The master degree in Information Systems Management lasts for two years, and is comprised of 120 ECTS credits, divided between: 48 in compulsory curricular units, 24 in optional courses, 6 in free electives and 42 for the dissertation or project.
The indicated electives will be available in the evening, allowing the student to choose the recommended courses or others that fit their schedule.
Programme Structure for 2025/2026
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2nd Year
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Objectives
LG1. Understand why agile methodologies are important for project management specially for ITSM
LG2. Understand why ITSM is important and how complex is to apply it.
LG3. Learn about the main standards and frameworks of ITSM. The main focus should rely on ITIL.
LG4. Understand how DEVOPS works as well as how it links with ITIL and ITSM.
LG5. Learn about SCRUM methodology. Which are the main advantages and how one can apply it in practice to better manage ITSM projects.
LG6. Teach students the main roles and responsibilities of SCRUM, ITIL and DEVOPS as well as how these methodologies can works all together to promote IT service improvement and increase organizational productivity.
Program
This UC has the following program contents (CPs):
CP1 [Frame and Motivation]
Global vision of ITSM
CP2 [ITIL & ITSM]
Introduce the main ITSM framework: ITIL
CP3 [DEVOPS]
Introduce DEVOPS methodology and respective practices
CP4 [ITIL & DEVOPS]
Explain how DEVOPS and ITIL can work together to improve the ITSM
CP5 [SCRUM]
Introduce and explain SCRUM. Detail its content and elements as well as their meaning and field of application.
CP6 [SCRUM & ITSM]
Explain how SCRUM and ITSM relate. Plus, detail the advantages of using SCRUM in ITSM projects.
CP7 [Applicational Architecture]
Explain how the approached methodologies can work all together aiming to both improve ITSM efficiency and improve ITSM project success.
Evaluation process
This curriculum unit does not have an exam. Its practical approach is assessed by a project.
Evaluation throughout the semester:
Group assignment
Part1 (P1) - 40% of the grade
Part2 (P2) - 40% (first season)
Individual presentation (IP) - 20% (first season)
Formula::
Final grade = (P1*0,4+P2*0,4 + IP*0,2)
The students can:
Second season: improve their IA or deliver a new project for 100% of the grade (individual assignment without oral discussion)
Special season: deliver a new project for 100% of the grade (individual assignment without oral discussion)
Bibliography
Mandatory Bibliography
Kim, G. (2019). The unicorn project. Portland, OR: IT Revolution Press.
Kim, G., Behr, K., & Spafford, G. (2013). The Phoenix project. It Revolution Press.
Freeman, E. (2019). DevOps for dummies. For Dummies.
Axelos. (2019). ITIL Foundation. Norwich, England: Stationery Office Books.
Schwaber, K., & Sutherland, J. (2020). The SCRUM Guide. https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2020/2020-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf
Optional Bibliography
Objectives
OA1. Deepen the mastery of the most used frameworks for IT governance.
OA2. Acquire critical thinking about practical constraints regarding business/IT alignment.
OA3. Realize the impact that a good / bad IT investment can bring in relation to success for the business.
OA4. Gain awareness of the various mechanisms for IT governance and how these can be used to achieve a better strategic alignment between business and IT.
OA5. Understand how risk and compliance management is directly related to governance and what influence does it has on its success.
OA6. Understand the role of IT in innovation and how IT can help the business to differentiate itself in the marketplace.
OA7. Understand the importance of planning properly and analyzing the benefits.
Program
CP1 [Principles and concepts]
Main principles and concepts on IT governance.
CP2 [IT governance vs management]
Main differences between governing and managing IT.
CP3 [IT governance mechanisms]
Mechanisms for IT governance, as well as their functionalities.
CP4 [IT strategy management]
Clarify the importance of good IT planning and keep your business strategy and IT aligned.
CP5 [IT value]
Understand the cost / benefit of IT investments.
CP6 [IT performance]
Application and relevance of a Balance ScoreCard in IT.
CP7 [IT risk management]
Importance of risk management and how it can be applied.
CP8 [IT compliance management]
The importance of keeping in line with the various external and internal policies.
CP9 [Innovation]
How to use IT to empower business.
CP10 [Frameworks for IT governance]
Introduction to the main frameworks in the market for guiding/supporting IT governance.
Evaluation process
Given the nature of the contents taught, the evaluation will encompass an individual assignment. Its subject should be aligned with part of the syllabus. Although not mandatory, the contextualization of this assignment in the reality of companies will be encouraged.
First delivery - 30%
Final delivery - 50%
Presentation - 20% (Public session)
The presentation is the only assessment to be performed during the first season
Students still have second season and special season to deliver the project weighing each 100%.
This UC does not have exam.
Bibliography
Mandatory Bibliography
?Slides de Fundamentos de Governação das TI, Rúben Pereira, disponíveis na plataforma de e-learning (à medida que os temas forem introduzidos), 2017/2018
?Enterprise Governance of Information Technology: Achieving Strategic Alignment and Value, Van Grembergen and Steven de Haes, 2009th Edition, Springer, 2009.
?IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results, Peter Weil and Jeanne Ross, Harvard Business School, 2004
Optional Bibliography
?Artigos científicos que serão explicitamente indicados na plataforma de e-learning
?IT Governance: Policies and Procedures, Michael Wallace and Larry Webber, 2017 Edition, Wolters Kluwer, 2016
?Implementing World Class IT Strategy: How IT Can Drive Organizational Innovation, Peter A. High, 1st Edition, Jossey-Bass, 2014
?Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance: It Can't Happen to Us--Avoiding Corporate Disaster While Driving Success, Richard M. Steinberg, Wiley, 2011
?Adventures of an IT Leader, Robbert D. Austin and Richard L. Nolan, Harvard Business School, 2009
Objectives
At the end of this course, students should:
O1. Know the general sequence of procedures that take place in an investigation.
O2. Know how to identify / confirm the existence of open problems, through a systematized literature review.
O3. Know the rudiments of various methodological approaches to research and understand their applicability conditions.
O4. Have had contact with various techniques and tools used by researchers.
O5. Learn how to select the processes of data collection, organization, processing and analysis.
Program
1st SEMESTER
P1: State of the art and research questions
It involves a critical literature review, guided by a protocol defining the research scope and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The characterization of the state of the art should justify the choice of the topic and the relevance of the research questions.
P2: Training of writing and presentation skills for scientific works
Encompasses participating in seminars, cooperative workshops (e.g. posters session), mini courses and attending public defenses.
2nd SEMESTER
P3: Implementation and validation of proposed contributions
The validation of contributions must be made by demonstrating the compliance with the steps of the adopted scientific method(s), and/or by comparing the results obtained with the state of the art, and/or through their dissemination in peer-reviewed scientific venues.
P4: Dissertation writing
Must comply with the graphic presentation standards in force.
Evaluation process
I) EVALUATION during the semester
- 25% first individual delivery (during semester)
- 75% Individual project (first season)
The student can use the 2nd season or special season (individual project and different topic).
Bibliography
Mandatory Bibliography
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications (4th edition)
Berndtsson, M., Hansson, J., Olsson, B., & Lundell, B. (2008). Thesis projects: a guide for students in computer science and information systems. Springer Science & Business Media (2nd edition).
Saunders, Mark et al (2016), Research Methods for Business Students, England, Pearson Education Limited (7th edition).
Optional Bibliography
Artigos selecionados ilustrando a aplicação de vários métodos de investigação
Rúben Pereira. Várias coleções de slides sobre vários métodos, técnicas e ferramentas de investigação (a disponibilizar progressivamente na plataforma de e-learning)
Objectives
OA1: Know how to systematically review relevant literature in a given technical-scientific field, including technical reports, standards, white papers or tutorials, to substantiate a problem and propose a solution.
OA2: Have selected one or more methodological approaches to achieve the project?s objectives, resulting in one or more technical-scientific contributions.
OA3: Know how to validate the artifacts that constitute the solution to the chosen problem and identify the corresponding validity threats.
OA4: Have learned how to prepare a master's project with quality, both in form and content.
OA5: To be able to present a technical-scientific problem and its motivation, to describe the project carried out to produce a solution for the same and to argue about the validity of the same.
Program
1st SEMESTER
P1:Motivation to the problem and preliminary design of the solution
It involves the review of technical-scientific literature, guided by a protocol and its conclusions should be confirmed by domain experts. This step should clarify the problem relevance and the preliminary design of its solution
P2:Training of writing and presentation skills for technical-scientific works
Encompasses participating in seminars, cooperative workshops (e.g. posters session), mini courses and attending public defenses
2nd SEMESTER
P3: Implementation and validation of the proposed solution
The implementation implies the refinement of the design. Validation implies compliance with the steps of the adopted methodological approach(es) and comparing the proposed solution with the state of the art and/or their dissemination in technical-scientific venue(s) with peer review (e.g. tool demo session in conference)
P4: Project?s report writing
Must comply with the graphic presentation standards in force
Evaluation process
[10% during 1st sem.]
Assiduity in participation in seminars,mini-courses and attending defenses (to announce).
[25%, final 1st sem.]
Assessment of project's report chapters 1 (problem motivation) and 2 (preliminary design of solution) in the official format and the presentation and discussion of a poster on an ISTAR-IUL workshop
[65%, final 2nd sem.]
Project's public defense, which will evaluate the delivered report, its presentation, argumentation capabilities,autonomy and possible dissemination.
Bibliography
Mandatory Bibliography
A bibliografia para esta unidade curricular será a determinada pela aplicação do protocolo de revisão da literatura técnico-científica mencionado no programa.
Optional Bibliography
Objectives
OA1: Know how to systematically review the relevant literature in a given scientific domain, to draw a picture of the state of the art and to identify research questions and expected contributions.
OA2: Have applied one or more research methods to answer research questions, resulting in one or more technical-scientific contributions.
OA3: Know how to validate contributions and identify the corresponding validity threats.
OA4: Have learned how to prepare a master's thesis with quality, both in form and content.
OA5: Being able to present a scientific work and to argue about the validity of its contributions.
Program
1st SEMESTER
P1: State of the art and research questions
It involves a critical literature review, guided by a protocol defining the research scope and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The characterization of the state of the art should justify the choice of the topic and the relevance of the research questions.
P2: Training of writing and presentation skills for scientific works
Encompasses participating in seminars, cooperative workshops (e.g. posters session), mini courses and attending public defenses.
2nd SEMESTER
P3: Implementation and validation of proposed contributions
The validation of contributions must be made by demonstrating the compliance with the steps of the adopted scientific method(s), and/or by comparing the results obtained with the state of the art, and/or through their dissemination in peer-reviewed scientific venues.
P4: Dissertation writing
Must comply with the graphic presentation standards in force.
Evaluation process
The assessment at the end of 1st semester include: research proposal, introduction, literature review, the plan for the next sections, and a presentation.
The final assesment will take into consideration the previous assessment, the quality of the investigation (document), and the quality of the presentation and public discussion.
Bibliography
Mandatory Bibliography
A bibliografia desta unidade curricular será determinada pela UC Introdução à investigação em informática e gestão. Assim como, pelo contexto de investigação de cada aluno.
Optional Bibliography
Recommended optative
The current study plan of the Master allows students to graduate with a specialization in one of two possible areas: Digital Transformation Technologies or Data Science.
In order for a student to have one of these specializations, he will have to register, using the optional curricular units (UC), of the 4 specific UC. Only if you successfully complete the 4 UC in that area you can complete the specialization.
The opening of elective courses, and consequently the specializations, is subject to the selection of courses by a sufficient number of students. It is also important to consider that there are limitations on the number of students enrolled per course.
Digital Transformation Technologies:
03691 | Blockchain
03557 | Business Process Management
02674 | Cloud Techonologies and Systems
04401 | Disruptive Technologies
04412 | Digital Transformation
03579 | Iot for Smart Cities
03746 | Internet of Things Laboratory
Data Science:
03363 | Computational Intelligence and Optimization
02864 | Algorithms for Big Data
02870 | Text Mining
03209 | Data Science Fundamentals
Objectives
The course aims to equip participants with integrated abilities in organizational Information Systems, using the most appropriate and current methodologies, technologies and management principles. It aims to provide students with scientific and methodological skills corresponding to the 2nd cycle in the technological and management fields.
With this master's degree students will have the possibility to deepen knowledge about the main topics required and used by the labour market with regard to the governance and management of information technologies for the benefit of business. Agile, scrum, DevOps, project management, IT governance, IT service management, BPMN, process optimization, data science, ITIL, COBIT, will be some of the main approached topics.
It offers a subsequent cycle of studies to 1st cycle graduates in Information and Business Management, as well as to the graduates of other institutions. It also intends to affirm itself as an alternative for graduates who have followed a 3-year plan and who are looking for a training and learning process that follows standards of a high level of demand and result-orientation.
Students should be able to: communicate effectively in writing and orally; think critically; demonstrate high technical knowledge in the essential areas of information technology and management, relevant to management information systems; demonstrate specific skills for diagnostic, synthesis and research work.
These learning objectives are operationalised through the specific objectives of each course unit, duly specified in the respective FUC, and with a direct correspondence to at least one of the course's learning objectives.
The degree of fulfilment is measured in each course unit, in the respective FUC, which contains the assessment methodologies used for each specific objective.
Thesis / Final work
The program intends for students to develop and demonstrate abilities of independent work, planning, investigating, systematizing, developing, writing (in the form of a dissertation) and presenting their introductory work of scientific activity around a well-defined topic. The work will be guided by a supervisor or recognized specialist that, among other things, will help the candidates to choose the most appropriate research methodology. If the theme chosen is multidisciplinary, it is possible to have a co-supervisor in order to adequately cover the scientific areas involved. This curricular unit ends with the defense of the dissertation made before a jury appointed for this purpose in a public examination.
Iscte strongly encourages dissertations to be written in English, not only because this promotes their international dissemination by making them available in the institutional repository, but also because it facilitates the production of scientific articles based on the results of the research described in the dissertation. The acceptance for publication of such an article in an international event or journal with scientific peer review, prior to the defence, is a factor that will positively influence the final grade obtained in this UC. Please note that the dissertation grade counts for almost half of the final master's degree average, as this average is calculated on the basis of the credit-weighted grades of all the UCs taken within the scope of the MIG.
Although the "dissertation" option is favoured, as it provides a good introduction to the world of research, which is the main forge of knowledge throughout the world, the master's student may opt to carry out a "project work" of an innovative nature, totalling the same credits as a dissertation, whose preparation must be anchored in a well-identified development methodology and whose report, which will also be subject to a public defence before a jury, must meet the same quality requirements as a dissertation. Project work will typically be of a more applied nature than a dissertation and may be carried out within the scope of a research centre linked to ISTA, under the supervision of one of its researchers, or conducted in a company, typically under the supervision of a professor from DCTI or IBS and co-supervised by a specialist of recognised merit from that same company.
Accreditations
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Accredited
6 Years
31 Jul 2025
Accreditation DGES
Initial registry R/A-Ef 1071/2011 de 18-03-2011
Update registry R/A-Ef 1071/2011/AL01 de 13-11-2014 | R/A-Ef 1071/2011/AL02 de 02-06-2020 | R/A-Ef 1071/2011/AL03 de 24-03-2025