Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives At the completion of this subject students should know the system development process and the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder in a system development project; know about and be able to plan, monitor, control and implement a group project allowing for the differing roles of the stakeholders; and demonstrate an appreciation of the ethical considerations and personal responsibilities associated with the computing profession.
Synopsis Students will have the opportunity to experience working in a small project team of approximately five students and, under the direction of a supervisor, to develop a computerised information system in response to a client's needs, and to plan, monitor and control the course of the project through all the phases of the application development cycle, including implementation. Each team is expected to follow well defined guidelines in regard to work practices, project management, quality assurance techniques and the form of what is produced during the project, with defined roles for each individual. A seminar/workshop program will be run on a weekly basis covering a range of topics relevant to the work of the project teams. Where appropriate, industry experts will participate in this program to ensure that students are aware of current industry practice. Topics covered will include project management techniques, group management, team dynamics, project scoping and estimation techniques, presentation and interview techniques, project standards, software component libraries, methods to achieve code re-use, unit and system testing, version control, configuration management, and computing system implementation issues.
Assessment The assessment will be an ungraded pass based on the group work, with students being required to satisfactorily pass two checkpoints per semester. At each of these checkpoints students will be required to conduct a presentation with a maximum duration of 30 minutes, outlining their progress to date to a review panel which will include the group supervisor. The panel will provide feedback on the adequacy of the work to date and the effectiveness of the group's implementation of the concepts covered in the seminar/workshop program. Students may be required to revise and resubmit work before being allowed to proceed. At the first checkpoint students will be required to produce a feasibility report outlining the scope and nature of the project, with estimates of the resources required. At the last checkpoint students will be required to demonstrate their completed system.