Final year projects are an important feature of most undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the fields of Business Information Technology, Information Systems, Software Engineering and Business Computing. These projects usually involve students in the practical application of theory together with a critical analysis or evaluation of the excecution of their project or of the theory applied. This book is the first to provide detailed guidance and support for students in preparing for, conducting and evaluating a system development project, independent of the development methodology or technical tools to be used.
Draft Table of Contents
Part 1 - Project preparation and set-up
Chapter 1 - Introduction to student projects
What is a project?
Types of projects
Business and information systems strategy
Feasibility Studies
Complex software development
Multi-media projects
Technical infrastructure projects
Research projects and case studies
Hybrid projects
Group projects
Critical success (and failure) factors
Assessment criteria (what makes a great project)
Chapter 2 - Identifying and selecting a project
Sources of projects
Generating ideas
Selection criteria
Short-listing and modifying ideas
Examples of past projects
Making the final selection
Chapter 3 - Overview of project approaches and structures (and when to use them)
The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Project phases and organisation
Structured methods
Object-oriented methods
Rapid Application Development (RAD)
Other methodologies
Package implementations
Chapter 4 - Setting up the project
Getting organised
Project objectives (academic and business) and scope definition
Project deliverables
Selecting the development method
Research questions
Initial planning
The roles of the project supervisor, student and client
Producing a project proposal
Part 2 - Project execution
Chapter 5 - Project Management.
Detailed planning
Time management
Record keeping and good housekeeping
Project tracking and control
Tools and techniques
Risk and issue management
Common problems and their management
Controlling change
Progress reporting
Using the project supervisor
Managing the client
Project teams
Chapter 6 - Research.
Types of research
Literature sources and searches
Writing a literature review
Research methods
Primary and secondary data, and its collection
Analysing data
Chapter 7 - Systems Requirements.
Fact finding
Workshops
Recording requirements
Modelling requirements
Early prototypes
Package research and selection
Technical requirements
Feasibility Studies
Project management and reporting
Chapter 8 - Systems Design
Identifying, evaluating and selecting system solutions
Conceptul design
Data analysis
Physical design
Human-computer interaction
Prototyping
Data management design
Technical design
Design prototypes
Project management and reporting
Chapter 9 - System construction and implementation
Program or component specification
Software production and programming
Incremental delivery
Package configuration
Testing and de-bugging
Data conversion and preparation
User and system documentation
Software installation
Technical infrastructure implementation
Maintenance
Project management and reporting
Part 3 - Project completion
(50-60 pages)Chapter 10 - Critical analysis and evaluation
Review of objectives and theory
Analysis of the development process
Evaluating alternative approaches
Evaluating the final deliverables and research results
Chapter 11 - Final report
Poster presentations
Preparing and presenting papers
Draft reports
Report structure, content and presentation
Report writing
Common errors
Referencing
Plagiarism and data protection
Software demonstrations
Viva voce examinations
Appendices
(20-30 pages)Appendix A - Glossary
Appendix B - Bibliograph
Appendix C - Checklists