| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Workload Breakdown | 55 hours of contact time; lectures, practicals, workshops. |
| Workload Breakdown | 145 hours of private study, practical work and assessment. |
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 2 Hours written exam | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 assignment: 2000 word essay based on students' own research | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Supplementary examination will take the same form, under the terms of the Department's policy. | 100% |
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. select appropriate procurement strategies, including contractual arrangements, and identify appropriate tenderers for substantial software procurements.
2. participate at a professional level in the preparation of invitations to tender and responses to such invitations.
3. critically assess the human resource strategy of a software company.
4. assess the effects of legislation relating to the engineering profession and professional codes of conduct, as they exist in different countries, on the operations of a software company.
5. identify and evaluate the different possible approaches to automating basic business processes in a specific environment.
6. be familiar with the main technologies that are currently in use for implementing e-commerce systems and assess their strengths and weaknesses.
7. assess the likely effect of prospective developments in technology and regulation on specific scenarios.
8. identify the security threats to which a specific e-commerce system is subject and select the most appropriate countermeasures.
9. be familiar with the various standards-making bodies and understand the importance of standards in e-commerce.
This module replaces the MSc module COM8220 by moving Internet technology material to COM5820 and COM5720 and inserting further e-commerce material from elsewhere. The module forms an essential part of the proposed new Internet and Distributed Systems (Advanced) MSc. It will also form part of the conversion MSC in Computer Science. E-commerce is an important topic to cover within an Internet and distributed systems MSc.
The software industry is now one of the largest and most complex in the world. The individual players within it include companies of such size and complexity that they present unique problems of management. Software professionals who intends to rise to a senior management position in the industry must at least be aware of its structure and characteristics, how it functions and what its management problems are. They must also be aware of the way in which the industry as a whole and its individual practitioners are regulated. Nowhere is this more the case than in the field of e-commerce. The module uses e-commerce both as an area in which more general issues can be studied in a concrete fashion, and as an area which is important in its own right.
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | No |
| Communication | Not significant |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The assessed coursework requires students to develop their understanding of issues associated with the module |
| Information Technology | Entire content of module |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module deals extensively with the structure of the software industry and hence gives students the opportunity to understand the range of employment possibilities |
| Problem solving | The assignment addresses challenging issues concerned with the operation of the software industry and its use of communication technology |
| Research skills | On-line web exploration and synthesis and application of relevant materials is required both by the assignment and the examination |
| Subject Specific Skills | See learning outcomes |
| Team work | No |
This module is at CQFW Level 7