IT portion/ checklist

IT in society:
Digital currencies:
 Types
 Characteristics
 Advantages and disadvantages
 Uses
 Impact and risks of digital currencies Including: Digital/electronic currency, virtual
currency, cryptocurrency, central bank digital base money, stored value cards Centralized
systems (debit, credit cards, electronic point of sale), decentralized systems (e.g. Bitcoin,
Litecoin, peer-to-peer electronic monetary systems), mobile electronic wallets Impact
upon/risks for individuals, businesses, governments, global economy.

Data mining:
 Process of data mining
 Uses
 Advantages and disadvantages Process including:
1. Business understanding
2. Data understanding
3. Data preparation
4. Data modelling
5. Evaluation
6. Deployment
 Uses including: how and why data mining is used in national security, surveillance,
businesses, scientific research, health care, and the analysis of social and economic trends
Including ethical and privacy concerns

Social networking services/platforms:

 Types
 Uses
 The impact of social networking
 Advantages and disadvantages of different types of social networking Types including:
Chat rooms, instant messaging, forums, email, blogs, microblogs, social media Uses
including:
 Use by individuals, businesses, organizations, governments
 Use in, e.g. Education, finance, health care, for creating and sharing information, news
sources Including impact on:
 Individuals (e.g. Intellectual isolation, physical and mental health of different age groups,
ideological polarization, stereotyping, cognitive issues)
 Businesses (e.g. Advertising), organizations (e.g. Use by police to disseminate
information, weather warnings)
 governments (e.g. Distribution of information, censorship), false/distorted information.
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The impact of IT On society:

 On monitoring and surveillance in society Including on:
 Sport, manufacturing, health care, education, banking, e-business and finance, news and
media, family and home, entertainment and news, government, politics
 Including policing
 Technology-enhanced learning
 Methods of delivery
 Impact
 Advantages and disadvantages of different methods of delivery Including: computer-
based training online tutorials networked courses Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)
video-conferencing Including impact of different delivery methods on student
achievement, learner autonomy, student and teacher motivation.

New and emerging technologies:

 Types
 Impact of new and emerging technologies Including:
 NFC (Near Field Communication)
 Ultra-high definition
 Television systems
 Artificial intelligence
 Augmented reality
 Virtual reality
 Robotics
 Computer-assisted translation
 Holographic imaging
 Holographic
 4th generation optical data storage
 3D printing vision enhancement
 Wearable computing Including on: individuals and their lifestyles organizations medicine
and health care (including: development of prosthetics and medical products, tissue
engineering, artificial blood vessels, the design of medical tools and equipment) scientific
research the environment (including: e-waste, recycling, power consumption,
manufacturing processes).

Communications technology:
 Networks
 Types
 Characteristics and uses of each type
 Advantages and disadvantages of each type Including:
 Local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), client-server, peer-to-peer,
Virtual Private Network (VPN), mobile networks Characteristics including: protocols
associated with each type of network such as those used to increase privacy and security
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(e.g. Tunneling, transport layer security (SSL/TLS), Internet Protocol Security), Bit
Torrent for transferring large files Uses including: sharing and storage of resources
sharing of peripherals exchange of data access to internet services access to telephony
services access to content delivery services such as those used for, e.g. Video-streaming
and software downloads.

Components in a network:
 The role of components in a network
 The operations of networking components The role of components including: network
interface cards and wireless network interface cards repeaters, hubs, and switches
wireless access points, gateways, bridges and routers firewalls (hardware and software)
Including: how each component carries out its role how each component works with the
others in a network
Network servers:
 Types of network server
 The role of servers in a network
 The operations of servers in a network
 Advantages and disadvantages of each type of server for a given scenario Including: file
server, web server, mail server, applications server, print server, FTP server, proxy
server, virtual server Including: the function of servers in a network Including: the
‘request and response’ method of communication between servers and clients within
server farms.

Cloud computing:
 Characteristics of cloud computing
 Uses of cloud computing
 Advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing for a given scenario Including: the
key characteristics of cloud computing for sharing computing resources Including: by
individuals and organizations

Data transmission across networks:

 Speed of transmission: bandwidth, bit rate
 Data streaming Including: how bandwidth is defined the bandwidths made available by:
different transmission media, different internet access technologies, e.g. Ethernet, fiber
optic, wireless, mobile communications how bit rates are quantified and measured
Including: real time and on demand media streams the impact of bit rate and bandwidth
on the streaming of audio and video data.

Routing data in networks:

 Methods of sending data over a network:
 –packet switching –circuit switching –message switching
 The purpose and use of network addressing systems Including: the structure of packets
(to include what is contained in the packets) The modes of connection (to include how
and why they are used). Including: connection mode e.g. Frame Relay, Transmission
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Control Protocol (TCP), connectionless (datagram) mode, e.g. Ethernet, Internet Protocol
(IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Including: the use of communication channels in
circuit switching Including: the store and forward method of sending messages across
networks Including: Media Access Control (MAC) addressing, IP addressing (IP4 and
IP6).

Network protocols:
 The definition of a protocol
 The purposes and uses of protocols in the preparation, addressing, sending and receiving
of data across networks including the internet Including:
 Explaining the term ‘protocol’ as used in networking and why protocols are necessary
Protocols including: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Internet Protocol (IP) Internet
Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and Inverse
Address Resolution Protocol (inarp) Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) User
Datagram protocol (UDP) Hypertext Transfer Protocols (HTTP and HTTPS) File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) Tunneling protocol, e.g. L2TP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
(SMTP) Post Office Protocols (e.g. POP3) Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
Telnet SSH TLS/SSL.

The management of network traffic:

 Static and dynamic routing
 Function of routing protocols
 Use of protocol layering Including: the selection of paths for network traffic and the use
of routing tables Including: interior gateway protocols, exterior gateway protocols, border
gateway protocols Including: TCP/IP and Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI
model), the function of each layer in the TCP/IP suite, the function of each layer in the
OSI model, comparison of the schemes.

Data transmission methods:

 The properties, features and characteristics of different transmission method
 Typical applications of each method
 Advantages and disadvantages of each method Including: fiber optic, copper cables
(coaxial and twisted pair), using lasers Including: the effect of the medium on available
bandwidth for data transmission.

Wireless technology:
 Methods of wireless transmission of data
 Uses and operation of wireless transmission methods
 Advantages and disadvantages of wireless transmission methods Including: Wi-fi,
Bluetooth, infrared, microwave and radio Including: security issues associated with
wireless transmission and wireless security protocols such as WEP, WPA and their
variants Including the benefits and limitations of each method of wireless transmission.
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Mobile communication systems:

 Cellular networks
 How satellite communication systems are used for transferring data Including: structure
of a cellular network use of 3G, 4G, 5G systems for mobile communications Including: in
global positioning systems (GPS), in global mapping systems, in surveillance, in
telecommunications (e.g. Television and radio broadcasting, telephones) how
communications data is prepared, sent and received by satellite communication systems.

Network security:
 Networking security threats to stored data and files
 Impact of network security threats on individuals and organizations
 Prevention of network security issues using physical and software methods
 Advantages and disadvantages of the various methods Include: botnets that attack
systems, malware with actions that harm computer users, data, files, and systems
Including data destruction, manipulation and modification, and theft by unauthorized
users, identity theft Including: How physical methods can prevent unauthorized access,
Including use of barriers, locks, surveillance, alarm systems, security guards How
software methods can prevent unauthorized access, Including biometric methods, anti-
malware, anti-virus and anti-spyware software for protecting data, files and systems
encryption, access rights/permissions for protecting data and files how (hardware and
software) firewalls can be configured to control access to networks For preventing
unauthorized access to computer data, files, and systems.

Disaster recovery management:

 Identification of threats and risks
 Control of threats
 Strategies to minimize risks Include risk analysis, perpetrator analysis, risk testing,
quantifying the risk Including: how to detect threats and prevent disasters how to restore
after a disaster Including the use of protection for power supplies use of passwords and
access controls for data and file protection of data and software from malware,
unauthorized access use of backup strategies.

Project management:
 The stages of the project life cycle
 Project initiation
 Project planning
 Project execution and monitoring
 Project close Including: identifying objectives, scoping the project, stakeholders,
resources required, and high-level schedules Including detailed planning of resources and
scheduling of tasks Including: implementing the plan; monitoring progress against time,
cost, and quality, reporting to stakeholders Including project completion and review
Candidates should understand each stage has a phase review and why the reviews are
conducted.
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Project management software:

 Uses for supporting projects
 Strengths and weaknesses of project management software for supporting projects
include supporting planning, task scheduling, resource allocation, costings,
communication, and collaborative working and decisions.
 Tools and techniques for project management tasks
 Gantt charts
 Performance Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM)
Including: creating a Gantt chart using and interpreting Gantt charts Including: creating
PERT charts using and interpreting PERT charts for the analysis and management of
project components such as activities/tasks/work breakdown structures (WBS), timings,
float, endpoints, milestones, dependencies, deliverables critical path calculations and
determinations to determine the longest path of dependent activities the use of critical
path analysis for, e.g. Workflow control such as authorizing work, costings, allocating
resources.

System life cycle:

 The stages in the system life cycle Candidates should be able to explain the relationship
between the different stages of the system life cycle.

Analysis:
 Methods of researching for a given situation
 Content and purpose of specifications Including questionnaires, interviews, observation,
and document analysis Including user requirements specification, system specification,
design specification.

Design:
 System processing
 Flow of data through the system
 Data storage
 Input forms
 Output reports Candidates will be expected to construct a system flowchart and a data
flow diagram (DFD) using correct symbols. See symbols at the end of the Subject content
section. Including databases, files (input and output) features and elements of forms,
appropriate use of forms for data collection, validation and checking of data collected by
forms, input screen layouts output screen layouts, and printed copy layouts.

Development and testing:

 Test plans
 Test data
 Alpha and beta testing
 White box and black box testing Including the need for testing and the purpose of a test
plan, contents of a test plan the types and purpose of test data differences between alpha
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and beta testing Including differences between white box and black box testing
Candidates are expected to be able to create a test plan for a given situation.

Implementation:
 Methods of implementing a system
 Advantages and disadvantages of each implementation method for a given situation
Including parallel running, direct changeover, phased implementation, and pilot
implementation Including: how each method is implemented in a given situation, the
suitability of an implementation method for a given situation.

Documentation:
 Types of documentation and why each is needed
 Contents of the documentation Including user and technical documentation.

Evaluation:
 Methods of evaluating a new system Including: in terms of efficiency, ease of use, and
meeting user requirements.

Maintenance:
 Types of maintenance and why each is needed
 How each type of maintenance is carried out Including perfective, adaptive, preventive,
and corrective maintenance?

Prototyping:
 Types of prototyping and why each is needed
 The advantages and disadvantages of each type of prototyping Include: evolutionary,
incremental, throw-away, and rapid.
 Methods of software development
 Stages/processes of each method
 Advantages and disadvantages of each method Include Agile, Iterative, Incremental,
Rapid Application Development (RAD), and ‘Waterfall’ methods.