COMP390/393/394/395: Project Specification

Background

The purpose of this stage is

to ensure that there is a clear idea of what the project comprises
there is a well defined plan showing how the project will be carried out.

Note that this is intended to be a specification of the project, rather than a specification of the system you intend to produce.

Specification Documentation

You are asked to produce a report of no more than three sides of A4 (12 point) when printed (the Gantt Chart can be on the 4th side), one printed copy of which must first be signed by yourself and your supervisor, and then be given to Mrs Janet Lowry in the student office (G/F Ashton Building), and its electronic pdf version must be submitted through the E-project, both by Thursday 20 October, 2011 (noon). The University late submission policy would apply with respect to the latest of the printed copy and electronic submissions. The assessment will be done by the supervisor and the marker. A grade will be given for the project specification, and this will be made available in about two weeks after the hand in date. This grade will count for 10% of the final mark. For your guidance a copy of the feedback form that will be used to assess your specification is here. The report should be structured as follows:

1. Project Description

This section describes what the project is about. This should include:

Who the project is being done for (your supervisor, and any external customer);
What the aim of the project is, what it is intended to achieve;
What the proposed solution is, how the aim will be achieved.

2. Statement of Deliverables

This section describes what will be produced in the project. In some cases it may be useful to identify some deliverables as essential and others as desirable. As appropriate this will include:

Description of anticipated documentation;
Description of anticipated software;
Description of any anticipated experiments;
Description of methods for evaluation of the work.

The focus should be on the description of the anticipated software. A detailed description of the features / functionalities of the software should be given (again, possibly distinguishing essential and desirable features).

3. Conduct of the Project and Plan

This section describes how the project will be carried out and describes the activities involved in different stages. This should include, where appropriate:

Background research: what information will be used to fully understand the problem and derive its solution, and provide a context for the project (you should state clearly what information you have already absorbed and what is yet to be read during the early stage of the design stage);
Data required: what data will be need to be acquired for the project and where it will be obtained;

What design methods will be used and what the design documentation will consist of;

What hardware and software will be used;
What testing will be carried out;

In addition, a plan in the form of a time-tabled schedule of project activities and outputs will be given. This should include internal milestones as well as external assessments and reviews. The plan should both state progress to date and indicate future activities. A diagrammatic presentation of the plan is usually best, and there are standard techniques, such as Gantt Charts, which you can use.
The stages of the project should be broken down into an appropriate level of detail, e.g., "design 5 weeks" is too vague: you need to indicate what tasks will go into your design and how long you expect each of these tasks to take.

a risk assessment

What are the major challenges in carrying out the project;
What new skills will be required and how these will be acquired;

4. Bibliography

An outline bibliography showing what reference material has been and will be used. These references should be cited wherever appropriate.
You can find some references to on-line sources for referencing here.