• Microcomputers and Information Technologies
• Desktop Applications for Managers
• Using Information for Competitive Advantage
• Managing in a Networked Society
• Spreadsheet Models for Managers
• Information Management for Managers
• Statistics for Managerial Effectiveness

CSS 400 Microcomputers and Information Technologies
4 units. Graduate credit $1,200. Prerequisite(s): basic experience using either Windows 95 or the Macintosh operating system, and some experience using a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word. Limited enrollment.

This course provides a solid foundation in end-user office productivity software for word processing, spreadsheet analysis and modeling, database management, charting, presentations, and appropriate applications for interacting with the World Wide Web and the Internet. Students learn the conceptual basis of each of these tools and apply them to representative tasks in business and the home. The emphasis is on using software to organize, analyze, and communicate information. Students should expect to spend ten or more hours each week working on assignments, usually in the Science Center microcomputer lab. The course demands a high level of commitment to keeping up with class assignments and to learning the use of the software tools.

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CSS 403 Desktop Applications for Managers (21220)
Chayim Herzig-Marx, PhD, Director of Information Resources and Services, Financial Administration, Harvard University.
4 units. Graduate credit $1,200. Tuesday 7:35-9:35 pm. Science Center 120. Sections to be arranged. Prerequisite(s): CSS-400 or the equivalent. Limited enrollment. Spring term.

This course is an advanced treatment of desktop software from the manager's perspective, emphasizing increasing office productivity, monitoring resource utilization, collaborating within work groups, examining decision tradeoffs, streamlining work processes, and automating repetitive tasks. Students learn techniques for integrating and combining applications and for sharing "best practices" among coworkers. All software and assignments will require the Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating system; students will not be able to complete all assignments using Macintosh computers.

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CSS 405 Using Information for Competitive Advantage (21249)
George Westerman, MBA.
4 units. Graduate credit $1,200. Monday 7:35-9:35 pm. Science Center B-09. Prerequisite(s): CSS-400 or equivalent experience. Limited enrollment. Spring term.

This course will provide students with an understanding of the uses of information technology (IT) and how businesses can derive competitive advantage through employing it innovatively. Students spend about half of the course building their understanding of key IT topics, such as systems development, computer components and architecture, data management, and electronic commerce. They then apply their learning through case studies of IT issues in business.

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CSS 406 Managing in a Networked Society (21327)
Deborah Sole, MBA.
4 units. Graduate credit $1,200. Friday 5:30-7:30 pm. Science Center B-09. Prerequisite(s): CSS-400 or equivalent; proficiency with computers, including the use of e-mail, internet tools, word processing, and spreadsheet applications. Limited enrollment. Spring term.

This course examines the impact of an increasingly networked environment in the form of ubiquitous telecommunications, a global information infrastructure, and emerging multimedia technologies. Using cases, we will explore how firms use network-era technologies to develop innovative capabilities in organizational functions such as new product development, operations, marketing, and services and support. Regular access to e-mail and the Internet is essential.

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CSS 408 Spreadsheet Models for Managers (10740)
Richard Brenner, SM, Senior Member, Technical Staff, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. David Beckman, BS, Senior Member, Technical Staff, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.
4 units. Graduate credit $1,200. Monday 5:30-7:30 pm. 53a Church Street 2. Prerequisite(s): CSS-400 or equivalent experience with Excel. Limited enrollment. Fall term.

Using commercial spreadsheets, this course explores practical approaches to business modeling, emphasizing the needs of retail, wholesale, service, publishing, or software concerns ranging in size from start-up to global enterprises. Students learn to model costs, revenue, cash flow, plant and equipment requirements, and employee costs and productivity. Students will develop a business model and use it to study how a business responds to change.

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CSS 412 Information Management for Managers (20747)
Theodore Pappadopoulos, AB, Information Utility Application Manager, University Information Systems, Harvard University.
4 units. Graduate credit $1,200. Thursday 5:30-7:30 pm. Science Center A. Sections to be arranged. Prerequisite(s): successful completion of a data-processing course, such as CSS-400. Limited enrollment. Spring term.

Business managers encounter information management requirements both for personal use and as a company-wide resource. Special emphasis will be placed upon how to build a database that will serve the information needs of some enterprise. This course will introduce the fundamentals of relational database models and database design. Students will build a working database using Microsoft Access. The second part of the course will focus on the practical use of a database, including data entry, querying, reporting, and data import/export. Students also will be exposed to the capability and applicability of spreadsheet and file management systems in managing a database. Students may choose from a variety of software products to complete a final project. Students may not count both CSCI E-253 and CSS-412 toward a Certificate in Applied Sciences.

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CSS 439 Statistics for Managerial Effectiveness (20296)
Robert J. Arnold, PhD, Statistician, Hewlett-Packard Company.
4 units. Graduate credit $1,000. Tuesday 5:30-7:30 pm. Sever Hall 206. Limited enrollment. Spring term.

This course focuses on solving quantitative problems which confront managers on a regular basis. It shows managers how to understand data and deal with variability, and how statistics relate to process quality. Topics include survey design, descriptive statistics, estimation, hypothesis testing, regression, and contingency tables.

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