COURSE 1

Information Systems Essentials

Hardware
1. Current storage (measurements, types)
2. Peripheral components
3. Processing
4. Security (physical components, locks)
5. Ethics (responsible disposal)
Software Applications
1. System software (OS, NOS, utilities, virus)
2. Application software
3. Appropriate use of resources
Networks
1. Concepts and terminology
2. Components
3. Uses of networks

Software Packages
1.
2.
3.
4.

Word processing
Spreadsheets
Presentations for official use
Internet Basics

COURSE 2
Information Systems Project Management
1. Welcome to the world of Project Management
Project Management Takeaways
A. What is a Project?
B. Get to know your Stakeholders?
C. Scope Matters
2. Models of Projects
Which model to apply
A. SDLC Models
B. Non-SDLC Models
3. Project Planning and Analysis
The Ins and Outs of Project Planning
A. Recognize the importance of proper project planning
B. Components of proper project planning
C. Scope of the project
D. Tasks dependencies and sequencing
E. Project's duration by identifying the critical path
F. Generate and understand Gantt charts and network diagrams
G. Relate project objectives to scheduling decisions
H. Assess, prioritize and manage major project risks
I. Ability to set a project completion date and budget with confidence
J. Able to interpret a tornado diagram
K. Conceptualize and articulate schedule risks, and learn to use the language of
probability to articulate the chances of completing a project on time and on
budget
L. Appreciation for how ambiguity can be dealt with in the context of projects
4. Project Execution
Ready, Set, Go: Project Execution
A. Understand the stages in executing a project
B. Master the principles of the earned value analysis method for tracking project
progress
C. Knowledge of different project management methodologies such as Agile,
Scrum, and Kanban
D. Capable of selecting the most appropriate project management methodology
given the project objectives, the degrees of uncertainty and the project
constraints
E. Possess the language and knowledge around Agile Methodology principles
and team requirements and structure

COURSE 3

Digital Business
1. Digital Business Models - Opportunities and Challenges
Market Friction
A. When and how do digital business models add value?
B. What are the pain points that can be eliminated going digital?
C. What is the best way to analyze an industry to understand opportunities for
IT-driven solutions?
D. What are some major challenges that existing Bricks-and-Mortar (BAM)
companies face when they move online?
E. How can they cope with these challenges to compete with pure-play
competitors?
F. How will competition unfold between pure-play and BAM companies in
future?
2. Strategies for Disrupting Industries and Markets
Disruptive Technologies
A. How new entrants compete with incumbents and existing players who have
long dominated an industry?
B. What are the blind spots that new entrants can exploit?
C. What kinds of new innovations have a tendency to displace existing products
and services?
D. Why is it that incumbents fall prey to new innovations?
E. What can they do to ensure sustainability?
F. Faced with new innovations, what strategies should incumbents deploy?
G. Overall, what are some technology-based strategies to disrupt existing
industries and counter-strategies combat them?
3. Architectures - A New Source of Competitive Advantage
Online Architectures
A. What advantages do technology architectures provide and why does
infrastructure make a difference in the online world (especially when the latter
is considered akin to a utility)?
B. What are some companies whose enduring basis of competitive advantage is
technology architecture?
C. Why are such advantages enduring?
D. What second- and higher-order benefits do the underlying architecture
enable?

4. Networks and their Dynamics

Network Effects
A. Why is it that most online contexts seem to be characterized by a winnertakes-all dynamics?

B. Why do online companies scale and grow so fast?

C. How is the value of a network-based business different from a traditional
company?
D. How can traditional companies become more like networks?
E. How can they morph from being product-based to networks to platforms?
5. Democratization of Everything
Social Media
A. How do we understand the phenomenon of democratization in which the
crowds are challenging established institutional structures?
B. When can crowds be a sustainable and transformation force?
C. What can companies do to tap this emerging social resource?
D. While social media and its power are well-known, what lessons can we learn
from it to understand the broader notion of social transformation?
6. Interpretive and Predictive Power of Concepts
Application of Concepts
A. Application of the various concepts and tools studied to different industries
and companies - case studies
B. Appreciate how the concepts capture the competitive dynamics of an industry
and explain the competitive jockeying taking place both currently and in the
past