Undergraduate Courses 2018-19

Undergraduate courses marked with [BLD] or [ONL] may be offered in the mode of blended learning or pure online delivery respectively, subject to different offerings. Students should check the delivery mode of the class section before registration.

• ISOM 1090

  Social Media: Collective Intelligence & Creativity

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course provides an analysis of the power of social media, such as Facebook, twitter, blogs, mashups, wikis, etc. It examines how social media can facilitate creativity and collective intelligence, through enhanced information sharing and online collaboration among netizens; ultimately building the social pool of knowledge. It also examines the downside of this participatory culture.
• ISOM 1380

  Technology and Innovation: Social and Business Perspectives

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course describes the development of technology and innovation from social and business perspectives. It covers the technology side of innovations, how an invention can be developed into a successful commercial product, the role of innovation in society and how innovations are created from a socioeconomic perspective. It highlights that successful development and adoption of innovative products relies not only on the technology itself but also a complex process that is subject to the impact of cultural, political, economic and managerial factors.
• ISOM 1500

  Insightful Decisions

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  The course helps students develop better analytical and decision making skills in approaching practical and important social and business issues. Students will derive solutions or conclusions that require critical thinking, creativity, quantitative analysis, and common sense. Cover topics in decision traps, quantitative decision models, statistical reasoning, computer tools, data-analysis techniques, etc. and, more importantly, how these decision analysis concepts and tools can be applied in a broad set of social and business problems.
• ISOM 1700

  Critical Issues in Business Operations

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  The course will focus on how business organizations should create and sustain value for different stakeholders in the society by designing, optimizing, and improving the operations. Successful businesses have demonstrated their sustainable competitiveness by maintaining a balanced view of economic prosperity, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility. This course will also examine how the changing perspectives of stakeholders (like government and consumers) affect the business decisions and operations.
• ISOM 2010

  Introduction to Information Systems

  3 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  COMP 1001

  Description

  Information systems (IS) is about managing the applications of IT to create business values. Topics include fundamental concepts of IS, e-commerce, digital and internet economy, web 2.0 and social networks, online advertising, personalization and privacy, digital rights management and piracy, business intelligence and decision-making, how organizations harness IS for innovative business strategies, and the socio-economic impact of IS on organizations and societies. The labs cover business problem-solving skills.
• ISOM 2030

  Business Protections for Innovations

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course addresses the problems and challenges related to regulatory and business protections for business and scientific innovations, product innovations, service innovations, software licenses, encryption, innovation reengineering, trademark, copyright, music downloading, digital entertainment, data mining and personal privacy.
• ISOM 2310

  Chronicle of Internet Commerce

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  The course covers important topics related to e-commerce including unique features of e-commerce technology, the history and background of the Internet, the evolution of e-commerce from its early years to today, key components of e-commerce business models, major trends of business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and consumer-to-consumer services, the use of various techniques such as search engine analytics, online social networks, and location-based technologies, as well as the ethical, social, and political issues related to e-commerce. Various prominent e-commerce models and development will also be covered in the course.
• ISOM 2400

  Global Information Infrastructure and Policy

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course provides a panorama review of the global information infrastructure from technology, policy, social and business perspectives. Key issues include next generation information infrastructure, Internet of things, anti-spamming legislation, universal service, digital convergence, network interconnection, the WTO’s agreement on telecommunications, cloud computing, green ICT, and regulatory environment of multimedia services. It will also address the increasing importance of Web 2.0-enabled information infrastructure in business innovation.
• ISOM 2500

  Business Statistics

  3 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  CIVL 2160, IEDA 2510, LIFS 3150, MATH 2411, MATH 3423

  Description

  Collection, tabulation and presentation of numerical data; concepts of probability and probability distributions; sampling; statistical estimation and hypothesis testing; correlation and regression analysis.
• ISOM 2700

  Operations Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  IEDA 4100

  Description

  For SB&M students, and programs that designate the course as a required/recommended elective course. Production and service operations viewed from the strategic, tactical and operational levels; capacity planning, process selection, impact of technology location and layout, material and resource requirements, scheduling and quality control.
• ISOM 3000

  Special Topics in Information Systems

  0-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Current developments in information technology. Topics selected by instructors. May be graded by letter, or P/F for different offerings.
• ISOM 3010

  Information Systems Project Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  ISOM 4750

  Description

  This course covers the essential project management knowledge to ensure a successful IS/IT project. Topics include the methods, tools and techniques for planning, budgeting, scheduling, tracking, and evaluating IS projects; PMBOK Guide; project risk assessment; IT investment decisions.
• ISOM 3100

  Business Simulation and Strategic Decisions

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course combines a case study discussion approach to illustrate strategic decision making in business with an integrated hands-on business simulation exercise as part of the learning process. Topics include making strategic choices and evaluating options and tradeoffs in a competitive business simulated industry environment. The objective of the course is to develop a broad perspective in managerial decisions and an appreciation of economic and social factors that drive modern global organizations.
• ISOM 3180

  Telecommunications and Computer Networking Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  COMP 4621

  Description

  Essential elements of telecommunications in support of business activities. Topics include OSI Model and TCP/IP Protocol Suite, LAN and WAN technology, voice and data communication technologies, communication architectures, networking and security, protocols and standards.
• ISOM 3210

  Information Systems Analysis and Design

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2010

  Description

  The process by which large software systems are built by teams of developers. Techniques for modeling data and process requirements are surveyed and illustrated using computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools. Topics include information systems development life cycle and object-oriented systems analysis and design using UML.
• ISOM 3230

  Business Applications Programming

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  (For non-BSc in Quantitative Finance students) ISOM 2010

  Exclusion(s)

  COMP 1022Q

  Description

  An introduction to business applications programming will be covered in this course. Students will learn and understand programming concepts and gain programming experiences for business applications development through a business programming language.
• ISOM 3260

  Database Design and Administration

  4 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 3230 OR ISOM 3320 OR ISOM 3400

  Corequisite(s)

  ISOM 3210

  Exclusion(s)

  COMP 3311, IEDA 3300

  Description

  Fundamental concepts of database management systems and their usage for managing the information resources of an organization; methodologies for designing and managing a database system to support business applications.
• ISOM 3310

  e-Business Management and Web Analytics

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course introduces the fundamental concepts and technologies of e-commerce and e-business management. Topics include e-business models, e-business infrastructure, e-security, e-marketing, e-payment methods, web development, web analytics, and social media analytics.
• ISOM 3320

  Internet Applications Development

  4 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  COMP 3021

  Description

  This course intends to cover Internet applications development through programming. Major topics include object-oriented development approaches, advanced GUI building blocks, networking and database connectivity and so on. Students will learn and practice a high-level programming language for the implementation of practical Internet applications.
• ISOM 3350

  FinTech and Cryptoventures

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2010 AND ISOM 2500

  Description

  This course provides an introduction to FinTech and cryptoventures. Topics include machine learning in financial analytics, Robo-advising, big data alpha models, algorithm trading and high-frequency trading, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, markets for smart contracts and applications of blockchain technologies in various finance areas. The class will use R to implement FinTech applications, and Solidity language to demonstrate smart contract development.
• ISOM 3360

  Data Mining for Business Analytics

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2010

  Exclusion(s)

  COMP 4331, IEDA 3560

  Description

  This course covers the fundamental concepts, technologies, and applications of business analytics to help firms gain a competitive advantage in the era of Big Data. Topics include text mining, predictive analytics, search engine strategy, social network analysis, cloud computing, etc. Students will gain hands-on experience with popular data analytical tools.
• ISOM 3370

  Big Data Technologies

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 3230 OR ISOM 3320 OR ISOM 3400

  Description

  In the era of "Big Data", organizations need a new infrastructure/platform to manage the storage and processing of large volume of data. This course introduces the emerging technological paradigm of big data management, as well as some common approaches that are used to gain insights from big data for business decision-making. In particular, it covers a range of big data technologies, including HDFS, MapReduce, Spark, Hive, Pig, etc., that allow for performing data-intensive analysis.
• ISOM 3380

  Advanced Network Management (CISCO - ICND)

  4 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 3180

  Exclusion(s)

  ISOM 519

  Description

  Combining extensive lab work with lectures and WWW self-paced learning materials provided by the Cisco Networking Academy Program, this course helps students develop practical network administration and management skills. This course is designed to prepare students to take (and pass) the Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA) certification examination.
• ISOM 3390

  Business Programming in R

  3 Credit(s)
  Previous Course Code(s)

  ISOM 3000A

  Prerequisite(s)

  (ISOM 3230 OR ISOM 3320 OR ISOM 3400) AND ISOM 3360

  Description

  This course provides an introduction to business programming using R. Students will learn the programming concepts and syntax of R and develop R scripts for business applications. This course will cover practical issues for programming in R and provide working examples of emerging business applications, including Web crawling, text analytics, social network analysis, online advertising, and implementations of data mining algorithms.
• ISOM 3400

  Python Programming for Business Analytics

  3 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  COMP 1021

  Description

  This course introduces programing concepts and applications with Python programming language. The applications are mainly in the domain of business analytics. The course covers topics including general programming concepts, object-oriented design, and external Python packages for data manipulation, visualization and analytics.
• ISOM 3530

  Business Data Analytics

  4 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2500 or MATH 2411

  Exclusion(s)

  MATH 3424

  Description

  Practical application of statistics with emphasis on regression. Analysis of business data using a statistical package. Topics include: multiple regression, residual diagnostics and model selection, experimental design and the analysis of variance, logistic regression, Poisson regression.
• ISOM 3540

  Introduction to Probability Models

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2500 or MATH 2411

  Exclusion(s)

  MATH 2421, MATH 3425

  Description

  Probabilities, random variables, distribution functions, densities, expected values, conditional distributions and densities, conditional expectations, moment generating functions, Chebyshev's inequality, central limit theorem, and Poisson processes.
• ISOM 3710

  Business Modeling and Optimization

  4 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  CIVL 2170, IEDA 3010, IELM 3020 (prior to 2014-15), PHYS 4059

  Description

  The science and technology of informed decision making with focus on optimizing business processes. Spreadsheet decision modeling in Excel will be used throughout. Emphasis on problem formulation, spreadsheet-based solution methods, and managerial insights. Applications to managerial decision problems in diverse industries and functional areas including finance and accounting, human resource, marketing, and operations.
• ISOM 3730

  Quality and Process Management

  4 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  IEDA 3270

  Mode of Delivery

  [BLD] Blended learning

  Description

  Concepts and strategic importance of quality, organizational aspects, total quality control, quality and productivity improvement programs, quality costs and economics. Applications in industrial and service sectors. Second or third year standing preferred.
• ISOM 3740

  Service Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700

  Description

  Design and implementation of service strategies, service products and delivery systems; concepts and tools for effective management of service organizations.
• ISOM 3760

  Logistics Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700

  Exclusion(s)

  IEDA 3450

  Description

  Management of purchasing and distribution of goods and services; supply management; material handling; pricing; transportation and warehousing; customer service standards. Second or third year standing preferred.
• ISOM 3900

  Decision Analytics

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2500 AND ISOM 2700

  Description

  This course helps the students develop better analytical skills in approaching strategic and tactical business decisions. Students will learn to derive solutions or conclusions that require critical thinking, quantitative analysis, and statistical reasoning skills. These skills are essential and indispensable for major business decisions.
• ISOM 4000

  Special Topics in Information Systems

  0-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Current developments in information technology. Topics selected by instructors. May be graded by letter, or P/F for different offerings.
• ISOM 4020

  Innovation Management and Technology Entrepreneurship

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  The course focuses on innovation strategies and entrepreneurship skills that provide an intellectual structure for understanding the issues of how entrepreneurial firms recognize potential of an innovation on time, how they implement the right strategies to exploit the innovation, and how to protect their profits from competitors. The course also explores the increasingly global character of entrepreneurial firms, and how successful technology companies compete across cultures, markets and nations.
• ISOM 4100

  Information Systems Auditing

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ACCT 2010 and ISOM 2010

  Exclusion(s)

  ISOM 4200

  Description

  The course provides a comprehensive approach for auditing information systems. It covers fundamental concepts of risk management for Information Systems (IS) auditors to perform risk assessment, and risk analysis at various business levels, including systems, administrative and organizational levels. The course also covers business cases for students to study, and provides opportunities for them to apply their IS auditing skills to solve those cases from IS auditing perspectives. Typical solutions to those cases are effective, reasonable, and practical controls. Other IS auditing practices, such as compliance audit and governance audit, and auditing system development life cycle are covered as well, in order to provide a holistic training of IS auditing to students.
• ISOM 4200

  Information and Cyber Security Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  ISOM 4100, ISOM 4300

  Description

  This course introduces the principles and practices of information system security and cyber security. Topics include common threats and attacking techniques, corresponding protection tools, cryptography, the development of security management policies, risk management, and personnel issues. Additional legal, ethical, and professional issues in information and cyber security will also be covered in this course.
• ISOM 4300

  Information Systems Control and Assurance

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2010

  Exclusion(s)

  ISOM 4200

  Description

  This course introduces the fundamental concepts and tools to perform information systems (IS) control and assurance. Topics include IS control standards, guidelines and best practices to protect and control business systems, IT governance frameworks (e.g., COBIT), as well as the latest development in IS management practice.
• ISOM 4400

  Information Systems Project

  6 Credit(s)
  Exclusion(s)

  ISOM 4380, ISOM 4390 (prior to 2012-13)

  Description

  Development of an information system with substantial complexity through the use of methodologies and technologies. May be graded PP. Student enrollment in this course requires the approval of the course instructor. Credit load will be spread over the year.
• ISOM 4490

  Independent Study in Information Systems

  1-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Faculty directed independent study on selected topics in information systems.
• ISOM 4520

  Statistics for Financial Risk Management

  4 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 3540 (Note: Students who have sufficient background in probability but without pre-requisite may enroll in the course upon approval by the instructor)

  Description

  This course provides an introduction to financial risk management. Topics include how to measure market risks, statistical properties of returns and volatility, volatility modeling, Value at Risk (VaR), Risk Metrics, historical simulation, assessing VaR methods and stress testing. Theories will be illustrated by practical examples in financial markets.
• ISOM 4530

  Statistical Analysis of Financial Data in R/S-plus

  4 Credit(s)
  Previous Course Code(s)

  ISOM 4590A

  Prerequisite(s)

  IEDA 2510 OR ISOM 2500 OR MATH 2411

  Description

  This course intends to introduce the students to modern data analysis with an emphasis on financial applications. In this course, students will study the data exploration methods, applications of regression and time series, gain experience in analyzing financial data; and become proficient in using statistical software (R or S-Plus) to do estimation, modeling, and forecasting.
• ISOM 4540

  Time Series Analysis and Forecasting

  4 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2500 or MATH 2411

  Exclusion(s)

  ECON 4304, MATH 4425

  Description

  Review of regression and its application to forecasting problems; moving averages, exponential smoothing, Box-Jenkins, ARIMA models and transfer function models; forecasts of economic, financial and business time series.
• ISOM 4550

  Bayesian Statistics

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 3540 OR MATH 2421 OR MATH 2431

  Description

  Probabilities and conditional probabilities; distributions and conditional distributions; prior and posterior distributions; conjugate families of prior distributions; interval estimations and testing hypotheses; approximate posterior inference. Second and third year standing preferred.
• ISOM 4580

  Elementary Sampling Methods

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2500

  Exclusion(s)

  MATH 3426

  Description

  Simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, ratio and regression estimates, cluster sampling, estimation of sample size, systematic sampling, designing a questionnaire, emphasizing the practical aspects of a sample survey.
• ISOM 4590

  Special Topics in Statistics

  0-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Current topics in statistics.
• ISOM 4690

  Independent Study in Business Statistics

  1-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Faculty directed independent study on selected topics in Business Statistics.
• ISOM 4720

  Simulation in Business and Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2500 OR MATH 2411 OR MATH 2421 OR MATH 2431

  Exclusion(s)

  IEDA 4130

  Description

  Introduction to probabilistic models of operations management; generating random numbers; simulating random variables and discrete event systems; variance reduction techniques; application to risk management, option pricing and other financial problems; application to inventory, queuing, and manufacturing systems.
• ISOM 4740

  Enterprise Resource Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700

  Description

  Basic concepts and practices of enterprise resource management; popular enterprise resource planning software packages, such as SAP R/3 for discussing and building integrated business solutions.
• ISOM 4750

  Business Project Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700

  Description

  This course covers basic principles and practices of business project management. Special emphases are on project planning, scheduling, and control while addressing both the technical and the social aspects of managing business projects.
• ISOM 4770

  Supply Chain Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700

  Mode of Delivery

  [BLD] Blended learning

  Description

  Single node inventory control, supply chain network, demand management, manufacturing and replenishment in supply chains, information and coordination in supply chains, product variety management. For students in their third year (under three-year curriculum) or fourth year (under four-year curriculum) of study only. Other students should seek instructor’s approval for enrollment in the course.
• ISOM 4780

  Operations Strategy

  3 Credit(s)
  Previous Course Code(s)

  ISOM 4850

  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700

  Exclusion(s)

  ISOM 3100

  Description

  This course will introduce students in the design and implementation of operations strategy to create competitive advantages for a company to compete in the market place. The balanced scorecard will be used as the strategic management system to monitor and measure the strategy implementation. Students will learn to integrate and align the operations decisions in different business units of a company with the company's strategy through a strategy simulation game. For students in their fourth year of study only.
• ISOM 4790

  Special Topics in Operations Management

  0-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Current developments in the field of production and operations management.
• ISOM 4810

  OM Best Practices

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700

  Description

  In this course, students shall study 12 applications in OM that have been judged by peers as being amongst the best in recent years. Students shall try to understand what the problem was, how it was addressed, how it worked out and attempt to learn what marked it as a success and how portable the practice can be. The principle purpose is to expose students to a wide range of good case histories in order to enhance their repertoire and experience in OM.
• ISOM 4820

  Revenue Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Prerequisite(s)

  ISOM 2700 AND ISOM 3710

  Description

  This course focuses on how a firm should set and update pricing and product availability decisions across its various selling channels in order to maximize its profitability. Through a combination of case studies, lectures and class activities, the course will review the main methodologies and different pricing strategies used in different industries. The goal is for students to learn to identify and exploit opportunities for revenue optimization in different business contexts.
• ISOM 4840

  Financial Service Operations Management

  3 Credit(s)
  Alternate code(s)

  RMBI 4110

  Prerequisite(s)

  (ISOM 2500 OR MATH 2411) AND ISOM 2700

  Description

  This course focuses on the products, processes and delivery channels in the financial industries. It analyzes and evaluates the designs and performances of the internal operations and the different distribution channels of the financial institutions, and identifies opportunities for continuous improvement in productivity, efficiency and service quality. Issues like operational risk management, application of IT, automation, outsourcing and new trends in the financial service operations for both financial institutions and non-financial institutions will be explored.
• ISOM 4880

  Operations Management Project

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course is offered to those students who are interested in applying what they have learned in other OM courses to solve real business problems for a sponsoring corporation. Recommendation and/or implementation of solutions will be made through the use of operations management concepts, techniques, and tools. Students will work as a group and be supervised by faculty members. Enrollment in this course requires the approval of course instructor.
• ISOM 4890

  Independent Study in Operations Management

  1-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Faculty directed independent study on selected topics in operations management.