Contact us
 

 

Information Technology and Operations Management (ITOM)

MBA Courses

Required: 2.0 Credit Hours Each – All three of the following courses are required of all M.B.A. students.

ITOM 6201. Managerial Statistics. This course provides an overview of fundamental statistical methodologies and applications. It covers essentials of probability and descriptive statistics, random sampling, statistical inference (confidence intervals and hypothesis testing), and simple and multiple regression. The course is taught with a mix of lectures for concepts and real-life problems for hand-on experience; the medium of analysis is purely Excel spreadsheets.

ITOM 6202. Management Decision Analysis. The purpose of this course is to help students understand how complex business problems can be analyzed, modeled and solved in an optimal manner. The course begins with a review of decision making under risk and uncertainty. Specific emphasis is then placed on the use and application of decision trees including the incorporation of utility theory. The course then moves on to the use and application of mathematical optimization models including linear programming, network models and integer programming. Finally, the course covers the topic of simulation. Students learn to develop spreadsheet models for making complex business decisions, as well as interpret the results of such models.

ITOM 6203. Operations Management. Helping students understand the fundamental concepts and techniques necessary for attaining a world-class performance in service and manufacturing operations is the main learning objective of this course. The course adopts a “process management” viewpoint to address a variety of strategic and operational issues. The course design consists of two inter-linked modules — (1) process analysis, design and improvement: exercises and cases are used here to illustrate the concepts such as capacity, cycle time, bottlenecks and theory of constraints, (2) improving medium- to long-term operational processes: covers topics such as inventory management, supply chain management and operations strategy. The course also introduces students to the way information technology is being used to re-engineer and dramatically improve business processes.

Electives: 2.0 Credit Hours Each – The appropriate required courses must be successfully completed to enroll in elective ITOM courses.

ITOM 6205. Introduction to E-Business. This course serves as an introduction to electronic business, that is, the use of network technologies (including the Internet) to facilitate value creation and strategic positioning. As this definition implies, an introduction to e-Business deals with technical issues as well as business or strategic issues. In this course, technical topics include the infrastructure requirements of the Internet (e.g., protocols, standards, and security) and Internet-based applications (e.g., electronic payment systems, search engines and personalization technology). Business strategy topics include business models, online marketplaces, disintermediation of the value chain, web 2.0, the 3-D web, customer co-production, peer production, digital goods, and social networking.

ITOM 6207. e-Supply Chain Management Strategy. The objective of this course is to understand Supply Chain Management in the modern, technology-intensive environment. The Internet promotes seamless integration across the supply chain while improvements in data analysis allow for ongoing optimization. Some organizations are using these technologies to increase cooperation along the channel, utilizing improved information to respond quickly to changes in demand, improve product assortment, reduce inventory and optimize deliveries. Others gain a competitive advantage from access to a broader supplier or customer base. As companies outsource a larger share of their production and service capabilities, technology plays an important role in transforming organizations. Topics in this course include integration across the supply chain, the transformation of manufacturing and services, outsourcing and supply chain technology. Prerequisite: Operations Management.

ITOM 6214. Business Modeling Using Spreadsheets. The objective of this course is to gain experience using spreadsheets to model and analyze quantitative business problems. It is intended to augment skills for managers in operations, finance, marketing and strategy. The course covers various modeling techniques, including linear programming, nonlinear programming, real options, integer programming and simulation. These techniques are applied in this course to various industries including: operations, technology, finance and marketing. Some of the applications developed in the course pertain to: monitoring mutual fund managers, building flexible manufacturing facilities and constructing financial portfolios. Basic comfort with spreadsheets is expected, including fixed and relative cell copying, functions and formatting. Prerequisite: Management Decision Analysis.

ITOM 6215. Database Design for Business Applications. This course covers fundamental issues in database creation and design. We start with mapping data collection in organizations onto a database with the objective of storing data consistently over time. We then proceed to study methods for information extraction from databases. In terms of practical skills, we will learn how to import spreadsheet data into Microsoft Access and generate summary reports to answer business questions related to our data. Homework assignments and an implementation project in Microsoft Access will reinforce both the design issues and the practical skills covered in the course.

ITOM 6217. Business Intelligence and Data Mining. This course examines how companies can effectively leverage their information technology resources to gain better operational and competitive intelligence. Several technologies for enhancing organizational intelligence such as machine learning, neural networks, clustering and association-based reasoning, are surveyed, and considerations that managers must make in applying these technologies to different types of decision and planning problems are discussed, using lectures, cases and hands-on exercises using appropriate software.

ITOM 6218. Business Process Consulting. A business process is a collection of activities — connected by flows of goods and information — that create value by transforming inputs into (more valuable) outputs through the use of capital and labor. As such, business processes are the key drivers of organizational value creation and performance, competitive advantage, etc. The objective of this course is to teach students skills to model, analyze (for effectiveness, efficiency and internal controls) and redesign business processes. The course will focus particularly on information technology’s role in enabling business processes.

ITOM 6220. Revenue Management. Revenue management (RM) involves methods for increasing revenue by offering different fares/prices as perishable capacity is consumed. Examples of RM can be found in the airline, hotel, railroad, and rental car businesses, among others. We will cover a variety of topics, including Littlewood’s two-class model (and extensions), the n-class single resource RM problem, nested controls, bid price controls, heuristic approaches, network capacity control (multi-resource problems), overbooking models, and more. Students will learn how to implement RM models using dynamic programming and linear programming in spreadsheets. Prerequisite: Managerial Statistics, Management Decision Analysis.

ITOM 6224. Managing Service Operations. This course will focus on the variety of tasks involved in managing service operations within both the “pure” service sector companies and the service functions of manufacturing firms. The course is designed for students who plan to work as managers in service firms. It will also be of value to individuals who need to understand and evaluate service organizations from an external perspective. The course will explore the following topics: strategic service vision, design and delivery of services, managing capacity and demand, service quality and productivity, customer service management, technology in service operations and globalization of services. The course will also develop hands-on understanding of some powerful analytical techniques including process analysis, waiting line models, simulation and yield management. Prerequisites: Management Decision Analysis and Operations Management.

ITOM 6225. Project Management. Managing projects in a cost effective and timely manner is one of the most challenging tasks in any organization. Competent project leadership requires an understanding of how to allocate financial, material and time-based resources, and the ability to motivate and maintain focus of the project team. This course introduces analytical tools and concepts that enable project managers to evaluate, manage and execute critical functions of any project while ensuring speed, efficiency and market impact. It is designed to cover the essential elements of creative and effective project management, including vertical and horizontal project management and the technical and social aspects of project execution. It also provides concepts, tools and techniques that are important to manage the strategic aspects of development intensive projects including, project selection, portfolio planning and risk management.

ITOM 6226. Operations Strategy. This course deals with operations issues having a long-term or irreversible impact on the corporate strategy and on the competitive viability of the firm. The course approaches these matters from the perspective of the director of operations, vice-president of manufacturing or other senior level managers with primary responsibility for the production and distribution of goods and services. We will develop a general framework for creating and analyzing strategies for managing domestic and international manufacturing and services-based companies. Among the strategic decision categories which will be examined are product-process technology strategies, facilities and capacity management, performance measurement, managing quality and productivity and system design. Emphasis is on the application of systems thinking to case studies and the design of world-class operations. Prerequisites: Management Decision Analysis and Operations Management.

ITOM 6228. International Operations. With firms of all sizes moving towards global sourcing, off-shoring of various operations and outsourcing, an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of international operations is becoming crucial for managers. This course addresses these issues and examines how some of the key problems in planning and managing international operations can be modeled and analyzed. Prerequisite: Operations Management.

ITOM 6230. Business Process Outsourcing and Offshoring. This course will focus on business process outsourcing/offshoring (BPO/O). Students will examine the motivators for BPO/O; the considerations underlying the decision to choose BPO/O; the relevant strategies and business models that can be used; the choice of locations; and the management of the BPO/O relationships. Students will consider five application areas: (1) information technology, (2) customer care, (3) finance and accounting, (4) human resources and (5) transaction processing. The format of the course will be a combination of lectures, case analyses, guest lectures and student presentations.

ITOM 6231. Special Topics in Information Technology and Operations Management. This course surveys contemporary issues and trends in the management of information technology and its use in both operations and competitive markets. Recent topics include IT enabled organizational change and business process outsourcing and offshoring. Prerequisites: Management Decision Analysis, Operations Management.