Bachelor of Commerce / Bachelor of Information Systems

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In order to understand the workings of markets and the economy, one has to take on an 'economic mindset'. This introductory course covers the fundamental principles that economists use to understand and analyse economic behaviour. Understanding these basic principles equips students for further studies in economics and business. Topics and issues covered in this course include how individuals or firms make decisions about the demand or supply of a particular product, how we can judge the relative efficiency of different types of markets, how we explain why governments may need to intervene in a particular type of market while not in others, and how different government policies are more efficient than others.

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This course introduces students to basic statistical concepts and methods that are widely used in economics, finance, accountancy, marketing and, more generally, business. Emphasis is placed on applying statistical methods to draw inferences from sample data as an aid to informed decision-making.  Course topics include: descriptive statistics, probability distributions, point and interval estimation of parameters, hypothesis testing, and regression models. Students will learn to solve statistical problems in an EXCEL spreadsheet environment.  This course provides the basis for further study of statistical and econometric methods.

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Probability, random variables, independence. Discrete distributions, Poisson and binomial distributions. Data analysis, Descriptive statistics. Sampling, Continuous distributions, the normal distribution. Estimation of mean and variance. Tests of hypotheses. Linear regression and correlation. Tests for goodness of fit. Bayesian statistics. Assumed knowledge: As for MATH1031Note: This course is not intended for students who propose to study a substantial amount of Mathematics beyond first year level. Many later year courses in Mathematics have completion of MATH1231, MATH1241 or MATH1251 as a prerequisite.

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During Summer Term, this course is available as General Education to students from faculties outside the UNSW Business School

All students taking this course during Summer Term will be required to pay full tuition fees. This includes Commonwealth supported students who are studying at UNSW. Please see the Business School courses - Summer Term fees for more information.

Taken together, the accounting course in the compulsory core and this accounting course form an integrated study program designed to give students an understanding of the way in which financial information is generated and used, and to provide an appropriate platform for further study in accounting.

On completion the first year accounting courses seek to develop:

• Technical competence in recording economic events in the accounting system
• A critical understanding of key technical terms and concepts so as to interpret accounting information and reports in the financial press
• An ability to argue a reasoned position on key questions of accounting theory and practice
• Familiarity with institutional structures that affect the practice of accounting

Topics covered in this course will include accounting for the major transactions cycles, cash, receivables, inventory, non-current assets and liabilities, cash flow statements, accounting policy choice, further detail on management accounting (including costing systems and budgeting), corporate governance, and professional ethics.

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Visit the CSI website for more information about this course.

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Macroeconomics studies the aggregate behaviour of the economy. This course provides an introduction to the economic analysis of key macroeconomic variables such as output, employment, inflation, interest rates and exchange rates. The important elements of the course include measurement of macroeconomic variables, the development of models and theories to explain the behaviour of macroeconomic variables, the use of empirical evidence in evaluating different models, and the role of government policy in seeking to influence macroeconomic outcomes. The course will provide students with a framework for understanding the workings of the whole economy and the various interactions among households, business and governments.

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This is a first level corporate finance course that looks at the essential aspects of financial decision-making. The course begins with the different ways in which companies can be structured and the differing types of ownership that exist. Thereafter, the principles and applications of financial mathematics are introduced and used to value securities and investment decisions.

Portfolio theory is used to provide a foundation for determining the relationship between expected risk and returns in financial and real asset investments. Dividend payouts and the choices between debt and equity financing, including methods of determining the cost of capital, are also covered.

Furthermore, this course includes analysis of the influence of the capital market environment, the implications of financial risk, taxation and the conflict of interest between managers and investors on the value and operation of businesses.

The course develops distinct conceptual frameworks and specialised tools for solving real-world financial problems at both the personal and corporate level. Illustrations from real-life corporate practices are used to highlight the importance and relevance of financial management to the realisation of personal and corporate financial objectives.

Examples include personal financial planning, funds management, capital raisings, portfolio selection of financial securities, private equity, public floats and the pricing of assets in the stock market.

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In today’s business world, marketing is viewed as central to creating and delivering value both to the organisation and to the customer. It impacts all aspects of a business organisation, shaping and directing corporate through to marketing strategy. Many companies acknowledge that their growth and survival depends on putting the customer at the centre of their planning. Thus, an understanding of marketing is essential for any business student.

This course introduces the student to the major concepts and theories, reflecting the breadth and diversity of marketing. It provides insights into where marketing fits within an organisation, its contributions to business in general, describes frameworks supporting marketing activities, and helps with challenges in the ever changing market place. It discusses the application of this understanding to consumer goods, as well as service, business-to-business, industrial and non-profit organizations, and to the growing area of e-commerce.

Topics include: marketing processes and planning, the use of market research, an understanding of consumers and customers, decision-making and the marketing mix, market segmentation, positioning and product differentiation, the changing global environment.

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• Globalisation of business
• National differences in the political, social and legal environment, political and country risk
• Cultural differences and their impact on international business
• Ethical issues in international business
• International trade issues
• Theory and politics of foreign direct investment
• International competitiveness
• The internationalisation of business activities and the development of multinational enterprises
• Foreign exchange markets
• The international monetary system and development of the global capital market

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This is a foundational (Level 1) Information Systems (IS) course that introduces students to the use of IS in business and society. As an overarching theme, INFS1602 examines the issues and management of IS in relation to human behaviour and its consequences. Through this course, students will learn to appreciate existing and emerging technologies affecting businesses, business relationships and their products and services. In taking this course, students will be provided with tasks and assignments that will aid in refining their professional business skills and the ability to evaluate the value of technology to businesses. This includes communication and group work skills, time management and research skills.

The topics that are covered in INFS1602 include understanding the role of Information Systems and IS Professionals in Global Business, the relationship between Information Systems, Organisations, and Strategy, the dominant Business Models enabled by the Internet and the emergence of Web 2.0 technology. The course will also explore contemporary technology-enabled phenomena that are disruptive to the current business landscape such as Sharing Economy, Blockchain and the Internet of Things. The course also touches on popular enterprise-level information systems such as Enterprise Systems, Supply Chain and Customer Relationship Management Systems and the emergence of business intelligence in supporting organisation decision making. The course also involves discussion of the considerations behind the acquisition and building of IS and the issues common to the management of IS projects. Lastly, the course addresses the need to secure the IS and the potential ethical and social issues faced by businesses in relation to their use of IS.

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This is a foundational (Level 1) Information Systems (IS) course that introduces students to the concepts, techniques, and technologies relevant for creating and managing business databases. It will explain the major components of IS, which are critical to capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating and displaying information used in business processes. Through this course, students will be exposed to the fundamental knowledge of business databases, which are foundational for many advanced courses. Students will be given tasks and assignments to help them acquire the ability to create and manage business databases.

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This is a foundational (Level 1) Information Systems (IS) course that introduces students to application programming. The course provides a first step towards learning the principles of object-oriented programming through the Java programming language. Programming refers to the development of software, which is also called a program. Essentially, software contains the instructions that tell computerised devices what to do. In lectures, students will be introduced to the theoretical component of the course, learning fundamental programming concepts. During weekly workshop tutorials, students will engage in the practical component of the course, learning how to write code using the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment.

The topics that are covered in INFS1609 introduce students to the fundamentals of Java programming. This begins with an overview of data types and methods before introducing students to small problem-solving exercises that require the use of conditional statements, loops and arrays (including multi-dimensional arrays and array lists). Students are then introduced to the topics of modular programming, testing and debugging (using JUNIT). Finally, having gained a general understanding of these concepts, students further explore the principles of object-oriented programming, including objects, classes, abstraction, polymorphism, inheritance and encapsulation.

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INFS2603 is a Level 2 course that continues students’ study of Information Systems by furthering their knowledge and skills in relation to business analysis in contemporary settings. This course utilises the principles of design thinking and object-oriented approaches to understand and solve business problems. In lectures, students will study a range of methods, tools and techniques used in planning, analysing, designing and implementing business relevant systems. During weekly practical workshops, students will get the chance to apply design thinking principles to understand and solve real-world cases, utilising their conceptual knowledge.

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This is a Level 2 Information Systems (IS) course that continues students' study of IS by furthering their knowledge and skills in relation to business application programming. The course continues the study of Java programming from INFS1609/INFS2609 and examines contemporary approaches to software development. In lectures, students will study a range of topics from advanced Java concepts, software development frameworks, and practices, to user experience and design. During weekly workshop tutorials, students will engage in the practical component of the course and problem-solving exercises through the development of Java applications using the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment.

The topics that are covered in INFS2605 build on the programming skills introduced in INFS1609/INFS2609, providing students with a thorough review of software development processes and object-oriented programming principles. Students will then expand their Java skills and knowledge through the study of Model View Controller architecture, event-driven programming and Graphical User Interfaces (GUI). Specifically, the course introduces students to the development of JavaFX GUI applications, using Scenebuilder. Building on this, students are then provided with an overview of exception handling and taught how to develop basic database applications using Java Database Connectivity, an application programming interface (API), which defines how a client may access a database. This course concludes with an introduction to API’s that facilitate the development of reporting functionalities (e.g. exporting data to excel) from database applications.

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INFS2608 is a Level 2 Information Systems (IS) course that continues students’ study of IS by covering various advanced topics pertinent to big data management, which includes both relational and analytical data system infrastructure. It will explain advanced concepts used to design and manage relational and analytical big data system infrastructure. Through this course, students will learn to evaluate issues associated with big data management and business data analytics such as data quality and security. In taking this course, students will be provided with tasks and assignments that will aid in refining their ability to evaluate the value of data focused infrastructures.

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The aim of this course is to introduce you to enterprise systems (ES), to show how organisations use enterprise systems to run their operations more efficiently and effectively, to learn about the critical success factors and implementation strategies that lead to enterprise system success, and to consider the informational, knowledge, and decision-making opportunities afforded by enterprise systems. The course will examine typical ES modules: manufacturing, supply chain management (SCM), financials, projects, human resource management, and customer relationship management (CRM). Enterprise systems (ES) use a single database to integrate business transactions along and between processes, leading to benefits such as efficient and error-free workflows plus accounting, management reporting and improved decision-making. The course will incorporate a laboratory component using the SAP software.

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This is a Level 3 Information Systems (IS) course and a foundational course in Business Analytics (BA). This course provides students with an understanding of business needs and technology trends driving investment in business analytics and big data technologies. The course also presents the fundamentals of implementing and managing business analytics in organisations. In lectures, students will learn business analytics methods and tools as well as the challenges associated with implementing business analytics projects. Through real-world case studies, students will develop their understanding of the applications of business analytics as well as the social and ethical implications of business analytics. Students will also improve their critical thinking, problem-solving, research, communication and team-working skills through group assignments.

Topics covered in this course include: decision-making process; business analytics concepts, methods, and frameworks; frameworks for putting analytics to work; the governance, oversight and business value gained from business analytics within organisations; ethical and social implications of business analytics; and future directions for business analytics.

SAS software tools will be used for the skills components of the course including: Applied Analytics Using SAS Enterprise Miner, Text Miner and Visual Analytics.

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To meet the demands of today’s competitive marketplace, enterprise processes must be lean and customer focussed. This course looks at ways in which business processes can be analysed, redesigned, and improved thus ensuring that they are meeting the needs of customers and the enterprise. A business process is a set of related activities that jointly realise a business goal in an organisational and technical environment. These processes take place in a single organisation but may need to interact with processes in other organisations. Business process management (BPM) is concerned with the concepts, methods, and techniques that support the design, improvement, management, configuration, enactment, and analysis of business processes that deliver lean and customer focused business processes. BPM includes process modelling that explicitly represents processes – once they are defined, processes can be analysed, improved, and enacted. Software in the form of business process management systems can be used to manage business process.

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Project 2 is a capstone course focusing on the implementation phase of the development of information systems. The earlier phases of requirements and design have been considered in previous information systems courses (see prerequisites). You will work in a team to experience the system development process. The vehicle for the practical component is a specification of a non-trivial information system which will be implemented by teams in the Java programming language.

Project 2 considers in detail the issues of coding and implementing quality information systems in an organisational context. These issues include: identifying attributes of quality, project management (resource management), project effort estimation, software testing, maintenance, evaluation of software products and processes. Quality is an overarching issue that is a consideration within the domain of all the above issues and is a unifying theme throughout the whole course. To achieve the objectives of the course the concepts, principles and theoretical approaches outlined in the weekly lectures are reinforced by the practical components of the course. The majority of the lecture material will be directly related to the practical component of the course.

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This is a Level 3 Information Systems (IS) course that continues students’ study in IS by further developing their knowledge and understanding in information technology infrastructure and security in a business environment. The course will provide students with a learning experience that encourages participation and building of ideas in regards to current issues in business data networks, telecommunications, and infrastructure along with class discussions on the topics. The course has a technical component in which students gain practical knowledge and experience in networking and IS security techniques.

Topics to be covered in this course include inter-networked data communications and distributed data processing. Topics covered include, the business imperatives for distributed systems, systems architectural design (client/server; distributed processing, etc) layered architecture models (TCP/IP, OSI, etc), key network models and technologies, security issues related to architecture, design and technology, network configuration and management techniques.

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This is a Level 3 Information Systems (IS) course that continues students’ study of IS by furthering their knowledge and skills in relation to mobile application programming. Continuing from INFS2605, this course focuses on the development of software applications using the Android mobile platform. In lectures, students will be provided with an overview of mobile programming concepts and tools, and engage in case studies with regards to mobile app development and the current mobile market. During the weekly practical workshops, students will use the Android Studio Integrated Development Environment to learn how to design and develop a range of mobile applications. Students will be required to evaluate the quality of their own and their peers’ coding solutions. Students will also research and analyse current trends in the mobile market and present a portfolio of their design work at the end of the course.

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