615-181 Business Processes

This subject is regarded as a non-science subject for students enrolled in the BSc, BASc and combined BSc courses.

Students may not receive credit for both this subject and any of 615-150, 615-255, 306-106 and 306-207.

This subject is taken by graduate diploma students.

This subject focuses on a process view of organisations. A process is defined as a logically connected series of tasks that produce a defined output for a specified group of customers. Typically, organisational processes cross functional boundaries within an organisation.

At the completion of this subject, students should understand the fundamental premises and approaches of total quality management and business process (re)engineering; be aware of major organisational processes (such as order management, billing, new product development) found in many organisations; understand the importance of human self-interest in organisations and the need for controls in well-designed information systems; understand how vendors of enterprise application software are attempting to provide software that can adapt as business needs change; and be ready to commence study of inter-organisational processes. Finally, in addition to the above content-related goals, students should have honed their generic skills such as clear thinking, sound arguing, improved reading and writing, enhanced ability to work in a team of people, and presentation skills.

A 2-hour end-of-semester written examination (60%); written work of up to 20 pages, group research and field projects taking approximately 20 hours in total (40%).