Overview

Admissions Contacts

Dr Will Smith
Admissions Tutor

Mrs Jenny Baldry
Admissions Administrator

Telephone:
+44 (0)1904 325412

Email:
admissions@cs.york.ac.uk

This programme is available either with an industrial placement year, which is taken after your second year of study, or without an industrial placement year.

The Computer Science with Business Enterprise Systems degree is more than just Computer Science, and more than an Information Technology degree. This is a four-year programme (or five, with an industrial placement), leading to a Masters degree that focuses on the design, deployment and management of enterprise systems.

What is an Enterprise System?

An Enterprise System is a very large software system, but there's more to it than that. Let's consider some examples:

• SABRE is an ultra-large scale international software system used by airlines, rail companies and hotels for making passenger and customer reservations. Airlines in all countries of the world use it for making passenger bookings. Each individual airline may have its own internal system for managing bookings, but this internal system needs to be able to talk to the systems operated by other companies, to support things like code-sharing.

• Another good example is a system for electronic health records, for example, like the one designed and operated by the NHS. This system provides a uniform way for health information (e.g. patient prescriptions, x-rays) to be recorded and shared amongst health providers - like hospitals, surgeries and administrators.

• A third example is cloud computing, and systems provided by international companies like Google and Amazon. Cloud computing is a fundamental technology - it allows organisations to share computing resources (e.g. to store data, or to use shared services), rather than having to purchase and deliver the resources themselves. Cloud computing also enables enterprise-level computing, and allows cross-border and international organisations to share computing resources efficiently and effectively.

There are lots of other examples - and you will find out more about them in this course! - but what is interesting about these systems is:

• They can be difficult to build (e.g. so as to handle demands from massive numbers of users, and to provide always-on capability).

• Once they are built, you're not finished! These systems can be challenging to maintain (e.g. when new capabilities are required).

• There are more than just technical challenges; there are organisational, social and business challenges too! Enterprise systems are challenging to deploy into companies (e.g. how does a new airline adopt SABRE, and how does adoption change the airline's organisational structure?).

• Finally, these systems are challenging to manage once they have been deployed and are being used by real people solving real problems for their organisation.

What You Study

The programme has several novel components:

• It offers a specialist management strand of teaching, focusing on the issues related to deploying and managing ultra-large scale software systems. This includes organisational, social and legal issues, as well as technical ones.

• It excludes teaching of hardware and electronics (apart from one introductory module in the first year). The programme is thus directed at students with more interest in software and social/legal issues of computing than electronics and hardware.

• It builds on the Department's close relationships with industry. Participation in this programme will bring you into direct contact with members of top business organisations and industry leaders, and give you first-hand experience of dealing with the problems of Enterprise Systems.

• It uses novel teaching methods, including student-directed seminars, structured interviews of experts from industry, and team and individual projects.

The first two years form a solid foundation in Computer Science, and provide an introduction to management in the context of Enterprise Systems. The structure in the third and fourth years allows for a sharpening of the focus and the greater exercise of creativity. This is especially true of both individual and team project work, in which your own newly developed interests in Enterprise Systems can be given full rein. Also, options can be chosen from a wide variety of topics that encompass the most cutting-edge developments in Computer Science.

Course Structure

First Year

The first year contains essential fundamental material in programming, computer architectures and human-computer interfaces. It also contains mathematical and theoretical foundations of computer science. The structure of the first year modules can be found in the first year modules table.

Second Year

The second year continues with fundamental material, such as 'Principles of Programming Languages', 'Systems and Compilers', and 'Computability and Complexity'. Slightly more specialised topics start to be introduced, for example 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'Vision and Graphics'. Furthermore, all students can choose between a large Software Engineering project or a Hardware project. The structure of the second year modules can be found in the second year modules table.

Third Year

Once you reach your third year, there is more flexibility and you can choose 6 modules from a range of options. Examples of current module options can be found in the third year modules list. 

Fourth Year

In the fourth year, you do a large individual research project, a group project and five modules. Examples of individual projects can be found under the final year projects tab on this page. Examples of current module options can be found in the fourth year modules list.

Final Year Project

Examples of final year projects with an Enterprise Systems emphasis include:

• Online Assessment Management System

• Learning Tool for New Data Query Technologies

• Safety Arguments for Large-Scale Information Systems

• Role-Based Security in Technical Report Management Software

• Designing and Implementing an Automated Legal Accounting System

• York Extendible Testing Infrastructure (YETI): Improving the Java Binding

About You

You are a problem-solver. You enjoy technical challenges (like programming, and building programs) but enjoy non-technical challenges too, such as:

• understanding what people want from their software;

• understanding how people and organisations use software; and

• understanding the business case for building software.

You want to understand how businesses work, what they want to do with software, and what challenges they face operating in an international, always-connected, society. You will be taking Mathematics at A-level, but you may also be taking Economics or Business.

"This programme offers a great opportunity for students who want to be equipped with well-rounded knowledge and skills in both computer science and business aspects. It provides many exciting hands-on experiences, such as building applications for iPad and Facebook, and constructing business cases. Throughout the programme, I have been able to practise team-working and communications skills, which will be a great help when applying for jobs. The staff are very friendly and willing to help with any problems. I am really enjoying it here."

Lu, Computer Science with Business Enterprise Systems, 2nd year

Career Options

You may go on to a role as a software designer or engineer, a project manager, a technical architect, a business/management consultant, or a systems integrator, for example. You may be looking to create your own start-up, and want an additional edge when it comes to learning how to talk to industry.