System Design and Development Project Assignment Brief | SHU

SDDP Introduction

During the module and the course you learn numerous techniques which allow you to design and build Web applications using ASP.NET MVC, XML and REST Web Services. This assignment gives you an opportunity to consolidate your skills, to investigate, design solution, and implement the concepts of a working Web application. 

Assignment Brief

Assessment for this module is split into three parts. First part looks at developing a project idea, second part focuses on design and implementation of the project idea and final part is individual critical reflection of the project lifecycle. First two parts of the assessment will be undertaken as a team, team should have 3-4 members (2 is not a team and 5 is too many). 

Part A

For this assessment you will be required to conceptualise a novel web application. Your application can utilise the technologies taught on the module. Each member of the team is required to take part in the analysis, design and development.

To ensure that the application is of the standard expected at this level your application should have a minimum of 15 functionalities. While considering your application idea it will be useful to bring in your prior experience from your first degree maybe or from work. This will allow you to bring in valuable domain knowledge which will make the idea more realistic. 

For this submission you should produce following

• Brief description and rationale for the idea 
• A list of functional and non-functional requirements
• A plan for how you intend to execute this project

Using feedback from presentation a final list of functional and non-functional requirements should be prepared by the team. These are the requirements you would then be expected to implement and the ones the Tutor will refer to when marking the application. You will be free to alter the requirements, but it will have to be like for like. Any changes to the requirements will have to be discussed with your project supervisor first. 

Part B

This will be based on the requirements agreed in part A of the assignment. You will present your work in a presentation at the end of the module. During the presentation you will be required to demonstrate your application and how it fulfils the requirements agreed as part of first submission. Your presentation will be aimed at technical evaluators, to convince them on the feasibility of your ideas. 

Design and Development of the Web Application

You must design your software development methodology. You have studied this as part of your course. You should use your chosen development methodology (Possibly design the method bespoke to your requirements ). 

Strategy for collaboration

You must design for rich collaboration using collaboration tools and techniques for the process to include analysis, design and implementation.

Analysis and Design

Using your client or your supervisor as your client, you must develop your case study (For example, comprehensive use case diagram, use case descriptions) to help you to apply the process of analysis and design. This must lead to comprehensive conceptual designs (For example, class diagram) that would aid the implementation process.

Design of the application

Producing well documented design is an essential aspect of your project. You can use site maps, screen mockups/wireframe diagrams to help you document the user interface design.

Implementation of the application

Your designs (including strategy for collaboration and conceptual designs of the system) must clearly feature as input to your implementation process. Given the short timescale, your focus must be on converting your design to tangible implementation, and testing. Your implementation will demonstrate that design also features in the architecture of your application for effective features such as extensibility, scalability, and maintainability. 

Criteria for assessment

Your work will be evaluated on your ability to produce a well-designed and fully operational Web application. You are well advised to assess your own work - The example questions you should be asking yourselves are;

• How well does it address the functionality as agreed in part A of the project?
• Have I considered alternatives while choosing software development methodology?
• Have I used chosen methodology to execute the project?
• Have I produced design documentation for the project? 
• Have I developed my application using code I have written as well as using wizards to generate the code?
• Have I considered and designed separation of Application, Service and Data tiers into separate tiers? For example "Do I separate projects which hold Application logic and Data logic?" 
• Have we considered and designed for validating user input? Have we also demonstrated ability to validate using code that we have written?
• Have we considered using different types of controls (e.g. drop down box, radio buttons…) to accept user input?
• Does my application authenticate users? Does our application manage different authorisation levels? Does my application facilitate managing users?
• etc … 

Refer to the marking matrix for a complete breakdown on the award of marks.

You will demonstrate your work using a presentation at the end of the module. 

Part C

Individually, you will produce a short reflection including:

• A critical evaluation of the potential for success of the novel application proposed - Would it actually work? Would be viable? Why? What would you do differently?
• A critical evaluation of the application development model you used - Was it a success? Why? - Would you use the development model again? Why?
• A discussion on the technical platform and technologies used in the project -Were the platform and technologies used for the project appropriate? Why? What would you do differently?
• A critical evaluation of your individual contribution to the project and the learning achieved throughout -What did you contribute? What did you learn? What skills did you developed? How this contribute (or not) to your development? What would you do differently next time?
• How would this project help you with your future career development?

SDDP Submissions

Look up your module’s BB site for the deadlines. 

Here are the requirements for each submission

Part A submission

• Project proposal should include project plan (Gantt Chart?) and a list of functional and non-functional requirements, elaboration of how you will work as a group, and how you will manage the development (Project management practice: Agile, scrum, use of tools for planning, tracking, organising, milestone tracking, resource management, etc.`

Part B submission

• Design documentation
• All files related to implementation of your web application (Solution folder)

Part C submission

• Individual critical reflection (1000 – 1500 words)

Resources

• Learning Materials covered in the module
• Additional external web-based materials identified by the teaching team
• Additional reading materials indicated throughout teaching of the module
• Access to staff: Mo Rezai 

Mark schemes

Part A

Part B

Part C