MSc Business Information Technology (Full Time)

There is a high demand for skilled professionals who can design, deploy and manage information technology in order to take advantage of increasingly competitive business environments.Managing the effective application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in modern enterprises requires a blend of business and technical management expertise. You need an understanding of the significant issues facing enterprises throughout the business sector, as well as the impact of rapidly evolving technologies in information handling and communication. The demand for leaders of this sort, often referred to as ‘hybrid managers’, is growing rapidly as these technologies become the cornerstone of strategic effectiveness for many enterprises.
Business information technology is a diverse and rewarding subject and this course covers several core areas:

• awareness of enterprise need
• corporate strategy and planning
• e-business
• project management
• deployment and the management of change
• process improvement.

You will develop a sound theoretical and practical understanding of business information systems, technology and associated strategies. The teaching staff come from both academic and business backgrounds and bring together a broad range of strategic, tactical and operational perspectives on this advanced course.

Industrial focus

There may be opportunities for developing contacts with IT professionals in local businesses.

Course content

Effective Business Information Systems: In the study of business information technology, you need to have a clear understanding of the nature of information systems and how they work to benefit company performance. You will learn how this benefit must be measurable to be of use in strategic, tactical and operational management.

Enterprise Process Management:This unit enables you to make a critical assessment of the concepts and methods of business process modelling, design and management.

Systems Project Management:
You will study the techniques and theoretical concepts applicable to managing projects in an information technology or systems environment.

Business Analysis and Requirements Frameworks:
This unit examines the importance of a consistent and accurate set of business requirements, and assesses the extent to which particular requirements engineering models can be applied.

Systems for Enterprise Effectiveness:You will consider organisational behaviour, strategy formulation methods and models, and systems development approaches, looking at their contribution to an organisation’s ability to respond to its business environment.

E-Business Systems and Strategy:
In this unit you will examine and evaluate business information systems and strategies in the e-environment.Quality, Standards and Process Improvement: This unit looks at standards of practice, ethical, legal and social issues, not as a set of static documents but as a dynamic set of potential achievements.

Strategic Information Management:This unit enables you to make a critical review of the needs of business enterprises and individual executives for information to support strategic decision making. You will also consider the effectiveness of alternative approaches.

Project and Dissertation:
The dissertation is expected to be an original, independent and critical piece of work exploring a current issue in business information technology, drawn from the topics within the course. You will be encouraged to co-operate with industrial, commercial or professional establishments.

Assessment

There are no formal examinations; instead, you will experience individual, group, team and some self-assessments, seminar discussions
and presentations.

Key career skills

Teamworking within the IT and business world, the management of technology in support of business strategy, critical thinking and research skills, effective project management.

Projects/work experience

Pragmatic and real-world practice is embedded within the topics covered and the teaching. The course also incorporates practitioner views on IT management.

Why Solent is special

Considerable and effective use of activity-based learning empowers you to understand your learning expectations and standards, and enhances the learning experience.

Course length

September intake: 12 months full-time