| CODE | MGT2346 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Assurance for the Digital Economy | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Business and Enterprise Management | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The distinction between services, manufacturing and project work will open the study-unit. E-services will be shown to present departures and opportunities for an economy of a small island, an EU State, and one in a geography with opening market space to the South and the East, particularly for remote international IT provision: Software House, Data Centre, and IT Service Desk provision having industrial-strength/utility-strength resilience. The study-unit will discuss e-Quality for digital services particularly how citizens, purchasers/sellers, and Regulators can have TRUST in e-transactions / m-transactions that manipulate Big Data in the Cloud. Cloud and big data fail-proofing needs three assurances (service proofing, information proofing, software proofing) so that business strategy in execution (and indeed businesses themselves) do not fail. Quality in the digital economy will be discussed as digital innovation , digital excellence, and digital care, leading to e-trust. E-Quality means digital thought and practice leadership and early insight into latent and emerging digital needs: market-pull of the articulate international corporate segment. Systems thinking will be presented and used to describe the Cloud landscape: N-tier IT architectures that are/need to be: - Heterogeneous; - Massively distributed; - Massively parallel; - Interoperable; - Secure; and - Accessible from mobile client devices/clients, possibly with covert hostile intent. Service Levels and Service Level Assurance in industrial-strength data centres and IT service desks will be shown to rest on metrics such as: - Turnaround time; - Throughput; - Average demand; - Peak demand; - Demand spikes; - Service availability, uptime / downtime; - MTBF and MTTR. Issues such as system bottlenecks, saturated resource will be highlighted. Quality Models at corporate/organizational level will be discussed, e.g. the EFQM (european foundation for quality management) Quality Model, and the CQI (chartered quality institute) Quality Model. IT Service Management Systems (ITSMS), QMS (Quality Management Systems) and ISMS (Information Security Management Systems) will be presented as sound policies, procedures and process automation for management and technical activities in data centres and IT service desks. Such measures will give assurance that remote e-transactions / m-transactions from anywhere to anywhere can be relied upon. IT SMS/QMS for data centres and IT service desks will cover assurance for new and for the upgrading of existing services. Service design and Fail-Proofing for the following will be discussed: - Information security; - Availability management; - Capacity management; - Service level management; - Relationship processes; - Release processes; - Resolution processes; - Control processes. These will be discussed by using assurance and controls such as: - Verification; - Validation; - IV&V; - Review; - Testing; - Audit. In the more enlightened organization such assurance and controls will extend to general Business Proofing covering: - Policies and strategies; - Plans; - SLAs and service level agreements; - Trends; - Variances (e.g. actuals vs. estimates); - Designs; - Changes; - Projects; - Data / database; - Specifications; - Software / applications; - Service input, intermediate products, service output. The study-unit will not prescribe a single approach to market and will highlight good practice from different Bodies of Knowledge and International Standards, including: - COBIT, a Body of Knowledge by the IT Governance profession; - ISO 15489 standard on data, and data quality; - ISO 25000 standard on software quality; - ISO 20000 standard on IT Service Management; - ISO 27000 standard on information security. Student envisioning encouraged in class discussion Facilitated class discussion will invite students to reflect on an internationalising future for IT provision from Malta. Facilitated discussion will pose questions such as: - Can IT providers operating in Malta play in the CLOUD niche? - Viable corporate B2B , B2C, B2G, G2B, B2E, G2E e-services from Malta to overseas markets: next step; - What would be necessary, besides investment? - Malta - an IT hub: status, prospects and futures. Note: As Bodies of Knowledge of professional Bodies, ISO and BS standards are periodically revised or superseded, the study-unit content will reflect normative developments. Study-unit Aims: - The study-unit aims to instruct on service quality, data quality and software quality; as necessary for trustworthy e-services: B2B / B2C, B2G / G2B and B2E / G2E interactions with global geographical reach on an always-on, 24x7x365 basis, from anywhere to anywhere. - Instruct quality and assurance concepts and approaches that are widely applicable, technology-neutral, scalable and applicable incrementally. - Prepare students for such work in organizations delivering commercially and contractually, locally and to overseas markets in/from Software Houses, Data Centers and IT Service Desks. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Undertake further academic and/or professional study and research, locally and overseas; - Understand digital excellence in the Internet economy as: • Organization; • People; • Process; • Technology; • Issues in assuring service, information & software. - Think innovatively about the canonical IT service provider types: • Software Houses; • Data Centers; • IT Service Desks. - Understand digital assurance both nationally and at corporate level as organization-wide, holistic, and traversing Software Houses, Data Centers, and IT Service Desks operating “in the CLOUD”; - Understand service assurance, information assurance and software assurance; as covering responsive processes for feasibility, conception, design, development, procurement, delivery, and withdrawal of IT services; - Analyze and evaluate real-world, commercial IT quality issues as a market differentiator in this conceptual framework. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Join the digital labour-force as young professionals in real-world IT organizations offering remote, offshore IT provision commercially to contractually agreed quality; - Operate seffectively within IT providers offering IT service export to different geographies, time-zones and jurisdictions: the CLOUD; - Similar to the previous two points, but delivering product, i.e. software export, industrial strength software development; - Contribute to Governance through activities assuring service, information and software: • IT planning; • IT review; • V&V; • IT audit; • IT benchmarking. - With some work experience after graduation, articulate plans and procedures in Software House, Data Centre, IT Service Desk environments, always better service, cleaner data, reliable software, trustworthy IT. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Texts: - BOOK: Creative Strategy: Reconnecting Business and Innovation [Paperback], 286 pages, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, ISBN-10: 1405180196 / ISBN-13: 978-1405180191. - REPORT: The World in 2013, ICT facts and Figures, ITU, International Communications Union. - REPORT: The Information Economy Report 2013, BAN Ki-moon, with acknowledgements to Torbjörn Fredriksson (team leader), et. al. UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION, UNCTAD/IER/2013, ISSN 2075-4396, ISBN 978-92-1-112869-7, United Nations, 2013, Switzerland. - Handout on COBIT for Process Assessment, setting out IT Audit requirements and methods as part of IT Governance in the COBIT GOVERNANCE framework, guidance by ISACA. - ITIL For Dummies, Peter Farenden, 2011, John Wiley, ISBN: 978-1-119-95013-4, Paperback, 392 pages - PAPER: Location Based Services, Kathryn Zickuhr, 2013, PewResearchCentre, Washington DC, USA - PAPER: Who’s not online and Why, Kathryn Zickuhr, 2013, PewResearchCentre, Washington DC, USA Environmental Scanning at student's initiative: Students would be habitually following emerging issues and trends in business and technology at their own initiative, through emerging sources in addition of the forgoing Additional Sources: Internet Market Watch: - Gartner Group; http://www.gartner.com/. - Forrester Research; http://www.forrester.com/rb/research. EU: - EC DG Information Society and Media: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/index_en.htm. - EC DG Research; http://ec.europa.eu/research/. Glossaries: (These glossaries cover: innovation, creativity, systems thinking, quality, data, design, validation, commissioning and information security) - Dictionary on Innovation – Design Council: http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Business-Essentials/Innovation/Glossary/ - Innovation: http://www.aqip.org/InnovationExchange/glossary.php - Enterprise & Industry – Innovation (EC): http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/glossary/index_en.htm - Glossary of Design: http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/essential/interdisciplinary/design/glossary.html - Dictionary of Innovation: http://www.nesta.org.uk/creativity/ - Systems practice / thinking glossary: www.open2.net/systems/glossary/glossary.html Glossaries – IT Architecture: - Architecture Definitions, TOGAF, The Open Group http://www.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/chap03.html#tag_04 - ISACA: http://www.isaca.org/glossary.pdf - The Butler Group http://www.butlergroup.com/research/reportHomepages/Infrastructure%20Management/IM_Report_Glossary.pdf GLOSSARIES – ICT: - Business IT terminology www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/ - ICT Glossary, EC – Directorate General – Information Society and Media http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=overview&tpl=glossary - IBM Dictionary of Computing http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/terminology/ab.jsp#b01 http://www.babylon.com/dictionary/5272/A-Glossary-of-Internet-PC-Terminology.html - American Society for Quality (ASQ): http://www.asq.org/glossary/index.html - Quality Glossary – National University of Singapore: http://nus.edu.sg/oqm/?n=Communication.QualityGlossary - Glossary, KIAZEN Institute: http://www.kaizen.com/glossary.html?no_cache=1 - Glossary, Quality Improvement Terms: http://services.eliteral.com/glossary/glossary-of-quality-management-terms.php - DIRKS Glossary – Australian National Archives, Australia: http://www.naa.gov.au/Images/dirks_glossary_tcm2-954.pdf - Information Management Glossary: http://www.information-management.com/glossary/a.html - Glossary - Service Design: Bill Hollins, The Design Council (UK) www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Service-design-by-Bill-Hollins/Glossary/ - Glossary - Service Design: www.servicedesign.org/ - Glossary – V&V - NASA: www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/wind/valid/tutorial/glossary.html - Glossary, Procurement & Commissioning Terms, UK Audit Office: http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp/?id=10694 - Glossary - Data Governance Institute Glossary: www.datagovernance.com/glossary_i.html - Technical and security glossary, University of Texas (US): www.utexas.edu/its/policies/glossary.php - Audit Glossary, University of Birmingham: http://www.internalaudit.bham.ac.uk/audit/glossary.shtml CIO: - CIO UK; http://www.cio.co.uk/ - CIO USA; http://www.cio.com/ http://www.computing.co.uk/ Academia – Management: - IMD – Lusanne; http://www.imd.ch/ - INSEAD – Fontainebleau; http://www.insead.edu/home/ - Universita’ Commerciale Luigi Bocconi – Milan; http://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/SitoPubblico_EN/Navigation+Tree/Home - Said Business School – Oxford University; http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/ - Judge Business School – Cambridge University; http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/ Software Engineering: - Software Engineering Institute (SEI), Carnegie Mellon University; http://www.sei.cmu.edu/ - Data & Analysis Centre for Software (US DoD); https://www.thedacs.com/ - Centre for Software Engineering, Dublin City University); http://www.cse.dcu.ie/aboutcse.html - Centre for Software Reliability, City University, UK; http://www.csr.city.ac.uk/index.html Professional Associations – Computer Societies: - British Computer Society (BCS, UK); http://www.bcs.org/ - Associazione Italiana per l’Informatica ed il il Calcolo Automatico (AICA, Italia); http://www.aicanet.it/ - Irish Computer Society (ICS, Ireland); http://www.ics.ie/main/homepage.asp - Computer Society of India (CSI, India); http://www.csi-india.org/ - New Zealand Computer Society (NZCS, New Zealand); http://www.nzcs.org.nz/ - Australian Computer Society (ACS, Australia); http://www.acs.org.au/ - Canadian Computer Society (CCS, Canada) ; http://cancomputes.com/ Professional Associations – IT Governance, Assurance, Security, Audit: - IT Governance Institute; http://www.itgi.org/ - ISACA Malta Chapter; http://www.isaca-malta.org/live/ - ISACA USA; http://www.isaca.org/ IT Consultancy/Systems Integrators/Software Houses: - Accenture; http://www.accenture.com/home/default.htm - Unisys; http://www.unisys.com/index.htm - HP EDS; http://www.eds.com/about/profile/ - Capgemini; http://www.capgemini.com/about/ - Logica; http://www.logica.com/ - Tieto; http://www.tieto.com/default.asp?path=1,92 - Infosys; http://www.infosys.com/ - Tata; http://www.tata.com/businesses/sectors/index.aspx?ectid=aZ72PXPwpaI=#Informationsystemsandcommunications - Wipro; http://www.wipro.com/ IT Vendors – Services, Software, Hardware: - SAP; http://www.sap.com/index.epx - Oracle; http://www.oracle.com/index.html - Microsoft; http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx - Dell; http://www.dell.com/ - Apple; http://www.apple.com/ - HP; http://www.hp.com/#Product - Sun; http://www.sun.com/ - IBM; http://www.ibm.com/us/en/ |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Robert M. Cachia |
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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