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Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

Design and Development of Business Software

Semester 2 · 47597 · Master in Industrial Mechanical Engineering · 5CP · EN


The course belongs to the type “affine o integrative” and is part of Advanced Topics in Software / Systems Engineering.

The course belongs to the scientific area of Management Engineering and is focused on Business Intelligence and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. It represents one of the related topics (affine/verwandt) for the study programme on Software Engineering for Information Systems.
The course gives a general overview of the scientific basics of business and its objectives as well as the role software can play in it. During the course, the business application of the presented theoretical topics will be integrated by means of targeted application-oriented exercises and cases concerning the business environment, especially the manufacturing sector, and the data analysis of data produced by these processes through business intelligence tools.
The learning objectives are to introduce students in the fundamentals of business software and business data analysis. Based on this, decision making and operational tools such as Business Intelligence and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems are discussed in detail alongside presentations of their real-world application in business. The students should acquire the competence to understand and evaluate business problems and outline an appropriate design for a business analytical solution to address the problem in terms of decision support or operational improvements in the manufacturing sector.

Lecturers: Andrea Molinari

Teaching Hours: 40
Lab Hours: 20
Mandatory Attendance: Recommended

Course Topics
• Introduction to Business Software • Modelling business process • Enterprise applications: ERP, CRM, SCM • Database Management Systems (DBMS) and their role in business software • Business software modeling: from relational to snowflake schema • Querying DBMS - the SQL Language • Business intelligence (BI) • Dashboards and online analytic processing (OLAP) • Using BI software for Business: Power BI

Teaching format
In person frontal lectures, laboratory activities, exercises

Educational objectives
Knowledge and understanding: D1.2 To be able to analyze and solve even complex problems in the area of Software Engineering for Information Systems with particular emphasis on the use of studies, methods, techniques and technologies of empirical evaluation; D1.4 To know in depth the principles, structures and use of computer systems for the automation of information systems; D1.8 To be able to read and understand specialist scientific documentation, such as conference proceedings, articles in scientific journals, technical manuals. Applying knowledge and understanding: D2.3 To know how to apply the principles of software engineering to domains of different complexity, both IT and non-IT, in which software technology is of great importance, such as, for example, in the transport sector or in the medical field; Making judgments: D3.1 To be able to autonomously select documentation from a variety of sources, including technical books, digital libraries, technical scientific journals, web portals or open source software and hardware tools; Communication skills: D4.6 To be able to interact and collaborate during the implementation of a project or research with peers and experts; Learning skills: D5.3 In the context of a problem solving activity, to be able to extend knowledge, even if incomplete, taking into account the final objective of the project;

Additional educational objectives and learning outcomes
Practical skills on modeling, collecting, cleaning, analysis and visualizing business software data

Assessment
The assessment is based on ta practical exam on Business Intelligence analysis that requires solid knowledge provided by the theoretical parts of the course

Evaluation criteria
The final mark is the sum of the scores of the various practical exercises (100%)

Required readings

Subject Librarian: David Gebhardi, David.Gebhardi@unibz.it

  • Lecture slides and notes
  • Lab exercise slides and notes


Supplementary readings
  • Laudon, J. P, Laudon, K. C., (2018): Management Information Systems: managing the digital firm, 15th ed., Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River.
  • Magal, R. S., Word, J. (2009): Essentials of business processes and information systems, Wiley, New York.
  • Rainer, R. K., Watson, H., (2016): Management information systems: moving business forward, 4th ed., Wiley, Chichester.
  • Sauter, V. L., (2011): Decision support systems for business intelligence, 2nd ed., Wiley, Hoboken


Further information
Software used: Software for Business analysis available for any computer or through the use of the virtualization service provided by Unibz (VMWare Horizon)


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Sustainable Development Goals
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals.

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