Information Systems - Master's Programme

The course examines how ICT can be used as a tool that enables evaluation and innovation in how firms communicate and optimize environmental performance. The course further discusses sustainability from different IS perspectives where the focus is on digitalization of our society weather that be Smart Cities, Smart grids or just the general use and disposal of technical products.

The end result of the course should be an increased understanding of IS and ICT in a sustainability context that companies and individuals need to relate to. After completion of course objectives, the student will have the ability to discuss and evaluate different sustainability initiatives as well as argue for how companies can increase IT effectiveness and efficiency and thereby lower their carbon footprint, as well as have an ability to discuss IT’s role in any formal sustainability programme.

Course code: INFN25 | Download syllabus

To thrive in a highly competitive marketplace where information systems constitute the backbone of any organisation, companies must develop strategic plans for their information systems that align them with their business strategies and ultimately differentiate them from their competitors. Without integrated and innovative IS strategies, corporate leaders will struggle to create value and generate sustainable competitive advantage. This course will strengthen future IT-managers knowledge on how IS can help, hinder and create opportunities for their organisations. 

Course code: INFN40 | Download syllabus

The course on IS Research Methods provides knowledge about dominant research methods and approaches in the field of Information Systems. It offers a discussion of the basics of scientific research in IS, the debate among the 'qualitatives' and the 'quantitatives', a wide range of data collection methods and analysis, foundational research philosophies, design science research in IS, scientific quality and research ethics, and research writing. 

The ultimate aim of the course is to help students in selecting and using appropriate research methods and theoretical frameworks in the empirical research process and argue for their methodological selections. Knowledge developed in this course is therefore vital for the master thesis work. 

The course includes lectures, guest lectures by known IS scholars, interactive discussion seminars, and workshops. The examination is based on student group work during the seminars which involves student-led lectures and literature summaries as well as writing a final research proposal.

Course code: INFN01 | Download syllabus

The course aims to give an introduction and overview of Business Intelligence (BI), which encompasses a broad category of technologies, applications, and processes for gathering, storing, accessing, and analyzing data. This facilitates better decision-making for various users within the organization, ultimately enhancing organizational performance. The course's main goal is to strike a balance between theory and practice by considering the demands of the current employment requirements in ICT and business trends.

The course explores BI at both micro and macro levels. At the micro level, the development of BI applications is covered by defining a business problem and identifying the necessary data to answer the identified problem.

At the macro level, the course explores theoretical advancements of BI from the standpoint of information systems and overarching effects of BI across the entire organization. Issues related to data integration, data modelling, data quality, meta-data, data management, BI architecture, data visualization, data storytelling, Big Data and scalability are addressed.

Course code: INFN45 | Download syllabus

The HCI Design course concentrates on user-centred design and design theory of digital artefacts. The course consists of three parts: theory, design workshops, and a design project. Course lectures progress through four segmented sections: interaction design and system development, interaction design versus traditional design work, UbiComp (Ubiquitous Computing) and interaction design beyond the desktop, methods, and models for interaction design. Students work in groups on projects that they specify and seek and explore non-traditional uses ofcomputing and ICT artefacts.

Course code: INFN35 | Download syllabus

All organisations are affected by and dependent on processes, decisions and their digitalisation. Most of today’s managerial work requires knowledge and toolsets to manage business to be supported by and automated through Artificial Intelligence (AI). Moreover, to get real business value from AI, businesses must focus their efforts in AI on improving processes and decisions.

This course aims to provide an insight into designing business and Artificial Intelligence supporting business.

On completion of the course, students shall have a thorough understanding of how processes, decisions and AI shape today’s businesses and their design. Students shall be able to identify problems that can be solved by, or decisions that can be made or supported by AI in a business and be able to implement solutions to aid the aforementioned.

The course focuses on the challenges that business digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence poses in the modern organisation. To properly manage business, both managerial and technological aspects must be considered in conjunction. By studying business and Artificial Intelligence and through hands on workshops, the course focuses on how AI and business digitalisation alters internal and external parts of business within and across organisations.

Course code: INFN65 | Download syllabus

Course description

There are few organisations today, private and public, that are not somehow affected by digitalisation. Most of today’s managerial work requires knowledge and toolsets to manage the different aspects of the omnipresent reshaping of the organisational landscape that is digitalisation.

Digitalisation, however, has different meanings for different stakeholders in any given organisation and it may span from automation to transformation of core processes. Digitalisation have the power to disrupt established business models and to create new, never before seen, business models.

This course aims to provide an insight into the technological and managerial landscape that information technologies are building today.

On completion of the course, students shall have achieved a thorough understanding of how digitalisation affects organisations.

Content

The course focuses on the challenges that digitalisation poses in the modern organisation. To manage digitalisation, both managerial and technological aspects must be considered in conjunction. By studying theories on digitalisation and analysing cases, the course focuses on how information technology alters internal and external processes within and across organisations and society.

Course code: INFN60 | Download syllabus

The buzz right now is AI with artificial neural networks (ANN), machine learning (ML) and Big Data (to train the networks). The problem with this is: How do you explain the opaque decisions taken by an ANN? Who’s in charge? Who is accountable? The risk is “Computer says no” as in the sketch comedy Little Britain…

Business Decision Management (BDM) instead deals with transparent and human readable rules based decision logic as decision tables and expressions, used to manage and automate operational and repeating mass decisions in business processes. Different from today’s AI can this decision logic be understood and explained by business experts and maybe even clients and citizens.

BDM is about one of businesses most important assets – the operational business decisions. Many every day, routine and repeating decisions are made e.g. for:

• Loan application assessments
• Risk assessments for insurance policy applications
• Customer ratings on a web shop
• Taxation in an on-line eService for income tax return 
• Claim benefits
• Acceptance of orders and payment
• A diagnosis, such as vaccination status

Some of these decisions are made manually, but many more are automated in information and IT systems. We meet these decisions every day when we buy things on the web, book flights, make hotel reservations, hire a car and so on.

BDM is tightly connected to Business Processes Management. Business Process Management is about changing or designing business processes. Business Decision Management takes responsibility for the operational business decisions that a business process requires to function and deliver according to business goals. In the course, we work with two OMG standards:

1. Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for process modelling;
2. Decision Model and Notation (DMN) for decision modelling

Automation of operational business decisions – decisioning – in BDM applies either Business Rules Management (BRM) and BRM systems (BRMS) for finding, authoring, managing and executing business rules (BR), or running the decision tables and FEEL (Friendly Enough Expression Language) expressions of DMN on a platform. We will touch on BR but will mainly work with decision logic as in DMN.

Many branches of society, especially banking, insurance and the public sector are rule heavy and already use rule-based decisioning. In Sweden, we can for instance fill in our tax return using digital services, which are based on rule-based decisioning. In the USA, an example of a major user of decisioning and support technology is IRS.

During this course, you will work both theoretically and practically with the concept of BDM. You will design decision requirement models and decision logic to automate decisions in processes using professional technologies: Signavio Process Manager. The course is at the edge of development and technology, and represents unique knowledge that only a very few institutions around the world can and do teach.

BDM is an approach drawing heavy industry interest. Through this course, you will have the possibility to acquire highly specialized and unique skills with high market value.

Course code: INFN50 | Download syllabus

The last study period will focus entirely on the Master’s degree project, also called thesis. We expect our students to formulate a clear and researchable research question after which a relevant supervisor will be assigned to each thesis. You will be working in pairs and conduct original research within a relevant IS/ISD area that is related to the overall perspective of the programme. At the end of the final period, each thesis will be presented, discussed and defended in a final seminar. 

Course code: INFM10 | Download syllabus