Table of Contents

12. Bachelor of Information Systems (BIS)
    12.1. Attributes of the Bachelor of Information Systems graduates
        12.1.1. Information systems
        12.1.2. Information technology
        12.1.3. Organisations
        12.1.4. Analytical skills
        12.1.5. Professional competencies
        12.1.6. Professional Skills Program (PSP)
    12.2. Objectives of the course
    12.3. Duration
    12.4. Course requirements
        12.4.1. Core information systems subjects
        12.4.2. Electives


12. Bachelor of Information Systems (BIS)

The degree in information systems focuses on the design, specification, and creation of information systems, and on the human and organisational arrangements needed to use information systems to achieve organisational goals. To cover these increasingly interrelated topics, the course offers study in five key areas: information systems, information technology, organisations, analytical skills, and professional competencies.

Bachelor of Information Systems graduates find employment in a variety of professional roles, ranging from the very technical to the very business oriented, in public and private organisations.

12.1. Attributes of the Bachelor of Information Systems graduates

Specific capabilities will be developed through work in the five key areas of the course.

12.1.1. Information systems

This is the central theme of the course: information systems collect, process, store, and distribute information so that it can be used to make decisions, to keep track of resources, and to plan for the future. Particular focus is placed on imagining, specifying, designing, justifying, building, implementing, managing, and using information systems to add value in organisations.

12.1.2. Information technology

An understanding of the potential of information technology to add value is essential to the successful implementation and use of information systems. Students will become familiar with computer hardware and software, telecommunications, databases and data structures, information technology architectures, and information technology infrastructures. Practical experience in these areas will help students learn how to assess the current and future capability of information technology.

12.1.3. Organisations

To implement information systems efficiently and effectively in organisations requires the ability to analyse and understand organisational functions, processes, environments, characteristics, and cultures. This organisational perspective on information systems, and its relationship to the technical perspective developed in the information technology theme, is a distinguishing characteristic of the Bachelor of Information Systems course.

12.1.4. Analytical skills

Effective design, development, and implementation of information systems in organisations requires a broad range of analytical skills, including data classification and modelling, information mapping and representation, systems analysis and design, and statistics. These and other analytical skills are essential for understanding, and communicating about, complex organisational situations and the potential and performance of information systems.

12.1.5. Professional competencies

Graduates will, in the course of their jobs, work with people across a broad spectrum of technical and business interests and skills. Success in these interactions will require a well-developed set of personal competencies, including listening, collecting and synthesising information, writing, presenting, and working in teams.

12.1.6. Professional Skills Program (PSP)

Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Information Systems will participate in a Professional Skills Program covering a range of communication, professional and analytical skills. Students will be expected to complete the sequence satisfactorily at first-, second- and third-year levels, and will be awarded a certificate on successful completion of this element of the course. The PSP aims to prepare students for the information systems workplace by teaching skills in communication, teamwork, leadership, writing, presenting in public, problem solving and more. It is a 55-hour course taught over a three-year or five-semester period. The PSP is a non-credit subject but attendance is a requirement of the Bachelor of Information Systems course.

First-year PSP comprises an introduction to a range of professional skills, and the rationale for bringing such professional skills to the workplace. In second year, students study thinking skills, people skills, and oral and written communication skills. Third-year PSP covers advanced presentation skills, advanced people skills such as negotiation and conflict resolution, and advanced problem solving.

Note: Students in combined Bachelor of Information Systems courses can complete PSP over the five years of their course.

12.2. Objectives of the course

The objective of the Bachelor of Information Systems course is to prepare students to be part of teams that imagine, specify, design, justify, build, implement, manage and use information systems. To accomplish this objective, graduates must understand how to use information technology, including hardware, software, and telecommunications, as a conduit for the value-added information content of formal organisational systems. This understanding is based on a solid theoretical grounding in both technology and organisations, as well as on experience working both individually and in teams to apply the theory to practice.

Upon completion of the Bachelor of Information Systems course, students should:

12.3. Duration

The Bachelor of Information Systems course normally requires three years of full-time study, and may be taken part time.

12.4. Course requirements

Students must complete a minimum (and maximum) of 300 points of approved studies, comprising:

Students may not undertake more than 112.5 points at 100-level towards this course.

12.4.1. Core information systems subjects

100-level

615-110 Foundations of Information Systems

615-140 Technologies for Information Systems

615-145 Concepts in Software Development I

615-150 Organisational Processes

615-160 Tools of Analysis

200-level

615-230 Database Concepts

615-237 Telecommunications Concepts

615-240 Concepts in Software Development II

or 615-241 Software Development II (Advanced)

615-245 Systems Analysis and Design

615-251 Organisational Analysis and Change

615-252 Electronic Commerce

300-level

615-347 Application Environments

615-355 Legal & Ethical Frameworks

615-372 Project Management

615-373 Industrial Project

12.4.2. Electives

Students need to complete six elective subjects (75 points): of these, up to 37.5 points can be taken at 100-level; and the remaining points must be subjects at 200-level or greater.

Students are encouraged to take electives that broaden their degree studies.

Table 27: BIS course plan - example

Yr

 

Sem

 

Subjects

 

1

 

1

 

615-110

(replace with an elective if 40+ in VCE Information Technology IP)

 

615-140

 

One business-oriented subject from the list above

 

Elective

 

2

 

615-145

(615-140)

 

615-150

 

615-160

(Corequisite 615-145 or 433-171, or equivalent)

 

Elective

 

2

 

1

 

615-240

(615-145)

or

615-241

(at least H3 in 615-145)

 

615-251

(615-150)

 

615-230

(615-145)

 

Elective

 

2

 

615-245

(615-150, 615-230)

 

615-252

(615-150; corequisite 615-237)

 

615-237

(50 points of 100-level IS subjects)

 

Elective at 200-level or greater

 

3

 

1

 

615-347

(615-230; 615-240 or 615-241)

 

615-372

(50 points of 200-level IS subjects)

 

Information systems elective at 300-level

 

Elective at 200-level or greater

 

2

 

615-355

(62.5 points of 200-level IS subjects)

 

615-373

(615-372; 50 points of 200-level IS subjects including 615-245)

 

Information systems elective at 300-level

 

Elective at 200-level or greater

 

Note: Prerequisites for subjects are noted in italics where appropriate

 


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