MSIS 605     Strategic Management of Technology
The strategic management of technology and its application on the path to innovation, from the perspective of the general manager at the product line, business unit, and corporate levels. Students develop an understanding of the tools used in technology and innovation management. Case studies and examples from a variety of industries constitute a major element of the course.
Prerequisite: None

MSIS 607     Effective Oral and Written Communication for Managers
Emphasizes the importance of good communication skills for corporate managers in the business world. This course identifies and reviews the foundations of business communication – listening, speaking, writing, and reading, and broadens students’ experience by building communication skills using technologies and practical business applications, making students stronger intercultural communicators in the global business community. The ultimate goal of this course is to prepare students to become confident, flexible, and resourceful communicators in the competitive business world.
Prerequisite: None

MSIS 609     Information Technology Project Management
Prepares students to understand the principles of project management and how to organize and manage resources in order to complete projects in a designated time-frame. In this course, students learn how to use IT architecture to bring order to the sometimes chaotic world of information systems, by defining a set of guidelines and standards and then adhering to them. Students learn to view IT architecture as a reflection and integral part of business strategy, rather than as a stand-alone entity. In addition, students receive a unique perspective on the issues surrounding the management of information technology in various organizations. Each topic will be taught in a practical manner using case studies that analyze how selected companies implemented various IT strategies and how those strategies affected their bottom line.
Prerequisite: None

MSIS 610     Advanced IT Project Management
Builds on the skills and knowledge obtained in Information Technology Project Management to provide students with an advanced, in-depth understanding of the principles of project management. Students learn to organize and manage resources to complete a project in the designated time frame. Students explore project phases and processes with a focus on the disciplines of Project Management including: scope, time constraints, integration, cost analysis, procurement, risk analysis, resource evaluation, identification and confirmation of business requirements, quality control, communication, project tracking and implementation. Each topic will be taught from a business perspective, in a practical manner using case studies analyzing how selected companies implemented various IT strategies.
Prerequisite: MSIS 609

MSIS 611     Leadership in the Technology Organization
Frames the nature of leadership in the technology organization. Issues to be considered will include: the nature of leadership; preparing for opportunities; practices of exemplary leadership; understanding structural dynamics in technology organizations; knowledge management; using creativity to develop the right vision and strategy; leveraging the current environment to create a dynamic and sustainable culture; bad leadership and how to avoid it; fostering collaboration and preserving integrity; vendor relationship management; evolving from the change agent of today to become the technology leader of tomorrow.
Pre- or Corequisite: MSIS 605

MSIS 615     Database Management and Administration
Addresses the basic concepts of sound database design. It covers database normalization; data integrity including setting domain constraints, triggers, and referential integrity constraints; design presentation tools such as Visio, E-R diagrams, data manipulation, and retrieval using SQL; database implementation using SQL Server; transaction processing database issues such as concurrency control, database recovery, and query optimization.
Prerequisite: None (Student must have completed all prerequisite undergraduate bridge courses, if assigned.)

MSIS 616     Advanced Database Administration
Builds on Database Management and Administration. It includes additional data modeling techniques, concepts of database integrity and transaction management, stored procedures, user defined functions, database programming, query optimization, performance and tuning, and other advanced SQL topics.
Prerequisite: MSIS 615

MSIS 620     Data Mining and Warehousing
An introduction to the basic concepts of data mining and warehousing. Students learn the motivation behind data mining, and topics covered include a survey of data mining applications, techniques and models. Ethics and privacy issues related to data mining, along with the potential pitfalls of machine learning, are discussed. The course also introduces students to data mining software and its integration into existing systems.
Prerequisite: MSIS 616

MSIS 621     Budgeting and Finance for Technology Managers
Examines finance and accounting systems designed to track IS/IT expenditures as well as support IS/IT expenditure forecasting. Additional issues considered include: various acquisition strategies; buy versus build; purchase or lease; maintenance and support costs; optimizing help desk resources; equipment depreciation; the learning curve and human capital; return on investment; true cost of network administration and the cost of removing obsolete equipment. The relationship of the IS/IT systems plans and strategies to those of the overall organization within the parameters of budgetary and financial constraints will be of special interest, and actual case studies will be analyzed.
Prerequisite: Pre- or Corequisite 609

MSIS 622     Legal, Social and Ethical Issues in Technology
Addresses the legal, social and ethical effects of technology on the workplace and throughout society. Issues to be considered will include: the responsibilities and risks of computing; equity of access; privacy and data security; legal boundaries of intellectual property; appropriate use of e-mail and technology resources; cryptography; encryption; and accuracy of information. Special attention will be focused on the roles, responsibilities, processes and powers of technology leaders.
Prerequisite: None

MSIS 626     Database Security
Introduces database security, which greatly impacts the design of today’s information systems. This course provides an overview of database security concepts and techniques and discusses new directions of database security in the context of Internet information management. This vendor-neutral course expounds on the security context of database technologies and examines the exploitation of database vulnerabilities. It also provides an overview of security issues in database systems and shows how current and future commercial systems may be designed to ensure secrecy and confidentiality. Students will learn about common pitfalls of database design and how to identify and avoid them. Also covered in this course are basic security mechanisms and software, database security, intrusion detection, and security models for next-generation databases.
Prerequisite: MSIS 616

MSIS 628     Special Topics in Databases
Explores in-depth theoretical and practical issues of advanced database management systems. The main focus is on the introduction of specific concepts, methodologies and techniques related to an advanced topic area of databases. Topics may include database application development, storage and indexing, transactions, query management and optimization, concurrency control, and recovery.
Prerequisite: MSIS 615

MSIS 630     Web Database Application Development
Introduces students to the principles and practice of implementing and designing medium-sized web database applications. Students will learn to apply web programming technology and tools for database implementation on the web, including server-side scripting, session management, and authentication. Students will also investigate Internet database application issues including database design, human computer interface (HCI) techniques, and evaluation criteria for designing good web database applications.
Prerequisite: MSIS 615

MSIS 633     Database Applications
Introduces students to the details of various database structures in several database systems in common use in today's market, such as Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, Sybase, and DB2. The course covers the implementation of database features including indices, keys, foreign keys, triggers, cursors, stored procedures, concurrency and transaction management, and more. Rudimentary proprietary extensions to SQL will also be studied and compared.
Pre- or Corequisite: MSIS 616

MSIS 634     Introduction to DBMS Internals and Data Structures
Covers the implementation of many typical database concepts using Microsoft’s SQL Server database. Some basic computer science data structures and operating system concepts will be covered as well, in the context of the SQL Server internals.
Pre- or Corequisite: MSIS 616

MSIS 640     Data Communications
Introduces students to data communications and related terminology, including LAN/WAN network components and their corresponding functions. Students learn how data flows throughout a network and how “connections” and “communications” are achieved in various network configurations. Students also develop an understanding of the functionality of the Internet and gain the ability to discuss cutting-edge data communications networking technologies in an in-depth manner.
Prerequisite: None (Student must have completed all prerequisite undergraduate bridge courses, if assigned.)

MSIS 641     Advanced Data Communications and Internet Technologies
Provides the student with knowledge of procedures for performing network analysis, architecture, and design. The course covers critical design process issue, such as addressing and routing, as well as security and management. A systems approach is used to teach these concepts, viewing the network and its environment as part of a larger system, considering the interactions and dependencies between the network and its users, applications, and devices, as well as covering the entire network life cycle. The course focuses on the relationships between major functions of the network, such as security, network management, performance, and addressing and routing.
Prerequisite: MSIS 647

MSIS 643     Advanced Topics in LAN
Extends students’ knowledge of the LAN network environment by introducing the two most common corporate e-mail server applications, Microsoft Exchange Server/Outlook and IBM Lotus Domino Messaging Server/Notes. With an understanding of these two popular e-mail server applications, students will be able to make in-depth comparisons of their installation, messaging protocols, recipient and distribution lists, address lists, storage and mailboxes, public folders, and message routing.
Prerequisite: MSIS 640

MSIS 644     Wireless Networks
Background knowledge and practical skills needed to design, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot wireless local area networks (WLANs). Starting with an overview of the technology and architecture of WLANs, this course explains the services and advanced features that such networks can provide. It provides students with practical design guidance and deployment recommendations, beginning with an overview of Ethernet technologies, 802.11 standards, and physical layer technologies, and addressing challenges and solutions associated with security, mobility, and Quality of Service (QoS). Radio frequency fundamentals and site-surveying methods are reviewed in detail. A series of case studies that highlight WLAN design considerations in various business environments help place all the concepts covered in the context of real-world applications.
Prerequisite: MSIS 640

MSIS 645     Network Security
Provides students with knowledge of key aspects of information security, from the basics, to advanced cryptography, authentication, secure Web and e-mail services, and emerging security standards. Students gain the knowledge and skills needed to design a secure network infrastructure. They will also learn how to model threats and analyze security risks in order to meet business requirements for securing computers in a networked environment. The course promotes decision-making skills through simulation of scenarios that may be encountered in real life; students learn how to collect information and sort through the details in order to resolve given security requirements.
Prerequisite: MSIS 647

MSIS 646     Network Architecture and Design
Provides a historical perspective and a structured approach to the design of networks in today’s environments. It presents both strengths and weaknesses of current technologies and discusses methods of using these elements to produce workable solutions for emerging communications needs. The course begins with how networks meet basic connectivity needs and expands to how networks interconnect and how they are optimized so as to satisfy the needs of applications which are layered upon them. Sample cases studies may include current initiatives in VoIP and Video over IP. A special focus on Internet optimization lends relevance to these discussions with real world engineering challenges.
Prerequisite: MSIS 647

MSIS 647     Computer Networking: Routing and Switching
Uses a structured approach to explain how networks work, including but not limited to: the physical layer of networking, computer hardware and transmission systems, network applications (such as e-mail), domain name system, the World Wide Web, and various forms of multimedia. It also encompasses current network technologies including wireless networks, Bluetooth, video conferencing, streaming video, and Voice over IP (VoIP).
Pre-or Corequisite: MSIS 640

MSIS 648     Advanced Network Security
Focuses on the managerial aspects of information and network security. Students study information security concerns and techniques utilized in the current business environment to protect against the risk of revenue loss.
Prerequisite: MSIS 645

MSIS 649     Information Security Management
Goes beyond the technical aspects of information system security to address formal controls, as well as informal controls that deal with the normative structures that exist within organizations. Issues to be considered include: the nature and scope of information system (IS) security; models for technical specifications of IS security; cryptography and technical IS security; IS risk management; corporate governance for IS security; security standards; legal aspects of IS security and computer forensics. Case studies of actual security systems including a selection of security system failures will be analyzed.
Prerequisite: MSIS 611

MSIS 650     Advanced Computer Networking: High Performance Networks
Focuses on performance concepts and issues of the TCP/IP protocol over wired, wireless, optical, and satellite networks. Concepts covered include TCP/IP network performance evaluation methods, network traffic management in routers and hosts, and implementations of the TCP/IP protocol stack in hardware and software.
Prerequisite: MSIS 647

MSIS 652     UNIX/Linux System Administration
Provides students with knowledge of all aspects of configuring and managing an Internet-based server with the Linux operating system. Students will learn Linux software configuration and installation, user management, security, and data integrity. This course provides students with knowledge of standard and advanced techniques needed to set up and maintain a UNIX/Linux environment.
Prerequisite: MSIS 640

MSIS 657     Knowledge Management
Focuses on the knowledge component of business activities as an explicit area of concern reflected in strategy, policy, and practice at all levels of the organization. The continuously accelerating rates of the growth of knowledge, in general, and of change in technology, in particular, will be seen as not just a challenge but as an opportunity. Students learn to make a direct connection between an organization’s intellectual assets and positive business results.
Prerequisite: MSIS 605

MSIS 661     Strategic Collaboration Technologies
Enables the student to identify and apply strategic collaboration technologies both within the organization and also throughout the broader external environment. Students explore innovative collaboration technologies such as Wikis, weblogs, online communities, intranets, portals, webinars, video conferencing, GPS, internet document sharing, as well as They will also analyze more traditional collaboration tools such as forums, conferences, small and large group meetings, workshops, shared calendars, email, flowcharts and knowledge sharing and management. Students design and implement projects using a variety of collaboration tools and technologies with a focus on their role within the organization and the role of their organization within the wider competitive, economic minded technology community.
Prerequisite: MSIS 605

MSIS 663     Knowledge Management
Presents the activities necessary for planning, managing and monitoring the performance of a process (e.g. the methods and techniques of designing and managing a software development environment). Students explore how the adoption of a process approach enhances the effectiveness of a quality management system.
Prerequisite: MSIS 609

MSIS 695     Capstone Course: Information Systems Research Project Seminar
Provides students with the opportunity to formulate a paper or project and implement it from start to finish using a combination of their conceptual, technical, and applied knowledge. As the capstone course for the Master’s in Information Systems, the project developed draws on the skills and knowledge gained throughout the program. Project deliverables have deadlines staggered throughout the semester.
Prerequisite: Last Semester in Program