Business Processes and Information Technology

This text prepares students to effectively use, manage, and participate in the development of information technology applications in support of common business processes. Interconnections among an organization's management, business processes, information systems and information technology are brought out in each chapter. Another emphasis throughout the text is the governance, control, and security of business processes, information systems--especially underlying financial information systems--and emerging technologies. Moreover, the text centers around three themes: IT innovations, e-business and enterprise systems.

Ulric J. (Joe) Gelinas, Jr., Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus at Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts. He also conducts course development and instruction for PricewaterhouseCoopers on business processes, internal control, and IT auditing topics. Dr. Gelinas is Senior Consultant for MIS Training Institute, and he teaches in the University of Maastricht’s International Executive Master of Finance and Control Program. He received his A.B. in Economics from St. Michael’s College, Winooski, Vermont, and his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Professor Gelinas has also taught at the University of Tennessee and at Vesalius College, Vrije Universtiteit Brussel in Brussels, Belgium. Professor Gelinas has published articles on interorganizational collaboration and coordination infrastructures, accounting information systems, using technology in business education, technical communications, and information privacy. In 2003, Professor Gelinas received the Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Education Award from the American Accounting Association. He has made presentations and conducted workshops at the International Conference of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA); ISACA’s Computer Audit, Control, and Security (CACS) conferences; as well as other professional groups. He is a member of the American Accounting Association, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, Beta Alpha Psi, and Beta Gamma Sigma. Professor Gelinas was a member of the U.S. expert panel that reviewed Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) and has conducted COBIT workshops throughout the world. He is the author of Implementation Tool Set, a volume that accompanies the second and third editions of COBIT. In his spare time, Professor Gelinas is engaged in his favorite activities: sailing, hiking, and bird watching.

Steve G. Sutton, Ph.D., CPA, is the Myers Chair of Accounting Information Systems at The University of Connecticut. He received his BSA, MA, and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Professor Sutton has also taught at the University of Calgary, Arizona State University West, Bryant College, and Texas Tech University. His audit and information systems consulting experience with Mayer Hoffman McCann, CPAs, and KPMG Peat Marwick, along with experience as a computer operator with Deere & Co., support his teaching and research interests in accounting information systems, auditing, and accounting education. Professor Sutton is the founding and continuing editor of Advances in Accounting Information Systems and a founding and continuing co-chair of the annual Accounting Information Systems Research Symposium. In addition, he serves as a departmental editor for the journal, Database. Professor Sutton is also a co-author of the monograph, Productivity and Quality Measurement Systems for Internal Auditing (Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation) and co-editor of another monograph, Behavioral Accounting Research: Foundations and Frontiers (American Accounting Association). Professor Sutton has published over 50 journal articles and made over 50 conference presentations on accounting information systems, auditing, and computers in accounting education. He has made continuing education presentations for both the international association and Phoenix Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors and the American Public Power Association, as well as several public accounting firms. He is a past chair of the Information Systems Section of the American Accounting Association. Among Professor Sutton's hobbies are 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, travel, skiing, and hiking.

Jane Fedorowicz, the Rae D. Anderson Chair of Accounting and Information Systems, holds appointments in both the Accountancy and Computer Information Systems departments at Bentley College. Her expertise in integrating IT into business degree programs has been instrumental in launching several initiatives at the College, notably, undergraduate and graduate programs in Accounting Information Systems and the E-business concentration in the MBA program. She took a leading role in developing Bentley¿s Accounting Center for Electronic Learning and Business Measurement (ACELAB), a hands-on, state-of-the-art technology facility. Professor Fedorowicz holds MS and PhD degrees in Systems Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS from the University of Connecticut. Before joining the Bentley faculty in 1994, she taught at Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. She is a member of the AICPA Precertification Education Executive Committee. She is Vice President of Affiliated Organizations for the Association for Information Systems (AIS), Northeast regional representative for the Emerging Technologies Section of the American Accounting Association, and co-general chair for the 2001 Americas Conference for Information Systems of AIS. Professor Fedorowicz has published over 60 articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings. Her research spans a wide range of IT issues and technologies impacting individual and organizational effectiveness. The American Accounting Association recognized Professor Fedorowicz with the 1997 Notable Contribution to the Information Systems Literature Award, and she was recently selected as Bentley College¿s Scholar of the Year for 2000.