Route core element 1: Business context

This resource list has been created to support the T Level Technical Qualification in Digital Support Services.

This section of the specification presents an opportunity to identify and review the key management decisions required by organisations moving to digital business and consider the process by which these decisions can be taken. Key questions include: What approach to digital business strategy should be taken? How much needs to be invested in digital business? Which processes should be the digital business priorities? Should the organisation adopt new business and revenue models? What are the main changes that need to be made to the organisation to facilitate digital business?

Business organisations differ in many ways, but they also have a common feature: the transformation of inputs into output. This transformation process takes place against a background of external influences which affect the business and its activities. This external environment is complex, volatile and interactive, but it cannot be ignored in any meaningful analysis of business activity. This resource contains information relating to R1.1 R1.2 R1.7 R1.8.

This book provides answers to the following questions:

Which strategies and actions are needed to develop and sustain a digital business?
How should we prioritise our investments in E-commerce and Digital Business?

This resource provides coverage of R1.1 R1.2 R1.3 R1.4 R1.5 R1.6 R1.7 R1.8 R1.9 R1.10 R1.11 R1.12 R1.13

The way we create companies has been changing significantly over the last years. Information technologies have made it much easier and stimulated the creation of an increasing number of startup, but it has also induced a higher number of failures. This resource provides information for R1.2 R1.3 R1.4.

To understand software you need to understand how organisations that use and produce software work. This involves basic ideas from organisational theory and management, and from economics. Organisational practices and knowledge become embodied in IT systems, and practices and knowledge that had previously been part of people’s tacit expertise become externalised and codified in procedures and software.

This free course has 3 main sections that provide information for R1.1 R1.3 R1.4.

Section 3 - Threats to communication networks will help with R1.11. Section 3 covers a historical viewpoint of the last 50 years, passive and active attacks and vulnerabilities. There are activities the background and also has activities and audio snippets.

This free course, understanding and managing risk, provides an introduction to financial risk management. The processes of risk identification, risk measurement and risk management are explored. The course then goes on to examine reputational risk and operational risk. It concludes with an examination of the subject of behavioural finance and what this can contribute to our understanding of risk taking and risk management. This resource is broken into 3 sections and can be used with coverage of R1.11

As a society, we are now almost always connected to the internet and rely on it for many different day-to-day activities. However, this dependency on the internet can make us vulnerable to attacks.

Once a connected device is compromised, it is not only that particular device that is affected, it can also be used as a springboard to attack other devices in the same network and in others.

In this connected world, it is also inevitable that personal information is stored in large-scale government and commercial databases. Unfortunately, breaches of these large-scale databases happen fairly frequently and, when they do, personal information can be leaked which will make you, and millions of others affected, vulnerable to scams and other identity crimes.

This resource provides valuable case studies for use with R1.11 R1.12.

Lesson 4 of 32 is 'What is Ethical Hacking and Type of Ethical Hackers' which covers information linked with R1.13.

R1.13 - Types of hacker and the implications of hacking and non-compliance with a code of conduct is covered in this video and covers content relating to.

Methods used to make accounts secure, including login-protection suggestions
The ways to combat suspicious activity through security systems and tactics
Tips on securing the front gate including firewalls and wireless protection

This video tries to uncover why there are so many attacks happening recently and how can companies protect themselves and their data. This video features Avinash Advani, Founder & CEO at CyberKnight, this gives the video a real-world perspective and provides valuable up to date insight into the industry and is related to R1.13.

Essential Core Resources - Route Core Element 01: Business Context
As part of our free offer we have provided access to 2 complimentary session packs covering some of the key topic areas across this element. These include:

Session plan
Lesson activities
e-Learning module
Home study activities

With the rise of personal computers in the 1980s, companies started going through digital transformations (DX) to improve their products and services, and reduce costs. Yet, as of 2021, the adoption of DX has risen up to another level due to the negative impact of the pandemic on performing tasks manually.
This resource will aid in the coverage of R1.3 and contains research data and links that can be used as case studies in class.

R1.5 and R1.6 cover technical change management in digital operational integrity and this has links to change management in the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) framework. This resource covers this topic in relation to the ITIL standard and provides practical information on how this is applied in the workplace.

Businesses have different types of internal and external stakeholders, with different interests and priorities. Sometimes these interests can conflict. This interactive resource contains information, a video and an assessment when covering types of organisations and stakeholders within the business environment in R1.1.

Most companies are under constant attack from external forces originating in the digital realm. You may think this sounds somewhat apocalyptic, as if when a major news outlet and a cybersecurity firm make this generalisation it is used as some sort of scare tactic; however, it is anything but. This resource covers information relating to the differences between internal and external cybersecurity risks and is related to R1.11.

There are a host of measures that businesses need to consider when ensuring their IT systems are compliant. These include keeping software up to date such as operating systems, maintaining the best practice security and firewall measures, meeting the requirements of industry specific measures such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and accounting for local and regional government regulations.
This resource provides information and real world examples that help when covering the implications of hacking and non-compliance section of R1.13.

Take cybersecurity into your own hands. In this lab, you’ll defend a company that is the target of increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks. Your task is to strengthen your cyber defenses and thwart the attackers by completing a series of cybersecurity challenges. You’ll crack passwords, craft code, and defeat malicious hackers. This interactive resource has practical application in R1.13.