Forretningsprocesser og organisation (Autumn 2019)

Abstract

Kurset har til formål at give de studerende værktøjer til at analysere forretningsprocesser og kunne re-designe dem så de passer med en organisatorisk forretningsstrategi. Kurset fokuserer på at analysere og evaluere hvordan en given forretningsstrategi kan supporteres af IT og hvordan den teknologiske potentialer kan påvirke forretningsstrategien. Kurset indeholder grundlæggende teori, begreber og modeller for at kunne forstå forretnings modeller og organisatoriske setups i forhold til IT-relaterede udfordringer. Kurset vil gennemgå en række relevante værktøj, modeller for at relatere og evaluere IT-baserede behov, muligheder og udfordringer. I kurset arbejder studerende sammen med en organisation for at identificere strategiske IT-baserede behov og ud fra denne lave en business case i forhold til en specifik IT-relateret forretningsudfordring.

Description

Software developers are typically developing software that is intended for a specific organisation and which needs to be aligned with the business strategy and organizational culture. It is therefore important the students are capable of analyzing, mapping and evaluating business strategic IT needs, possibilities and challenges, as well as taking the management of change into account in their proposed solution and implementation plan. The course consequently tie together the three corners of the ITU triangle.

The student will gain experience with:

1. Integrating Business, IT and organizational needs and aspects when addressing a real life problem in a real company.
   
2. Writing a business plan. The plan describes  one or more suggested solutions and the financials, organizational impact and strategic fit of each as well as a recommendation. The business plan is the decision basis for the company on how to move forward to solve the problem.
   

In several cases student projects in this course have lead to strategic IT-projects being implemented in the company.

The course builds on the Participatory Design method. This methodology embraces most company specific methods, and guest lecturers from companies have been able to easily map their internal method and tool set for business plans and pre-projects to the Participatory Design method.

Formal prerequisites

Familiarity with project management similar to what is achieved in the course BSUP, and the second year project.

Intended learning outcomes

Efter kurset skal den studerende være i stand til:

• Vælge og bruge passende metoder og teknikker til at undersøge forretningsstrategier og organisationspraksis og være i stand til at argumentere for valg af værktøjer og teknikker.
• Identificere, analysere og beskrive en virksomheds eksisterende forretningsmodel (er) og IT-strategi.
• Identificere, analysere og beskrive eksisterende organisationspraksis og forretningsprocesser i en organisation.
• Identify the business impact and the impact on organizational performance of a given IT-related issue or challenge that an organization may be facing
• Udvikle og beskrive en business case, der beskriver den aktuelle situation og giver et solidt grundlag for beslutningstagning i relation til den eller de foreslåede løsninger.
• Bruge relevante modeller til at beskrive fordele og ulemper ved den eller de foreslåede løsninger, herunder effekter på organisationen.
• - Anvend teoretiske koncepter og tilgange til kritisk reflektion af organisationspraksis, business case såvel som modeller og teknikker, der bruges til at oprette business case.

Learning activities

Throughout the course, students will be expected to conduct assignments and presentations, as well as participate in discussions. The course is 15 ECTS, thus covering half of the time of a full time student. Consequently, you can expect to use 18 hours a week on the course. There will be readings for each lecture- typically 1-2 research papers or book chapters. When relevant examples from global practice will be included. At the end of the course there will be an oral exam based on a project report.

Mandatory activities

Three mandatory group assignments, which must be passed in order to be able to attend exam.

Den studerende får karakteren NA (ikke godkendt) ved den ordinære eksamen, hvis de obligatoriske aktiviteter ikke er godkendt, og den studerende bruger et eksamensforsøg.

Course literature

Alexander Ostwrwalder &Yves Pigneur: Business Model Generation. 

Jesper Simonsen m fl : Professionel IT-Forundersøgelse. 

Især den sidste er god at have læst de første 3 kapitler af.

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, external (7-trinsskala)
Exam variation:
D2G: Submission of written work for groups with following oral exam supplemented by the work submitted. The group has a shared responsibility for the content of the report.
Exam description:

At the end of the course there will be an oral group exam in the course theory and it’s application in general, and in the group project report and the individual reflection report. 

The projects are conducted in groups of 6 students. The topic of the project must be a company’s practical problem within a specific work domain and it’s work processes, which must be illuminated using the methods and techniques discussed throughout the course. The grade is an overall assessment of the project, the individual reflection report and the examination performance. 

Scope of the business case report: Max 10 pages. Back up information may be put in appendix; the students cannot expect the examiners to have read the appendices, and information only found in the appendix will not be considered in the grading; thorough and complete documentation of empirical data in appendix is however part of the grading criteria. The appendix serves as reference for readers with special interest in understanding in more detail about specific points made in the report. 

Scope of individual reflection report: max 2 pages. The report should target the last learning goal above (Apply theoretical concepts and approaches to critically reflect... etc) 

Duration of oral examination: 20 minutes per student.

Group Exam Type: Group Exam.

reexam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, external (7-trinsskala)
Exam variation:
D2G: Submission of written work for groups with following oral exam supplemented by the work submitted. The group has a shared responsibility for the content of the report.
Exam description:
The oral exam based on the group project report and the individual reflection report. Please find further description under description of ordinary exam.
The oral re-exam is individual.
Duration of exam: 20 minutes per student, including evaluation and feedback.

Time and date