The aim of the course is to give students the opportunity to understand how information systems can support information management and help organizations compete successfully in a global environment.  It takes the viewpoint of the manager as the user of information technology within an organizational context. The course aims to support IS managerial decision making. It does not address the complex technical information systems processes of system development and operation.

The course is designed to help students understand and analyse Information Systems (IS) from a business viewpoint. Understanding IS from this viewpoint is important because business professionals inevitably encounter IS in today’s business world. Today’s IS leaders have become more visible and strategically important, as both technological and business forces have continued to increase information technology (IT) management responsibilities and roles within their organizations. There is a growing need for those interested in business to understand the nature of IT and the way it can best be harnessed to provide information for business functions.

On successful completion of the course students will have knowledge and understanding of:

• the nature of information and its use in managerial decision making;
• the relationship between recent developments in IT and the rise of end-user computing in business;
• the way in which information is organized, stored, and processed by modern IT as viewed from the interests of a business user;
• the process of analysis and design of a business IS;
• the role of IS within organizational strategy; and
• the impact of developments in networks and the internet on business.