ACCT-130
Explore Business Management with Information Technology Fundamentals
Designed for working adults, an online business management degree with a concentration in the fundamentals of information technology is directly applicable to the organizational challenges you face every day in your business environment. Whether you're changing careers or seeking to advance in your field, this specialized business management technology degree in information technology can help you reach your professional goals.
Learn how to integrate core business functions in finance, economics, and marketing to strategically address complex issues in today’s ever-evolving business landscape. By becoming trained in key business operations, you will learn to use network components, fundamental cybersecurity concepts, and key functions of database design to examine data and test and develop applications at an organization. Your business management technology course studies will build out your technical competency in business technology—including theoretical concepts and applications—as well as your professional knowledge and problem-solving skill driving business management solutions in other functional areas—from strategic planning to project management. Earning an information technology in business degree online will shape you into an effective leader and increase your value at your workplace from your first day of classes.
Build Your Career Future
Having a degree can increase both your immediate job prospects and your long-term career potential. Our accredited online business IT degree provides you with the business acumen and subject matter expertise necessary to succeed in a variety of career paths, training you in both foundational business skills and in-demand soft skills that you can carry through your career.
To earn a BS in Business Management with a certificate in Information Technology Fundamentals you must use general elective credits. Simply connect with your academic advisor and they will assist you in making sure you have your elective credits earmarked for the certificate to give your degree a competitive edge.
Fast Start Formula Career Bundle
Propel your career even further with our Fast Start Formula Career Bundle designed to get you noticed and get you hired. Gain access to the Fast Start Formula Career Course, the Landing A Job You'll Love Ebook, and live webinars with "hot seat" coaching by Executive Career Coach Jen Morris.
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Academic Excellence and Recognition
Regionally accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education
Designated as a Military Friendly School for our commitment to the military community
Ranked among the best by Tech Guide for game design and computer science
Named the among the best schools with accelerated bachelor's degrees by Intelligent.com
What Can You Do With a Degree in Business & IT?
Professionals with academic backgrounds in business management and IT will be prepared to succeed in a variety of career paths, including administration services, business analysis, operations, sales, and more.
Due to an increasingly complex global business landscape, business and financial occupations are expected to grow 8% from 2020 to 2030. The median annual wage for these roles is $72,250.* Additionally, computer and IT occupations are expected to grow 13% from 2020 to 2030. The median annual salary for information technology professionals is $91,250.*
*Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 2020; jobs titles: Payscale, 2020
Top Jobs
- Business Development Specialist
- Computer Programmer
- Computer Support Specialist
- Computer Systems Analyst
- Database Administrator
- Financial Analyst
- IT Manager
- Management Consultant
- Office Manager
- Operations Manager
- Network and Computer Systems Administrator
- Sales Representative
Program Details
Learn more about Champlain's 100% online business management bachelor's degree with an information technology fundamentals track, designed for working professionals.
Champlain's online business management courses encompass the top skills needed by today's business professionals. Graduates of the program are required to complete the following courses.
To earn a BS in Business Management with a certificate in Information Technology Fundamentals you must use general elective credits. Simply connect with your academic advisor and they will assist you in making sure you have your elective credits earmarked for the certificate to give your degree a competitive edge.
Business Core Courses (21 credits)
Management Core Courses (24 credits)
Capstone (3 credits)
General Education Courses (42 credits)
General Electives (30 credits)
Business Core Courses
Accounting is the language of business. This course introduces the student to accounting from the point of view of the user of financial reports and is appropriate for personal as well as business applications. Students explore the impact of transactions on the financial position and profitability of a business, and analyze financial reports of real-world corporations.
Managerial accounting focuses on the needs of management for accounting information to make informed decisions in the internal operations of a company. Topics include decision-making, accounting for planning and control, cost-volume-profit relationships, and budgeting.
Prerequisites
Provides an overview of the entire legal system, with an emphasis on contract rights. Discusses the essential elements of a contract, the breach of contracts and the remedies for breach. Presents business and consumer laws, including white-collar crime, landlord-tenant rights, real property interests and administrative law.
At the very base, businesses organize resources to earn a return on investments. Students are introduced to this concept from a process-based and integrative perspective; i.e. understanding how assets and people come together to accomplish their goal. They also learn about factors that can impact a business's success including socially responsible factors, globalization, innovative thinking and technology. Students use current articles and discussions to develop informed opinions about the place of their organizations and their leaders in the global economy.
Business analytics and data visualization transform data into business insights to allow for better decision-making. This course utilizes a combination of existing datasets and common analytics tools to teach new and emerging managers, without backgrounds in data science, how to evaluate data, consider available options, and present a graphical representation of data outcomes for decision-makers.
The American Marketing Association defines Marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. In this course, students will learn marketing terminology and principles including the marketing mix, marketing segmentation and how external forces impact marketing strategy as well as how marketing fits into the organization.The impact of ethical issues, diversity, globalization and social responsibility on marketing decisions will also be examined.
MGMT 240 is a finance course for managers. It explores financial measurements, the artful application of numbers to solve problems, building financial analysis skills, and the big-picture context needed to understand why finance matters in business management and decision-making. A subset of topics covered in the course include the time value of money, financial statement analysis, ratio analysis, investments, and capital management.
Prerequisites
ACCT-120, ACCT-130, ACCT-140, or equivalent introductory accounting course
The perspectives, beliefs, and preferences of employees in today's workplace are more diverse than perhaps ever before. Today's high-performing managers are those who foster inclusive, positive, and responsive organizational cultures for their people. But with such varied perspectives, what cultural considerations make the most sense for an organization? Management in the 21st Century will teach students how to foster a workplace environment where people can flourish and are motivated to meet objectives and ambitions for the organization.
Students will learn about the application of positive individual and group strengths and capacities that can be recognized, evaluated, and expanded to advance organizational well-being. This course encourages students to apply positive organizational behavior processes to everyday challenges organizations face to drive positive workplace behaviors and outcomes. This course also helps students to practice and gain skills, knowledge, and competencies to become positive and impactful leaders and change-makers from whatever position they hold.
Students will learn how to create conditions for successful conflict engagement, a necessary skill for any professional. The course focuses on the foundational capacities to remain calm and connected with oneself and others. In this state students can access helpful ideas and responses and be their best selves regardless of environment. Improving facility for conflict creates stronger relationships and reduces fear. By the end of the course, students will understand that disagreement and difference can become a source of personal and interpersonal growth.
Students will learn effective workplace negotiation skills and strategies that they can apply in a wide variety of business contexts including operations, business development, sales, and client relations. Students will explore the negotiation process, including identifying the objectives, challenges and motivations of each party, the various transactional structures that can achieve each party's objectives and the ethical, professional, political, and social issues that can arise in a business negotiation.
In this course students will apply strength-based approaches to support organizations through technological disruption. Key topics such as digital disruption, strategic innovation, digital transformation, and ethical considerations when adopting new technologies will be addressed with focus on leveraging strengths to navigate and capitalize on opportunities in times of change. Additionally, students will develop an understanding of how emerging technologies impact industries and business models, and how to navigate technological change to seize opportunities and mitigate risks.
Prerequisites
Take MGMT-110
Organizations cannot avoid change and must embrace it if they wish to remain competitive. However, oftentimes organizational change initiatives fail as a result of poor decision-making, leading to organizational discontent. The goal of positive change leadership is to lead individuals and groups toward opportunities for growth. It entails understanding the factors that cause people to resist change, assisting them in embracing change, and taking the initiative to foster a change-friendly environment within the organization.
Students will explore the field of Organization Development, with particular emphasis on the strength-based research, theory, and tools emerging in the social sciences that are informing modern approaches to organizational change. Students will explore concepts including appreciative inquiry, positive orgranization scholarship, positive psychology, design theory, and the rise of sustainable enterprises.
Prerequisites
Complete MGMT-210
In MGMT 465, students will learn that a values-driven strategy is based on a culture and structure defined by fundamental core values that are shared by all stakeholders. In contrast, traditional structures may emphasize authoritarian relationships and rigid decision-making processes. In a values-driven culture, individuals connect their personal values with the organization's principles, resulting in a more engaged and collaborative workforce. Management and leadership set an example by embodying the ideals they espouse, creating a more stable organization over time.
In this final course for CPS business majors, you will complete a comprehensive project that integrates the knowledge you have gained throughout your business program into a work-based learning activity. You will work collaboratively with the instructor, your peers, and, if you choose to, a mentor. Through the project, relevant readings and discussion,you will become reflective and integrative thinkers and self-directed learners.
Prerequisites
108 completed credits
Complete the following two courses:
This course introduces students to the foundational concepts needed to communicate effectively in writing for academic study and professional development. Students will also learn to read critically to evaluate an author's message. Students will be introduced to rhetorical modes and their role in the development of written communication. Students will also learn how to use revision strategies to create written communication that meets its intended purpose for its intended audience
This course builds on students' proficiency in the writing process and rhetorical modes to introduce the use of sources in written communication. Students will practice information literacy as they learn to determine information needs from sources, develop effective search strategies, and incorporate sources in written communication, legally and ethically.
Prerequisites
Complete ENGL-100
Complete the following course:
Starting with a frame of human communication as a dynamic system of interactions in which people make choices that impact their relationships, other people, and themselves, students will define theory-informed communication concepts and processes, and critically examine how they apply to everyday life across a variety of contexts. Students will reflect on how the theory, concepts and processes apply to their own lives in becoming competent communicators who are knowledgeable, skilled, and versatile.
Complete the following course:
This course draws on fundamental concepts of contemporary group communication research to help students identify and develop strategies to communicate effectively in small groups and teams for the cooperative purpose of advancing common goals. Students will draw on listening and responding strategies learned in COMM-130 Interpersonal Communication and apply them to communicating as a leader or member of a small group. They will also learn how to recognize and manage the types of conflicts that can arise in small groups. Prerequisite: COMM-130 Interpersonal Communication
Prerequisites
Complete COMM-130
Complete the following course:
Students will learn and apply critical inquiry skills to analyze persuasive communication created by others and to develop persuasive communication/arguments of their own to solve problems in professional, civic, social, and personal contexts. Specifically, students will learn to recognize fallacies in logic; apply inductive and deductive reasoning strategies to the interpretation and development of persuasive communication; evaluate the validity of sources; and develop logically sound persuasive communication. Students will explore the roles of self-awareness, empathy, and ethics in the context of critical inquiry and the development of arguments.
Prerequisites
Complete ENGL-110.
Complete one of the following courses, unless your program requires a specific course:
This course is an historical overview, and examination of the evolution of digital, film, and print media, and their functions. Students will identify and analyze contemporary problems of the media such as the legal, social, economic and psychological implications of their relationships with society. They also will examine the ways in which marketing and PR professionals utilize the mass media channels to reach their intended target audiences.
This course explores the complex and evolving relationship between human beings and technology. Through a multi-disciplinary approach that draws on fields such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, and history, students will examine the ways in which technology has shaped human culture, identity, and values, as well as how humans have influenced and continue to influence the development, adoption and use of technology.
Complete the following two courses:
Mathematical reasoning, when applied to everyday and professional lives, has two dimensions: logic for deterministic situations and probabilities for non-deterministic situations. This course aims to help students develop these mathematical reasoning skills.
This course introduces students to basic statistics for data literacy. With a focus on exploring real-world data, students will interpret numerical information and utilize the tools necessary to complete the entire statistical process: designing a study; gathering, organizing, and analyzing sample data; and making inferences about a population. Students will demonstrate data-driven decision-making and effective communication of numerical data.
Complete one of the following courses, unless your program requires a specific course:
Introduces students to the biochemistry and physiology of nutrition and exercise. Emphasis will be placed on human body systems such as musculoskeletal, digestive, respiratory and circulatory, and their relationship to nutrition and fitness. Students will also study the biochemistry of energy conversion as it relates to exercise physiology. Laboratory sessions are designed to reinforce, by a hands-on approach, the principles discussed in lecture. Course includes two laboratory hours per week.
Students learn the biology, genetics, chemistry, and physics involved in the forensic investigation of crimes. A wide range of topics are studied including DNA, entomology, fingerprinting, trace evidence, serology (blood, saliva, and semen), blood spatter, and chemical analysis of drugs, alcohol, and other compounds. Students apply their new knowledge of forensic science through the use of case studies and laboratories. This course includes two laboratory hours per week.
Students will develop the ability to apply scientific methods to understand the natural world, to identify scientific aspects of daily life, and to evaluate the quality of scientific information based on its source and the methods used for its generation.
Complete the following course:
This course will introduce students to major streams of social justice thought, including historical social justice movements, theoretical problems having to do with social equality, personal freedom, marginalization, and stigmatization, and the ways in which civic and professional communities respond to these issues.
Complete any two of the following courses, unless your program requires a specific course:
With pressure and release, a window opens and closes, recording light on a sensor. The simple action captures the instinct, judgement, and skill of the person behind the lens. This class will begin a study of the art and craft of photography. Students will develop their vision and their understanding of how to achieve it. Solid skills will be learned and many doors will be opened.
A survey of the continuing change experienced in art since the 15th century. Students will examine how an image is achieved as well as the significance of the subject represented. Individual inquiry concerning the nature of art is encouraged.
Students learn to appreciate films through the critical analysis of various elements of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound. The course introduces the conventions of classical Hollywood cinema, considers the work of one major director (auteur), and surveys selected international and independent films. Students view and discuss films each week.
Students in the course will explore the cultural history of the music genre broadly referred to as rock. Students will explore the social, economic and political contexts that are influenced by and that influenced each style in the United States. By listening, watching, reflecting upon, discussing and writing, students will explore how music takes on meaning, personally, and culturally. Topics and themes include the relationships between and among gospel, country, funk, folk, disco, rap and hip hop; the role of business and technology in those relationships, and political or transgressive elements of rock music.
Students will apply communication theory and research to address the particular challenges to communicating effectively in organizations. Students will learn how to identify organizational communication problems, analyze those problems, and generate effective solutions. Students will examine the relationship between organizational structure and specific communicative practices, and how communication practices by organizational members establish, maintain, or change organizational culture. They will also learn how to anticipate communication deficiencies in organizations, and use communication as a means to facilitate organizational development and innovation.
Prerequisites
Complete COMM-130
Specific application of common tools for writing in the working world. Students will be instructed in rhetorical strategies of professional writing including style, report formats, editing, document design, and integration of visual aids. Students will complete a semester-long writing project; oral and written reports associated with the process of problem-solving within the project will be included.
Prerequisites
ENGL-112 or COR-125
Students will learn how to create conditions for successful conflict engagement, a necessary skill for any professional. The course focuses on the foundational capacities to remain calm and connected with oneself and others. In this state students can access helpful ideas and responses and be their best selves regardless of environment. Improving facility for conflict creates stronger relationships and reduces fear. By the end of the course, students will understand that disagreement and difference can become a source of personal and interpersonal growth.
Ethics refers to accepted standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do in various contexts, typically in relation to rights, obligations/duties, benefits to society, fairness, consequences, and virtues. In this course, students will explore both theoretical and practical dimensions of ethics in order to 1) define ethics and identify ethical positions and principles, 2) critically reflect on how ethics impacts individual and collective responsibility, decision-making, and action, and 3) apply ethics to the personal, civic, and professional contexts.
Prerequisites
ENGL-110
This course introduces students to the fundamental elements of technical writing (clear, concise, and targeted)that are common among seven forms of technical communication: email correspondence, editing,employment communication, proposals, long, formal reports,oral communication, and inventions. Through peer reviews and writing workshops, students develop the ability to write and edit text that precisely targets its audience. This course emphasizes deepening and broadening students' writing, speaking, and thinking abilities in a non-lecture-based, hands-on, discussion-centered classroom.
Prerequisites
ENGL-112 or COR-125
Complete any two of the following courses, unless your program requires a specific course:
Provides a comprehensive analysis of the fundamentals of substantive criminal law. Students will learn the essential elements of crimes and the rationale underlying criminal law. The nature of jurisdiction, the criminal act, the criminal state of mind and matters affecting responsibility for criminal conduct are included.
This course focuses on the rules and procedures governing how the American criminal justice system must process individuals suspected, accused, and convicted of law violations.
This course provides students with a broad overview of the history, theory, and fundamentals of criminal investigation. Students are introduced to the basic responsibilities of investigators and protocols for report writing, evidence collection, and preparation of cases for trial. They also learn specific investigative techniques for different types of crimes, such as crimes involving violence and property, terrorism, and hate crimes, and, where appropriate, compare investigative protocols from other legal cultures.
Prerequisites
Take CRIM-120, CRIM-121.
Principles of Economics introduces the fundamental concepts of economics - the study of how people manage resources, and how they react to scarcity. This course focuses on both microeconomics (the behavior of consumers and companies) and macroeconomics (large-scale economic factors such as employment and interest rates), so that you'll gain a broad understanding of how a modern market economy functions, how decisions in business settings are informed by economics, and how economics applies to your everyday life.
Students will study important themes in the social history of the United States since the Civil War. This course allows students to expand their critical thinking skills through an examination of primary and secondary sources. Themes might include: the evolving status of women; the immigrant experience; the concept of the American dream; the paradox of freedom vs. slavery; the minority experience; the tensions between social classes. Students will be evaluated primarily on writing assignments.
In this course, students will explore broad, foundational knowledge in psychology, including its history, major theorists and a survey of psychology subfields such as developmental, cognitive and social psychology. Students will also describe and assess the role of ethics and social responsibility in the study and application of psychological theory and practices.
In this class, students will explore how social relationships, groups, societies and culture develop and change over time. From a sociological theory foundation and employing the sociological imagination, students will examine the impact of social structures, institutions, and systems on individual lives. Students will apply sociological research methods to investigate sociological phenomena in their own lives.
Champlain's online information technology courses encompass the top skills needed by today's IT professionals.
This course provides students with an understanding of the many different devices and technologies, from historical to emerging, that are required to design and build networks. In a broad survey of concepts and terminology, students will learn about topology, communications, protocols, and security, and to diagram basic networks to specification.
From day one, students in this course are problem solving, first in terms of algorithmic design and then as early as week two via programming in the latest version of Python, using PyCharm. Students begin by writing a program to have a conversation, having strings and numbers as input, and advance, by week seven, to building a working password saver program, capable of looking up, adding (and encrypting), and storing passwords.
Learn the basics and more in this course on Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and SQL (Structured Query Language). Students propose a final project in the first module and then work, week-by-week, to design, create, and populate the database. Then, students learn to create queries and stored procedures.
Prerequisites
CMIT-135
This course will introduce foundation subject matter and technologies that are critical to the multidisciplinary landscape of cybersecurity.
Prerequisites
Complete CMIT-130 and CMIT-135.
This course is a thorough review of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) which is used extensively in corporate enterprise networks and the Internet. The course will cover the structure of TCP/IP, its application to data networks, and security issues.
Prerequisites
CMIT-130
This course covers the fundamentals of systems analysis while emphasizing the role of communication and other soft skills needed in IT and in business overall to be successful. The topics are useful for anyone who is involved in developing software system requirements and architectures (e.g., users, technical managers, product managers, technical leads, programmers, other software project team members, and clients).
Prerequisites
CMIT-135, CMIT-200, MGMT-260
Graduates of the business management bachelor's online program will demonstrate the following industry-specific skills, knowledge, and competencies:
- Utilize strengths. Cultivate and leverage an organization's assets and human strengths to help transform workplace culture and optimize performance
- Use business acumen. Identify, contextualize, and utilize core business functions to address business challenges
- Communicate effectively. Utilize effective communication methods that motivate, articulate, generate and achieve desired results
- Be fair-minded. Contribute meaningfully to diverse, fair, and inclusive teams and organizations
- Use business technology for advantage. Identify technology that captures, analyzes, and shares organizational data and information, and creates business value
- Think systemically. Use systemic and critical thinking to evaluate and address complex organizational issues
Graduates with the online information technology fundamentals track will also demonstrate the following industry-specific skills, knowledge, and competencies:
- Identify essential network components and methods of communication, including TCP/IP, and diagram basic networks to specification.
- Develop and test basic Python applications.
- Explain key concepts of database design and use Structured Query Language to manipulate data.
- Discuss fundamental cybersecurity concepts, including confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
- Distinguish the traditional, structured approach from the object-oriented approach to systems development.
- Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS)
- SQL (Structured Query Language)
- Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
- Wireshark
Champlain College Online's business faculty, led by Department Chair Dr. Albert Orbinati, are expert practitioners in the field. Their industry expertise ensures that our business management curriculum is aligned with the needs of employers, and reflects the skills today’s business professionals need for success. Classes led by our seasoned experts will give you real-world insight into the business world, and create a rich community of career-focused learning.
Alumni of the Champlain College Online bachelor's in business management program work in corporations, small businesses, government organizations, and nonprofits nationwide, including:
- City of Burlington
- Comcast
- Department of Defense
- IBM Corporation
- Hypertherm
- Legum & Norman
- MetLife
- Middlebury College
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Small Business Administration (SBA)
- People's United Bank
- UBS Financial Services
- Vermont Air National Guard
- Wachovia Bank
Titles our alumni hold include:
- Account Manager
- Bookkeeper
- Business Opportunities Specialist
- Capital Improvement Program Manager
- Financial Control Representative
- General Manager
- HR Generalist
- Lead Business Systems Analyst
- Logistics Readiness Squadron Enlisted Manager
- Office Management Specialist
- Policy Services
- Program Assistant
- Sales Effectiveness Manager
- Strategic Planner
Many students come to us seeking ways to get noticed at their current employers or to get hired in a new field. Given that, we are hyper focused on increasing the career mobility of our students and that's why we developed the Fast Start Formula Career Bundle, a suite of career offerings designed to help our students get noticed, get hired and land jobs they'll love.
Valued at over $1,000, the career bundle is offered to Champlain College Online students and includes:
- Fast Start Formula Course: The Fast Start Formula Course for getting noticed and getting hired is taught by Jen Morris, an executive career coach that we've developed a partnership with to support our students in their job search journeys. This course is online, self-paced and full of tips and tricks to land a job you'll love.
- Live Webinars: Log-on to ask your specific job search questions, get live “hot seat” coaching and gain valuable insights from leading career coach, Jen Morris.
- Landing A Job You'll Love Ebook: Download this ebook full of tips and tricks for standing out from the competition. From how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, to insider information on how recruiters work and bypassing the automated application websites, you’ll be sure to learn how to rise to the top.
Upon enrollment in a degree or certificate, your access to the Fast Start Formula Career Bundle will made available to you.
Tuition & Costs
Online Undergraduate Tuition Fall '23 - Summer '25
*Based on a 3-credit course; cost will vary if course is a different number of credits
** Starts Summer 2024, not retroactive
See the undergraduate cost of attendance and fees here
Meet the Program Director
Albert Orbinati, PhD
- Business (A.S., B.S., M.S., Certificates)
- Human Resource Management (B.S., Certificates)
- Leadership (M.S.)
- Management Information Systems (B.S.)
- Organization Development & Human Relations (M.S.)
About
Albert Orbinati, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Department Chair for the undergraduate and graduate business programs at Champlain College Online.
Prior to Champlain, Dr. Orbinati's roles have included Assistant Vice President of Online Learning and Continuing Education at Medaille University in Buffalo, NY; Dean of the School of Professional and Continuing Education at Russell Sage College in Albany, NY; and Director of Online and Non-Traditional Programs at Utica University in Utica, NY. In addition to his career in higher education, Albert is a member of the U.S. military, and currently holds the rank of Major in the Vermont Air National Guard.
Dr. Orbinati holds a B.A. in Urban Planning from Binghamton University, an M.A. in Adult Education from Central Michigan University, an M.B.A from Champlain College, and a Ph.D. in Adult Education from Capella University.
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