1999 Information Technology Handbooks - School of Business Systems

School of Business Systems

Profile of the school
Teaching
Links with industry
Research
Objectives - Bachelor of Business Systems

Profile of the school

The school focuses its teaching and research activities on the application of computer and related technologies to business problems. The school has a staff of forty equivalent full-time staff.
The school offers the Bachelor of Business Systems, the Bachelor of Business Systems with honours, the Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Business Systems, the Bachelor of Business Systems/Bachelor of Laws, the Graduate Diploma in Business Systems and the Master of Business Systems by Coursework, Master of Business Systems by Projects, Master of Business Systems by Research and a PhD program.

Teaching

The Bachelor of Business Systems came into existence at the request of the Business Council of Australia and the Commonwealth Government. This degree educates people in computing and management, with graduates readily able to apply their skills to the world of business. The course is designed to train the future senior management of Australian and overseas business, by combining practical computing ability with an awareness of and skill in general management roles such as finance, accounting, operations management and operations research. The school currently has the equivalent of 700 full-time students, and virtually 100 per cent graduate employment.
The aims of the postgraduate teaching are similar, but the teaching load and options available reflect the maturity and needs of postgraduate students.

Links with industry

A key feature of the undergraduate course is the link with industry. A large number of Australia's most significant organisations sponsor the degree, support students with scholarships, and provide industry-based learning for students as part of their studies.

Research

The school is actively involved in research. In line with the school's aims, this research concentrates on the enhancement of computing and other technologies and their direct application to business problems. The main areas of research activity are project management, operations management, accounting, financial and strategic systems, advanced trading and marketing systems, multimedia for business, quality, reliability and software metrics, Chinese language and multilingual computing, timetabling and scheduling and applications of evolutionary computing to business. The school's research degrees are the Master of Business Systems and PhD.

Project management

Project compression; human resource scheduling; resource-constrained project scheduling; project evaluation and analytic hierarchy process; application of evolutionary computing to scheduling; automatic graph scheduling; use of simulated annealing.

Academic staff

Professor R J Willis, Dr R K-Y Li, Mr S B Huxford.

Operations management

Distributed operations scheduling; visual interactive operations scheduling; lean production; computer-aided production management; plant layout using genetic algorithms.

Academic staff

Dr C White, Mr R B Johnston, Mr R L Martin, Dr Y P Cheung.

Accounting, financial and administrative systems

Financial modelling; option pricing models; financial index forecasting systems; financial and strategic planning; shareholder value analysis; corporate budgeting models; applications of management science and operations research to finance; statistical business modelling.

Academic staff

Professor A M Flitman, Mr E J G Wilson, Ms A Parr, Mr P Lajbcygier.

Advanced trading and marketing systems

Electronic commerce, electronic data interchange; automatic identification; bar coding, electronic funds transfer; data encryption; EDI-compatible business software; electronic marketing on networks; supply and distribution chain improvements.

Academic staff

Mr R B Johnston, Dr C White, Mr D C-K Goh

Multimedia for business

Development and use of state-of-the-art tools; project management of multimedia development; Lip Sync; creation of multimedia applications for business.

Academic staff

Dr R K-Y Li.

Quality, reliability and software metrics

Quality management; quality and reliability software; statistical tools in quality and reliability; software metrics; quality information systems; reliability and maintenance systems.

Academic staff

Dr B W Jenney, Mr K B G Luxford, Dr K A Smith, Mr B J Milne.

Chinese language and multilingual computing

Software development; information retrieval; development of special tools; applications to Chinese business systems; software internationalisation; fuzzy logic applications.

Academic staff

Dr C-H Yeh, Mr D C-K Goh.

Timetabling and scheduling

Resource allocation; program algorithms; constraint handling; dynamic scheduling.

Academic staff

Professor R J Willis, Mr B J Milne, Ms S E Bedingfield, Dr K A Smith.

Applications of evolutionary computing to business

Marketplace competition; game theory; genetic algorithms; human resource planning

Academic staff

Dr Y P Cheung, Ms S E Bedingfield, Mr S B Huxford, Dr K A Smith.
As well as publishing in a range of industrial journals, presenting at international conferences, and liaising with Australian industry, the school also produces the Business Systems Research journal. Students may undertake research by enrolling in Masters or PhD programs. Competitive scholarships are available to full-time research students.

Further information

Further information on the school may be found in the following publications:

Bachelor of Business Systems
Postgraduate programs in business systems
School of Business Systems web site: http://www.bs.monash.edu.au/ and email address: bsinfo@bs.monash.edu.au
Faculty of Information Technology - honours degrees

Objectives - Bachelor of Business Systems

Business systems is concerned with the solution of problems that arise in the day-to-day management of all types of enterprises. The solutions to the problems involve the use of a combination of computer, analytical and manual systems. The systems can range from the operational activities of transaction processing in accounting systems, through tactical decisions in logistics to decision support and executive information systems for strategic decisions.
Corporate functions emphasised include accounting information systems, manufacturing systems, decision analysis and project management. The necessary computing skills needed to implement solutions in these fields are integral to the course. These include programming, systems analysis, database systems, data communications.
Students completing this course will understand:

how businesses are organised and operate;
information technology, including hardware, software, databases, and data communications;
techniques for planning and managing the implementation of solutions - and be able to use them;
the processes involved in solution design and development;
the principles and processes of software design.

They will be able to:

communicate effectively with managers, employees and computing professionals;
think creatively, and analyse and communicate alternative problem solutions to management;
use the basic research skills they have developed to locate and retrieve information pertinent to the problems being investigated;
identify and document management's problems and needs;
develop well structured and well documented computer programs that solve users' needs;
cooperate with others and work effectively in a team environment;
take initiative and work independently;
exercise judgement to satisfy conflicting interests.

They will have developed the following attitudes:

enthusiasm for the field of study;
a concern for accuracy and willingness to objectively assess their own performance;
an awareness of social values, and a commitment to strive to enhance the quality of life of those affected by their work;
an appreciation of the importance of considering the needs of others within the community.