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Technology BU professor Ganesan Shankaranarayanan teaches the tech-savvy and tech-phobic alike to appreciate the link between business and technology. Ganesan Shankaranarayanan, assistant professor in the information systems department. Required for all MS- MBA students, the course was singled out for its incor- poration of Unified Mod- eling Language (UML), a data modeling tool that allows programmers to specify the characteristics of the design and architecture of projects. The course also incorporates business pro- cess and data modeling in software environments such as .NET, Workspace, Pow- erBuilder, Java, and Eclipse. Students learn to use UML and other tools to design their own enterprise models. Students in the course BU Honored for Linking Biz and IT The MS-MBA program at Boston University School of Management was recently named a Laureate by the Computer- world Honors Program for its use of information technology. BU's MS- MBA received the recognition in part for its systems design and data management course developed by ranged from those with years of IT experience to those with little or no exposure to IT, says Shankara- narayanan. He had to convince both sets of students that technological understanding is critical to improv- ing an organization's performance and profitability. Shankaranarayanan presents students with three cases: The first is the basis for his teaching in the FINANCIAL TRADING ROOMS By the numBers* BUSINESS SCHOOLS BUILD TRADING ROOMS TO: CREATE A SHOWCASE – 77 percent BOOST PROGRAM QUALITY – 76 percent PROVIDE REAL-LIFE TRADING EXPERIENCE – 70 percent INTRODUCE A STUDENT-MANAGED FUND – 60 percent ATTRACT HIGH-LEVEL FACULTY – 37 percent SCHOOLS' LABS INCLUDE: LED STOCK TICKERS – 72 percent LCD FLAT-PANEL SCREENS TO DISPLAY CUSTOMIZED FINANCIAL CONTENT – 48 percent WORLD CLOCK DISPLAYS – 39 percent CUSTOM LED WALLBOARDS – 41 percent *Source: "Financial Trading Labs Reap Benefits for Colleges and Universities," a survey from Rise 66 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 classroom; the second, for individual home- work assignments; and the third, for team projects. For each case, students identify primary and second- ary business processes, create models that outline the flow and function of these processes, and create data models to show what support is needed to make these processes most effective. In one case, for example, students studied Boston Flicks Inc., a fictional Internet movie-rental company similar to Netflix. In the case, Netflix is considering a hostile takeover of BFI, and students must analyze both companies to see how well Netflix could integrate BFI's operations into its own. As businesses' reliance on IT intensifies, it will be critical for man- agers to align business and technol- ogy, says Shankaranarayanan. "Suc- cessful managers must effectively communicate business requirements to the technologists who implement systems," he says. "They also must understand technology well enough to know how to change and improve business processes to leverage the technology effectively."