environment, and to better prepare the student to enter the Information Systems industry. This course is a faculty supervised and evaluated field experience in the student's chosen domain of professional interest. Students will work with Career Services or the appropriate Department Chair, Program Director, or designee to identify a potential internship site location. Once an acceptable organization and site supervisor are found, South University must approve the organization to be utilized for this purpose. The Site Supervisor, student, and Faculty Coordinator, as defined in the College of Business Internship Courses Student Handbook, arrange for the student to have an opportunity to realize the goals and objectives and apply competencies of the MSIS program to real life situations. Please refer to the Internship Learning Agreement in the College of Business Internship Courses Student Handbook for further information regarding requirements prior to participating in an internship. This course is Pass/Fail.

The course provides students an opportunity to demonstrate professional competencies and capabilities covered in the MIS curriculum by conducting a study in an advanced IT or IS related topic or undertaking the analysis, design, and implementation of a real-world application.