Foundation Degree IT Project Milestone 2: Research and Analysis

Objectives Richard Hancock2  Describe what background research is  Describe what implementation specific research is in terms of  What methodologies are and how they affect the project  Technologies  Describe analysis  Describe project requirements in terms of both  Functional requirements  Non-functional requirements  Describe development models 03/12/2015

Background research Richard Hancock3  Relates to the project area  Web design  Networking  Multimedia  Education  Business processes  You need to look at your project area and comment on some of the most important themes or topics that affect that area  Can be very difficult as each project area probably has many topics 03/12/2015

Background research Richard Hancock4  You can look at this from your own perspective relating to your experience in the work environment  What data comes into their area?  How is it processed?  What data leaves?  How do they fit into the rest of the organisation?  Try to document issues that are likely to affect your project in some way  For example: web design  Using the web as a delivery platform  Accessibility/usability  Interaction issues  For most projects you ought to consider what good practices there are relating to your fields  You DO NOT need to document background information relating to the company in this section 03/12/2015

Implementation specific research - Methodologies Richard Hancock5  "the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline";  "the systematic study of methods that are, can be, or have been applied within a discipline"; or  "a particular procedure or set of procedures."  Reference: WikipediaWikipedia 1. Research approximately 3 methodologies that you deem useful to your project 2. Choose one and justify your choice 3. You can then apply this methodology to your project by carrying out its activities  The Gantt chart should show evidence of the methodology stages 03/12/2015

Implementation specific research - Technologies Richard Hancock6  Software  Development environments  Programming languages  Operating systems/Servers  Database management systems  Hardware  Network equipment  Server hardware  Machine specification  Other issues  HCI  Security  Web hosting  Look into how the features of technologies are most suitable/relevant to your project 03/12/2015

Analysis Richard Hancock7  It must be clear why your chosen methodology is appropriate to the project  Contrast the advantages and disadvantages of methodologies  What process did you use to make your choice?  If done correctly this should aid in project management  Once a choice is made you need to go deeper into the methodology, make sure you understand the various stages and then follow them  Describe the application of the chosen analysis method, indicating problems arising and how they were overcome  Your project planning (Gantt charts) should be amended to account for the various stages 03/12/2015

Analysis 03/12/2015Richard Hancock8  When analysing the system think about:  Where does data come from?  How does it enter the system?  How is it processed within the system?  What happens to the data after processing?  Does it leave the system? If so how?  Is it retained indefinitely? ***

Analysis models Richard Hancock9  DFDs and supporting descriptions  E-R diagrams  Use cases  Business models  Other appropriate modelling techniques  Be sure to look into the techniques described in your chosen methodology!  Make use of appendices where possible and refer to then in the body of the report if you are running out of your word count currency 03/12/2015

Project requirements Richard Hancock10  The analysis should derive the requirements for the project  Once the analysis is complete you should be in a position to develop a detailed list of requirements of the new system or solution  You can look at similar systems to see how they achieve their objectives for comparison  Functional requirements:  What a system is supposed to accomplish i.e. functions  This is defined by:  Technical details, calculations, data manipulation, processing  Non-functional requirements:  Criteria that specify the operation of a system, NOT the behaviour or function  Performance  Security  Reliability 03/12/2015

Summary Richard Hancock11  Background research  Should relate to your project  Implementation specific research  Methodologies, software, hardware, other resources  Analysis  Use your chosen methodology in order to analyse your project and define requirements  Requirements  Functional – What the system is supposed to do  Non-functional – How the system is supposed to be  Development models  Graphical representations of the current system  Using something like RAD is NOT an excuse for not performing analysis and design!! 03/12/2015

Questions... 03/12/2015Richard Hancock12 ...are there any?

Richard Hancock13 End! 03/12/2015