Organisational Context

The ISEB Certificate in Organisational Context

Course benefits:

This certificate is concerned with the business environment within which organisations have to operate. There are three key elements to the syllabus:

the nature of organisations, their legal basis, management and structures
legislation of concern to the IS professional
business finance.

Candidates are required to have a broad knowledge of each of these three elements and will be expected to demonstrate this knowledge in the examination for this certificate.

Who should attend:

This course is aimed at Business and Systems Analysts requiring an understanding of how businesses are structured, how they are operated and how they are controlled.

Prerequisites:

There are no specific pre-requisites for entry to the examination, however candidates should be suitably prepared and possess the appropriate skills and knowledge to fulfil the objectives.

What you will learn:

Holders of the ISEB BSD Certificate in Business Organisation should be able to:

Describe the range and type of business organisations in the UK.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of a range of management structures operated within organisations.
Describe the work carried out by key functions found within organisations.
Explain legislative issues affecting information systems.
Describe the range of activities carried out by financial and management accountants.
Interpret the contents of the balance sheet and profit and loss account.
Use investment appraisal, costing and cash flow forecasting techniques.

What you will cover:

1. Law and Government

2. Professions and professional bodies

3. Types of organisation

3.1 Private sector organisations
3.2 Public sector organisations
3.3 Not-for-profit organisations

4. Financing a start-up company

4.1 Why capital is needed
4.2 The business plan
4.3 Sources of finance

5. Financial accounting

5.1 The balance sheet
5.2 The profit and loss account
5.3 Financial ratios
5.4 Liquidity
5.5 Gearing

6. Management accounting

6.1 Costing approaches
6.2 Principles of budgeting
6.3 Cash flow forecast

7. Investment Appraisal

7.1 Payback
7.2 Discounted Cash Flow
7.3 Internal Rate of Return

8. Structure and management of organisations

8.1 Organisational models
8.2 Depth of structure
8.3 Centralisation

9. Business Functions

9.1 Sales
9.2 Marketing
9.3 Operations
9.4 Procurement
9.5 Finance
9.6 Human Resources

10. Legal issues

10.1 Anti-discrimination legislation
10.2 Software contracts and liability
10.3 Intellectual property rights
10.4 Data protection, privacy and freedom of information
10.5 Internet issues
10.6 Computer misuse

How you will learn:

The format for the examination is a one hour written (open book) examination based on a business scenario with 15 minutes reading time. Candidates who are awarded a pass for the examination are awarded the ISEB Certificate in The Organisational Context.

Duration and availability:

Two days non-residential. Public and in-house.