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MSITS Electives

Please refer to the Course Schedule for course offering dates, times, and semesters.

The program offers a wide variety of elective courses covering information systems, telecommunications, information security, knowledge management, and IT management. Students should contact an adviser for suggestions on fields of study and courses that relate to those fields. Students choose two courses from the following:

 

  • 770.627 IT Strategic and Change Management

    Students learn to use information technology as a strategic resource and to manage information systems as an asset to the organization. Change management is discussed as how best to affect culture and behavioral changes in an organization, as related to the use of IT. Planning strategies, tactics, and practices are covered, and overall corporate strategic plans are linked to information technology. Through the use of case studies, students learn to develop, manage, and implement change to improve information resource utilization.

    Prerequisite(s): 770.600 IT Budget and Financial Management or Completion of all MBA foundation courses.

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  • 771.710 Organizational and Legal Issues in Technology

    With the advent of information systems, complex legal issues have developed concerning the planning, management, operation, and support of technology functions. This course provides a background in legal theory in the context of technology’s impact on business operations. Topics include ownership, intellectual property rights, software licensing, liabilities, contracting, and privacy.

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  • 771.713 Business Processes and Change Management

    Organizations are implementing new technology and applications as integral parts of their operations. This course examines the structure of business processes, effective ways to engineer them, and best practices to restructure them in response to changing strategic direction. Topics include business process re-engineering and continuous process improvement. The course focuses on the need for integrated planning to maximize the positive impact of new technology on business operations. Students explore the critical element of dealing effectively with change in technology-intensive organizations and managing change as a routine part of the management challenge.

    Prerequisite(s): 771.750 Information Technology Integration for Business,  or  770.601 Technical Writing and Communication Skills for IT Professionals.

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  • 771.715 International Business and the Electronic Marketplace

    The World Wide Web and electronic business allow any business anywhere to enter the global market. Competing in the global market requires information systems to provide and access accurate information and respond to inputs from a wide variety of sources. Managers must be aware of issues that have little or no impact in a domestic market. Topics include data ownership, international data flow, security and legal issues, cultural considerations, support issues, and varied management styles.

    Prerequisite may be waived for students in the International Business concentration.

    Prerequisite(s): 771.751 The Internet and Electronic Commerce.

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  • 771.751 The Internet and Electronic Commerce

  • 771.760 Electronic Business Strategies

    This course provides students with in-depth knowledge of how to leverage a competitive business advantage using Internet strategies and electronic business. Students gain insights and build skills formulating strategies for evaluating, planning, and developing a commercial Web site as part of an overall business strategy. Additionally, students learn to determine the functional and financial feasibility of a Web site and gain an understanding of how to combine technological capability with the results of social, psychological, and market research to create and implement effective electronic commerce Web sites as part of an electronic business strategy.

    Prerequisite(s): 771.751 The Internet and Electronic Commerce.

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  • 772.820 Information Technology Internship

  • 772.833 Graduate Independent Study in Information and Telecommunication Systems

  • 773.700 Database Development and Programming

    This course builds on the knowledge and skills obtained in 770.515 Database Management Systems: Structure and Design. Students work with a contemporary DBMS to develop a database and queries and generate reports. Topics also include programming special requirements and distributed and security issues.

    Prerequisite(s): 771.716 Database Management Systems: Structure and Design (formerly 770.515).

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  • 773.701 Data Mining and Discovery Informatics

    Discovery informatics is the study and practice of effectively employing the full spectrum of computing and analytical sciences and technologies to discover knowledge by identifying and validating patterns in data. Students learn strategies, methods, and tools associated with this emerging methodology, including data mining, the knowledge discovery process, identification of structural patterns in data, decision trees, classification and association rules, evaluation and validation of discovered patterns, visualization, and ethical and privacy issues.

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  • 773.721 Competitive Intelligence

    Competitive Intelligence (CI), as defined by the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), is a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing, and managing external information that can affect an organization’s plans, decisions, and operations. Students learn to apply the CI process and CI-related methodologies, techniques, and tools to better analyze an organization’s current and future competitive position. Students will apply analytical and socio-technical techniques to improve organizational decision making as related to CI, and should understand the issues related to the collection, analysis, and management of external information.

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  • 773.750 Advanced Topic in Information Technology

    Each term, this course explores a different evolving technology, its function, and its use in developing state-of-the-art system applications. Through projects and outside readings, students learn the concepts and working components of the new technology and its effective application.

    Since the topic changes from semester to semester, this course can be taken twice for credit (i.e., 6 credits for Advanced Topics). Prerequisite(s): Completion of all MS/ITS courses.

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  • 773.752 Basic Web Site Development and Information Architecture

    The rapidly evolving capabilities of World Wide Web client browsers provide important opportunities for Intranet/Extranet applications. This course presents fundamental Web design principles as well as the current HTML coding model, practices, and standards. Example applications are explored and students construct their own application Web pages.

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  • 774.701 Telecommunication Systems and Network Design Analysis

    Building on the core telecommunication and analysis courses, students undertake the integration of networking systems that can be applied to business operations and needs. Participants examine these networking technologies, with particular attention to how these systems are used effectively in an organizations' technologies to create telecommunication.

    Prerequisite(s): 770.610 Organizational Data Communication Systems (formerly Foundations of Data Communication Systems).

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  • 774.702 Global Enterprise Network Systems (formerly Enterprise Network Systems)

    Modern enterprise network systems are complex, multi-vendor, and vital to organizations functioning. They include Local Area Networks (LAN) integrated with Network Management Systems (NMS) that are comprised of internetworking devices, bridges, routers, gateways, and backbone interfaces. This course covers the fundamentals of LAN and NMS technologies with emphasis on design and operation procedures. Topics cover various aspects of LAN and NMS standards, internetworking systems, devices, routers, gateways, and backbone interfaces. Hardware and software tools for NMS and configuration management, along with management policies, and standards operating are also discussed.

    Prerequisite(s): 770.610 Organizational Data Communication Systems (formerly Foundations of Data Communication Systems).

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  • 774.715 Financial Issues in Managing a Secure Operation

    This course addresses the risks (financial, reputation, business, and third party), costs, return on investment, and other business issues in developing a secure operation. Topics include qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, audits, metrics, responses to threats, and developing cost-effective solutions given constraints in money, assets, and personnel.

    Prerequisite(s): 773.719 Information Security Foundations.

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  • 774.716 Security Architecture

    This course builds on Information Security Foundations and focuses on the various security models and architectures. Students review hardware and software security measures, network security standards, LAN/WAN/MAN security, wireless and VPN security, security protection levels, encryption standards, internal versus external access protection, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems.

    Prerequisite(s): 773.719 Information Security Foundations.

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  • 774.717 Implementing Effective Information Security Programs

    This course focuses on the personnel, legal, regulatory, and privacy issues that constitute many of the basic management areas that must be considered in developing and implementing an effective information security program. The course also emphasizes the need for reasonable policies and procedures to ensure compliance. The course discusses many domestic and international laws and regulations that affect what can and can not be done legally to secure systems. Specific topics include HIPAA, GASSP, security best practices, political issues in the organization, implementation of an enterprise-wide security strategy, and finally, the organization, roles, staffing responsibilities, and funding.

    Prerequisite(s): 773.719 Information Security Foundations.

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  • 774.750 Advanced Topics in Telecommunications

    This seminar-style course allows students to examine contemporary developments in the telecommunication field through exploration of current technological, operational, political, and regulatory issues affecting the industry. Discussion takes place within the context of development and implementation of effective telecommunication systems in response to current technological and world events.

    Prerequisite(s): 770.517 Information and Telecommunication Systems Architecture.

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  • 774.760 Satellite, Wireless and Distributed Network Systems (formerly Wireless and Broadband Communications)

    This course explores the use of satellite, wireless and distributed networks for wide-area data communications. Technologies and topics studied include commercial and military satellites, direct broadcast satellites (DBS), low and medium earth orbiting (LEO and MEO) and geostationary (GEO) satellites, and wireless networks including very small aperture terminals (VSAT) and vehicle fleet tracking along with networks protocols, designs, and operations.

    Prerequisite(s): 770.517 Information and Telecommunication Systems Architecture,  and  770.610 Organizational Data Communication Systems (formerly Foundations of Data Communication Systems).

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  • 776.716 Knowledge Management Systems

    Students learn the fundamental principles of knowledge management (KM) and a wide range of KM strategies, techniques, and technologies that can be introduced to improve the effectiveness and competitiveness of organizations. Topics include enhancing organizational communication and innovation; capturing, mapping, and structuring knowledge; using KM for human capital strategies; supporting and enhancing collaboration; creating and sustaining a knowledge-sharing culture; leveraging advances in artificial intelligence and expert systems; managing and measuring intellectual capital; and designing effective knowledge management systems.

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  • 776.754 E-Business Security

    This course discusses what e-business security is, what it hopes to accomplish, problems encountered in migrating from legacy to Web-based e-business models, and Internet security and Web privacy from both client and server perspectives. Topics include internal transaction security, basic cryptography, SSL, active content security issues (PKI, Java, ActiveX, JavaScript, VB Script), Web privacy, secure server configuration (hardening, access controls, encryption), CGI scripting, remote authoring, administration, and firewalls.

    Prerequisite(s): 773.719 Information Security Foundations.

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