The School of IT offers the following undergraduate courses from the department of Information Systems. Click on the links below for more information or download the Commerce Undergraduate handbook.
For a BCom specialising in Information Systems [CB001INF01], the following core modules are offered:
First Year Core Modules
ACC1006F Financial Accounting
INF1002F Information Systems I*
OR
CSC1015F Computer Science 1015**
DOC1003H Commerce Case Study
ECO1010F Microeconomics
MAM1010F Mathematics 1010
ACC1012S Business Accounting
OR
ACC2011S Financial Reporting I
BUS1036S Evidence-based Management
ECO1011S Macroeconomics
CML1004S Business Law I
Second Year Core Modules
INF1003F Commercial Programming**
INF2007F Applying Database Principles
INF2006F Business Intelligence and Analytics
INF2009F Systems Analysis
INF2010S IT Architecture
INF2011S Systems Design & Development
BUS2010S Marketing I
STA1000S Introductory Statistics
Plus 1 approved course***
Third Year Core Modules
BUS2033F Professional Communication
INF3014F Electronic Commerce
INF3003W Systems Development Project I
PHI2043S Business Ethics
INF3012S BPM & Enterprise Systems
Plus 2 approved 2000 level courses***
* Students who wish to keep the option of a dual Information Systems and Computer Science major open are requested to register for CB001INF06 and complete CSC1015F and CSC1016S in first year
** Students who complete CSC1015F can complete CSC1016S in first year in substitution for INF1003F in second year.
*** Recommended semester options are:
- ACC2022F Management Accounting I
- ECO2004S Macroeconomics II
- CML2001F Company Law
- ECO2007S Co-operation and Competition
- CML20055F Labour Law
- FTX2020F Business Finance
- CML2010S Business Law II
- FTX2000S Personal Financial Management
- MAM1012S Mathematics 1012
- PSY1004F Introduction to Psychology Part I
- PSY1005S Introduction to Psychology Part II
- PHI2037S Applied Ethics
- ECO2003F Microeconomics II
- STA2020F/S Applied Statistics
Detailed course information:
INF1002F/S INFORMATION SYSTEMS 1
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 5
Course Convenor: P Tsibolane
Course entry requirements: Admission may be restricted for students other than Commerce based on student numbers. For students outside of Commerce, entrance requirements include either 70% for NBT QL or at least 50% for Maths (NSC) or MAM1014F
Course outline:
The course introduces information systems and their role in business. Fundamental knowledge of information systems, their functioning and how they contributed to globalisation will be discussed. The course topics cover: electronic business, business intelligence, analysing information for decision-making, computational thinking, information security and privacy, and emerging technologies. Both theoretical and practical aspects are covered through lectures and hands-on practical session.
Lecture times: Monday, 6th or 7th period, Prescribed Tutorial Session: Tuesday OR Wednesday, 6th or 7th period
DP requirements: Year mark greater or equal 45% and submission of practical assignments
Assessment: Coursework (tests, assignments and online contribution) 50%; Final Examination 50% with a sub-minimum of 45%
INF1003F COMMERCIAL PROGRAMMING
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 5
Course Convenor: Z Ruhwanya
Course entry requirements: INF1002F/S or CSC1015F (or >=70% for CSC1017F)
Objective: At the end of the course, students will be able to:Use the Visual Studio integrated development environment proficiently
Course outline:
The course focuses on integrating good programming practices through planning and developing software programs using C#. The course is practical-orientated and students should be prepared to spend time after hours to do programming exercises and examples in the computer laboratories, or on a personal computer at home.
Theory lectures are used to communicate course content, which includes: Data Types and Expressions, Methods and Behaviours, Creating Your Own Classes, Making Decisions, Repeating Instructions, Arrays, Introduction to Windows Programming, Advanced Object-Oriented Programming Features, and Debugging and Handling Exceptions
Lecture times: Monday to Friday, 8th period (subject to change)
DP requirements: Attendance of 80% of all deliverables. A minimum year mark of 45% on the assessment deliverables.
INF1102S INFORMATION SYSTEMS I
For Academic Development programme (Commerce). Students in this course write the same class tests and final examination as the INF1002F/S students.
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 5
Convener: M I Kapepo
Course entry requirements: Admission to the Commerce EDU programme.
Course outline:
The course provides an introduction to information systems. It does so from a business perspective looking at information technologies and the use of information in business. The focus of the course is on information, putting the relevance and value of information systems into perspective. Topics discussed are: the Internet and World Wide Web; electronic business; enterprise information systems; business intelligence; analysing information for decision-making; computational thinking; information security and privacy; and emerging technologies, amongst others. The practical component of the course entails an introduction to MS Excel E-Commerce applications web design and programming logic. Additionally, the course further uses teaching and assessment models which explicitly foregrounds issues of context and provides more time for AD students to grasp the concepts of Information Systems theory using practical examples such as case studies.
Lecture times: Monday, 6th and 7th period; Tuesday to Wednesday, 6th period
DP requirements: Year mark greater or equal 45% and submission of 15 practical assignments. Assessment: Coursework (tests, assignments and online contribution) 50%; Final Examination 50% with a sub-minimum of 45%.
INF2006F BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND ANALYTICS
6 NQF credits at HEQSF level 6
Convener: A. Budree
Course entry requirements: INF1002 OR equivalent.
Course outline:
The course introduces students to the main features of business intelligence and business analytics, including data warehousing and data marts, decision support systems, OLAP, data mining and analytics, corporate performance management, data visualisation, real-time BI, pervasive BI, mobile BI and big data analytics. Case studies and management approaches for implementation are covered and a hands-on project requires students to produce a management report after analysing data using commercial BI software.
Lecture times: Course runs only for 3 weeks: Monday to Wednesday, 5th period, Friday 4th and 5th period
DP requirements: Year mark of 45%.
Assessment: Group project 40%, Classwork 10%, Final examination 50%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.
INF2007F APPLYING DATABASE PRINCIPLES
12 NQF credits at HEQSF level 6
Convener: S Kabanda
Course entry requirements: INF1003F or equivalent, or INF1003F as co-requisite. Students cannot be credited for this course and CSC2001F.
Course outline:
The course introduces students to database concepts, advanced database design and implementation and new developments in the database field. These are core skills which I.S. professionals require throughout their careers. There is a strong practical component to the course, where students will be taught the practical aspects of designing, implementing and using databases. This course explores different database architectures and design approaches, data modelling techniques, data dictionaries, database implementation, database security and administration. The concepts are applicable to any development context, and the workshops ensure the students are able to apply this theory to real world applications.
Lecture times: Monday to Wednesday 12h00 - 12h45
DP requirements: 80% attendance at workshops, completion of all course deliverables, year mark of 45%.
Assessment: Group presentations 10%, other classwork 40%, final examination 50%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 6
Convener: S Kabanda
Course entry requirements: INF1003F or equivalent or INF1003F as co-requisite. Students cannot be credited for this course and CSC2002S.
Course outline:
The course combines INF2006F and INF2007F. Please see course outlines for these courses. This course introduces students to database concepts, advanced database design and implementation and new developments in the database field. The main features of business intelligence and business analytics, including data warehousing and data marts, decision support systems, OLAP, data mining and analytics, corporate performance management, data visualization, real-time BI, pervasive BI, mobile BI and big data analytics are introduced. There is a strong practical component to the course, where students will be taught the practical aspects of designing, implementing and using databases. This course explores different database architectures and design approaches, data modelling techniques, data dictionaries, database implementation, database security and administration. The concepts are applicable to any development context, and the workshops ensure the students are able to apply this theory to real world applications. Case studies and management approaches for implementation are covered and a hands-on project requires students to produce a management report after analysing data using commercial BI software.
DP requirements: 80% attendance at workshops, completion of all course deliverables, year mark of 45%.
Assessment: Group presentations 10%, other classwork 40%, final examinations 50%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examinations.
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 6
Course Convenor: E Scott / A Pekane
Course entry requirements: INF1003F or equivalent or INF1003F as co-requisite.
Course outline:
This course explores the role of the Systems Analyst in business, different approaches used in the development of information systems, and the various tools and techniques used in the specification of system requirements.
This course is intended to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the systems development process, with particular emphasis on the analysis stage of the life cycle. There is a strong practical component to the course, where students will be taught to understand and use the common tools of object oriented systems analysis. These tools and techniques include scoping, risk analysis, feasibility assessment, prototyping, JAD and techniques commonly used in object oriented systems. The course will also strongly focus on the design of UML models including package, activity, use case, class, interaction and state machine diagrams. INF2009F is closely linked with INF2011S and students will implement an information system in the second semester based on these user requirements and in doing so will have completed the whole systems development life cycle (SDLC).
Lecture times: Monday to Wednesday, 4th period, Practical workshops: Thursday 3rd & 4th periods OR 4th & 5th OR 8th & 9th
DP requirements: 80% attendance at workshops, completion of all deliverables, sub-minimum of 45% for course year mark.Submitted at least 80% of exercises. Completed at least 80% of quizzes.
Assessment: The final grade is derived from results of Quizzes 3%, Class Exercises 7%, Workshops 10%, April test 15%, Business Case Assignment 7.5%, URS Assignment 7.5% and the Final Examination 50%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.
INF2010S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ARCHITECTURE
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 7
Course Convenor: G Oosterwyk
Course entry requirements: Minimum 45% final mark for INF1003F or equivalent. Students cannot be credited for this course and CSC2002S
Course outline:
This course is intended to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of hardware, software, data communications and networking theory. This course is designed to build the skills required for the management and building of distributed systems and commercial networks. This course provides the hardware and software technology background required for understanding various computer architectures for single and multiple users. The analysis and design of networked applications is covered, including telecommunication devices, media, network hardware and software, network configuration and applications, network architectures, topologies and protocols, LAN and WAN networks, intranets and the Internet. The underlying architecture of modern computer hardware and operating systems, mobile computing, the cloud and basic computer security is also covered. Lecture times: Monday to Wednesday 12h00 -12h45
DP requirements: Completion of 80% deliverables, year mark of 45%.
Assessment: The final grade is derived from results of assignments, semester test, quizzes, IT Technical Report and final examination. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.
INF2011S SYSTEMS DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 7
Convener: Dirk Snyman
Course entry requirements: Minimum 45% final mark for INF2007, INF2009F, and INF1003F or equivalent
Objective: System analysis and development (Implementation)
Course outline:
This course is intended to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the systems development process with particular emphasis on the design and implementation stages of the life cycle. There is a strong practical component to the course, where students will use object - oriented tools to design and construct a working system.
Students will be taught the object - oriented approach to design using UML notation, including interaction, package and design class diagrams, dialog and user interface design, and controls and security design. Program development using Visual C#.net, iterative methodologies and systems implementation will be covered, as well as issues of quality assurance, training and documentation
Lecture times: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 4th period, Thursday: Weekly workshop sessions 3rd to 4th OR 4th to 5th periods,Friday: Practical workshops 5th – 7th .
DP requirements: 80% attendance at workshops and practicals, completion of all deliverables, year-mark of 45%. Competed at least 80% of quizzes and tutorials. Submitted at least 80% of class exercises. Submitted all project work.
Assessment: The final grade is derived from results of Class Exercises 3%, Workshops (Coding and Theory) 5%, Tutorials 5%, a Mid-September test 12%, Project 25% and Final Examination 50%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.
INF3003W SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT I
48 NQF credits at HEQSF level 7
Course Convenor: E Scott / W Uys
Course entry requirements: All second year Information Systems courses.
Objective: It aims to equip the student with crucial problem-solving skills using object-oriented software development techniques, and endeavours to improve technical document writing skills.
Course outline:
This whole year course is for students majoring in Information Systems (IS) to gain an understanding of the issues that are influencing ICT projects and experience the development and implementation of such a project. This course combines the theoretical elements of project management with the practical implementation of these concepts through the completion of a systems development team project, integrating practical and theoretical elements obtained and developed during other undergraduate IS courses. The theoretical parts of this course aim to make the project team experiences more true to life, aiding the development of a project practitioner. Students should be aware that successful project management consists of a sound plan (using project management tools and techniques) and strong people management to direct the plan through to the completion of the project’s deliverables. The basis for this development process is an interactive project team environment of learning through experiences and reflection. The practical part of this course involves the application and implementation of these concepts following the full life cycle of a team-based IS project in a real-life setting.
Lecture times: First semester: 10h00-10h45 Monday and Tuesday, and 10h00-11h45 Wednesday and Friday, and 10h00-12h45 Thursday. Second semester: 12h00-12h45 Thursday
DP requirements: Students will be considered to have duly performed the course work if they have obtained a minimum of 45% for their year mark.
Assessment: Coursework 60%. (Weekly coding workshops and tutorials, as well as continuous assignments for the team project culminating in a formal presentation and code presentation). Team work makes up 40% of the course mark. Exam 40%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the examination (both Project Management and Code).
INF3011F I.T. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Students cannot be credited for this course and for INF3003W.
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 7
Convener: G Mwalemba
Course entry requirements: INF2009F and INF2011S
Course outline:
This is a first semester capstone course for students majoring in Computer Science (CS) and Information Systems (IS) who wish not only to gain an understanding of project management issues that are influencing business and IT/IS projects, but also experience the execution of such projects. The course thus combines the theoretical elements of project management (and people management) with the practical implementation of these concepts through the completion of a team project. The course integrates practical and theoretical elements obtained and developed in other undergraduate Information System courses.
Lecture times: 10h00-10h45 Monday - Thursday and 10h00-12h45 Friday
DP requirements: Submission of required project work and a sub-minimum of 45% for the year mark prior to writing the final examination. In addition, students must have a satisfactory attendance at tutorials and lectures.
Assessment: Coursework 60%. Weekly tutorials and group project. Final examination 40%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.
INF3012S BPM & ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 7
Convener: L Seymour
Course entry requirements: INF2009F and INF2011S
Course outline:
This course examines the role, relationship and effect IT Applications have on businesses and vice versa. It has a heavy emphasis on ERP systems, business processes and Business Process Management (BPM). Students will be exposed to methodologies and techniques to identify, model, measure and improve processes. Students will be introduced to technologies that can be used as part of process improvement initiatives as well as technologies such as ERP that impact on business processes. A group assignment will allow students to apply their analytical skills to improving an existing process. Students will be introduced to S/4 HANA, and will acquire a basic working knowledge of the Application.
Lecture times: 11h00-11h45 Tuesday- Friday and 10h00-10h45 Thursday and Friday
DP requirements: Submission of required assignments and a sub-minimum of 45% for the year mark prior to writing the final examination. In addition, students must attend 80% of workshops. Assessment: Classwork 50% (workshops, class exercises, 1 test and a group project), final examination 50%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.
18 NQF credits at HEQSF level 7
Convener: G Mwalemba
Course entry requirements: INF2009F and [INF2011S or CSC2002S]
Course outline:
INF3014F is a first semester half course for students majoring in IS that wish to gain an understanding of electronic commerce. The course covers both theoretical e-commerce issues as well as the practical skills related to e-commerce. The theory component covers the fundamentals of e-commerce, overview of the underlying internet technologies, e-tailing, e-business models, payment systems, marketing, legal issues, management and future trends, and user experience design. The practical component includes web site planning and structuring, advanced HTML editing, client-side and server-side scripting, database connectivity, marketing, web-site usability. The practical component will culminate in a group project in which an e-commerce website is built. Lecture times: 12h00-13h45 Tuesday and Wednesday and either 13h00-14h45 or 14h00-15h45 Friday
DP requirements: Submission of required project work, essay and workshops, and a sub-minimum of 45% for the year mark prior to writing the final examination. In addition, students must have a satisfactory attendance at lectures.
Assessment: Coursework 50%. (Weekly assignments, essay, team project and a test). Exam 50%. Sub-minimum of 45% for the final examination.