Information systems are becoming ever more central to society, especially in business and industry – and this course will develop your ability to use these systems to manage the complex challenges that can confront businesses.

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Explore issues relevant to information systems development in the context of modern business environments and needs.
• Express a rounded awareness of the state-of-the-art in relation to the role of information systems in the enterprise environment and the importance of strategic alignment.
• Understand the changing nature of information systems and the implications of this for the requisite dynamic balancing of the social and the technical.
• Reflect, critically, on the state-of-the art of both the practice and theory of organisational-level systems development and critically understand information systems and their role in organisational effectiveness.

The types of companies that might employ graduates from the course range from the very large and multinational, to the niche SMEs. Whatever the job role and whatever the type of organisation, we aim to equip you with industry relevant skills that will enable you to flourish in your chosen profession.

As part of your development on the course, you will be increasingly expected to demonstrate that you can deal with complex issues in a systematic and creative manner and demonstrate self-direction and originality in problem solving.

Typical Modules

Enterprise Modelling – which cultivates your skills and knowledge related to business, conceptual and software modelling. Example topics of study include:

• different paradigms for modelling (including business services, processes and objects)
• techniques for modelling the business domain and business behaviour
• the relationship between business modelling and software modelling
• the use of the Unified Modelling Language (UML).

Systems in Context – which develops your critical understanding of information and information systems and the role that each plays in the context of the modern working environment and society. Example topics of study include:

• concepts of 'information' and 'information systems'
• information revolutions and their impact
• approaches to the implementation and use of information systems in modern working environments.

Digital Innovation – which develops your ability to capitalise on digital business opportunities. Example topics include:

• understanding and justifying change
• change management
• digital business models
• managing technology risks
• ethical issues in change.

ICTs and Strategic Change – which develops your critical awareness of the central issues and challenges in strategic approaches to information systems. Example topics of study include:

• the nature of strategic planning and its key components
• the relationship of IS/IT strategy to organisational aims and strategy
• the assumptions of traditional planning approaches to strategic ICT adoption
• state-of-the-art responses to issues and challenges.

Systems Project Management – which develops your critical awareness of the central issues and challenges in information systems project management. Example topics of study include:

• traditional project management techniques and approaches
• the relations between projects and business strategy
• the role and assumptions underpinning traditional approaches
• the ways in which the state-of-the-art can be improved.

Data Management and Business Intelligence – which focuses on business intelligence solutions in modern organisations. Example topics of study include:

• issues in data/information/knowledge management
• approaches to information integration and business analytics.

Practical aspects of the subject are examined in the context of contemporary software platforms.

Business Integration – which develops your critical understanding of the issues of integrating people, process and technology systems, both within and across organisational contexts. Example topics of study include:

• the dimensions of business integration
• collaborative working and its issues
• virtual organisations
• electronic markets
• commerce policy.

Research Methods - This module looks to support students in developing and using the skills necessary to design a scholarly piece of research work to address an identified problem area within a chosen field of study. This module will introduce methods of data collection and analysis when conducting empirical research, in both private and public sector environments. Example topics include:

• questionnaire and interview design
• qualitative and quantitative analysis

This module is essential preparation for the dissertation.

Dissertation

In addition, you will be asked to produce a dissertation, which is an opportunity to build expertise in a more focused area that is of interest to you and which you may want to specialise in.

• The dissertation not only showcases your project management and subject specific skills to potential employers, but also serves as valuable experience and a solid building block for those wishing to pursue a PhD, on completion of their MSc.
• Your work will be individually supervised by a member of academic staff. You will be encouraged to critically examine the academic and industrial contexts of your research, identify problems and think originally when proposing potential solutions that serve to demonstrate and reflect your ideas.

Recent examples of dissertations by students taking this course include:

• 'The adoption of electronic care records in the health sector'
• 'Using social networking technologies to promote small business enterprises'
• 'The application of information technology in the electoral process'.

• A minimum score of 55% - 65% or 2.75/4 - 3.25/4. Offers within the grade range are determined by the higher education institution attended.
• IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas)
• Pearson: 58 (51 in all subscores)
• BrunELT: 65% (min 60% in all areas)