Assignments

The reports and presentations are group assignments corresponding to major project milestones. The first assignment is a report. The other three assignments consist of both a presentation and a report or other documentation.

With each assignment there is a survey to be completed individually. See the Surveys page for more information. It is important that everybody completes each survey and submits it on time. The course team uses the surveys to monitor the progress of the projects and to understand the contributions made by each member of the team.

Reports

All members of the project team should share in the production of the reports. When you have completed a report, (a) deliver it to the client, (b) send it by email to the Instructor and Teaching Assistant, (b) enter it into GitHub or another software project system, for future reference.

In writing each report, pay particular attention to the following:

The reports for Milestones 2 and 3 should include:

Here are some examples of reports from earlier classes. They are very different in style, but each provides a good example of an effective report. They are placed here with the permission of the student teams.

Presentations

During the semester each team will give three presentations with associated reports on the work completed. You will make a one hour presentation to the client, the Instructor and the Teaching Assistant. Everybody is expected to be a presenter at least once. 

You should sign up for presentation time slots as early as possible. See the Presentation Times page for available times and instructions on how to reserve time slots for your presentations.

The room will be provided with a computer projector and Internet connection. 

See Lecture 24, Presentations for advice on how to prepare for your presentations. Before the first presentation, there will be a discussion in class of the goals of the presentations and how to prepare for them.

Assignment 1 (Feasibility Study)

The deliverables for Assignment 1 are:

Feasibility Report

The exact form of the feasibility study is up to you. The length of the report is likely to be between five and ten pages.  It should include the following:

Here are some example of reports from earlier classes. They are very different in style, but each provides a good example of an effective report. They are placed here with the permission of the student teams.

Assignment 2 (Milestone 2)

The purpose of Assignment 2 is to describe to your client and the course team the progress up to Milestone 2. The deliverables for Assignment 2 are:

If the team is following an iterative process Milestone 2 is likely to include a first set of requirements, a provisional design, and a prototype that can be used to demonstrate the functionality of the system. If the team is following a sequential development process, Milestone 2 should include completion of the requirements phase and preliminary design work.

Assignment 3 (Milestone 3)

The purpose of Assignment 3 is to describe to your client and the course team the progress up to Milestone 3. The deliverables for Assignment 3 are:

If the team is following an iterative process Assignment 3 should mark a major milestone when you can report visible progress to your client.  If you are following a sequential process, this milestone will include the completion of the design phase and significant progress in the implementation.

Assignment 4 (Demonstration and Final Delivery)

Assignment 4 consists of a presentation in which you will demonstrate your system in operation followed by the handover of the completed system and documentation to the client. The deliverables for Assignment 4 are:

Final Handover of the Project

During the semester you will be developing a set of materials that will be the handover package for your project. Because every project is different, the exact content of the package is up to you, but it should be carefully edited and suitable for handover to your client.  The final package is likely to include some or all of the following: