INFO 425 Week 11 INFO 425 Design Problem I Week 1 Glenn Booker

INFO 425 Week 12 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)

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 INFO 425 Week 13

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 INFO 425 Week 14

INFO 425 Week 15 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

INFO 425 Week 16 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

INFO 425 Week 17 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 INFO 425 Week 18

INFO 425 Week 19 Document Templates Here are templates for all INFO 425 and INFO 426 written documentsHere –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

INFO 425 Week 110 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)

INFO 425 Week 111 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 INFO 425 Week 112

INFO 424 Lessons Learned 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 INFO 425 Week 113

INFO 424 Lessons Learned 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? INFO 425 Week 114

INFO 424 Lessons Learned 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 INFO 425 Week 115

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 INFO 425 Week 116

INFO 425 Week 117 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 ) –The Cycle 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 INFO 425 Week 118

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? INFO 425 Week 119

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” INFO 425 Week 120

INFO 425 Week 121 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! INFO 425 Week 122

INFO 425 Week 123 References Written reports should cite references to identify the sources of information –Use a recognized format, such as APAAPA 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.

INFO 425 Week 124 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!

INFO 425 Week 125 References A great resource for formatting references is from Purdue: – 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

INFO 425 Week 126 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 INFO 425 Week 127

INFO 425 Week 128 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

INFO 425 Week 129 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 the evaluation form to me 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 INFO 425 Week 130

INFO 425 Week 131 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!