With the typical American consumer spending three hours a day on a smartphone, savvy companies are quickly trying to capitalize on new technology that allows them to market their businesses electronically. Continue Reading
On Friday, February 24th, the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department’s Gladstein Lab maxed out in attendance for the second technology workshop of the semester, an Introduction to SQL. The workshop is part of a series of technology workshops being put on by the department throughout the semester, as part of the new OPIM Innovate Initiative.
For those who do not know, SQL (Structured Querying Language) is a data-driven application that retrieves information from databases and allows for creating, processing and querying data by retrieving information.
Anna Radziwillowicz, an Instructor in-Residence at the Hartford and West Hartford campuses, taught the workshop with the goal of giving students a basic understanding of SQL and practice writing queries. Radziwillowicz gave a background on databases before moving into creating a data table.
Three students at the workshop claimed to have previous experience using SQL, Radziwillowicz said. Because the majority of the students did not have any or limited experience, she concentrated on giving students a basic overview of the technology, not going too far in depth. She said that a continuation class was a possibility if there was enough interest.
The OPIM Department created demo accounts for students to practice with SQL. During the workshop, students practiced retrieving data from a database, creating a data table and entering data to the table.
At the end of the workshop, Radziwillowicz said students could request a personal account to further practice with SQL at the Business Help Desk by mentioning completion of the workshop.
Keep up-to-date with the upcoming workshops and register online ahead of time to reserve your spot at the next workshop.
OPIM Innovate is the new initiative adopted by the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department in the Fall 2016. The initiative was developed to market the Management Information Systems (MIS) major and to bring new emerging technology to students.
Department Head Ram Gopal and Instructor in-Residence Jonathan Moore developed and implemented the initiative by expanding the department’s research lab space, bringing in new emerging technology. The lab is equipped with Virtual Reality (VR), 3D Printing, Internet of Things (IoT), Microcontrollers and data analytics.
Initially, the OPIM Department came up with the initiative because they were finding that MIS students with internships in the field were working in innovation centers with technologies, such as IoT, drones, and VR.
“We realized that many interests lie in technology outside the provided curriculum,” Moore said of the expansion.
Moore said that this idea lead to building a more dedicated space for students and faculty in the department to work on projects and learn about different types of technology outside of the classroom. As a whole, the initiative is meant to help students work through the process of completing a project, while learning new technology in the process.
Beginning in the Fall, Moore organized multiple workshops for students featuring different topics relating to new technology. So far there have been workshops about Linux, 3D Printing, Splunk Analytics, IoT, Tableau, and VR. What started as exclusive to MIS students, workshops are now open to all students.
This spring, with the initiative more developed, OPIM Innovate hired a team of students, trained in the design thinking process to operate the Innovation Space and Research lab. Having these students involved helps guide users of the space and to provide technology demonstrations and follow ups to the formal workshops.
An advisory group, made up of students and faculty, has been formed for the initiative to brainstorm different ideas, provide feedback on the current processes and to build buy-in from different areas. Moore said that they are always looking for students or faculty interested in joining the advisory group to share their ideas for the innovation space, future workshops, and to give him any feedback they may have. Any individuals interested in joining the advisory group should contact Jonathan Moore at jonathan.a.moore@uconn.edu.
In the future, Moore hopes to team up with other groups at UConn and potentially outside companies to advance the space and better the experience for students.
The Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department kicked off the first in a series of technology workshops on Friday, February 10th as part of the department’s newly implemented initiative called OPIM Innovate.
OPIM faculty member, Ryan O’Connor instructed the workshop, introducing the Linux operating system. The workshop focused on giving attendees a background on Linux and how to use it.
O’Connor went on to explain the different systems that operate on Linux, such as – research systems, gaming systems, Androids, supercomputers and point-of-sale machines. As for what makes Linux a superior operating system, O’Connor said it is more secure than Windows or Mac.
“Every Facebook post you make, every YouTube video you watch, every Google search you run, is done on Linux,” O’Connor said, quoting an article from ZDNet.
Because of this fact, Linux is important beyond just the information technology field, but in every day life, O’Connor said. The Internet would not run without the Linux system, he said.
When O’Connor asked the group if they had any experience using Linux in the past, many students responded to having some exposure to the software. One student admitted to using Linux for his every day needs for a year, giving up Windows and Mac programs. He said that through this experiment he found that the only thing he missed from other operating systems were the Microsoft Office programs. Other than that, he said Linux was very efficient.
Another student said that prior to the workshop he was aware of Linux. Alex, an engineering student, said he came to the workshop to gain more exposure and experience with the technology because he knows just how widely it is used.
To conclude the workshop, O’Connor gave students information on how to get up and running with Linux, using VirtualBox software.
Despite the snow from the day before, there were 22 students in attendance for the workshop, which took place in the OPIM Department’s Gladstein Lab. The majority of attendees registered in advance with a few students walking in.
The next workshop, an Introduction to SQL, will take place on Friday, February 24th in the Gladstein Lab. Interested individuals are encouraged to sign up ahead of time to secure a spot.
Extra research, attention to detail, and a lively presentation boosted an MSBAPM team from Hartford to a championship in a hard-fought, three-month, four-round Travelers Analytics Case Competition. Continue Reading
The OPIM Department is excited to announce the schedule for this semester’s technology workshops. The first in a series of skill-building workshops will be held next week, followed by three others over the course of the semester.
All workshops will be held in the OPIM Research Lab (BUSN 391). Food and refreshments will be provided for participants.
Over the course of the spring semester we plan to have the following workshops:
All workshops will be capped at 20 people so be sure to register online ahead of time.
HYPE Blog– Master degrees in Business Administration (MBAs) seem like they’re a dime a dozen. And if you look at any compiled list of colleges and universities that offer MBAs, it certainly looks like it. But there are a small number of schools that can boast their MBA return on investment (ROI) are “among the best in the country with affordable tuition and competitive base salaries”. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could say you got your MBA from a school that ranks in the top 25 public universities by US News, or in the top 100 MBA programs by the Financial Times, or in the top schools by Forbes Magazine and Business Week?
OPIM professor James Marsden, a 24-year School of Business faculty member, has received an international, lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the field of information systems. Continue Reading
The Dean’s Office at the UConn School of Business sponsored a workshop on Tableau data visualization software for students in the Business Connections Learning Center (BCLC). The two-hour workshop took place on the morning of Thursday, December 1st, with 20 students in attendance, the majority of whom were freshmen.The workshop was co-taught by two faculty members in the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department – Jon Moore and Ryan O’Connor.
The purpose of the workshop was to introduce freshmen and sophomore undergraduate students to data analytics technology and data visualization. The workshop allowed students to learn more about the Management Information Systems (MIS) major and potentially spark their interests in the subject.
The instructors walked students through basic data visualization on the Tableau software and allowed students to experiment with different data sets. The workshop finished with an open-ended problem that asked students to find different stock price data sets and visualize them. The goa
l was to allow students to visualize and connect the data sets to real world business problems.
Moore said that the workshop allowed students to learn more about how to use technology in their respective majors. A variety of majors were represented, including MIS, Marketing, Accounting and Finance.
The event was voluntary and Moore was pleased with the turn out. He said that it was very rewarding to see the amount of students that expressed interest in the subject. Following the workshop, O’Connor gave students resources to learn more about Tableau going forward.