Course Description

During the last decades, we witnessed a growing importance of Information Systems (IS) in the business world along with faster and faster innovation cycles. Ranging from the enrichment of routine working tasks (e.g., employee portals to integrate disparate applications, data, and processes to the e-enabled integration of entire business eco-systems - IS have become a vital backbone of businesses and a fundamental backbone of digital service systems.

The course is designed to introduce students to the nature, role, and potentials of digital service systems. The lecture and exercises address contemporary challenges and functionalities of digital service systems including real-time data reporting, integration of data and processes across functions, as well as modern user interfaces.

Course Objectives

The aim of this course is to introduce theoretical foundations, concepts, tools, and current practice of digital service systems. Thereby, the students:
•    The students get an overview on basic concepts and definitions of digital service systems.
•    Understand key characteristics and impact of digital service systems.
•    LUnderstand typical tasks of functional areas (e.g. marketing, logistics, finance & accounting) and how they are supported by contemporary digital service systems..

Course Requirements

The course is offered by the Institute of Information Systems and Marketing (IISM) and Institute of Operations Research (IOR) at the Department of Economics and Management of KIT. It is designed for bachleor students in industrial engineering & management as well as information engineering & management.

Grading

The course has two grading components: Exam (85%) and Capstone Project (15%). First, there will be a 60 minutes closed-book / closed-notes exam consisting of short-answer, multiple-choice and analytical questions covering lecture material and business talks. Second, teams work in a capstone project addressing exercises on the lecture's digital transformation case. Both grading components need to be passed (grade 4.0 or better). A fail in either the exam or the capstone project results in a fail of the entire course. There is no retake possibility for the capstone project. Thus, if you fail the capstone project, you need to retake the entire course in the upcoming year.

Registration and Organization

Please register via the learning platform ILIAS to the course. For specific dates and location of the lecture, please check the Website or portal. All questions regarding the organization of the lecture will be answered by .

Course Materials

For each course session a dedicated slide deck is provided. Additionally, a list of reference publications (book sections, conference papers, journal articles) is made available for download on the learning platform.

Course Outline

The lectures will take place in building 10.11, room 223.

• October 22, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: Organizational Information and Foundations by Dr. Morana
• October 29, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: Digital Service Systems: Key Concepts,  Elements and their Interdependencies by Dr. Morana
• November 5, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: The Digital Transformation Process: Pre-Implementation, Implementation and Post-Implementation by Dr. Morana
• November 12, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: The Digital Transformation Process: Pre-Implementation, Implementation and Post-Implementation (cont'd) by Dr. Morana
• November 19, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: Marketing by Dr. Morana
• November 26, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: Sales & Customer Service by Dr. Morana
• December 3, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: Industry Talk (IISM)
• December 10, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: Location Planning by Prof. Dr. Nickel
• December 17, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: Master Planning Prof. Dr. Nickel
• December 24, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: * No Lecture * - Holidays    
• December 31, 2018, 11:30 - 13:00: * No Lecture * - Holidays    
• January 7, 2019, 11:30 - 13:00: Inventory Management Prof. Dr. Nickel
• January 14, 2019, 11:30 - 13:00: * No Lecture * - Individual Preperation for Capstone Project    
• January 21, 2019, 11:30 - 13:00: * No Lecture * - Individual Preperation for Capstone Project    
• January 28, 2019, 11:30 - 13:00: * No Lecture * - Individual Preperation for Capstone Project    
• February 4, 2019, 11:30 - 13:00: Summary and Q & A Prof. Dr. Nickel and Dr. Morana
   

Please note, the lecture is offered for the last time this year!

From SS2019 we offer the new bachelor lecture “Foundations of Interactive Systems” which is also part of the module “Fundamentals of Digital Service Systems” and also part of the new module “Wirtschaftsinformatik” (Wing only).

Please note that we offer an last exam at the end of SS2019 for all students that conducted a capstone project.