Trading Spaces
Information Technology Program Boasts Wall-Street-Style Trading Room
By Jennifer V. Higgins
As you walk on to a trading floor, you immediately feel a rush of energy. Your adrenaline starts pumping as trades are blurted out from every direction. Phones are ringing, people are shouting prices, numbers are flashing, ticker tapes are running. You hear bells and beeps-stocks bought and sold. The market is up-now it's down. The room is buzzing; all of your senses are overwhelmed.
This is life on a typical trading floor. This is the life for which students in the Broad College of Business are being prepared. Whether a student chooses to work on Wall Street or in a trading room within a corporation, the opening of the new Financial Analysis Laboratory (FAL) this fall will prepare Broad School graduates to excel.
Located on the first floor of Eppley Center, the FAL has been designed to simulate the same environment students would experience as a broker working at a Wall Street trading desk. There are 12 terminals and an instructor's terminal, each complete with large screens, real-time market data, stock tickers and access to commonly used financial tools. "The Financial Analysis Laboratory allows our students to look at the same data as 'real working people,' " says Geoffrey Booth, PhD, chairperson, Department of Finance. "They will be surrounded with information from different sources. And, because the laboratory is small by trading room standards, our students will receive very personalized learning and hands-on instruction of a complex subject."
A New Way of Learning
The FAL was designed for hands-on training in financial modeling and valuation. Since each dual-monitor workstation will have access to real-time financial data and news as well as extensive historical databases, students will be able to explore both traditional "long term" financial analysis as well as the modern, dynamic valuation models critical in today's rapidly moving financial world.
"The introduction of the Financial Analysis Laboratory allows us to use a teaching technique that's different from the traditional lecture format," comments Ted Fee, PhD, assistant professor of Finance. "Students will actually do the work they're learning about. Students will focus on analyzing data rather than on how to gather it. It also will require an adjustment for faculty in terms of really needing to be in tune with what's happening in the marketplace each day and integrating it into teaching."
In fact, strengthening Broad graduates' ability to analyze data is a major focus of the FAL. "We have heard from potential employers that they want to hire students better trained in analyzing information; familiar with information such as stocks, analyst reports, market data-all the information needed to evaluate a company. We're overwhelmed today with information. Students need to know how to use the tools necessary to make this information overload work to their advantage. Our students will be prepared for all of this," added Fee.
In researching the configuration of the FAL, members of the Department of Finance and the information technology area consulted with companies from the field. "We got expert advice and opinions and used it to construct the lab," adds Booth. The Broad School contracted with EDS to determine the best data services for their purposes and the team visited IBM in New York City and their mock trading room, as well as one of their client's real trading rooms. In addition, an advisory board is in the making for the Department of Finance with a focus on the FAL.
Technology Begets Technology
In order to make the FAL and all of its bells and whistles possible, the Broad School had to invest in a serious upgrade of technology. Throughout the summer, members of the information technology team worked tirelessly to create an Application Service Provider (ASP) that essentially provides the Broad School with its own set of servers.
"The technology wheel is always spinning. You have to run hard to keep up and we're doing it," says Roger Calantone, PhD, director of the Information Technology Management Program and The Eli Broad University Professor of Business. The ASP is the central distribution point for such business software as JD Edwards oneword XE¨ collaborative ebusiness solution and ILX¨ financial information system.
The FAL features three 50-inch, wall-mounted plasma screens, dual screen PCs, and a projector system. Appearing on these screens at any time can be programs like ILX¨, Internet access to financial analysis sites, such as Bloomberg and Kiplinger, broadband access to CNBC, CNN and other up-to-the-minute news programs.
Additionally, the servers will allow faculty working in different classrooms-including some locations outside of Eppley like the Henry Center and the Executive Management Center at Troy-to pull information from the FAL for display and integration into teaching related material. "The advent of this area will make our students ready to step into jobs and be the ones relied upon," says Calantone. "We want our students to be ready to deliver upon graduation."
Information Technology Program
The Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management instituted an Information Technology Program and Specialization this fall. This innovative program will offer specializations for both undergraduate and graduate students, and was created to prepare students in the interdisciplinary field of information technology management (ITM). At the undergraduate level, all students are required to take one business information systems course. This class provides a framework for understanding information systems and technology infrastructure and architecture, systems development methodologies, and strategic information systems planning from corporate, business unit, and individual perspectives. If undergraduate students decide to further pursue ITM, they can select ITM as a specialization (program is subject to final approval). This three-college program leverages the relative strengths from the Broad School, the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, and the College of Engineering. Students remain in their major and college, develop core competencies in a primary area of study, and are provided the opportunity to take information technology-related courses in other colleges to which they may not otherwise have access.
Undergraduate students with the ITM specialization are required to take one communications class (Telecommunications Technology), one engineering course (Informatics), and one business class (systems analysis and design). In addition, each student must select at least six credits from a specified list of related courses and complete a Capstone Project Course. At the graduate level, all MBA students are required to complete two ITM courses-Information Technology Management and Managing the Internetworked Firm. For a specialization in ITM, an MBA student must take an additional one to four courses from a specified list of ITM classes. MS Accounting and Information Systems students are also eligible for a specialization in ITM. To complete this specialization, MS students must take at least four classes from a specified list of related courses.
As the above curriculum shows, technology is playing an increasingly large role in business. For effective teaching it is essential that the Broad School be able to provide software support to faculty and students regardless of location in the Eppley Center, North Business Complex, Henry Center, or the Management Education Center in Troy. For this purpose, an Application Service Provider (ASP) is located on the first floor of the Eppley Center. The ASP consists of a server farm platform capable of digital delivery of data, software, and teaching environments. Server capacity provides support for lab, classroom, and research. It also allows sufficient computing and communication base power to allow participation in cross-college research efforts.
For more information regarding the ITM specialization or the Financial Analysis Laboratory, please contact Dr. Roger Calantone at (517) 353-6381.