Business students help iHub client companies find BIS solutions as part of their degree studies

GMIT Business students on the B.Sc. in Business Information Systems (BIS) degree programme completed valuable work for a number of client companies in GMIT’s Innovation Hub over the past few months as part of their degree programme. The students’ work was for a module entitled ‘Professional Practice Project’ where they research a specified information systems’ issue and create a technological solution, using the knowledge and skills gained in the programme.

The projects covered a wide range of Information Systems disciplines ranging from Database design and implementation, Website Development, Customer Relationship Management Systems to Business Data Analytics and Data Visualisation. The students worked with business people and managers who had a business need and helped them find an IT solution. They analysed the problem and scoped out a potential solution, drawing up a set of requirements and delivering a technical solution.

The idea for the module came from the School of Business academic management team who wanted to identify real-world projects for the students to work on. Thanks to the assistance of George McCourt, Head of GMIT Innovation & Enterprise, the team were able to identify client companies from both the Galway and Mayo iHubs who participated. In all a total of 30 students worked with nine iHubs client companies on a variety of projects.

“Some of the most exciting projects were in the field of Data Analytics where students took an existing dataset and using the latest tools and techniques of Data Mining and Visualisation provided the customer with key insights into the data that are not obvious or difficult to relate. One such project was completed with BlueDrop Medical, where the students used Microsoft’s Power BI (Business Intelligence) suite of tools to provide interactive online visualisations of real-world medical data. The Bluedrop team were delighted with the results,” explains Eamon Walsh, Head of Department of Accounting & Information Systems at GMIT’s School of Business.

“We were absolutely delighted to be able to provide real-world projects for the students to work and help out some of our iHubs client companies. The students were also thrilled to be able to work with the companies and gain some valuable experience and apply the knowledge they have gained on the course in a meaningful and useful way”.

George McCourt, Head of GMIT Innovation & Enterprise, commented “A total of nine client companies from the Galway and Mayo iHubs had a team of students from the B.Sc. in Business Information Systems (BIS) work on specific projects for a number of months. These students worked on real life issues facing start-up companies while utilising tools and techniques taught in the B.SC. Degree programme. It is a win-win for the students and the client companies which has resulted in the past in several GMIT students gaining full-time employment with iHubs companies. A big thank you to the iHubs team and all the client companies involved.”

For further information on this course and module, see:

http://www.gmit.ie/business-it/bachelor-science-business-information-systems-level-8-level-7