2023-2024 / INFO0934-8

Information Technology Management

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

 Master in business engineering (120 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in business engineering (120 ECTS) (Digital Business)5 crédits 
 Extra courses intended for exchange students (Erasmus, ...)5 crédits 

Lecturer

Ashwin Ittoo

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

In this course, students will 

  • Be introduced to information systems and their use in managing organizations, particularly ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems
  • Acquire hands-on experience with a real-life, well-known ERP software package, namely SAP S/4 HANA, for managing core business processes
  • Acquire hands-on experience with Business Process modeling (BPMN 2.0), which are essential when designing or implementing information systems.
  • Acquire hand-on experience with Process Mining
  • Acquire hands-on experience with Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and Database Management Systems. The Java programming language will be used for OOP and SQL standard for database management.
  • Be introduced to blockchains and their applications to cryptocurrencies. 
Topics include
 ERP systems: 
  • Information Silos/Legacy systems and the need for Enterprise Information Systems
  • Enterprise Information Systems and Organizational Structure
  • Types of Enterprise Information Systems (ERP, SCM, CRM)
  • ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems architecture and modules
  • ERP trends and evolution 
Business Processes and Process Mining: 
  • Business Process Modeling with BPMN 2.0 
  • Process Mining
Business Process Implementation in SAP S/4HANA
  • Overview of some key business processes: Materials Management, Sales and Distribution, Finance and Control
  • Mapping of business processes to ERP system architecture and modules
  • Work with some core modules of SAP S/4HANA: SD, MM, FI,... 
Database Management Systems (DBMS):  
  • Relational database management systems
  • Data normalization
  • SQL statements for data manipulation (including practical)
  • Rise of NoSQL and examples of NoSQL databases
Introduction to Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies:
  • Public key encryption, digital signatures
  • Cryptographic Hash Functions
  • Proof of work, Incentives
  • Ethereum
  • Bitcoin exchanges
  • Smartcontracts
Big Data Management & Infrastructure
  • Invited speaker from Industry 
IoT Management
  • Invited speaker from Industry 
Object Oriented Programming (OOP) in Java 8:
  • OOP paradigm (vs. other programming paradigm such as "functional" languages)
  • OOP and its relation to UML objects/classes and databases
  • Revision of basic programming constructs (loops, conditionals, variables and types)
  • Classes (and objects) in Java (constructors, methods)
  • Inheritance
  • Java API
  • Data Structures in Java (Lists, Maps) (if time permits)
Project: students will have to model, reengineer, and implement selected business processes, using SAP 4/S HANA, BPMN2.0, Java and MySQL.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

  • Recognize the fundamental role of information systems, in particular, ERP systems, in ensuring the proper running of organizations
  • Devise a strategy to optimize an organization's business processes with information systems
  • Able to analyse and model Business Process with BPMN 2.0 
  • Understand fundamental of Process Mining
  • Understand fundamental core Business Process implemented in SAP S/4HANA
  • Lead or actively participate in information systems implementations projects within organizations
  • Implement database-driven software applications to support/automate various business processes (or steps within) and to improve overall organizational performance
  • Use information systems to monitor and improve quality control and performance
  • Communicate effectively to various stakeholders (software vendors, developers and end-users)
  • Adapt to trends and evolutions in information systems, especially those brought about by Big Data and other technological phenomena such as the IoT
  • Communicate effectively to various stakeholders (software vendors, developers and end-users)

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Course candidates should have taken (and passed) information systems courses of their earlier years, in particular, INFO0076-1: Informatique pour ingénieurs de gestion

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

  • Lectures
  • Practical sessions/help sessions
  • Project

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Additional information:

  • Lectures (resources: notes, articles will be on lol@)
  • Practical sessions and additional help sessions will be organized
  • Selected MOOCs for topics related to business processes
  • Please note that attendance is compulsory for lectures and practical sessions. Please contact the lecturers beforehand if you are unable to attend a lecture or practical

Recommended or required readings

Selected chapters from  

  • Enterprise Systems for Management, by Motiwalla and Thompson, Pearson 2012
  • Integrated Business Processes with ERP Systems, by Magal and Word, Wiley, 2012
  • Java: The Complete Reference, by Schildt, 2014
  • Fundamentals of Business Process Management, by Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J., Reijers, H., Springer 2018

The course will follow a continuous assessment system. The final grade will be based on a series of assignments during the course and a final written examination. Details:  

  • Project on implementing a practical case of an information system (SAP S/4 HANA, BPMN 2.0, Java and SQL): 40%~50%
  • Written examination: 50%~60%
Note that the weights for the different components above are tentative and will be finalized in due course.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Orange & Yellow code
- Exam for both Heng's and Ittoo's parts will be online (URL for online platform to be communicated later) 
Ittoo's part:
- MCQ
 

Contacts

Ashwin Ittoo, ashwin.ittoo@uliege.be  Samedi Heng, samedi.heng@uliege.be Eddy Heins, eddy.heins@uliege.be Julie Jamar, julie.jamar@uliege.be

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online

Lecture Notes
Lecture Notes