Business informatics regards itself as an interdisciplinary subject. It connects business administration with computer science. Business informatics also includes information technologies as well as technical subjects and research topics. It is more than just an intersection of research fields and offers e.g. special methods to coordinate corporate strategies and information processing.
The module introduces the entire scope of the field of business informatics.

Professional competence
The students:

• Describe the key aspects of business informatics
• Differentiate business informatics as an interdisciplinary subject from other subjects
• Characterise the functionality of essential application systems and management structures, from the strategical to the tactical and operative level.
• Consider and evaluate case studies and layout options for the conception, development, implementation, usage and maintenance of operational sociotechnical applications systems

Methodological competence
The students:

• Model technical and sociotechnical processes using suitable tools
• Analyse business processes and the demands on their modification and their technical assistance
• Abstract from complex systems in a suitable way to improve the manageability of models

Social competence
The students:

• Present their solutions in front of other groups
• Discuss their outcomes

Self-competence
The students:

• Develop solutions for case studies in groups
• Construct an argument based on aquired knowledge

The main topics of business informatics are the presentation and evaluation of configuration options to conceptualise, develop, implement, use and maintain operational sociotechnical application systems. The lecture focusses on information systems of the networked company. Technical, economic, organisational, and psychosocial aspects are considered. The understanding of these relations will be trained by means of case studies taken from Laudon et al. (cf. suggested reading). The lecture gives an overview of the following business informatics fields.

-Information systems, (object of BI)
-Application systems
-E-Commerce and E-Business
-Ethical, social and political aspects
-Business process integration
-Knowledge management
-Support of decision making
-Reorganisation of companies
-Economic evaluation

For a better understanding of each subject, it is recommended to take specific modules later in the course of studies.

At the end of the lecture period

Tasks and active partaking during the exercises / written exam or oral exam