The MSc in Integrated Business Intelligence Systems is two years long and confers 120 ECTS credits, divided as follows: 60 credits in compulsory curricular units, 12 credits in optional curricular units and 48 credits in the dissertation.
Optional curricular units should be chosen (in connection with the course coordenation) in alignment with the specialization profile of the student. Such electives might develop the student's skills in areas like Big Data, Machine Learning and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis.
Typically, the most-chosen electives are:
- Database Fundamentals (MSIAD)
- Advanced Topics in Business Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- Big Data Algorithms
- Computational Language Processing
- Computational Modeling of Complex Social Systems
The MSc also requires the completion of a dissertation in Integrated Business Intelligence Systems that corresponds to 48 ECTS credits. In the new curricular plan, the course "Dissertation in Integrated Business Intelligence Systems" has a lecture component of 36 hours, divided among the two semesters of the second year of the course. These lecture hours include two mandatory seminars for monitoring the process of dissertation work.
Programme Structure for 2025/2026
Curricular Courses | Credits | |
---|---|---|
Data Analysis for Business Intelligence
6.0 ECTS
|
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Design and Development of Business Intelligence Applications
6.0 ECTS
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Patterns and Knowledge Extraction Guided by Data
6.0 ECTS
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||
Data Warehouse Systems I
6.0 ECTS
|
||
Business Intelligence Systems Project Management
6.0 ECTS
|
||
Data Warehouse Systems II
6.0 ECTS
|
||
Data-Driven Decision Making
6.0 ECTS
|
||
Text Mining
6.0 ECTS
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||
Dissertation in Integrated Decision Support Systems
42.0 ECTS
|
Recommended optative
Digital transformation technologies with the following Curricular Units:
03691 | Blockchain
03557 | Business Process Management
03746 | Internet of Things Laboratory
04401 | Disruptive Tecnologies
03579 | IoT for Smart Cities
Internet of Things (4 of the following Curricular Units):
03209 | Fundamentals of Data Science
03746 | Internet of Things Laboratory
03691 | Blockchain
03579 | IoT for Smart Cities
04401 | Disruptive Technologies
Computational Data Science:
03363 | Computational Intelligence and Optimization
02864 | Big Data Algorithms
02870 | Text Mining (required)
03209 | Fundamentals of Data Science
Recommended options *
1st Semester (1St year a free Course Unit and 2nd year have two Specialization Curricular Units):
02864 | Big Data Algorithms
03203 | Fundamentals of Information Technology Governance
03746 | Internet of Things Laboratory
03209 | Fundamentals of Data Science
02198 | Computational Language Processing
03363 | Computational Intelligence and Optimization
03579 | IoT for Smart Cities
2nd Semester (choose two specialization courses):
03691 | Blockchain
03557 | Business Process Management
04401 | Disruptive Technologies
Notes:
When choosing the Optional Curricular Units, students must ensure that there is no overlap with the compulsory Curricular Units.
Optional Curricular Unit will only be held if they achieve a minimum number of enrollments.
There is an enrollment limit for each Curricular Unit.
Objectives
The Master's in Integrated Business Intelligence Systems (MSIAD) has as its mission to provide the market with professionals able to manage, define, implement and successfully use decision-making support systems, duly integrated into the management of organizational information. The general objectives defined for the MSc are:
- to provide advanced and comprehensive training in different types of decision support systems, integrated into an organization's global information systems architecture.
- to promote the integration and synergy of knowledge in the areas of information technology, management and quantitative methods;
- to generate research in the scientific area of Business Intelligence, fostering the sharing of knowledge, methods and results between companies and universities.
The classes will allow students to acquire the following knowledge and skills:
- comprehensive theoretical and practical training in different types of Decision Support Systems (DSS) integrated into the global architecture of an organization's information systems, including data-based, knowledge-based and model-based DSSs;
- designing, implementing and exploring of Data Warehouse (DW) and Business Intelligence systems;
- dimensional modeling techniques for DW;
- knowledge and expertise in the specification, development and management of DW - ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) systems.
- knowledge of strategic information systems to manage organizations and support strategic decision-making;
- designing and developing strategic information and performance management systems, applying the Balanced Scorecard and ABC/ABM approaches;
- applying data analysis techniques to specific problems;
- developing systems for extracting knowledge from business data using Data Mining techniques;
- knowledge of the main methodologies for risk management in organizations;
- understanding the decision-making process in Marketing;
- designing and developing applications for Customer Intelligence (Analytical CRM);
- knowledge about the main models used in the management of IS/IT (information systems/information technology) projects, traditional and responsive;
- ability to plan, monitor, control and complete the management of a project in Business Intelligence;
- knowledge about the necessary technologies for the development of Text Mining processes;
- ability to apply appropriate methods and algorithms to resolve problems in the areas of computational language processing, text classification and document representation;
- understanding of the current trends and challenges in Big Data Analytics;
- ability to apply multi-criteria analysis to specific problems.
The program's learning objectives are achieved through the specific objectives of each curricular unit, which can be found in their respective CUFs (Curricular Unit Form). Each CUF also details the methodologies of used for evaluating each specific objective, which together determine the degree of course completion.