The J.P. Allen Blog

The Ultimate Systems Reading List

So many books, so few weeks in a semester….

Check out the books we’ll be reading this fall in Systems class. A random selection is above. The entire list, with brief commentary, can be found at LibraryThing.

If only I could force students to read them cover to cover…we’re only taking brief excerpts from each, sadly.

Systems class final projects

It’s the end of another semester, and that means it’s final project time for our undergraduate Systems in Organizations class. Our Systems class is a cool combo of process design, operations, and technology. By the end of the class, the students should have many tools, ideas, and techniques for making things work better in organizations.

Our projects this semester included:

• Reducing check-in delays at a downtown hotel
• Reducing the amount of expired product thrown away at a major beverage distributor
• Eliminating manual timesheet processing at a university cafeteria
• Reducing incorrect order entry at an Asian food manufacturer
• Improving the email capabilities of an online application system for a student organization
• Redesigning the USF dorm assignment process
• Improving pizza delivery with online service
• Addressing information access problems at the San Francisco Police Department
• Improving the language tutoring process
• Improving disabled access to ATMs

Click below to get short project summaries. Thanks to all the 308 students for putting up with the JP way! Read the rest of this entry »