Digital Skills & IT Revision — Defence Awarding Organisation Vocationally-Related Qualification
Complete Defence Awarding Organisation Vocationally-Related Qualification Digital Skills & IT specification revision resources. Tailored syllabus coverage with topic breakdowns, quizzes, and practice questions.
Specification Topics
- Understand Information Management and the legislative requirement to managing information in the MOD
- Design systems in support of information management
- Design and configure Sharepoint in support of Organisation Requirement
- Provide effective record keeping using electronic records management systems
- Design and configure Electronic Record Management Systems (ERMS) to conduct Record Management in a unit
- Understand the background and legislation requirements of Information Management
Top Exam Board Tips
- When listing legislation, provide a brief explanation of each Act's relevance to the MOD context rather than just naming them.
- Use specific examples, such as how the Data Protection Act applies to personnel records, to demonstrate practical understanding.
- In assessments, always link legislation back to the lifecycle of information management: creation, storage, use, sharing, and disposal.
- In your portfolio, include screenshots showing the step-by-step configuration of MOSS components, clearly linking each action to an information management requirement.
- Use the MOD enterprise directory and search as part of your evidence—demonstrate that you can locate and retrieve information using applied metadata, not just navigate structure.
- When producing reports, annotate them to explain how you interpreted the data (e.g., identifying storage growth, permission anomalies) and what corrective actions are recommended.
- Ensure your design documentation explicitly references MOD information management policies (e.g., JSP 441) to show contextual understanding and compliance awareness.
- When creating a SharePoint site, explicitly reference the file plan by naming libraries and folders after record categories, and justify your structure.
- In permissions tasks, always discuss the principle of least privilege and the impact of breaking inheritance on records management, linking to ERMS policy.
- For push/pull techniques, provide concrete examples: configure an alert to push security updates, and set up a search-based web part to pull contract documents.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Confusing the purpose of the Data Protection Act (privacy rights) with the Freedom of Information Act (public access to information).
- Assuming that all MoD information is automatically classified as SECRET or above, without recognising the tiered classification system.
- Omitting key legislation such as the Public Records Act 1958 when discussing long-term information preservation.
- Confusing file plans with site hierarchies—learners often map a file plan directly to site collections without considering scalability or security boundaries.
- Overlooking the distinction between SharePoint groups and Meridio record management roles, leading to inappropriate permission models that violate information governance.
- Applying metadata as site columns but failing to link them to content types, which prevents consistent use across libraries and impairs search functionality.
- Assuming TreeSize Pro reports are sufficient for compliance without cross-referencing Atlas audit trails, missing discrepancies between disk usage and record activity.
- Confusing SharePoint permissions with NTFS or network share permissions, and not understanding permission inheritance defaults in site collections.
Key Terminology & Definitions
- Understand the background to Information Management (IM) in the Ministry of Defence (MOD).Be able to state the legislation relating to information and management of information.
- Understand file plans, systems and physical records, Be able to design Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) system to effectively and efficiently manage a unit's information, Be able to use effective MOSS and Meridio permissions, Be able to apply the right metadata to MOSS structures, use MOD search Engines and the enterprised directory, Be able to produce reports generated by Tree Size Pro, Meridio and Atlas
- Understand file plans, systems and physical records .Explain MODNet Office 365 (O365) and its components.Create SharePoint sites to effectively and efficiently manage unit / team information.Use effective permissions SharePoint and ERMS.Apply push and pull techniques to Defence Information.
- Be able to conduct effective record management using electronic records management systems, Understand the key Information Support Assistant (ISA) Defence Information Infatructure (DII) responsibilities and tasks
- Be able to conduct effective record management using electronic records management systems.Be able to produce and explain the various information related generated by IT systems.Explain ISA MODNet responsibilities and tasks.Use effective permissions SharePoint and ERMS.Describe how and why information needs to be protected.
- MOD Information Management evolution
- Legislative frameworks for information
- Information security and classification
- Defence policy and standards
- Data protection vs. freedom of information