This unit is a third year component of the IS major in the BITS. It will give students an understanding of the portfolio of information systems needed to support a large organisation and an understanding of the inter-relationships between the different elements of the portfolio. It will define Enterprise System scale (ERP) packages as the main business information system in the portfolio of large organisations. The unit will examine the forms and mechanisms of business process integration and of data integration within the Enterprise System package, and between the Enterprise System and other business information systems and databases. The unit will introduce the different types of integration associated with various types of middleware software. The unit will address the role of middleware in the specification and implementation of business process workflow systems in both the homogenous environment of an Enterprise System package and in heterogenous software environments.

This unit has been updated as part of a 2009 review and comparison of data with current Handbook, Syllabus + and Callista data.

30/11/2017 - Unit disestablished at FEC 5/17 Item 7.3.

This is a third level core unit in the Bachelor of Information Technology and Systems (BITS) major in Information Systems. It is also available as an elective to any other degree. It has similarities to FIT3012 Enterprise Systems, but concentrates on issues of complexity and integration, and on the management of selection and implementation of Enterprise Systems.

It provides a significant career pathway for IS major graduates into global and national companies and government organisations as business analysts. Integrated information systems, known as Enterprise Systems, are the package of choice for such businesses and organisations. This unit addresses the analysis and implementation management aspects of such packages. It focuses on the business functions and processes, which are facilitated by integrated software solutions, and emphasises the mechanisms of integrating these packages with other information systems and databases. Other units focus on the development of software and the technological operating environments that enable systems integration.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the evolution and current application of Enterprise Systems;
• the scale and complexity issues associated with Enterprise Systems;
• the concepts of integrated data and processing across different business processes;
• the business and technological benefits of such integration;
• the limitations and constraints that accompany the above benefits;
• the differences in structure between enterprise scale and personal scale information; systems

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• develop attitudes which enable the setting of reasonable expectations for ES performance;
• acknowledge and value the perspectives of business, IT and managerial users;
• maintain the highest ethical and professional standards in the evaluation, analysis, recommendation and implementation of integrated solutions.

Developed the skills to:

• design appropriate workflow solutions for common business processes;
• develop facility in the use of a mainstream process modelling and integration software product.

Demonstrated the communication and teamwork skills necessary to:

• work as part of a professional team in evaluating and recommending IT solutions to identified business situations;
• be able to communicate ES related concepts and issues to business clients, managers, IT peers and business partners.

020305

This unit provides an understanding of the portfolio of information systems needed to support a large organisation, based on ERP packages as the principal business information system in large organisations. It examines the forms and mechanisms of business process integration and data integration between the Enterprise System and other business information systems, including legacy systems and office systems. It introduces students to the concept of workflow and to selected software tools for process modelling and workflow design, and to the different types of integration software (middleware) and technologies that enable business process integration through workflow automation.

On-campus

Examination (2 hours): 60%; In-semester assessment: 40%

2 hrs lectures/wk, 2 hrs laboratories/wk

Studio room required

FIT

12 credit points of second year FIT units completed or simultaneously enrolled.

Sue Foster (Caulfield), Tham Weng Kee (Malaysia)