Risk Management Graduate Courses

This overview course examines the management issues involved with assessing the security and risk environments in both the private and public sectors in order to assure continuous system-wide operations. The course studies the elements of operational and technological risk assessment and operational continuity using a project management framework and quantitative risk metrics. Students are exposed to the role of the firm in crisis response and management as well as the terms, systems, and interactions necessary to assure continuous operations. Topics include: the role and need for comprehensive assurance strategy and planning; information security; an overview of the system-wide structure; the social and emotional impact on the workforce as well as its effect on productivity; and the organizational infrastructure relating to national, regional, and international compliance.   [ 4 cr. ]

Students are exposed to the important issues relating to corporate and organizational security and risk from both the perspective of systems designed to protect against disasters and aspects of emergency preparedness should systems fail. Engineering science is applied to security areas that include information technology, terrorism, and other organization disruptions. Students study proactive risk assessment through analytical risk analysis techniques and simulations. Students will be able to design a company or agency global assurance plan, organize the strategy to make the plan operational, and implement control measures to assess the plan's degree of success. The course also provides explanations of legal/regulatory, auditing, and industry- specific requirements related to compliance, control, and reporting issue sin business risk management. The role of establishing and maintaining standards by local, national, and international agencies is discussed, as is the importance of these agencies in certifying operations. *Prereq: MET AD610  [ 4 cr. ]

This course takes concepts covered in MET AD617 and applies them in more detail mainly to the corporate-private sector environment. During this course, we will first review the organization and processes necessary to effectively respond to and manage incidents, including the transition from emergency response and incident management to business recovery. The course will focus on disaster recovery, an absolutely essential but sometimes overlooked component of any successful corporate recovery program. Here, the emphasis is on technology recovery. This includes reviewing the key components of the IT infrastructure; how these components are accounted for in the response and recovery processes; and some best practices in technology recovery modelling. Several emerging technologies relative to cloud computing, information security, etc., are also examined. Prereq: MET AD617  [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: METAD571
The course offers an overview of the key current and emerging enterprise risk analytical approaches used by corporations and governmental institutions and is focused on understanding and implementing the enterprise risk management framework on how to leverage the opportunities around a firm to increase firm value. The major risk categories of the enterprise risk management such as financial risk, strategic risk, and operational risk will be discussed and risk analytics approaches for each of these risks will be covered. Students will learn how to use interlinked data inputs, analytics models, business statistics, optimization techniques, simulation, and decision-support tools. An integrated enterprise risk analytics approach will be demonstrated with examples from different functional areas of the enterprise. R, SQL, and Power BI software are used in this course.   [ 4 cr. ]

The course presents, assesses, and discusses the contemporary theories, methods and practices related to business continuity (BC), business continuity management (BCM) and resiliency planning. The course incorporates the underpinnings of enterprise-wide risk management (ERM); however, it is designed to focus on broad-based threats, vulnerabilities, unexpected events, emergencies, and crises that may impacts organizations and their leaders and professionals. The course focuses on the design, development and applications of resilience, emergency planning, crisis management, BC, and disaster recovery used by organizations in the private sector. It presents a comprehensive, cutting-edge technologies pertaining BCM in complex organizations and challenging environments. Technological innovations are used to involve a complex array of high-level developments that result in transitions and transformations of businesses. Finally, the environmental considerations center on connections between business and the natural law.   [ 4 cr. ]

Focuses on how leading organizations manage a wide array of technology-related threats and vulnerabilities, ranging from routine outages and operational errors to infrastructure breakdowns and systems failures - right up to significant data breaches, denial of service and ransomware attacks. Principles of technology resilience and its role within the organizational enterprise risk management structure are reviewed, the technology risk landscape is evaluated, the importance of governance and compliance are reinforced, and the infrastructure and processes necessary for organizations to effectively manage technology- related incidents are examined. The course includes how enterprises transition from incident management to technology recovery, and how leading companies design and implement cybersecurity and privacy programs. Prerequisite: MET AD 610.  [ 4 cr. ]

Introduction to the concepts, methods and problems of accounting and financial analysis. Includes accounting principles, measurement and disclosure issues, financial statement analysis, time value of money, cash flow projection and analysis, capital budgeting and project evaluation, bond and equity valuation, cost of capital and capital structure. 4 cr. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking.  [ 4 cr. ]

The course explores modern project management by providing an enterprise- level, experiential view of the discipline focused on connecting projects to the organization's mission, vision, and values. The theme of the course is applying key project management tools and techniques, through case-based group work, which will help students identify, analyze, and develop practical proposals to real-world issues. Groups select, plan, report, and then present on their project's scope, schedule, cost, risk, quality, and communications elements using tools such as the WBS, network diagram, PERT estimate, Gantt chart (including the use of MS Project), risk register, and heat map. Students also gain familiarity with important new concepts in project management: Agile frameworks, actionable sustainability thinking, and Benefits Realization Management, all of which will be important for their success not only in other graduate courses, but as they lead projects for their organizations so as to provide lasting, triple-bottom-line value. The course is aligned with the latest PMBOK? Guide from the Project Management Institute.   [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: MET PM100
This course introduces students to macro and micro approaches to project cost estimation. Case studies of both pre-project and in- process estimating examine some of the more common perils of human irrationality associated with project estimation to help develop more sensible, achievable project outcomes. Students learn how to manage both project cost and schedule objectives throughout their projects using the Earned Value and Earned Schedule Measurement Systems. Students then study risk management through an examination of both individual and overall project risk and apply their learnings using advanced risk management software in an actual case study. Students also study project quality management, procurement/contract management, and project ethics and professional conduct using case study scenarios.  [ 4 cr. ]

The course provides a detailed examination of the history of e-commerce, along with important concepts related to the ways that businesses can successfully use Internet and Web technology. Students are introduced to the concepts and problems associated with electronic commerce. Topics include comparison of e-commerce procedures, payment mechanisms, applications in different industry sectors, security, the challenges of starting and maintaining an electronic business site, as well as a comparison with traditional business practices. The development of a WordPress-themed website is a minor feature of the course. 4cr.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course considers macroeconomic factors of relevance to the firm: aggregate economic activity, cyclical movements, and fiscal and monetary policies. The course reviews the problems of decision-making relating to demand, production, costs, market structure, and price, and provides an analysis of the interplay between governments, economic systems, labor, and multinational corporations (MNCs). Topics include: the basis for the existence, organization, and growth of MNCs; a comparison of major economic and government systems; areas include the impact on the firm's business transactions and trade due to taxation, regulation, legal environments and labor influences. This course additionally investigates the relationship between the interaction of national culture and development. Topics range from developing nations' rain forest and species management to pollution generated by developed nations. Culture, policy, and development are also discussed in relation to the impact of the business interactions (agriculture, fishing, technology transfer, etc.) among developing and developed nations.  [ 4 cr. ]

The purpose of this course is to help improve business problem solving and managerial decision-making through the use of quantitative and qualitative decision-making tools and techniques. This course will provide the student with an overview of how decisions are made to solve management problems in the business environment. It introduces the fundamental concepts and methodologies of the decision-making process, problem-solving, decision analysis, data collection, probability distribution, evaluation, and prediction methods. Students will learn how to apply different quantitative and qualitative analytical tools commonly used in business to provide a depth of understanding and support to various decision-making activities within each subject area of management. Through the use of case studies of decisions made by managers in various production and service industries and a business simulation package specifically prepared for this course, the scope and breadth of decision-making in business will be described.  [ 4 cr. ]

Addresses the specifics of new product and service development and fostering innovation and technology to increase performance. Topics include generating and screening initial ideas; assessing user needs and interests; forecasting results; launching, and improving products and programs; bringing innovation to commercial reality.   [ 4 cr. ]

A directed study course consisting of an applied research project that concerns a special topic of interest to an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) student. The course is especially designed for working professionals who have special ERM- related interests that are not covered in existing courses. The project generally culminates with a written paper and oral presentation. Research is conducted under intensive faculty supervision. Requires department approval and project supervisor from full-time or part-time faculty.  [ 4 cr. ]