Online Master's in Information Technology Management
Online Course Schedule for Spring 2025

Agile Frameworks for Lean Ent

Agile organizations quickly sense and adapt to external and internal changes to deliver relevant results in a productive and cost-effective manner. This course explores merging life cycle approaches, which lead to greater organizational agility, and provides an in-depth examination and evaluation of Lean-Agile principles and values and the drivers behind becoming a more agile organization. Students learn how organizations can achieve agility at scale by funding ecosystems of teams that deliver large initiatives, allowing decentralized financial decision making within the portfolio, and continuously prioritizing their backlog of activities within each agile project. Learning objectives for this course include the ability to achieve true end-to-end business agility by utilizing industry standard agile frameworks (such as Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe); establishing the strategic themes that guide an organization's strategy and investments; determining and funding the relevant value streams; defining and prioritizing cross-cutting portfolio backlog epics; and monitoring the performance of the portfolios using applicable Lean portfolio, program, and team metrics. Students learn how to link an organizational strategy into relatively small investment increments called epics, study the breakup of epics into features that can be delivered by program teams, and explore the decomposition of features into user stories delivered by single teams in individual sprints. This course also explores organizational factors that impact the use of agile approaches, such as culture, readiness, business practices, and the role of the PMO.

Agile Project Management Funda

The course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of Agile Project Management Fundamentals. The course not only teaches students how to manage projects with an adaptive approach but also allows students to understand the differences and similarities between agile and traditional project management. Throughout the course, students acquire the essential knowledge on agile values, principles, practices, tools, and benefits of applying a lean-agile approach to Project Management. The course also provides students with the tools necessary to select an adequate approach to project management while considering the degree of uncertainty and complexity. Through simulations and demonstrations of agile concepts, students gain experiential learning and acquire essential Agile PM skills to operate in an agile setting. By the end of the course, students can apply insights on how to blend linear, incremental, and iterative approaches in a traditional, agile, or hybrid environment.

Bus Intell Big Data & Analysis

Today data is everywhere. The most competitive commercial companies are harnessing it to formulate their go-to-market strategies, make course corrections and outthink the competition. Governments are using data to develop solutions to social issues, recruit talent, and even to prevent terrorist attacks. This course explores how government agencies, commercial companies and nonprofits are using Business Intelligence (BI) and Big Data Analytics to achieve their strategic goals and objectives. During the course students are introduced to the concepts through real-world demonstrations of BI and Big Data Analytics solutions.

Capstone

The Capstone Course is the culmination of the student's academic and professional experience in the Technology Management program. Over the course of the semester, students will be asked to apply the knowledge gained during the program to a project. With a focus on technology for social good, students will incorporate the skills necessary for analyzing key issues, thinking creatively, and making sound decisions in order to develop and execute plans. Projects will address global and local challenges. During the semester in which students are enrolled in the Capstone Course, it is strongly recommended that they only take one additional course along with it. Students must earn a grade of B or better in the Capstone Course in order to graduate.

Note: This is a core requirement of the degree. Students must earn a grade of "B" or better.

Cloud Computing & Virtual Data

The Cloud Computing and Virtual Data Centers course explores the emergence of Cloud Computing and Virtual Data Centers in Information Technology. The course provides a complete introduction to cloud computing, virtualization, legacy hardware and software considerations and approaches to transitioning Information Technology from legacy systems to a shared managed service model, Various Cloud Computing models will be covered including Private, Public, Hybrid and Community Clouds. Management of Cloud Computing Providers using automated tools and Service Level Agreements will be discussed, along with security and privacy considerations. Students will learn how to effectively plan, implement and manage Cloud Computing in virtual data centers and complete introductory coursework in VMware Virtualization software.

Communication for IT Managers

The Communication for Technology Managers course is designed to expose students to best practices in internal communication to foster organization-wide understanding and buy-in; ensure that employees understand how a technology decision impacts their work; and act upon internal needs as the technology project is implemented. Messaging exercises will focus on effectively communicating to leadership, employees and stakeholders during a technology change/design, implementation rollout, or crisis. Students will understand the technology manager’s key role in coordinating communications.

Competitive Intelligence Organ

Competitive intelligence analysis is the process that agencies and organizations use to assess their institutional strengths and weaknesses relative to peer organizations. Students in this course gain insight into how competitive intelligence informs and supports an organization’s ongoing strategy. Throughout the course, students examine case studies and the history of competitive analysis in both government and industry. By the end of this course, students will be able to gather organizational data, interpret relevant data, and evaluate and recommend organizational strategies based on their research. The course places a strong emphasis on the development and application of data analysis and presentation skills.

DevOps Essentials

DevOps, as a movement and methodology since the mid-2000s, is still transforming the way value is delivered by information technology (IT) organizations. Deriving from practices supporting modern technology management methodologies such as Agile, enterprise DevOps adoption has been demonstrated to create value by reducing the amount of unnecessary rework, improve the quality, speed and tempo of production deployments, create feature reinvestment opportunities, and reduce operational downtime significantly. This course in DevOps is an exploration in the practice of operations and development engineers participating together in the entire service lifecycle, from design through the development process to production support.

Disruptive Tech & Org Change

This course explores the impact of disruptive technological innovation on organizations and their ability to adapt to change. More precisely, students learn how to detect and anticipate disruptive technologies and their potential impact on organizational culture, processes, and strategies. The course places an emphasis on understanding organizational values, processes, resources, and migration capabilities. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to identify and apply sustainable solutions to accommodate disruptive innovations and capabilities to cope with organizational and industry changes.

Enterprise Modernization

Enterprise Modernization is about enabling and managing effective IT modernization/integration in an organization. In this course, students will focus on using a systematic approach to identify, plan and communicate modernization initiatives that leverage technology to improve organizational outcomes, aligning to the mission as well as financial and business goals. You will explore new and emerging technologies that provide opportunities to drive transformation across the enterprise. Areas of study will include introducing complex change in large organizations and the role of IT as an enabler and collaborator of modernization across the organization.

Ethics in Info Tech

The management of information technology is strongly related to the management of people. This course will help students understand how people - their suppliers and their customers, their partners and their competitors, and their superiors and their direct reports - come to have moral opinions on ethical dilemmas. Exploring both rational and affective theories of human morality, it will show how to resolve moral questions, and to make moral arguments. It will examine common ethical scenarios involving technology, as well as how ethics is handled in the business world. Finally, the course will review the ethical issues around Artificial Intelligence which may transform both the technology, and the people, with whom students will work. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to moral issues that technology managers have to recognize and resolve in their careers. In addition to other requirements, students must earn a grade of "B" or higher in the Ethics course.

Note: This is a core requirement of the degree. Students must earn a grade of "B" or better.

Global Competitive Intelligenc

This course examines Competitive Intelligence (CI) as the collection and analysis of information to anticipate competitive activity, see past market disruptions, and dispassionately interpret events in a global perspective. In addition, students will develop techniques to develop analysis, which provides insight into marketplace dynamics and challenges in a structured, disciplined, and ethical manner using published and non-published sources.

Info Management for Comp Intel

This course examines how organizations can use information to create competitive advantage. Students will learn how organizations can become data driven by having the proper elements in place, such as strategy, data governance, and leadership. They will also gain knowledge on security and privacy requirements for information and how to monetize information for competitive advantage. Finally, the course covers best practices for sharing information within organizations and among organizations, and how to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge.

Info Sec. Laws and Compliance

This course introduces students to privacy laws, regulations, and industry guidelines with significant security and privacy impact and requirements. The course primarily examines laws and regulations from the United States, but it also includes some coverage of international laws. The course is divided into four sections. First, students are exposed to broadly-applicable laws and regulations that address information security. Second, students receive an introduction to industry-specific guidelines and requirements (FISMA, NERC, HIPAA, HITECH, PSQIA3 , etc.). Third, students examine key state laws and regulations that impact information security management (such as relevant laws in California, Massachusetts, and New York). Finally, students scrutinize other countries’ laws and regulations related to information security and privacy (such as laws in Canada, Mexico, and the European Union) and international standards such as ISO 27001 and 27032.

Introduction to IT Management

The course provides a theoretical and practical understanding of modern technology solutions used by businesses/organizations to solve complex business problems, optimize existing processes, innovate, compete, and enter new markets, business transformation. Over the duration of this course, students will work both individually and collaboratively in teams to complete group projects, assignments, design thinking activities, and in class exercises. After the completion of this course students will be able to identify and evaluate the impact of modern technology solutions on businesses, employees, and consumers.

IT & Data Governance Strategy

Corporate governance is crucial to the success of any enterprise as it provides strategic direction and oversight on the company management by the board of directors. Similarly, IT and data governance provide valuable direction and oversight to the organization’s IT and data managers regarding the use of IT to meet business objectives and for the proper and secure handling of corporate data assets. In this class we will define and develop the critical elements of effective IT and data governance frameworks and explore the relationship between strategy and governance

Lean & Agile w/Scrum & Kanban

This course provides students with a solid foundation and a good understanding of practicing Agile with Scrum and Kanban. Scrum is a framework for designing, developing, and delivering products, services, and/or solutions of the highest value incrementally. Scrum is also known as a popular agile method in the computer software industry for addressing unknown and complex requirements iteratively and incrementally.. Scrum implementations require the use of self-organized teams who are flexible individuals willing to adapt quickly to change. Students will learn about the rules of the game specific to Scrum events (the sprint, sprint planning, daily Scrum, sprint review, and sprint retrospective), Scrum artifacts (e.g. product backlog, sprint backlog, and increment), and the importance of the definition of done. Kanban is another lean framework for developing and delivering products and services by balancing demands with available capacity, and by improving the handling of system-level bottlenecks. Students will also learn essential lean principles and discover how to use a Kanban board to help them visualize workflow and prioritize work items more effectively.

Req. Analysis & Sys. Design

This course focuses on the fundamentals of requirements engineering and system architectures, and the relationship of the two areas. It details the requirements activities starting with Organizational goal expression or with a stakeholder need, to stakeholder requirement discovery, through to systems requirements derivation in both agile and traditional methods. The course includes examining the alignment of the system architecture to the enterprise goals to validate the architecture (i.e. building the right system) as well as quality aspects of the architecture (building the system right). The course highlights linkages between early architectural decisions driven by business requirements and concept of operations, and system operational and support costs. The course centers on the hands-on application of class material via a group project that students pursue in small teams.

Security Architecture & Design

This course introduces students to fundamental logical hardware, operating system, and software security components, and how to use those components to design, architect, and evaluate secure computer systems. Understanding these fundamental issues is critical to effective information security management. The course is divided into three sections. The first section covers the hardware and software required to have a secure computer system. The second section covers the 9 logical models required to keep the system secure. The third section covers evaluation models that quantify system security.

Strategic Plan. & Fin. Mgmt

The course is focused on the annual financial management cycle (Planning, Budgeting, Managing Operations and Annual Reporting) and will integrate best practice approaches such as the Technology Business Management Framework. Students learn how to identify a business need; propose a technical solution; estimate and quantify solution benefits and costs; request funding with a justification based on a financial analysis and return on investment, and perform results measuring analysis. Students will apply the knowledge to real-world examples through business cases and case studies.