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CS220 Project

Briefing

Remember to register your project at the office counter

Project Supervisor: Timothy Au

Email: timothykfau@yahoo.comURL: www.geocities.com/timothykfau/pj

(available soon)

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Project Objective

“The objective of the unit is to require students to undertake a fully-fledged systems

development, with the emphasis being placed on the development of practical skills of

development. Specifically, students of the unit will work in groups over an eight month

period, and undertake development of an information-based system with the use of the

System Development Life Cycle.”

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Reference Books

CS211 textbook: Shelly/Cashman/Rosenblatt, System Analysis and Design, 5th Edition, 2003, Course

Technology, ISBN: 0789566494 [current edition you could find in bookstore] Gary B. Shelly, Thomas J. Cashman, Harry J. Rosenblatt, System Analysis and Design, 4 th

Edition, 2000, Course Technology, ISBN: 0789559579 [as mentioned in the IVC web site http://ivc.informaticsgroup.com/online/booklist]

CS211 reference recommended: Kenneth E. Kendall, Julie E. Kendall, Systems Analysis & Design 5th Edition, 2001, Prentice Hall,

ISBN: 0130415715

Jeffrey A. Hoffer, et al, Modern Systems Analysis & Design, 3rd Edition, 2001, Prentice Hall, ISBN:

0130339903 For your reference:

Steve McConnell, Software Project Survival Guide, 1998, Microsoft Press, ISBN 1-57231-621-7

Gary R. Heekens, Project Management, 2002, The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. ISBN 0-07-137952-5

Ravi Kalakota, Marcia Robinson, E-Business 2.0 Roadmap for Success, 2001 Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-72165-1

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Project Overview (1/2)

Prerequisite: CS211 Systems Analysis and Design

At this point, you are now ready for a real world project. This course CS220: Project is for you to demonstrate your system development skills and techniques.

You should read the “Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies CS220 Project : System Development - Students Manual” carefully. Additional material would be provided by Project Supervisor to guide you the system development project.

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Project Overview (2/2)

Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies CS220 Project is a TWO TERM (about not more than 30 weeks) student assignment (or mini-project) in a group.

Your group will be assigned a project supervisor (that’s me) who will be overseeing through your whole project group and for your whole development effort.

The project development is divided into THREE major phases: analysis phase, design phase and development & implementation phase, with stipulated [provided] deadlines for the submission of document for each phase.

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Project Planning

A basic timetable for the six month- or eight month- project could be set out as follows: Project Proposal (Weeks 2 & 3) Analysis Phase (Weeks 2 - 8) Design Phase (Weeks 8 - 20) Development and Implementation Report (Week 18 - not later than Week 30)

You are advised to carefully plan your project to ensure these deadlines could be strictly met.

Please be aware the strict nature of assessment regarding the submission of all the deliverables.

It should be sufficient time for you to complete your project.

You should take care to ensure not to take longer than necessary to complete any particular milestone or any part of the final documentation.

Please note that it takes time to compile, edit, publish, print and bind the final documentation. Kindly do not overlook or the printer speed, paper jam or hardware failure. Don’t tell me your machine has been crash.

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Project Deliverables

You should submit the following deliverables by the end of Week 2 (Saturday 17 January 2004):

Project Group Members and Roles Project Title and Summary for approval

At the end of the project, you should submit the following deliverables: Final documentation – the official document to be submitted. There will be FOUR

parts Project Proposal (Week 2 & 3) Analysis Report (Week 8) Design Report (Week 20) Development and Implementation Report (not later than Week 30)

PLUS A working software and project demonstration (Date TBA) Show up in regular consultation sessions (See Schedule TBA) Progress Reports (Biweekly)

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Requirement for a PASS in the Project

All of the following MUST be satisfied in order to eligible for a PASS in the project:: A working software program at the end of the cycle; An attendance of at least SIX consultation sessions over the course of six to eight months. This is an

individual requirement for each student; A pass in the overall mark awarded for all parts of the project.

All of the above are requisite requirements for a PASS in the project. In other words, an excellent document BUT with a software delivered completely fails to work WILL NOT result in a PASS.

The meaning of working software program is 100% functionality delivered. You should (at least) learn to define your project scope, estimate your project, and to manage change control; risk management, and time management are also crucial to your project success.

You should get sufficient feedback from your project supervisor (that’s me) in order to gain confident in project satisfaction and meet the expectation.

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Getting Yourself Started: Preparation

Week 0 - Self-Introduction

Introduce yourselves

Week 1- Formation of Group . Form Group of ONE to THREE members (One member team is not recommended in considering the

project scope, work done, deliverables and deadlines).

Distribution of work

Week 2 - Project Approval Submission of your Project Title and Summary (in less than 50 words)

Week 3 - The Initial Proposal

Week 4 – Analysis Phase Project Planning

Feasibility Study

Requirement Analysis

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Forming Group

From previous experiences of various project supervisors, the formation of project groups could be one of the most difficult tasks in the project.

Any eventual discontent that the project group may encounter later on will often find its root here.

Generally speaking, group that forms on a mutual basis will be more unlikely to run into communication or group dynamics problems, as opposed to a group that has been sloppily formed without forethought.

A class will be divided into project groups formed by one to three individual members (s) by mutual agreement.

The nominal number of members in a project group is THREE. More than three is not allowed. Actually, it will become more difficult for your project group to manage for larger team size.

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Distribution of work

Your group should nominate a group leader to be the prime contact of your project group.

Probably you should also have systems analysts, business analysts,developers, architects, graphic designer, technical writers and so on.

Please submit your list of group members and roles of each members. Each members could take more than one roles.

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Project Title and Summary

Conduct your brainstorming session to throw any ideas about project title.

Some guidelines of the project title will be given.

Write up a short description about your project. Why you choose this project? How it could be achieve your target audience / market. You should also provide sound feasibilities of your project with appropriate justifications.

Besides, you should be aware of your project functionality and technical aspects.

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Some Common Project Titles

Some common projects taken up by previous projects have been: Systems simulating a computerized Car Rental System Cinema Ticketing System Payroll System Student Registration System Tour Packaging System Leave Application System

Needless, these projects have been literally done to death, you are advised not to put up proposals like these as your choice.

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Project Schedule (1/2)Week Date Time Task Group

0 3-JAN-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Project Briefing ALL

1 10-JAN-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Grouping and Submit Project Title Summary and Lecture on System Proposal

ALL

2 17-JAN-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Approval of Project 1st Submission of and Consultation on System Proposal

Groups

3 24-JAN-2004

4 31-JAN-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Final Submission of System Proposal and Lecture on System Analysis

ALL

5 7-FEB-2004

6 14-FEB-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

System Analysis Documentation - 1st Submission and Consultation

Groups

7 21-FEB-2004

8 28-FEB-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

System Analysis Documentation – Final Submission and Lecture on System Design

ALL

9 6-MAR-2004

10 13-MAR-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

System Design Documentation – 1st Submission and Consultation

Groups

11 20-MAR-2004

12 27-MAR-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

System Design Documentation – 2nd Submission and Consultation

Groups

13 3-APR-2004

14 10-APR-2004NOTE: The above Project Schedule is a tentative schedule and is subject to be approval and finalized by INFORMATICS COLLEGE.

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Project Schedule (2/2)Week Date Time Task Group

15 17-APR-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. System Design Documentation – Final Submission and Development & Implementation Phase Lecture

ALL

16 24-APR-2004

17 1-MAY-2004

18 8-MAY-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Development & Implementation Phase Documentation - 1st Submission and Consultation

Groups

19 15-MAY-2004

20 22-MAY-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Development & Implementation Phase Documentation - 2nd Submission & Consultation

Groups

21 29-MAY-2004

22 5-JUN-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

23 12-JUN-2004

24 19-JUN-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Development & Implementation Phase Documentation - Final Submission and Final Documentation CheckingProject Preview

ALLGroups

25 26-JUN-2004 Deadline of Booking for Project Demonstration ALL

26 3-JUL-2004 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Project Demonstration Groups

27 10-JUL-2004 Submission of Final Documentation ALL

28 17-JUL-2004

29 24-JUL-2004

30 31-JUL-2004

NOTE: The above Project Schedule is a tentative schedule and is subject to be approval and finalized by INFORMATICS COLLEGE.

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The Project Proposal

The first two weeks of software development will be devoted to the creation of the project proposal.

Which in effect as an initial recommendation to the customer.

In practical sense, the customer will then decide the actual scope of the project.

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The Project Ideas and Tools

Your proposed System As your project unit is primarily focused upon the development of a system, the

following definition of an information system, can be adopted:

“An information system is designed, built, operated and maintained through the coordinated functioning of people, procedures and equipment to capture, store, retrieve, and manipulate information.”

Two categories most popular among students in project groups: Transaction Processing Systems Management Information Systems

There are other systems possible, for example, an expert system. But these are typically more complicated and could be beyond the capability of ADCS students.

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Ideas for Project Groups (1/3)

The following are examples of projects that have been proposed in a center in Singapore.

Student Registration System: with web-based front-end and CGI script based database backend.

Couple match-making System: where male and female participants in a database are matched based on customizable preference.

Pseudo-expert system based on tour packages: users of the multimedia based system will be asked a series of questions in natural language, and based on their answers, the system will propose a series of tour packages that meet these requirements.

File Transfer and Chat communications programs: this program was a rare instance where a prototyping based approach was accepted. The program was developed in PASCAL.

Data warehousing and data mining system: this real-life based system essentially featured two disparate databases, one catering to the sale and rental of apartment flats, condominiums and landed property and the other a tuition agency.

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Ideas for Project Groups (2/3)

Network Planner: the system caters to small to medium enterprise in need of network solutions. The system analyses client needs and recommends appropriate intranet solutions. If the client accepts, the required components will be purchased from the suppliers and the actual network implementation follows.

ECA (Extra-Curricular Activity) Points System: this is a real-life system modeled after a current system in use at a university in Singapore. The Points Award Scheme is used year for the computation of ECA points for students wanting to apply for hostel accommodation.

Vehicle Quota System: this is another real-life system modeled after vehicle quota system implemented in Singapore.

Legalized Soccer Betting System: this is a multi-use system that catered for a number of functions. This includes the full implementation of legalized soccer betting, league and soccer profile database, acquisition and purchasing of soccer-related merchandize, fan-club registration and administration, and the sale of tickets for various matches.

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Ideas for Project Groups (3/3)

SHOULD NOT propose information systems that are nothing more than passive databases. In other

words, an information system e.g. a student database, that serve nothing more than a database of existing student records.

Such kind of project proposal is not allowed.

SHOULD BE some existence of (at least) fairly intricate [involving] process flows, i.e. some

manipulation of information in a system, production of customizable reports for management purpose.

Additional examples: Please refer to your student manual pages 10-11.

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Project / Development Tools

The type of project / development tools should be generally the decision of students of project groups

The following is a list of common tools (but not limited) for you to use: 3GL such as COBOL, PASCAL, C, … Any 4GL Visual J++, Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual Basic, Visual Foxpro Database language such as Oracle, Sybase, MS Access, Lotus Notes Internet based development platforms: Coldfusion, ASP, JSP, HTML, XHTML, XML,

…

SHOULD NOT Program code generator Dreamwaver, Front Page

It does not disallow other development tools such as Flash, Freehand, Photoshop, …

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Project Consultations

Attendance

Progress Report

Group by group consultants

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The Final Project Documentation

Final documentation – the official document to be submitted. There will be FOUR parts

Project Proposal (Week 2 & 3) Analysis Report (Week 8) Design Report (Week 20) Development and Implementation Report (not later than Week 30)

As the Project Proposal will be subjected to constant revision during the 2nd and 3rd week. The final version of the Project Proposal will be examined and marked by the project supervisor.

The same for other parts of the documentation.

The finalized copy of Project Proposal, Analysis Report, Design Report submitted are be included in the Final Documentation.

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Documentation Submission

The deadline for project documentation submission are announce beforehand. There is little reason for any possible late submission.

In the event of a group submits their reports after the designated deadlines, it will only serve to indicate the team members are not capable of practicing time management.

It has been clearly stated that LATE SUBMISSION of various reports WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

In the event that extremely VALID REASONS are presented, there will be some penalty imposed.

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Documentation Contents

To be discussed in lectures according to project schedule: Project Initiation and Project Proposal Analysis Phase Design Phase Development and Implementation Phase

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Project Demonstration

To be advised

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Group Communication

Any body could work alone – but not any body could work in a group

The importance of fostering and good communications

It would be inevitable argument will be arise during the period. So, you may disagree but not dispute.

Avoid breaking up of groups.

Don’t let me to step into your group to solve the problem.

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The Time Factor

I know that the peak period will be generally around submission deadlines and in the last three weeks of the final deadline.

It is more than sufficient time for you to complete you project.

So, please plan well ahead.

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Submission of Projects to Supervisor

Format of Sample Submission.

Refer to student manual page 25

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Summary Assessment of Project

The breakdown in weight of each area of assessment should be follows: Regular consultation scores 20% Documentation 50% Project Demonstration 30%

Keep in mind this assessment component affects the overall grade.

Other prerequisites should have been meet. Should need to undertake at least SIX consultations and 100% program functionality.

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Contents and Marking

Please read the Appendix: Contents of the Reports of the “Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies CS220 Project : System Development - Students Manual”

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Project Management: What we manage

Project scope Time Resource Costs * Quality Communications Risk Contracts and Procurement *

* Not really applicable in your CS220: Project

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Project Management: Planning and Control (1/2)

The whole process of defining the work and developing and tracking schedules, resources, and costs falls under the general topic of Planning and Control:

The Planning Phase. Defining the project objective, developing your project strategy, identifying your strengths, weakness,

opportunities, threats and other issues involving team members.

Identify the work. Breakdown the work into a list of project tasks and subtasks.

Define responsibilities and role of each project team member.

Estimate the project tasks and subtasks durations. Determine working time. Define your Project Milestone and Schedule. Identify the project schedule using the CPM (Critical Path Method).

Establish your costs *

Set your baseline plan. You should have a baseline schedule, baseline resource loading plan, and a baseline budget plan *.

Optimize your baseline plan.

Freeze your baseline plan.

* not really applicable in your CS220: Project

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Project Management: Planning and Control (2/2)

The Tracking Phase.

Change Control. During the Tracking Phase, we will manage the work scope, the schedule, the resources and the costs.

Track Work Progress. If you follow the defined process up to this point, you should derive significant benefits from your planning investment.

Track resource and costs actuals.

Compare to baseline.

Evaluate performance

Forecast, Analyze and make corrective action

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Project Management: Project Team Organization

A project team, no matter the size, needs to define among the various roles performed by each team member. On a small scale project, several roles may be performed by one person

1. Project Team Leader – orchestrating the details work of the project.2. Product Manager – integrating project work at business level.3. Business Analyst – the domain expert or the end-user liaison officer.4. Architect – design and build the conceptual foundation and integrity of the system.5. Graphic Designer – responsible for those visible to users such as graphical user interface, user

documentation and the final product.6. Systems Analyst – analyze, design and implement the system.7. Developers – construct the software.8. QA – responsible for quality assurance, configuration management, facility management,

deployment.9. DBA – maintain and administer the database.10. System Administrator – responsible for hardware, system software, utilities administration11. Network Administrator– responsible for computer network design, implementation and

maintenance.12. Technical Writer - responsible for documentation editor-in-chief 13. Webmaster (optional)14. Software Engineer (optional)15. System Engineer (optional)

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Project Initiation: Project Framework

A major components of the front-end work required to effectively plan and initiate a project is the development of framework for project model.

This framework or structuring of the project is important to the development of a complete and organized project plan.

Work Scope - a top down hierarchical model, called Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Time – a Project Milestone Schedule

Resources and Costs – a set of Resources Codes and Costs Account used to facilitate selection, sorting, summary, and interrogation of resource and cost data.

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Project Management: Team Meeting

The most common team meeting is the regularly scheduled status review. This is where you are likely to conduct most of your formal project business.

Regular team meetings have other purpose beyond technical and logistical issues; they serve to continually remind your team members that they are not working alone and they must rely on one another.

Team meetings also purpose for building a foundation of the growth of collective team intelligence.

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Before the next session

Please start group your project team, and identify roles among team members.

Discuss and submit your Project Title and Summary for each group for approval.

In the next session, you will learn project initiation and project proposal.

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Q & A

Any Question?See you next Saturday 10 January, 2004!

NoteRemember to register your project at the office counterDeadline of Booking Project Demonstration (tentatively, Saturday 26 June 2004)Project Demonstration (tentatively, Saturday 3 July 2004)Deadline for submission of Final Project Documentation (tentatively, Saturday 10 July 2004)

Thank you!

Project Supervisor: Timothy AuEmail: timothykfau@yahoo.com

URL: www.geocities.com/timothykfau/pj (available soon)