Synoptic Project - 2019 entry

The synoptic project is a work-based project that broadly represents the skills, knowledge and behaviours in the standard. The project will provide substantive evidence from a business-related project to demonstrate the application of skills and knowledge. The end point assessment integrates the project outcomes and presentation into the overall synoptic project assessment. It will take place over a period of around 6 months, in the final year of the programme. It is designed to assess you in a consistent way, irrespective of your particular workplace. Because of the significance of the project, the employer and university should work together with you to agree a project that is achievable within the employer’s business constraints and that meets the requirements of the standard. The project should be conducted as part of the your  normal work. Employers should make suitable allowance for the project to be undertaken, both in terms of time and resources. However there are some elements such as the writing of the report, particularly in its reflective aspects, that may be undertaken outside of normal work. This should be agreed between yourself, employer and university so that you are not disadvantaged in any way from performing your job and meeting the requirements of the project.

Any issues with confidentiality and/or security will also be addressed between the university, employer and yourself, allowing for projects of business value to be undertaken using real data.

This module involves project work, completed as part of your normal day-to-day work, in which you apply the skills and knowledge that you have acquired during the course. The aim of this module is to provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate excellence and mastery in the practice of your occupational specialism, building on the work you have done in your reflective practice modules. 

The project should relate to one of the specialisms in the standard. A high-level description of typical projects is given below for each specialism:

- Software Engineer

This could be a project to design and develop a significant piece of software or a new software product prototype to achieve defined business objectives, for a defined user group or customer group, to meet the business need and applying appropriate levels of security. It will include significant project planning including estimations of both time and cost to proposed solutions, include technical and commercial aspects of the proposed solution.

- IT Consultant

This could be a project to undertake an IT consultancy project to formulate and evaluate technical alternatives to meet businesses requirements. This will likely include issues of integration with existing technology and procedures, maintenance and expansion and the consideration of both proprietary and open source solutions as appropriate. It will include significant project planning including estimations of both time and cost to proposed solutions, include technical and commercial aspects of the proposed solution.

- Business Analyst

This could be a Business Analysis study to analyse, and model a problem-specific domain and to develop a solution approach based upon the analysis. It will include significant project planning including estimations of both time and cost to proposed solutions, include technical and commercial aspects of the proposed solution.

- Cyber Security Analyst

This could be an analysis of a given domain and evaluation of security threats and vulnerabilities to planned and installed information systems or services with a robust cyber security solution. It will include significant project planning including estimations of both time and cost to proposed solutions, include technical and commercial aspects of the proposed solution.

- Data Analyst

This could be a project to analyse, devise and deploy data analytics solutions for a real-world problem domain. In particular, applying data analysis techniques, processes and tools to perform analytics for a significant data-driven business scenario. It will include significant project planning including estimations of both time and cost to proposed solutions, include technical and commercial aspects of the proposed solution.

- Network Engineer

This could be a project to plan and configure a network to meet a defined specification, to satisfy security requirements, using one or more of the defined tools, to meet specified criteria and performance levels.  It will include significant project planning including estimations of both time and cost to proposed solutions, include technical and commercial aspects of the proposed solution.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge:

1. Apply the core and specialism knowledge and skills to meet the outcomes in the standard;

2. Approach, plan and comple the project;

3. Application of behaviours from the standard.

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge:

4. Software Engineer: Show competence in software development processes, including the knowledge, skills, and professional competences necessary to practice as a software engineer in a business environment.

5. IT Consultant: Perform technical, organisational, and process improvement tasks in a range of environments to solve business problems.

6. Business Analyst: Apply structured processes for identifying, defining and analysing unstructured business problems, their root cause and impact.

7. Cyber Security Analyst: Analyse and evaluate security threats and vulnerabilities to planned and installed information systems or services and identify how these can be mitigated against.

8. Data Analyst: Use a range of analytical techniques such as data mining, time series forecasting and modelling techniques to identify and predict trends and patterns in data.

9. Network Engineer: Plan, design, build and test a simple network to a requirement specification that includes hubs, switches, routers and wireless user devices applying appropriate security products and processes.

Personal and Key Transferable / Employment Skills and Knowledge:

10. Communicate orally and in writing;

11. Solve problems creatively;

12. Think analytically and critically;

13. Organise your own work;

14. Work to a deadline;

15. Collaborate and negotiate;

16. Make decisions;

17. Conduct independent research.

Further learning outcomes for the module may be agreed in advance between you, your employer and your academic mentor. The learning outcomes to be achieved will depend on the employer’s needs and your role, but will be broadly in line with the outcomes documented in the apprenticeship standard for your occupational specialism.

Synoptic project (work-based learning):

- Revision: reflective practice and action learning;

- Nature of synoptic project;

- Preparing for your project;

- Key milestones and assessment;

- Planning your work and learning;

- Monitoring progress;

- Keeping a reflective journal;

- Dealing with problems;

- Writing up your work;

- Presenting your results.

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be deferred in the assessment. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you may be required to sit a referral. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 40%.

ELE: http://vle.exeter.ac.uk

Reading list for this module: