OMIS 3710 A, B, C 3.

0: Information Systems
Course Outline
Fall 2016

SECTION

DAY

TIME

ROOM
(SSB)

BEGINNING

Tuesdays

8:30am11:30am

S124

September 13, 2016

Wednesdays

11:30am2:30pm

W257

September 14, 2016

Mondays

8:30am-11:30am

S124

September 12, 2016

Instructor
Henry Kim
S337K Seymour Schulich Building (SSB)
Tel: 416-736-5074
Email: hkim@schulich.yorku.ca

OFFICE HOURS
By appointment
please email the instructor

Assistant
Paula Gowdie Rose
S337N SSB
416-736-5074
pgowdierose@schulich.yorku.ca

Professor Kim holds degrees in Industrial Engineering from University of Toronto (BASc and Ph.D.) and
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (MS). He has taught the Information Systems course at the Schulich
School of Business, York University, since 1999 and has taught other courses at Schulich on eCommerce,
Database Design, and Systems Design and Analysis to undergraduate and MBA students. Additionally,
Professor Kim has written over 30 refereed academic articles on topics such as ontologies, expert
systems, complex adaptive systems, and business analytics, and has received over $500,000 in research
funding. Prior to his academic experience, he worked at HewlettPackard Canada, BHP Steel in Australia,
JDA Software in Silicon Valley, and British Telecom in England.

Brief Description

The objective of this course is to equip managers, analysts, consultants, and accountants with fundamental and
conceptual basis to better use and manage information and systems within their organizations. The course
entails understanding the business implications of Information Technologies (IT) like the World Wide Web and
the Internet, hardware, software and programming, and databases. How these technologies are put together for
Management Information Systems, Social Computing, and Big Data and Business Analytics will be emphasized in
this course.

Prerequisites/Corequisites/Course Exclusions: None

Contents

Course Learning Outcomes ........................................................................................................................... 2

Deliverables at a Glance................................................................................................................................ 2
Course Material............................................................................................................................................. 3
Class-by-Class Syllabus .................................................................................................................................. 4
Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions ........................................................................... 6
General Academic Policies: Grading, Academic Honesty, Accommodations and Exams ............................. 7

OMIS 3710 A, B, C p. 2

Course Learning Outcomes

Information systems are vital to organizations, and their use can be a source of competitive advantage. At its
core, Information systems process data into useful information. Lectures and discussions will cover concepts
and theories that underlie organizational and individual uses of information systems.
Topics covered include strategic and operational uses, and management, of information systems; Information
Technologies (IT) with which information systems are developed; as well as Social Computing, Big Data,
Business Analytics, and other novel IT paradigms.

Course Objectives
The objective of the course is to improve your understanding of how information systems are used in
organizations and by individuals.
Upon completing this course, students will have a more informed perspective on how information
systems process data into useful information within organizational and individual contexts. The
following then are expected learning outcomes.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Through this course you are expected to:
1. Understand the core concepts, theories, and technologies that underlie information systems
2. Identify the issues and the challenges involved in information systems use and management.
Organization of the Course
This course is primarily a lecture-based course. Each student is expected to have read the assigned
material for the lecture before class. They should be ready to discuss any of the material assigned for
the prior week and the current week. There are assigned questions each week that will have to be
submitted to TurnitIn.
The lecture slides as well as this course outline and all other material needed for the classexcept the
bookcan be accessed through the courses Moodle and TurnitIn sites. The lecture slides will be posted
in .pptx format at least a day before the lecture, so that students can download the slides for printing or
marking up.
All deliverables will be individually assessed, except for the group case assignment, which will be
completed in groups of 4-5 students. You are expected to self-organize into groups for this..>

Deliverables at a Glance
Course work includes individual work, group work and a final exam.
Assignment/Task
Writing a Bitcoin/Blockchain Report

Quantity
1

% Weight Total %
30%
30%

Author
Group

OMIS 3710 A, B, C p. 3
Assignment/Task
Class Participation
Final Exam Open Book Format
Final Exam Closed Book Format

Quantity
1
1
1

% Weight Total %
15%
15%
20%
20%
35%
35%
100%

Author
Individual
Individual
Individual

For details, see Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions (p. 6).

Course Material
Required reading for this course includes the following book, which is available for purchase from the
York University Bookstore (http://bookstore.blog.yorku.ca),
Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology, v. 4.0, by John
Gallaugher. Flatworld Knowledge, ISBN #: 978-1-4533-7281-4.
Students can also access the website directly at,
https://students.flatworldknowledge.com/course/2520327.
This website allows you to input your instructors name and/or course code, which will take you directly
to the book.
Course website
We will be using York Moodle for the course - https://moodle.yorku.ca/
Access to Moodle: Access to Moodle requires a Passport York login and password. If you do not have a
Passport York account, you can find information on how to obtain one at
http://computing.yorku.ca/students/home/passwords-passport-york-access/.
Logging in
To log in to Moodle:
1. go to https://moodle.yorku.ca/
2. Locate the login box. Enter your Passport York Username and Password.
3. Once logged in, you will be taken to the My Courses page. In the middle of the screen you will see all
of the courses that you are enrolled in that use Moodle. Select the course from the list of courses,
and you will be taken to the course site.
* Please make sure that in your profile you placed your most frequently used email account.
All emails and announcements will be sent to that email account.
TurnitIn
In order to verify the originality of your work, you Turnitin will check your work. This is a web-based
service that checks for plagiarism. Students must already have a Turnitin account under the same email
address that you have on file for Moodle. Turnitin will ultimately check your submission, but you will

OMIS 3710 A, B, C p. 4
now have the option of submitting via Moodle. As long as the email address you use to login to Turnitin
is the same as the one that is registered to you in Moodle, you may submit directly from Moodle. If for
whatever reason Moodle cannot be used, you will notice that you can also submit by logging into
Turnitin

Class-by-Class Syllabus
Topics, readings, and other preparations for every class are listed below
Note: If any changes in this schedule become necessary, notifications will be posted on the
course CMD, and when changes need to be announced between classes, an email will be sent to
students Lotus Notes email accounts, notifying them of the change.

Date/Week

Topic(s)

September 12 (Section C)
September 13 (Section A)
September 14 (Section B)
(Wk 1)

September 19 (Section C)
September 20 (Section A)
September 21 (Section B)
(Wk 2)

- Strategy and Technology

- More on Bitcoin and Blockchain

- Read textbook, ch. 2

- Read blockchain/bitcoin
articles

September 26 (Section C)
September 27 (Section A)
September 28 (Section B)
(Wk 3)

- Strategy and Technology Examples:

Zara & Netflix

- Read textbook, chs. 3 & 4

October 3 (Section C)
October 4 (Section A)
October 5 (Section B)
(Wk 4)

- Moores Law

- Read textbook, ch. 5

October 10

Introduction to Course: Setting the

Stage
Disruptive Technologies
Introduction to Bitcoin and
Blockchain

Assigned Reading(s)/Assigned
Work
- Read Textbook, Ch. 1, 6
- Read blockchain/bitcoin
articles

No Class Thanksgiving University Closed

October 11 (Section A)
October 12 (Section B)
(Wk 5)

- IT and Marketing Examples:

Facebook and Google

- Read textbook, ch. 11

- Read textbook, ch. 18

October 17 (Section C)
October 18 (Section A)
October 19 (Section B)

- IT and Operations and

Finance Example: Amazon

- Read textbook, ch. 7

OMIS 3710 A, B, C p. 5
Date/Week

Topic(s)

Assigned Reading(s)/Assigned
Work

(Wk 6)
October 24 (Section C)
October 25 (Section A)
October 26 (Section B)
(Wk 7)

- Understanding Network Effects

- Read textbook, ch. 8

- Receive midterm class
participation marks
- Submit Bitcoin/Blockchain
Report

October 31 (Section C)
November 1 (Section A)
November 2 (Section B)
(Wk 8)

- Social Media, Peer Production, and

Web
- 2.0
- The Sharing Economy

- Read textbook, ch. 9

- Read textbook, ch. 10

November 7 (Section C)
November 8 (Section A)
November 9 (Section B)
(Wk 9)

- Understanding Software

- Read textbook, ch. 13

November 14 (Section C)
November 15 (Section A)
November 16 (Section B)
(Wk 10)

- Software in flux

- Read textbook, ch. 14

November 21 (Section C)
November 22 (Section A)
November 23 (Section B)
(Wk 11)

- The Data Asset

- Read textbook, ch. 15

November 28 (Section C)
November 29 (Section A)
November 30 (Section B)
(Wk 12)
December 5 (Section C)
(Wk 13)

- Internet and Telecommunications

- Information Security

- Read textbook, ch. 16

- Read textbook, ch. 17

- IT and Marketing Examples:

- Facebook and Google

- Read textbook, ch. 11

- Read textbook, ch. 18
- Receive Final Class
Participation Marks
- Submit Open Book Component
of Final Exam

Final Examination Closed Book Format - December 7-22

OMIS 3710 A, B, C p. 6

Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions

Further details regarding course evaluation components will be posted on the course Moodle site as the
course unfolds.
Unless prior arrangements have been made with the instructor(s), no late assignments
will be accepted.
Due Date
October 24 (Section C)
October 25 (Section A)
October 26 (Section B)

Group Project
The group project will be distributed in the second week of class. The
requirements and details of the assignment will be discussed in class and the
specifications will be put on Moodle. Each student will be in a group of 4-5
and each group will write a section at the end of chapter 6 of the textbook on
a bitcoin/blockchain topic. All members of your group must be from the same
section. More details will be provided in a separate document found on
Moodle.
Value: 30% of final grade

For the duration of the

course

Class Participation
Students are expected to have read the material for each week, and to
actively
participate in class, by asking or answering questions, and/or by
participating in discussions. In other words, it is not simply an attendance
mark.
Value: 15% of final grade

December 6 (All
Sections)

Final Exam- Open Book Format

There will be four questions assigned to students each week. Two questions
will be from topics discussed in the previous weeks lecture, and two
questions will be from topics that will be discussed in the upcoming weeks
lecture. Answers to the assigned questions must be submitted in Moodle to
be checked by Turnitin by Monday 8AM each week. Note that the system will
be configured not to accept answers even if they are one second late. These
questions will not be marked at the time. At the end of the term, I will deem
some of these questions to be the Open Book questions on the Final Exam. At
this point, your answers to these Final Exam questions stored in
Moodle/Turnitin will be marked. This means that if you put in a lot of effort to
answer the assigned questions each week, you should get a good mark on the
open book part of the Final Exam. It also means that if you did not answer a
question one week, and it ended up being chosen as an exam question, you
will automatically receive a 0 for that question on the exam.
Value: 20% of final grade

Please refer to the Exam Final Exam- Closed Book Format

schedule
The closed book component of final exam will follow the York University
examination schedule. The final exam will encompass all materials covered in
class. Only pencils and erasers will be allowed; calculators will not be allowed.

OMIS 3710 A, B, C p. 7
Due Date

The exam will consist entirely of multiple choice and writing out acronyms
(e.g. what does RAM stand for) questions.
Value: 35% of final grade

General Academic Policies: Grading, Academic Honesty, Accommodations and Exams

Grades at Schulich are based on a 9value index system. The top grade is A+ (9) and the minimum
passing grade is D (2). To keep final grades comparable across courses, the average course grade within
a section of an undergraduate course is normally between 5.5 and 7.0.
The Schulich School does not use a percentage scale or prescribe a standard conversion formula from
percentages to letter grades. Conversions within a course are at the discretion of the instructor, and
below is the conversion table for this course. Unadjusted final marks (out of 100%) may be belled up so
that this table applies, but they will not be belled down.
Letter Grade
A+ (9)
A (8)
B+ (7)
B (6)
C+ (5)
C (4)
D+ (3)
D (2)
Fail

Percentage
95.00%+
85.00%-94.99%
80.00%-84.99%
75.00%-79.99%
70.00%-74.99%
65.00%-69.99%
60.00%-64.99%
55.00%-59.99%
Less than 55.00%

Note that the grade you earn is determined by your demonstrated performance in the
course and not a function of the grade that you need or want.
For more details on the index, grading policy, and grade point average (GPA) requirements, consult your
student handbook.
Academic honesty is fundamental to the integrity of university education and degree programs, and
applies in every course offered at Schulich. Students should familiarize themselves with York Universitys
policy on academic honesty, which may be found on the Student Handbook and on the Student Services
& International Relations Schulich website:
http://schulich.yorku.ca/current-students/academic-honesty/
Accommodations. For accommodations sought due to exam conflicts, religious reasons, unavoidable
absences or disabilities, please refer to the Student Handbook or contact Student Services. For
counseling and disability services, contact Student Services or see http://cds.info.yorku.ca/.
Exams (Absence from)
Final. Within 24 hours of missing a final examination, students must contact the Associate Director,
Undergraduate Programs Unit at (416) 736-5060 and must also contact their course instructor. Formal,

OMIS 3710 A, B, C p. 8
original documentation regarding the reason for missing the exam must be submitted to the Associate
Director, Undergraduate Programs Unit (SSB Room W262) within 48 hours of missing the final exam.
Students who miss a final exam due to illness must have their doctor complete an Attending Physicians
Statement. For a copy of this document, visit http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/pdf/attending-physiciansstatement.pdf.