INFO 425 Design Problem I

www.ischool.drexel.eduINFO 425 Week 1 1

INFO 425Design Problem I

Week 1

Glenn Booker


Course Overview

• INFO 425 and INFO 426 are the senior design project– Your objective is to analyze, design, and

implement a small information system

• You choose with whom to work (3-5 people per team), and the project (subjcet to instructor approval if it’s new)

www.ischool.drexel.edu

INFO 424 Transition

• Coming from INFO 424, you could be in four situations– Keep the same group (team) and project

(system)– Keep the same group, and pick a new project– Find a new group, and pick a new project– Find a new group, but keep a project one or

more of you already started

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INFO 424 Transition

• If you’re choosing a new group and/or project, choose carefully!– You are expected to keep the same group

and project through INFO 425 and 426

• If you’re doing a new project, your first Launch report will be for cycle 1– Otherwise use the cycle N Launch report– Either way, we’ll call the first cycle in this

course “Cycle 1” for consistency

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Text

• There is no textbook for this class

• You’re expected to make use of the texts from previous classes (most likely INFO 200, 355, 420, plus interface design INFO 110, 310), and research any other information you need


Development Approach

• All of the projects will have three implementation cycles– Therefore a key aspect of early planning is

not only to identify the features for your product, but also to prioritize them into development cycles (1, 2, 3, or later)

– INFO 425 consists of one cycle of development and the start of cycle 2; INFO 426 finishes cycle 2 and adds cycle 3


Development Approach

• Each cycle should produce a functional (working!) part of your system– Cycle 1 has to establish the core or backbone

of your system, or build on your INFO 424 foundation

– Cycles 2 and 3 add functionality onto the foundation of cycle 1

• The overall scope of your system should be larger than cycles 1-3


Cycle structure

• Each cycle is now about seven weeks, not the ten you had in INFO 424– Launch report: 1 week– SRS: 2 weeks– SDS: 2 weeks– Implementation: 2 weeks

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Document Templates

• Here are templates for all INFO 425 and INFO 426 written documents– Make sure to view the comments in each file,

which provide detailed instructions– And please delete the comments before

submitting the document!– There should also be no < > in your submitted

documents, those are just placeholders


Written Deliverables

• It’s expected that you will create several written documents to capture the analysis and design of your system– Launch Report – Software Requirements Specification (SRS)– Test Specification – Software Design Specification (SDS)– Customer Documentation (used in INFO 426)


Presentation Deliverables

• Most of the written documents will evolve over the life of your project– Make it clear what changes or additions were

made since the previous cycle

• You will give two oral presentations for each course; for INFO 425:– Cycle 1 design and implementation– The launch report and requirements for

cycle 2


INFO 424 Lessons Learned

• Team planning and avoiding procrastination are critical issues– Throwing together a document five minutes

before class DOESN’T WORK

• Consistency is critical– Across the documents through traceability– Within each document; need time to get drafts

circulated and get everyone on the same page

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• In your Launch report, need to evaluate what worked and didn’t in the first cycle, and improve your team’s processes accordingly– This appears in the Post Mortem section of

the Cycle N Launch Report– Should be easy to write, since you told us

about it in INFO 424

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• What team processes worked for you?– All sit down together and do it together– Agree on concept, have people write parts

separately, then integrate them and make it all consistent

– Others?

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• Team leadership is critical– Need to keep team focused on project vision– Pester people who are late contributing– Organize and often run team meetings

• Communication among team members– Provide more than one way to contact each

other

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The big picture

• Each document tells a story; make it a clear one!– Launch report sets the stage– SRS defines what your system will be able to

do, and how well– Test spec proves your requirements are clear

and specific enough to be testable– SDS shows the design needed to achieve the

requirements

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Launch Report

• The Launch Report is a brief summary of the scope of your project

• Notice there are two templates for the Launch Report – one just for Cycle 1, and one for all later cycles (Cycle <n>)– The Cycle <n> version includes a “post-

mortem” review of the previous cycle

• The schedule in the syllabus supercedes the one in the Launch Report


Launch Report

• Notice that much of the Cycle 1 Launch Report is omitted from the Cycle N version

• As last term, the Schedule section of the Launch Report includes both worksheets from the Project Tracking spreadsheet

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Figures and Tables

• Label figures and tables– “Figure 1. System XYZ Use Case Diagram”

• Cite them in the body of the document just before they appear

• Discuss them– What are key features the reader should

notice?– Were there any controversial aspects or

alternative approaches considered?

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Figures and Tables

• Do NOT make orphans of them at the end of the document– This screams “I just tacked this on the end at

the last minute, and nothing else in this document is remotely aware of this figure”

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CONSISTENCY

• Key for excellent system documentation is consistency across the documents– The schedule should be consistent with the

sets of requirements to be implemented– The design should address the requirements– The code should match the design (e.g. class

names and methods in design should match actual classes implemented)


References

• Your written documents should cite appropriate references– Relevant sources for technologies used (e.g.

in the SDS) or for discussing similar systems (in the Launch Report)

– Previous documents from your team

• They shouldn’t cite the Humphrey text!

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References

• Written reports should cite references to identify the sources of information– Use a recognized format, such as APA

• In the body of your report, may use numbered brackets [3] to cite each reference, then give the full citation in a References section of the report:– [3] Shaller, G. B. (1993). The last panda.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.


References

• A different acceptable approach is to give author and date in parentheses (Shaller, 1993) to cite each reference, then give the full citation later– (Shaller, 1993) Shaller, G. B. (1993). The last

panda. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.– Multiple references by one author in one year

can add letters after the date (Shaller, 1993a), (Shaller, 1993b)

• Just use one approach [3] or the other (Shaller, 1993) consistently!


References

• A great resource for formatting references is from Purdue:– http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

• Where possible, use peer-reviewed journals or books as sources– Don’t use Wikipedia!– Use a variety of sources, i.e. don’t keep citing

one source for everything


Writing Intensive Course

• This is a Writing Intensive Course

• The SRS and SDS MUST BE REVIEWED before you can turn them in– You may use a Peer Reader or a classmate

for review of your work– In your schedule, might want to add a

deadline for getting the review done for each document and cycle


Certification of Authorship

• A new addition is the requirement for certification of authorship of your team’s work

• It must be included with all written assignments, and be signed by all members of your team– If it’s not signed by you, you don’t get credit

for that assignment

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Oral Presentations

• There are two types of oral presentations expected this term– SRS & Test Specification– Cycle Demonstration & Design

• The syllabus has guidance on how the presentations are evaluated– PRACTICE getting your voice loud, slow, and

clear enough to be understood from far away– It’s okay to use crib notes, but don’t sound

like you’re reading them for the first time


Peer Evaluation

• With group projects comes the inevitable complaints about “X didn’t do their part”– To address that issue fairly, peer evaluations

will be filled out at the end of the term– Evaluate everyone in your group, including

yourself, and email the evaluation form to me ([email protected])

• If you don’t play nicely, your final grade may differ from the rest of your group!

• If you’re wonderful, you may do better than your group


Project Portfolios

• Like INFO 424 we’re using the project portfolios– The Drafts folder is for your team

contributions, WHEN YOU WRITE THEM– The Team Products folder is for the final

versions of work products for each assignment

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Senior Design Challenge

• Keep in mind that you’re eligible for the next Senior Design Challenge – will your project be THAT good?– See the examples on the walls of the second

floor of Rush

• Can you do better?

Prove it!

INFO 425 Design Problem I

Documents

Transcript of INFO 425 Design Problem I