GCO3800

Industry project

J Hewson

12 points - 4 hours per week - Full-year - Gippsland and distance - Corequisites: GCO3811 - Prerequisites: GCO2813 - Prohibitions: CFR2500, CFR3030, COT3500, GCO2819, GCO3819, GCO3900, SFT3500, SYS2500, SYS3030, SYS3500

Objectives Students completing this subject should be able to work with clients and communicate effectively with them, define a problem, and gather data, facts, opinions and information needed to solve it; outline and evaluate alternative solutions to a system development problem and perform a feasibility study including estimates of costs, time requirements, plan for the development, and the benefits expected from the system, identifying hardware and software requirements for a system; document a system design, including system flow charts, data flow diagrams and software design; implement a system, including testing, checking and debugging; and evaluate a system, identifying any weaknesses or possible enhancements as a result of experience in developing it.

Synopsis Students work in project groups (usually six people) on a system development project for a client who may be either internal or external to Monash. In general, projects involve all aspects of the system development lifecycle. Project management aspects of system development are stressed. The requirements of the subject are fulfilled by the team producing an identified set of deliverables, usually a project proposal, project plan, a system specification, user documentation and software. The team must perform software management activities to ensure that the project is delivered on time. Students are required to maintain a development log with a full record of all their project-related activities. Each member of the team must demonstrate a significant contribution to the team effort, a sense of responsibility for the project outcome and skills for interaction with the client. Internal students meet formally with the subject adviser each week for seminar presentations and tutorial sessions. In the case of external students an individual project or smaller project group (two or three people) may be permitted. Students admitted to the school's industry experience scheme fulfil the subject requirements by undertaking a project with their employer.

Assessment Practical work: 100% - Assessment is based on project reports, documents and other project deliverables, two presentations and the project supervisor's report.

Prescribed texts

Pressman R S Software engineering: A practitioner's approach 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill, 1992

Recommended texts

Burch J G Systems analysis, design and implementation Boyd and Fraser, 1992
Sommerville I Software engineering 4th edn, Addison-Wesley, 1992
Whitten J L, Bentley C D and Barlow V M Systems analysis and design methods 3rd edn, Irwin, 1994

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