Erivan K. Haub School of Business 

Students in the Master of Science in Business Intelligence Program complete a total of 10 courses in a sequenced program, as follows:

DSS 4415: Foundations for Business Intelligence (must take first)
DSS 4715: Developing Decision Making Competencies
DSS 5515: Concepts and Practice of DSS Modeling
DSS 5525: Database Management Theory and Practice
DSS 5535: Enterprise Data
DSS 5545: Applied Business Intelligence
DSS 5555: Advanced Business Intelligence
DSS 5565: Critical Performance Management
DSS 5575: Advanced Business Intelligence II
DSS 5585: Management Issues in Business Intelligence

MSBI Core Course Descriptions

DSS 4415 Foundations for Business Intelligence 3 credits
This course is intended to provide an integrative foundation in the field of business intelligence at the operational, tactical, and strategic levels. Topics such as value chain, customer service management, business process analysis and design, transaction processing systems, management information systems, and executive information systems will be covered, along with other topics relevant to the field of business intelligence.

DSS 4715 Developing Decision-Making Competencies 3 credits
This course will focus on the basic concepts of database technology, data warehousing, and online analytical processing (OLAP), and how they make it easier to get organizational data. The modeling process of identifying, analyzing, interpreting and presenting results so as to transfer the data into decisions will be examined. Students will learn to utilize advanced managerial decision-making tools, such as optimization and simulation, to analyze complex business problems and to arrive at a rational solution. For each of the analysis techniques, the methodology will be developed and applied in a real business context.

DSS 5015 Six Sigma Applications and Foundations I 3 credits
This course is the first of a two course sequence that prepares the student for the Six Sigma Green Belt certification examination. Topics include introduction of Six Sigma and its vocabulary, review of business statistics focusing on hypothesis testing and multiple regression, experimental design and Analysis of Variance, statistical process control, analytic hierarchy process, discrete event simulation and other tools of Six Sigma. This course includes roughly half of the material covered on the Green Belt certification exam.

DSS 5035 Six Sigma Applications and Foundations II 3 credits
This course is the second of a two course sequence that prepares the student for the Six Sigma Green Belt certification examination. Topics include the Six Sigma dashboard and related models (DMAIC, DMADV, DFSS: QFD, DFMEA, and PFMEA), selecting and managing projects, organizational goals, lean concepts, process management and capability, and team dynamics and performance. This course includes the remaining material covered on the Six Sigma Green Belt certification exam.

DSS 5515 Concepts and Practice of DSS Modeling 3 credits
Building on the background of DSS 4715 and DSS 4715, this course will extend the use of spreadsheet modeling and programming capabilities to explore decision models for planning and operations using statistical, mathematical, and simulation tools. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715.

DSS 5525 Database Management Theory and Practice 3 credits
Business Intelligence rests on the foundation of data storage and retrieval. In this course, students will be presented with the theory of operational database design and implementation. The concepts of normalization, database queries and database application development will be introduced using contemporary tools and software for program development. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715.

DSS 5535 Enterprise Data 3 credits
Traditional database design concentrates on the functional areas of business and their database needs. At the strategic and value-chain levels, we look at data across the enterprise and over time. The issues of Enterprise Data in the Data Warehouse, Data Marts, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chin Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), and the concepts of Data Mining will be surveyed in this course. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715, DSS 5515, DSS 5525.

DSS 5545 Applied Business Intelligence 3 credits
Using the case study approach in combination with contemporary software tools, students will apply the concepts of business process analysis and design, quality control and improvement, performance monitory through performance dashboards, and balanced scorecards and process simulation. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715, DSS 5515, DSS 5525, DSS 5535.

DSS 5555 Advanced Business Intelligence 3 credits
The capstone course in the Business Intelligence Program will extend the concepts of data mining to an exploration of a contemporary Data Mining toolset on a large live data set. In this course, students will be encouraged to find the patterns in the data and to prepare reports and presentations describing the implications of their findings. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715, DSS 5515, DSS 5525, DSS 5535.

DSS 5565 Critical Performance Measurement 3 credits
This course integrates the concepts of decision support, database management, critical performance measurement, and key performance indicators through the practical application development of performance dashboards.  When completed, students will be able to design department level, user-oriented applications that capture data from transaction processing systems and present that data for business users in decision-compelling format. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715, DSS 5515, DSS 5525, DSS 5535, DSS 5545, DSS 5555.

DSS 5575 Advanced Business Intelligence II 3 credits
This course extends the data mining process to the predictive modeling, model assessment, scoring, and implementation stages.  In this course, professional data mining software and small and large data sets will be used to effectively analyze and communicate statistical patterns in underlying business data for strategic management decision making. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715, DSS 5515, DSS 5525, DSS 5535, DSS 5545, DSS 5555.

DSS 5585 Management Issues in Business Intelligence 3 credits
Business Intelligence always occurs in an organizational and industry context.  This course examines peripheral factors that can facilitate or impede BI effectiveness.  Students will explore how knowledge management, organizational culture and leadership, organizational communications, and other issues can substantially affect BI's ability to impact organizational decision making.  Strategies for managing BI efforts are discussed. This is a capstone course. Prerequisites:  DSS 4415, DSS 4715, DSS 5515, DSS 5525, DSS 5535, DSS 5545, DSS 5555, DSS 5565, DSS 5575.

Please refer to the current SJU Graduate Catalog for all application, program, course, and graduation requirements.