Business Administration: Information Technology

An overview of the functional areas of business and the importance of information technology to the success of the organization with coverage of essential communication, problem solving and productivity tools employed in the modern enterprise. Prerequisites: Business Administration major.

Asynchronous online

This course covers practical and conceptual data manipulation and management techniques. The objectives include: 1) gaining a basic understanding of some of the complexities associated with organizing and using data, and 2) introducing students to MS Office productivity software (MS Office Suite). This course is classified as a Quantitative and Data Literacy course. At the end of the course, students should be able to: 1. Spreadsheet Modeling. Use a recent version of Microsoft Excel to: a. Organize and manipulate data using pivot tables, filters, multi-level sorts, data validation, conditional formatting, goal-seek, named ranges. b. Create and use logical functions such as IF, nested IFs, lookups, multi conditional tests. c. Aggregate and summarize data (mean, median, mode, and standard deviation for multi-dimensional summaries). d. Employ data importing, data cleansing, query by example, and data source connectivity tools. 2. Data Modeling and Query. Use a recent version of Microsoft Access to: a. Design a basic relational database using Entity Relationship Diagramming (ERDs). b. Build/implement the design using Primary Keys, Foreign Keys, and table joins (inner & outer). c. Populate a basic database that they designed with actual data. d. Employ Query by Example including aggregate, parameter, calculated fields, and criteria syntax. 3. Data Visualization. Use a recent version of Microsoft Excel to: a. Construct charts and tables such as area charts, scatter plots, bar charts, etc.

The course is organized into four week-long "modules". We will cover four book chapters each week. Each chapter includes online reading, a software-based practice exercise, and a graded software-based HW. There is a software-based Capstone project (or test) at the end of each week. The course modality is online. This is an accelerated four-week asynchronous class with no scheduled meeting times. This class will require effective time management and individual effort (reading, following lecture notes, problem-solving, and spending time practicing with Excel and Access without my direct guidance). There are no face-to-face office hours. As the semester is condensed into four weeks, we will progress quickly. Waiting until assignments are due to go back and attempting to learn the material is not a good way to approach the class. We will be using MS Excel and MS Access extensively. MACs do not inherently run MS applications like Excel and Access. There is an Excel version for MACs, which is fine for this class. However, MAC users must use the Virtual GSB Lab software to run MS Access and save their files on OneDrive. (MS = Microsoft Corp.). I have posted a video overview covering logging into the Virtual GSB Lab and configuring OneDrive. Getting used to using a virtualized environment may take some students longer than others. Something to note is that this class has been taught in previous summers and students had no issues using Virtual GSB Lab and OneDrive that I am aware of. Please use a PC for this class if you feel this is a problem. Students are expected to use software without my direct guidance. Time requirements will be different for each student. Some students have used Excel and are comfortable using PC-based applications, others are less so. We are covering an entire semester's worth of material in one month! I encourage students who prefer guided in-person class lectures rather than a self-taught approach, are uncomfortable experimenting with technology, or would like a slower pace with established office hours to take BUS 1140 in person in the fall or spring. Students MUST have an operational laptop or desktop installed with the required software to be successful in this class. Students are responsible for all material covered. Students without functional computers or the proper software are NOT excused from assignments. The ability to connect to the internet and complete assignments on time is YOUR responsibility. To succeed, you must have a reliable internet connection. Please note that I cannot/will not grant extensions due to technical/connectivity issues on the user side. You have some flexibility in completing the assignments, but late assignments are penalized. Students will access the course through Brightspace and can access the publisher’s (Cengage) material (readings, videos, HWs, tests) through Brightspace.

I have not completely settled on evaluation at this point. The course will consist of a lot of hands-on computer-based HW assignments, which will count for some of the course grade. Capstone projects/tests will comprise the rest of the grade. I EXPECT (but have not committed to) a 40/60 split (i.e., I expect HW to count towards about 40% of the final grade and tests to count for about 60%).