Digital Business Services (Data Technician): T Level Full-time

Course overview

During this two-year programme, you will learn the core knowledge that underpins the digital business industry and develop specific skills that will allow you to enter employment in data technician roles.

The course is split into two years. The first year covers the core content and in the second year you will focus on specialised data technician studies.

T Level courses have been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses so the content meets the needs of industry and prepares you for work. They provide the knowledge and experience needed to open the door to highly skilled employment, an apprenticeship or higher-level study, including university.

T Levels are courses for 16-to 18-year-olds that are studied at the same level as A Levels. They are for young people who prefer a more technical education when they come to College, rather than following a purely academic pathway, or a work-based apprenticeship.

T Levels combine classroom theory, practical learning and a minimum of 45 days industry placement with an employer to make sure you have real experience of the workplace.

Course content

The objectives of this qualification are to equip students with:

• The core knowledge and skills relevant to digital business services.
• Up-to-date occupational knowledge and skills that have continued currency amongst employers and others.
• The necessary English, Maths and Digital skills.
• Threshold competence that meets employer expectations and is as close to full occupational competence as possible.
• Opportunities to manage and improve your own performance using the below outcomes:
• Performance outcome 1: Sourcing, organising and formatting data securely in a relevant way for analysis.
• Performance outcome 2: Blending data from multiple sources.
• Performance outcome 3: Analysing structured and unstructured data to support business outcomes.
• Performance outcome 4: Interpreting data and communicating a result appropriate to the audience.
• Performance outcome 5: Applying legal, ethical and professional principles when manipulating data.
• Performance outcome 6: Discovering, evaluating, and applying reliable sources of knowledge.

Paper 1 is an externally set and marked exam and will cover:

• Business context including business environment, digital value to business, technical change management and risks in a business context.
• Culture including moral and ethical issues.
• Data including data and information in organisations, data formats, data systems and data management.
• Digital analysis including computational thinking and use of algorithms.
• Digital Environments including physical environments, networks, virtual environments, cloud environments and resilience of environments.
• Diversity and inclusion including digital inclusion and impact of non-inclusive digital practices.
• Learning including emerging trends and technologies.
• Legislation including relevant legislation, guidelines and code of conduct.
• Planning including project planning, life cycle management and quality management.
• Security including security risks and threat mitigation.
• Testing including root cause analysis and testing methods.
• Tools including presentation tools, project management methodologies, evaluation tools and collaborative communication tools.

Paper 2 is an externally set and marked exam and will cover:

• Careers within the digital support services sector.
• Communication in digital support services including communication formats, interactions taking place between digital support services and client/colleagues.
• Fault analysis and problem resolution including fault analysis tools, frameworks for problem management, root cause analysis incident management.