Develop Your Expertise in Managing Smart City IT Infrastructure and Systems.

The Smart City IT Officer diploma program prepares students for IT careers in the growing field of smart city technology. Students will gain both theoretical and practical knowledge of how to collect, analyze, and manage organizational data, as well as how to design, develop, and deploy IT solutions that meet the needs and goals of smart city projects. The program covers the software development process, development environments, tools, and techniques that are essential for creating innovative and sustainable IT services.

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will be able to:

10

New Smart Cities

Number of smart cities The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MMRA) is planning to develop as a part of the Saudi Vision 2030, creating new opportunities for smart city managers and professionals.

14,745.2

$ Million

The Saudi Arabia smart cities market size is projected to reach $14,745.2 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 19.6% from 2020 to 2027, indicating a high demand for smart city solutions, services, and professionals in the country.

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Trainees will be introduced to the basic concepts of the software development life cycle (SDLC) and its importance to information system development projects. A SDLC consists of a series of related activities that are combined into phases, which constitute the “life stages” of an information system. A SDLC provides project managers with proper control and guidance over their software development projects. The primary objective of a SDLC is to ensure that high quality information systems are delivered to end-users and the productivity of the development staff is maximized. A SDLC can described through a SDLC model to facilitate more the understanding of the SDLC phases.  Upon completion of this module, trainees will learn the concepts of some traditional SDLC models (Waterfall, Prototyping/Iterative, Incremental, Spiral, V-Model). The advantages/disadvantages and the cases of applicability of each model will be critically discussed. Then, trainees will be introduced to contemporary and more flexible SDLC models, such as the Agile model, a SDLC combines iterative and incremental development. The differences between the agile model and traditional SDLC models (e.g., Waterfall) will be discussed.
Learning Objectives:
  • Explain what SDLC is describe the SDLC phases.
  • Get a general overview of traditional SDLC models (Waterfall, Prototyping/Iterative, Incremental, Spiral, V-Model) and identify the advantages/disadvantages of each model.
  • Provide an overview of what an “agile” SDLC is and how it is compared with traditional SDLC approaches (e.g., Waterfall).

The module Intercultural skills provides an overview of the importance of acquiring these skills in the time of globalization. The module provides an understanding of national cultures impact the way business rea performed. It will ensure the participant the understanding of the cultural process as well as many of the elements involved and affecting business relationships ad performance. This course aims to provide you core cultural concepts, frameworks, and tools for understanding and managing successfully cultural diversity.
Learning Objectives:
  • Identify the potential difficulties involved in international business relationships.
  • Improve your intercultural communication skills.
  • Deal with potential barriers in intercultural communication.
  • Explore tools to successfully manage cultural differences.
  • Develop further your intercultural competences and soft skills.

According to Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements”. As such this module will not only build the required project management body of knowledge but it will also present tools and techniques needed for successful project management. Knowledge areas required by a project manager for managing successfully project such as, project requirements management, change management, cost management, time management, quality management, risk management, communication management, etc. will be presented in detail, along with a number of tools for managing the respective processes. Further, emphasis will be given to agile approaches for software project management and as well on peculiarities of software projects, covering topics such as software life-cycle models, effective estimation of software effort and size, software quality metrics and team management. Finally, since this module is targeted to smart cities officials an attempt should be made to establish the link between project management and organization’s strategy.
Learning Objectives:
  • To understand key principles in managing software projects.
  • To understand the strategic character of smart city development.
  • To understand that smart city development should be managed as a portfolio of projects.
  • To be familiar with the different methods and techniques used for software project management.
  • To be able to do the Project Scheduling, Scope Management, Risk Management, Quality management and Project Cost estimation using different techniques.

The current world’s environment is complex and in constant change. The race for global competition challenges the companies which are specially using traditional methods and unquestionable processes. This course will bring the learner to reflect and will present an alternative thinking and acting way to question the current status quo of companies.
Learning Objectives:
  • To understand the importance of design thinking change paradigm.
  • To identify the practical application of this competence and its impact on value creation.
  • To describe how can design principles be embedded into an organization.
  • To identify design thinking approaches as an answer to business challenges.
  • To understand how business cultures support or limit design thinking.

IT Quality Assurance contains a well-defined set of processes that are aligned with software development standards associated with regulatory guidelines. The course module is designed to offer to everyone the necessary knowledge and skills in order to understand the main quality assurance processes and their flοw aiming to the quality of software deliverables. The module does not require any previous knowledge in quality assurance issues and it assumes that the learner can understand the basic concepts of software development.
Learning Objectives:
  • To understand and design a software quality plan.
  • To recognize and arrange a set of quality metrics.
  • To understand and form a quality checklist.
  • To understand the significance of the process improvement plan.

IT Security is a complex and multidimensional challenge. The landscape of threats is constantly changing and evolving. Modern societies are highly dependent on the IT infrastructure, particularly in the context of smart cities. The building blocks of smart cities are IoT devices, which in essence are always connected mini computers. Despite the new novel services that are made available, most of these systems are susceptible to all kinds of cyberattacks. This module focuses on providing learners an overview of IT Security and highlights its need in information and communication systems with emphasis on IoT devices and smart cities. The purpose of the module is to provide knowledge of the security risks of information systems as well as the available mechanisms and technologies to protect them. The aim is to train learners in identifying vulnerabilities, developing security policies and implementing protection measures.
Learning Objectives:
  • Acknowledge the fundamental concepts in IT security.
  • Identify software and network vulnerabilities and threats. Perform risk assessment in an Information System and propose a methodology for mitigation of possible attacks.
  • Evaluate the usability of a security solution.
  • Assess the main cryptographic algorithms and combine them into a secure development environment.
  • Develop a security policy for IoT Ecosystems.

In this module, learners will understand what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is and understand its applications and use cases and how they transformed our lives. AI concepts including machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks as well as use cases and applications of AI will be explored. Learners will also deal with concerns surrounding AI such as ethics, bias, jobs and the impacts on society. This module does not require any programming or computer science expertise and is designed to introduce the basics of AI to anyone whether you have a technical background or not.
Learning Objectives:
  • To become familiar with the fundamentals of AI principles.
  • To understand the basic rules between AI and problem solving.
  • To understand the contribution of AI in real-life conditions.
  • To understand the most popular machine learning models.
  • To explore the potential, limitations, and implications of AI systems.

This course module introduces the trainees to ITIL best practices for IT Service Management
Learning Objectives:
  • Explaining what ITIL is.
  • Defining roles in IT Service Management.
  • Illustrating ITIL Service Lifecycles.
  • Illustrating ITIL best practices.

This module introduces learners to critical, high-level theory, best practice, and practical application in order to get familiarized with the basic principles and terminology related to repository management systems.
Learning Objectives:
  • Recognize the main parts and basic functions of a repository manager.
  • Get familiar with components and formats that are supported in a repository manager.
  • Identify the different repository types.
  • Doing an organizational repository planning checklist.

Continuous integration is a software development methodology, of daily developer integrations verified by automated builds. More specifically, in Continuous Integration after a code commit, the software is built and tested immediately. In a large project with many developers, commits are made many times during a day. With each commit code is built and tested. If the test is passed, build is tested for deployment. If deployment is a success, the code is pushed to production. This commit, build, test, and deploy is a continuous process and hence the name continuous integration/deployment. A Continuous Integration Pipeline is a powerful instrument that consists of a set of tools designed to host, monitor, compile and test code, or code changes. This course will describe the continuous integration process, the instruments that are being used during this process and the benefits for business through explained cases. Further, emphasis will be given to Jenkins, the open source Continuous Integration Server, capable of orchestrating a chain of actions that help to achieve the Continuous Integration process in an automated fashion.
Learning Objectives:
  • To understand the importance and the key principles in continuous integration.
  • To be familiar with the continuous integration pipeline.
  • To recognize the tools that are being used under the continuous integration process.
  • To be able to describe how the continuous integration process is being performed via Jenkins.

The module Configuration Management (CM) is a discipline applying technical and administrative direction and surveillance to:
  • identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a configuration item
  • control changes to those characteristics
  • record and report change processing and implementation status
  • and verify compliance with specified requirements.
Learning Objectives:
  • Configuration Management as classical and agile approach.
  • Identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a configuration item, control changes to those characteristics, record and report change processing and implementation status, and verify compliance with specified requirements.
  • This course aims to equip you with the core concept of configuration management as well as agile concept for DevOps, pros and cons, system examples and use cases from Microsoft and Spotify.

This course module provides the trainees with the main introductory concepts on build, deployment and monitoring tools within the DevOps framework.
Learning Objectives:
  • Build automation in DevOps.
  • Deployment routines, processes, systems and tools for building either applications or entire end-to-end services.
  • Deployment Patterns for Building Applications or Services.
  • Monitoring and alerting criteria.

In DevOps there is an increased need for source code analysis and review tools that assist software developers in avoiding bugs. An example of the former is the SpotBugs or SonarQube tools that can be used to detect various types of issues. An example of the latter is GitHub which a.o. enables code reviews. Furthermore, using both systematic and automated testing, developers are assured that their source code meets both functional and quality criteria. This module will equip learners with the required skills to use static analysis and code review tools, as well as tools for systematic and automated testing.
Learning Objectives:
  • To understand key concepts of static code analysis.
  • To understand key concepts of collaborative source code development and review.
  • To understand key concepts of systematic and automated testing.
  • To be familiar with some of the tools and techniques for static analysis and review.
  • To be able to develop and apply systematic and automated testing in the source code under development.

The topic of Smart City inspires people to imagine how new technologies could support city services and change their daily life. This course module, in the introductory unit offer trainees a basic understanding of Smart Cities concepts, as well discusses the challenges that faces a city to become smart. Then, it gets deeper with the description of the cutting edge technologies used for the functioning of the Smart City. Furthermore, it introduces the supporting concepts of some of the most used smart services and in the last unit it concludes by presenting the different perspectives on Smart City services from the participating citizens, vendors and especially about the management and governance challenges that this raises.
Learning Objectives:
  • Learn fundamental concepts about SC.
  • Challenges to develop a SC.
  • Infrastructures of a SC.
  • Introduce the cutting edge technology that could transform a city.
  • Have a holistic view of SC major services./li>
  • Understand the evolvement of Citizens and business.
  • Introduce some SC worldwide.
  • Understanding business aspects of SC services.

This module explores the topic of resilience by providing the tools to make smart cities ready to adapt to crises and changes. Planning the resilience of a city also allows to seize the opportunities that can arise from negative events.
Learning Objectives:
  • Identify the indicators capable to define the degree of resilience of a city.
  • Develop a monitoring plan for these indicators.
  • Define a plan to improve the resilience of a city.

This module facilitates attendants to learn how to enhance the collaboration and communication with citizens in the smart cities. It presents strategies and techniques for engaging citizens, how to develop and implement communication strategies with them, and how to set up and run information systems that record citizens’ behavior and satisfaction. Last, it introduces the attendant to the concepts of Communities of Practice and Communities of Interest.
Learning Objectives:
  • Define citizen engagement and describe main strategies and techniques to engage citizens of smart cities.
  • Develop and implement a communication strategy with smart cities citizens.
  • Outline the principles of Organizational Citizenship Behavior and identify factors affecting smart cities citizens’ behaviorand saisfaction.
  • Initiate and run communities of practice.

Digital Twin (DT) technologies are considered as key technologies that allow us to construct a virtual duplicate of our actual system and as such to provide a platform to review activities, to test interactions and the results of alternative decisions within the real system. Usually, DT technologies are used, whenever a system is complex, dynamic, and its operation is considered as critical. Smart cities can be easily characterised as a complex system, where changes occur on daily basis and its operation is considered critical for the citizens. Further, the performance of smart cities is an important factor for citizens and businesses and it relies, in many cases, on the interaction of different subsystems. Smart cities as a complex system, as a collection of interacting systems, transportation systems, health care systems, education systems, administration systems, etc., create challenges that must be resolved at a test environment, because of its stochastic nature. Therefore, the implementation of DT technologies is necessary and important, in the context of a smart city, since it will be used as a management tool for improving smart city efficiency and operation, but as well for minimising the systems’ risk and improving policymaking and decision-making in general.
Learning Objectives:
  • To understand the key principles and concepts of digital twin technologies.
  • To understand digital twin model development process.
  • To understand the connection between digital twin’s models and Internet of Things.
  • To be aware of how DT can be used for developing dynamic digital twin’s model for smart cities.

Instructors

Prof. Dr. Dolores Sanchez Bengoa

Vice-president for International Relations & Professor for International Business.
A graduate from Leeds Metropolitan University (United Kingdom), Prof. Dr. Bengoa is now Vice-president at the University of Applied Management Studies, Germany. She has extensive intercultural experience and has been a board member of the European Association for Professional Education since 2021. Her teaching emphasizes the practical application of theory in intercultural management and communication.

Prof. Dr. Hans Ruediger Kaufmann

Professor of International Sales Management, Specialized in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
With decades of experience spanning across continents, Professor Kaufmann brings to the table a rich blend of academic and professional expertise. He has held multiple leadership positions, contributed significantly to various research areas like International Consumer Behavior and SME Internationalization, and has been recognized for his work, notably the 2017 Emerald Literati Network Award.  

Prof. Dr. Christoph Sandbrink

Professor of Digital Business & Chief Digital Officer Advisor.
Prof. Dr. Sandbrink, a distinguished graduate from the University of Jena (Germany) and Hull (United Kingdom), is a Professor of Digital Business at the University of Applied Management, Mannheim, and an Executive Management Consultant at SAP SE. His career spans leadership roles at SAP and Telefónica O2, focusing on digital innovation fields like AI, Machine Learning, and Big Data.

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Issued by The University of Applied management studies, provided by German Sustainability Academy, recognized by Erasmus+, and transferable everywhere in the European Union.

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Diploma by:

The University of Applied Management Studies

Laptop/PC and internet

connection required

Languages:

English, Arabic, and German

80% online

20% in-person

Lectures, quizzes,

and assignments, and student support

Prerequisites:

Bachelor’s Degree

Volume discount available

6 months

6 hours/week

Start date:

On-demand

Live

Customizable and flexible

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FAQ

Yes, our diploma programs are recognized by the European Union and offer 15 ECTS credits. We also partner with the University of Applied Management Studies in Germany to provide an accredited diploma upon completion of the program.

The Smart Cities Diploma program is designed to be completed within 6 months. The program requires a time commitment of approximately 6 hours per week, which includes attending lectures, completing assignments, and taking quizzes. However, we understand that each organization has different needs and schedules, so the program is flexible and can be customized to meet your specific requirements. On average, students need approximately 231 hours to complete the entire diploma.

A bachelor’s degree is required to take this program.

Our diploma programs offer a wide range of benefits, including building a reliable academic and practical background in smart cities, contributing to the Saudi Vision 2030, and providing valuable learning opportunities for employees. The programs are also designed to fit within your current schedule.

Interested organizations can apply online via Become A Partner page or contact us directly for more information. Our team will guide you through the process and answer any questions you may have. If you’re a student, you could join the waitlist. We will let you know when you could apply.  

The cost of our Smart Cities Diplomas varies depending on the number of programs you need. To get a personalized quote, please contact us through our website.

Please contact us directly or send an email to info@gsa-sa.com. Our team will be happy to assist you with any inquiries you may have.

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