- 2018

Undergraduate

Minor / Major

Commencement year

This area of study entry applies to students commencing this course in 2018 and should be read in conjunction with the relevant course entry in the Handbook.

Any units listed for this area of study relate only to the 'Requirements' outlined in the component of any bachelors double degrees.

Unit codes that are not linked to their entry in the Handbook are not available for study in the current year.

Managing faculty

Faculty of Information Technology

Offered by

South Africa School of Information Technology

Location

South Africa

In the business information systems major you will develop a thorough understanding of business information systems, fundamental business IT concepts and how IT can be used to serve business needs. You will learn how to conduct a detailed analysis of a business problem and design a computer-based solution.

You will acquire the knowledge and skills in the broad areas of business programming, information systems, e-business, business analytics, data science and decision support, which will enable you to solve business problems in organisations of all sizes. You will learn to communicate with, and understand the needs of software developers, business managers and users.

This major includes a special focus on business analytics. You will learn how analytical tools and simulation software are used to model, analyse and design business processes. You will acquire practical skills in using quantitative methods, data mining and visualisation to look for patterns and trends in data, helping organisations solve problems and add value.

Data and case studies will be drawn from diverse sources including health, life sciences, web traffic and social networking, business data including transactions, economic data, customer traffic, scientific research and experimental data. This area of study will be of interest to IT students who want to work in business or finance, and to students wanting to complement their business or commerce studies with IT-based methods.

The broad base of this major will prepare you for leadership roles in IT management.

Availability

Business information systems is listed in 4307 Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences at South Africa as a minor or major.

Outcomes

In addition to achieving the broad outcomes of their course, students successfully completing this major will be able to:

  • apply analytical techniques to interpret business data, solve quantitative problems, and improve business processes
  • analyse business information needs and determine the scope for IT-based solutions.

Units

Minor requirements (24 points)

No more than 12 points at level 1 may be credited to the minor.

Students complete:

Major requirements (48 points)

No more than 12 points at level 1 may be credited to the major and at least 18 points must be at level 3.

Students complete:

  1. The following seven units (42 points):
    • ETS1102 Business statistics
    • FIT1051 Programming fundamentals in Java
    • FIT2090 Business information systems and processes
    • FIT2001 Systems development
    • FIT3158 Business decision modelling
    • FIT3003 Business intelligence and data warehousing
    • FIT3174 IT Strategy and governance
  2. One of the following units (6 points):
    • FIT2081 Mobile application development
    • FIT2095 eBusiness software technologies

Relevant courses

Successful completion of the minor, major or extended major can be counted towards meeting the requirements for the following single degree:*

  • 4307 Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences

Students in this course can complete the minor by using 24 points of their free electives or, where relevant, prescribed FIT electives.*

Students in other single bachelor's degrees may be eligible to complete the minor or major by using 24 or 48 points of their free electives.

* Students cannot complete both the minor and major in the same area of study.