GISE - Courses
Program Structure
The GISE Certificate Program consists of 13 graduate-level credits. Autumn and winter quarters focus on integrated lectures encompassing systems engineering, project management, finance, and supply chain as well as a seminar series. In the spring quarter, participants complete an extensive team design project.
Autumn and Winter Quarters, 2011-2012
Schedule: A two-day Introduction session (September 23-24, 2011), followed by once-weekly integrated lectures on Thursday evenings (3:30-8:00pm) cover the following material:
| Systems Engineering | Project Management | Finance | Supply Chain |
|
Top-down problem solving Decision analysis SE methodologies Systems analysis Requirements analysis Functional modeling Trade studies |
Project initiation and selection Project planning and scheduling Spreadsheet models and tools Risk management Cash flows and costs Critical chain Monitoring and control |
Time value of money NPV and IRR Pricing Sources of risk Elements of cost Risk-adjusted discount rates Competitive business environment Business profitability and margins |
Global logistics & distribution Managing inventory/optimal policies Risk & coordination mechanisms Mass customization Vendor managed inventory Bullwhip effect |
As part of the integrated lectures, a seminar series called ‘Developing the Global Perspective’ will take place. To succeed in a global and interconnected world, GISE students need international knowledge and cross-cultural communication skills.
Cross-cultural communication skills: Students need to understand how different cultures communicate so that effective working relationships can be established and how negotiation may be properly approached.
International knowledge: Students need to understand the effect that globalization is having on an enterprise with respect to organizational structure, international partners, virtual employees, outsourced projects, management skills, etc.
Global Perspective Seminar Topics
- Cross-cultural communication (4 sessions)
- International team building
- Managing outsourced projects
- Organizational change in the global environment
- Managing virtual teams
Spring Quarter 2012
Schedule: A two-day project initiation session (March 23-24, 2012. Attendance is mandatory.), followed by Thursday evening sessions for project review and technical advising. Final project presentations will be on Thursday, May 31, 2012.
The Design Project
The program concludes with a comprehensive team-based design effort involving a large-scale system. This project provides a culminating experience through which students bring together the systems analysis and design, project management, and financial modeling skills they have learned in the fall and winter quarters and apply them to a real-world problem using real data and presenting their results to an evaluation panel comprised of practitioners, academics, and client representatives. In the spring quarter, the teams will meet in person for two days at the beginning for project introduction, problem formulation, and team development; the teams will come together for the final presentation at the end of the quarter. In between, the teams will set their own schedules, but will come together, in person or virtually, every other class period for enrichment topics and project reviews.
