Information Technology Top-up Course to BSc

Modules

• Research & Professional Practice
  This module will provide you with the necessary methodological, analytical and development skills needed to design, implement, and analyse a piece of independent research or development piece of work in the form of a consultancy tender, reflection, etc. at an undergraduate level in the field of Informatics. The module will focus on general issues you are likely to adopt for your research project such as: the Research and Development life cycle; collecting and analysing primary and secondary sources of knowledge; elementary consultancy skills, ethics and managing your time effectively and presenting your findings in a coherent manner. The module will focus on specific issues related to your chosen pathway by providing specific pathway tutorial groups where you will explore, in greater depth, those issues most likely to be relevant for your chosen pathway.
• IS Project Management
  As you come towards the end of your honours degree in a Computing/IT subject area, this module takes a broad and reflective view of the profession in a holistic and critical manner. It considers matters of professional and ethical relevance, and particularly considers issues that are of contemporary significance to the subject area.

• Digital Business Applications
  In this module you will learn about the technologies used to build the distributed applications by which digital business is conducted. You will learn how dynamic client interfaces to applications held on remote servers are built and how dynamic processes on servers use databases and other files to both provide and interact with those client interfaces. As well as experimenting with the fundamental mechanisms involved you will explore how these are used in a range of complex real world business applications.
• IT Infrastructure and Management
  This module address the range of topics required to plan, implement and manage computer networks of the type used in a wide range of business environments. Emphasis is given to those methods and skills required to deal with systems containing clients, servers and networking devices as effectively and efficiently as possible. This module will give due prominence to current techniques such as multimedia networking and virtualisation, together with foundation topics such as TCP/IP and file/print serving.
• Introduction to Business Intelligence
  This module is the first specialty module for the Business Intelligence pathway. The module provides a comprehensive overview of business intelligence and introduces the concepts, framework, architecture, main components, tools and platforms of business intelligence. The focus of the practical aspect of this module is business intelligence reporting. You will gain hands-on experience of implementing a desktop-based dashboard system for business intelligence reporting using Tableau® Desktop and SAS® Enterprise Guide.
• Management Concepts & Evaluation Techniques
  The module will introduce you to aspects of organisational behaviour that need to be taken into account when designing, developing, implementing and maintaining IT systems. It will provide an introduction to organisational structure and culture, managerial roles and information requirements, management and strategy, technological innovation, change management, ethics and the law. The module will also foster your ability to make information system and information technology decisions from a management perspective, evaluating IT value and return on investments.
• Systematic Software Development
  This module will deepen your understanding of software development processes and their associated products. You will learn how to develop software systematically from initial requirements through to acceptance testing, and how to achieve high quality in terms of reliability, robustness and maintainability. You will enhance your programming skills and develop new skills in the areas of program design utilising patterns, user interface design and implementation, and rigorous testing.

• Engineering Software
  There are situations where the software we develop must be highly reliable, for example, safety-critical applications and software designed for re-use. From studying this module you will gain insight into some of the techniques used in the development of highly reliable software.
• Network Configuration and Management
  Current networking technologies can provide reliable and high-performance data transfer over a range of wired and wireless communication channels. Most companies now contain and connect to a number of different networks. This module examines the theory and practice of networking with emphasis on the issues which relate to the design and provision of the most appropriate network technologies for modern business organisations.
• Strategic IT Management
  The module will introduce you to the concepts involved in strategic management of information technology. It is designed to address the considerable managerial problems that exist for managers seeking to ensure the effective and efficient utilisation of information technology to aid business performance in contemporary organisations. The module will develop your ability to evaluate the impact of IT/IS on a wider global economy and the influence of IT/IS in modern corporate enterprises. You will be expected to identify the role and expectations of various stakeholders in any contemporary organisation businesses as part of the strategic IT/IS planning process.

• Distributed Computer Systems
  Our everyday lives depend increasingly on distributed systems linking computers and other devices - from mobile phones to ambient systems - together in a seamless and transparent way. The components of such systems are usually geographically distributed. This module develops the concept of message-passing concurrency and provides a comprehensive source of material on the principles and practice of distributed computer systems.
• IT Systems Administration
  This module will cover the range of organisational and technical procedures required to effectively manage modern computer systems within a typical business environment. Emphasis will be given to planning and design, rather than reactive problem solving.
• Digital Content Management
  Modern websites are interactive applications rather than repositories of information and sophisticated features are taken for granted by both users and owners of the sites. Most organisations have large amounts of digital content, whether of the nature of static information, dynamic news or digital assets which are products in themselves. To handle the required level of complexity and interactive sophistication this demands powerful Content Management Systems have been developed. This module will explore what these systems are, what they do and why they are necessary.
• Principles of Data Mining
  This module provides a broad introduction to the basic theory, concepts, and techniques of data mining, and its role in business intelligence. It will cover the main topics in the area. The focus of the practical aspect of this module is business analytics. SAS® Enterprise Miner and SAS® Enterprise Guide will be taught and used throughout in order for you to develop practical skills in solving real-world data mining problems.
• Designing BI Systems
  This module covers the knowledge, tools and techniques necessary for the design of Business Intelligence (BI) Systems. Also the techniques and practices for building typical environments for use in a range of BI–based analytics purposes.
• Information Management and Decision Support Systems
  Changes in the global business environment combined with rapid advances in ICT have transformed information into a valuable asset and a source of competitive advantage. Different tools and techniques are required to manage and make the most effective use of information. You will examine these tools and techniques to explore the role of information within organisations and look at how different systems analysis and modelling techniques (e.g. soft systems approaches) can be used to structure complex decision problems. You will also study the softer issues associated with the management of information and the legal and ethical implications of misuse of information, compare problem structuring and modelling approaches, and explore the organisational, social and systems views that contextualise these approaches. The module is both practical and theoretical, making much use of case studies.
• Social & Collaborative Computing
  This module looks at all aspects of social networking that are currently used for both business and pleasure. It also examines collaborative software and how it can be used to best effect. The unit provides a thorough understanding of user activity in these areas, how users can be supported and managed and how the various systems can be used to their best effect.
• Web Services, Security & Management
  This module covers the practical issues of both hosting and managing web sites, including security and server configuration. It also covers the various approaches used to implement the web services that enable cloud computing, and the competing techniques for implementing the semantic web.

• Honours Informatics Project
  The project contributes significantly towards the final degree. In the final year you spend about 2 days a week on your project. Future employers will probably ask you about your project, and use performance in the project as one of the most reliable guides to your potential. As a final year 40 module for the Honours degree, the project allows you to demonstrate, through a practical application, the extent of theoretical knowledge gained in the first two years of study, practical skills acquired in the subsequent year of industrial or commercial training and further theoretical and practical skills acquired during the final year of study.