Objectives

Effective business strategies increasingly center on the intelligent use of digital technologies. Today, the so-called SMACIT technologies (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud, Internet of Things) lead to a profound transformation of enterprises in the way they work, organize and create value.

This course introduces students to the digitalization of enterprises, with an emphasis on the digitalization of business processes through innovative technologies and enterprise systems. The course builds on management concepts that students know from their previous studies and links strategic, organizational and IT design. Students will learn how digital firms use and implement innovative technologies to create opportunities to decentralize operations, accelerate market readiness and responsiveness, enhance interactions with customers and suppliers, as well as increase efficiencies across a variety of business functions. From a technological view, students will evaluate different technologies and the functional capabilities of enterprise systems. They will also explore how latest technology innovations, such as cloud and mobile computing, can be leveraged to redesign and improve business processes and achieve higher business performance.

At the end of the course, students will be able to

1. explain the fundamental principles and concepts supporting the digital enterprise,
2. design supply-side, demand-side and support processes – and their integration within the firm as well as with customers and suppliers,
3. assess how innovative technologies – Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud, Internet of Things – transform an enterprise's way of working,
4. gain an understanding the main components of current enterprise IT landscapes and the capabilities of enterprise systems, such as enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), supply chain management systems (SCM), customer relationship management systems (CRM) and business intelligence (BI) systems.

Particular emphasis will be given to put theoretical knowledge into practice by means of the integrated case study ALMIKA. Participants will gain hands-on experience with a commercial enterprise system (here: SAP Business ByDesign, an innovative cloud ERP system that integrates analytics and mobile applications).

Contents

This course will be structured as follows:

1. Part I: The digital firm
   Technology innovations and their impact on enterprises
   Functional vs. process organization
   Typical components of corporate IT landscape
   
2. Part II: Supply-side business processes (procure-to-pay)
   Sourcing
   Procurement planning and processing
   Supplier and procurement analysis
3. Part III: Demand-side processes (market-to-order, order-to-cash) - Product business
   Customer account management, marketing and sales
   Order fulfillment
4. Part IV: Demand-side processes (quote-to-cash) - Service business
   Service vs. product business
   Customer project planning
   Customer project execution
5. Part V: Financial processes
   Payment management
   Financial analysis

This course will involve class sessions, and exercises in the computer lab. With exception of the first lecture (September 23rd, 2019), which will be completely held as classroom session, the lectures will be organized in two parts:

• 12:30-14:00 classroom session
  - Introduction to the main concepts and exercises
  - Debriefing and discussion of last week's exercises
• 14:00-16:00 lab session
  - Exercises using the SAP Business ByDesign system

The course will be given in English, but support for exercises is also available in French.

References

Class material (slides, exercises, and relevant readings) will be posted on the Moodle class website. The following publications provide an introduction to the topic:

• Laudon K., Laudon J., Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, 15th Edition, Pearson, 2017.

• Magal, S. R., Word, J.: Integrated Business Processes with ERP Systems, Wiley, 2012.

• SAP Business ByDesign video training

Pre-requisites

As prerequisite, students should have acquired a basic understanding of information systems, by following the 2nd year Bachelor course "Information Systems" (Prof. Yves Pigneur).

Please note that we can only accept a maximum of 50 students in this course due to the limited seats in the computer lab.

All students therefore must be present during the first session (September 23rd, 2019) to register on the participants list. Registrations will be confirmed during the second week of the semester.

Please note that this course is a prerequisite for UNIL's Master programs in Information Systems. We therefore will give priority to students who intend to enroll in the Master in IS (MSc IS) or the Master in Legal Issues, Crime and Security of Information Technologies (MLaw DCS).

Evaluation

First attempt

Exam:

Oral 20min. minutes

Documentation:

Not allowed

Calculator:

Not allowed

Evaluation:

The evaluation consists of two parts:

• Individual (40%; multi-submissions in the deadlines announced by the lecturer) and Group (10%; one submission per group in the deadline announced by the lecturer) assignments based on the integrated case study,
• Oral exam (50%) covering the entire course content including group assignments.

Please note that the assignments require students to actively participate in each lab session and work on exercises from one week to the next.

Question and answer language for both "assignments" and "oral exam" is English.

Retake

Exam:

Oral 20min. minutes

Documentation:

Not allowed

Calculator:

Not allowed

Evaluation:

In case of reexamination, students will keep the grades obtained in their individual and group assignments.