TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP

Target Audience

• Emerging and experienced technology leaders

• Managers and directors of web services, software development, and IT teams

• Early to mid-career technology professionals looking to move into a leadership role

• Chief Technology Officers

• Business leaders who work with technology professionals

• Graduate students transitioning from an academic track to an industry track

Accreditation

• Technology Leadership Certificate from Cornell College of Engineering

• 60 Professional Development Hours (6 CEUs)

• 56 Professional Development Units (PDUs) toward PMI recertification

Certificate Description

Whether you’re in software engineering, web development, or IT, professionals in the technology industry are uniquely suited to be strong leaders through their mastery of analysis and problem-solving skills. Yet many lack formal management training in the soft skills necessary to help tech teams and organizations reach their highest potential.

In this certificate program, you’ll have the opportunity to analyze your own leadership attributes and decision-making styles as a technology leader; strengthen essential communication, motivation, and influencing skills; and ultimately prepare for future growth and success in the management of technical and project teams.

Available Materials

• Influence and Motivation for Technology Leaders

• Collaborative Communication for Technology Leaders

• Courageous Communication for Technology Leaders

• Values Based Technology Leadership

• Strengths Based Technology Leadership

INNOVATION STRATEGY

Target Audience

• Entry-level to executive leaders

• Product managers

• MBA students

• Data scientists and analysts

• Entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs

• Engineers

Accreditation

• Innovation Strategy Certificate from Cornell College of Engineering

• 70 Professional Development Hours (7 CEUs)

• 50 PD hours towards IIBA's core certification program OR 50 CDUS towards IIBA's recertification

Certificate Description

Any organization can create a new product, service, or technology, but without a structured plan, the chances of a low return on investment are high. In this series of courses, you will learn how to develop an innovation strategy that aligns with your organization’s goals. Throughout the program, you will complete a series of activities that allow you to create and iterate on various aspects of a successful strategy, including identifying an executive champion and other supportive stakeholders as well as developing an overall vision, SMART goals, and a budget. You will practice using the innovation competencies of lean startup, makerspace, and design thinking to aid you in the customer discovery process. You will also learn how to use tools such as hackathons, design sprints, and centers of excellence to embrace the imagination of all your stakeholders. You will identify potential risks to successful implementation of your strategy and create mitigation plans. As you learn, you will create a presentation document called the innovation placemat that you can use to pitch to stakeholders in your own organization to make your innovation strategy a reality.

Available Materials

• Developing Innovation Strategy

• Business Model Canvas

• Building Innovation Competencies

• Innovation Tools

• Implementing Innovation

• Innovation Placemat

• Evaluating and Scaling Innovation

• Final Business Model Canvas

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The class below contributed to the available materials:

Course Description

In this course, you will conduct a five-step value creation analysis using the Business Model Canvas for a product or service idea. In conjunction with this analysis, you will evaluate your idea based on your competition and your unique value proposition. You will then craft a concise statement of why your idea will work. Finally, you will gather feedback from your peers and professionals in the industry to determine where you need to iterate your product or service idea. By the end of this course, you will have a validated Business Model Canvas for your concept.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Preparing for Digital Transformation

• Rapid Ideation

• Generating Opportunities for Digital Disruption

• Developing and Pitching Ideas

Faculty Author

Karan Girotra

Benefits to the Learner

• Conduct a thorough analysis of the value your business idea can create

• Collect feedback on your idea from peers and experts

• Iterate the components of your product or service idea

Target Audience

• Business leaders

• Technology leaders including CTOs

• Entrepreneurs

Available Materials

• Horizons Central Business Logic

• Innovations Strategy: Final Business Model Canvas 

• Digital Transformation: Final Business Model Canvas

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Target Audience

• Product management professionals with <5 years experience

• Entrepreneurs and small business owners

• Business analysts

• Product marketing managers

• Data analysts

• Engineers and developers

• Operations managers

• Designers

• People interested in transitioning to the tech industry

Accreditation

• Product Management Certificate from Cornell Tech

• 60 Professional Development Hours (6 CEUs)

• 36 Professional Development Units (PDUs) toward PMI recertification

• 60 PD hours towards IIBA's core certification program OR 60 CDUS towards IIBA's recertification

Certificate Description

Great product ideas are just the beginning. Successfully bringing a product to market and guiding it through growth requires a strategic, end-to-end approach grounded in customer insight, cross-functional collaboration, and agile execution. This comprehensive Product Management program equips current and aspiring product managers with the frameworks, tools, and hands-on experience to lead product development from vision to launch.

You will discover how to define a clear product hypothesis, develop user personas, and align your product vision with business goals. You’ll explore how to build and prioritize a strategic product roadmap, create a prototype to gather early feedback, and translate customer needs into a practical plan for development.

As you progress, you will delve into how to test assumptions, measure performance, and present data-driven insights to adjust or validate your direction. Finally, you’ll transition from planning to execution, examining how to lead engineering teams day to day, manage sprints, write user stories, and move your product across the finish line.

Whether you’re launching a new idea or optimizing an existing product, this program will give you the confidence and capabilities to make smart decisions, rally your team, and deliver products that truly make an impact.

Students must complete Developing a Product Hypothesis and Personas and Product Vision and Goals before completing any other courses within this certificate program.

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Target Audience

• Managers and executives

• Manufacturers

• Business analysts

• MBA students

Accreditation

• Operations Management Certificate from Cornell University’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy

• 40 Professional Development Hours (4 CEUs)

Certificate Description

This certificate program provides you with the tools to analyze and improve the operational performance of any organization. Courses focus on key concepts in four essential areas of operations management: process analysis, service operations, quality management, and inventory management. You will begin by implementing process analysis tools to create a flow diagram and explore performance measures that can be used to measure the effectiveness of current processes within an organization. Next, you’ll have the opportunity to practice using statistical analysis to evaluate the efficiency of service operations in a variety of contexts, including in person and virtual. You will also be introduced to process control as a tool for evaluating and improving the quality control of systems and processes. Finally, you will look at different methods for tracking inventory and implementing strategies to improve business performance. Upon completing this program, you will possess the tools and skills to successfully manage and optimize operations in your industry.

This program requires the use of Microsoft Excel (desktop or online). While advanced skills aren’t necessary, students with some prior experience in Excel will be most successful. Throughout the courses, you’ll apply basic functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, and MIN, create and adjust tables and graphs, and work with provided formulas.

Available Materials

• Accounting Information Systems

• Auditing Article: Selection Socialization Effect

• Auditng Article: FWA? Flexible Work Arrangements

• Auditing Research

• IT Auditing

• CIO Term Paper

• Fraud Examination Article: Farkas and the Troubled Asset Relief Fund

• Fraud Examination Article: Sachdeva and the Fraud Triangle

• Governmental Accounting

• Information Systems Management and Integration

• Federal Taxation Research

• Systems Analysis and Design

• "Cloud First" Research

Notable UMGC Instruction

Available Materials