Digital and Technology Solutions Professional (Data Analyst)* Degree Apprenticeship

The apprentice is introduced to the fundamental concepts of object-oriented software development.

They explore key aspects of the software development process, such as designing solutions, writing application code, developing documentation and formal approaches to testing.

They develop the essential skills for software application development; including following best practices used by industry and the wider programming community.

Data can be used to provide insights and knowledge for business decision making. It can be used to predict outcomes, identify patterns and problems and is used in multiple areas of business.

The apprentice explores real world examples and applications for data science along with key statistical techniques.

Conceptual and practical understanding of basic statistical and probability methods is developed and supported through the use of statistical software package.

Problem-solving oriented sessions provide the opportunity to demonstrate understanding and develop competence in the application of these.

The statistical knowledge is applied to data science case studies.

To produce a successful, robust, user-friendly system or application, you need to start by analysing your stakeholders’ requirements and developing a detailed design.

Study the concepts and techniques of analysing and designing systems. Then you can break down and simplify complex systems, and represent them visually using industry-standard approaches. In industry, these visual models are used to communicate designs to developers and stakeholders before implementation.

You study other techniques to design and implement relational databases as part of an information system. Using data-modelling techniques, you learn to define how the system stores data and interacts with it.

This module has a strong emphasis on professional practice and transferrable practical skills, such as communicating design, structuring workflows with process models and gathering requirements - this provides you with some of the essential skills you need in industry.

This is a 30-credit module.

You develop a solution, proposal, product or service in response to an enterprise challenge set by industry partners or business clients.

Working in small teams, you determine the project aims, objectives, roles, tasks, deliverables, schedules and documentation. You take a professional approach, informed by innovative industry practice, to deliver a successful project that meets the set challenge.

You develop a solution, proposal, product or service, pitching it to academics and industry experts. You reflect on the project process as a whole and review sustainability, diversity, ethical and legal issues, and evaluate team members’ performance.

This is a 30-credit module.

Learn how to design and implement database applications to meet business needs using industry-standard database technologies. Use a case study to follow the system development lifecycle, and develop a server database application for a real-world scenario. Explore rational and NoSQL database technologies to design and build solutions.

This is a 30-credit module.

Cover a full range of computer and network security issues. Study systematic approaches to managing security risks, identification and authentication, elementary cryptography, network technology and relevant security issues. Learn about the basic network technology including deploying routers, switches, firewalls, cabling and servers as well as communication protocols and topologies. And understand how they're used and how they function in the real world.

This is a 30-credit module.

With vast quantities of data generated every day, businesses are increasingly looking for new ways to get data insights to improve their performance and gain a competitive advantage.

Develop your ability to visualise data and implement business intelligence solutions to support business needs. Investigate the strategies and technologies used by enterprises to perform business data analysis, get insights and make informed decisions.

Once you've completed this module, you'll be able to design and implement big data analytics and data visualisation applications to meet business needs and present data insights.

This is a 30-credit module.

It is essential that organisations maintain a legal and ethical approach to collecting, processing, storing, using and analysing data. The apprentice considers industry best practice, frameworks and legislation to meet the needs of business with consideration for strategy and sustainability. It considers modern security methods and techniques.

How can businesses effectively and sustainably manage exponential growth of digital system data?

Apprentices learn about data science principles and modern contextualised approaches to data systems.

They explore data collection, manipulation, analysis, and management of datasets, including for use of big data, for the benefit of business.

The apprentice considers how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be utilised to better understand business data and transform business decision-making.

Key artificial intelligence and machine learning principles, concepts, methods and algorithms are covered alongside techniques and tools.

They explore techniques for making predictions on unseen data, business forecasting, and decisions by analysing existing data rather than needing to know how to explicitly program the calculations.

This is a large-scale piece of contextualised work, undertaken by the apprentice under supervision of academic staff, in negotiation with the employer. The project involves the production of a substantial artefact related to the specialised apprenticeship computing field and a reflective report and commented walk-through video of the artefact or in-person presentation (to be agreed with the apprentice, academic supervisor and employer). The project is expected to provide value to the employer (for example, a product to solve a problem, or an efficiency development).

Apprentices are guided to develop an appropriate sense of work-discipline coupled with a professional outlook as identified by the apprenticeship standards.

Working with stakeholders, such as the employer or colleagues, they are expected to take full responsibility for their project and carry out an in-depth exploration of a negotiated subject area, thereby demonstrating the ability to scope the project, plan, research, analyse, synthesise, and creatively apply and execute what has already been studied on the apprenticeship and undertaken in the workplace.

The project will cover the specialism skills, knowledge and behaviours from the standard using the occupational domain to select the project.

As part of their project, the apprentice considers associated risks, security and sustainability as well as legal, social, ethical and equality, diversity and inclusion issues.

They further develop their professional skills such as time management, communication, problem solving and critical thinking.

This is a 60-credit module.