IFB201 Introduction to Enterprise Systems


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Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Gardens Point, Internal

Unit code:IFB201
Credit points:12
Equivalent:ITD201
Assumed Knowledge:

Nil

Coordinator:Ignatius Chukwudi | ignatius.chukwudi@qut.edu.au
Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.

Overview

This unit provides an introduction to enterprise systems, the most widely used form of software technology in the business world. It will provide you with a background of the different aspects of businesses that they manage, such as resources, teams, products, services, customers and suppliers, and prominent types of enterprise systems in the market, including customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management systems. Based on this background, you will learn how to design, develop and effectively utilise enterprise systems from three perspectives. These are: business processes through which activities are coordinated across an organisation; software applications which provide the programming code underpinning the processes; and decision-making in which data is combined and visualised for users to determine critical outcomes. 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

  1. Explain the fundamental principles of managing enterprise systems using IT governance which ensures moral and ethical conduct by organisations relating to operations, culture, change and risk management
  2. Apply human-centric process improvement principles to solve critical business challenges using scenario-based modelling of business process
  3. Create a software prototype to support business processes using an enterprise system and its modules and APIs
  4. Produce effective data visualisations to support decision-making through human-centred user interfaces that combine enterprise systems and openly available data
  5. Apply effective teamwork using ICT professional roles and project work practices

Content

The first module introduces you to the business process perspective of enterprise systems. You will learn about the different types of enterprise systems, the different aspects of businesses that they support, and the business processes they run to coordinate activities across an organisation and its external partners. A lightweight scenario modelling approach will be used to capture business processes and design improvements for them.

The second module introduces you to the software perspective of enterprise systems. You will learn how to rapidly develop software code to support business processes through Web forms and application components. As enterprise systems are acquired off-the-shelf in practice, the focus will be on value-added extensions for business processes and reuse of existing software functionality. You will be exposed to an introductory level of programming through guided instructions, making use of an enterprise system platform and its application programming interfaces (APIs).

The third module introduces you to the decision-making perspective of enterprise systems. You will learn about the issues and effectiveness of data-driven decision-making, and how to structure and visualise data through user interfaces for this.

Learning Approaches

This unit is available for you to study in either on-campus or online mode. Learning in this unit includes weekly pre-recorded lectures, online activities, tutorials and a unit communications channel, designed to facilitate communication with your peers and teaching staff outside of scheduled classes. You can expect to spend 10 - 15 hours per week involving listening to lectures, attending all scheduled tutorials, completing assessment tasks, and undertaking study to consolidate your learning.

The pre-recorded lectures and online activities will provide you with the knowledge and skills for understanding enterprise systems, business processes and how they can be represented using scenario-based modelling, programming using enterprise systems modules and APIs, and data-driven visualisation and decision-making through user interfaces. Students will be guided through each of these phases involving exposition, analysis, design and hands-on activity.

Pre-recorded lectures will be provided through video recordings available for access one week before they are required for viewing.

Tutorials will be conducted in face-to-face collaborative learning spaces on-campus or online. They will be activity-based involving running through short quizzes for a recap of the theory from lectures and tasks involving the analysis, design and development of business problems which involve different perspective of enterprise systems: business process; software application and user decision making. The tutorials build directly on the material presented in the pre-recorded lectures and will involve detailed instruction sheets for undertaking the required tasks. They are designed to support class instruction, group work, and class reflection.

In addition, students will practise the principles and techniques required to develop planning, communication, reflection and teamwork skills. This learning is facilitated by communicating the different levels of an enterprise system under consideration and keeping an online project tracking logbook. This will be used as part of the progressive assessment throughout the unit offering students multiple opportunities to demonstrate progress and receive feedback on learning.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

You will receive feedback on your learning throughout the semester using the following mechanisms:

  • Class and group based feedback on tutorial exercises
  • Written feedback on the formative phase of assessment tasks
  • Written feedback on summative phases of assessment tasks including a rubric
  • General verbal feedback will be provided to the entire class on assessment tasks
  • Written whole-of-class feedback will be available in the unit site
  • You will receive feedback and results on each assessment task prior to the submission of the next assessment task

Assessment

Overview

The assessment in this unit have been designed so that you may develop deeper understanding of the knowledge and key skills expected of IT graduates concerning business problems and IT solutions and key tasks and skills to address these using enterprise systems. Students will develop the skills to work collaboratively and present confidently demonstrating effective written and visual communication. They will also develop the skills to engage in reflective practice.

The assessments will be group-based and focused on different parts of case-based assignment. 

Early in the semester, you will be asked to form teams of 4 so that you can work together to put together the analysis, design and development tasks of the assignment. You will be required to use team collaboration tools, i.e. Slack (team collaboration) and Trello (project tracking), to support your teamwork activities.

The assessments will be structured through the different perspectives of enterprise systems: business process, software application and user decision-making. Each will involve analysis, design and development activities.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Business process design

You will be required to provide a set of business processes to support the coordination of work activities undertaken by a number of resources across an organisation and its partners. As part of this you will analyse the current-state of an overall system and its processes and critique these in terms of given business objectives. The current state processes will utilise different parts of an enterprise system, including its forms and modules. Based your analysis, you will be required to design future-state processes in which your proposals reflect important business process improvement principles. The current-state and future-state processes will be captured visually using scenario-based modelling as well as textual descriptions for describing concrete examples and details of your analysis and design justifications.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Weight: 30
Individual/Group: Individual
Due (indicative): Week 5
Related Unit learning outcomes: 1, 2, 5

Assessment: Software development

You will be required to develop a software prototype of the business process design (from the first part of the assignment). For this aspect, you will be provided with the pre-existing Web forms and modules to display data retrieved from the enterprise systems modules. You will be required to modify the code in the Javascript language in order to support the future-state processes. You will be required to demonstrate your solution by showing how the business processes are supported when running the software, including entry of data and explanations of the returned results. The prototype will not require all aspects of processing to be supported, e.g. validation of data in form fields.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Weight: 35
Length: 4 weeks
Individual/Group: Individual and group
Due (indicative): Week 10
Related Unit learning outcomes: 3, 5

Assessment: Data-driven decision-making

You will be required to produce a report in which you identify, concisely describe and justify the different factors that contribute to effective decision making for different user types involved in running business processes on an enterprise system. The analysis will be based on cognitive aspects, which address perception, memory, emotion, dual process thinking, cognitive biases, and bounded rationality.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Weight: 35
Individual/Group: Individual and group
Due (indicative): Week 13
Related Unit learning outcomes: 4, 5

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

No extraordinary charges or costs are associated with the requirements for this unit. There is no required textbook for this unit. However, this unit may where appropriate, make use of the selected chapters from textbooks, journals, and magazines. Students are encouraged to obtain a copy of these materials from the library. Where possible, materials will be made available online through QUT Readings.

Risk Assessment Statement

There are no unusual health and safety issues associated with this unit.