Milestone Requirements

1. Initial Presentation: (Date undetermined)

Provide Outline of Objectives:

• Aims of project.
• Detail Results and outputs required.
• Describe research methodology and how I intend to evaluate these.
• Cite likely sources and references to be used.
• Outline significant resources and facilities required.

Project Work Plan:

• Define stages of project and likely timescales.
• Show how I will meet Milestone deadlines.
• Indicate how I am going to achieve final report deadline.
• Project will be broken down into Planning and Implementation categories.
• Each category will be broken down further into individual tasks.

This presentation will take place as a Power Point presentation covered all of the above topics, but containing limited technical information.  Core topics to research and initial ideas will be discussed.  To accompany the presentation, I will provide a written report containing all information covered.  Presentation slides will also be given in order to provide a summary of the report.  This presentation will take between 10 and 15 minutes.  In order to accurately show how I intend to meet deadlines, some basic design documents will be included in the presentation, tools such as time-lines and generalised UML will be most valuable.  These documents will form an appendix in the final report.

All reports from this point should conform to the following rules:

• Word processed.
• Page numbers included
• 12pt font recommended
• 1.5 line spacing recommended
• No A4 binders
• Bibliography
• Webliography with dates

2. Milestone 1: (Wednesday 23rd November 2011)

Relevant Details:

• Report approximating 20 pages.
• Worth 10% of overall mark.
• Initial design documents
• Research and evaluation undertaken
• Solutions and documentation
• Solution testing

This Milestone is all about the research, I must report on what research has currently taken place and document it in a professional manner.  One of the initial solutions should be a section evaluating the software development platform that will be used as this will be one of the critical factors.  Each source should be evaluated on its own and against the other candidate solutions before indicating the chosen method and documenting the reasons.  The software, research methodologies and commercial alternatives to the project and individual solutions must also be detailed in this way.  The research topics that pertain to the actual development of the product have been listed previously and will form the starting point of my research.  During this Milestone, I will deliver the report that is required, including the general criteria listed above, and the design documents that have been completed up to this point.  For each section that is documented, I will endeavor to include pseudo-code or code fragments showing how the research output and design have culminated into a solution.  This report will also include a completed timescale or GANTT chart, extended UML and initial ERD. These documents will form an appendix in the final report.  Both Milestone 1 and 2 must be separately bound into a single document containing everything relevant to the stage.

3. Milestone 2: (Wednesday 2nd May 2012)

Relevant Details:

• Report approximating 20 pages.
• Worth 20% of overall mark.
• Prototype deliverable
• Completed design documents
• Research and evaluation undertaken
• Solutions and documentation
• Solution testing

This Milestone will be an extension and enhancement of the first.  All research that has been undertaken since M1 must be detailed in the same fashion but must show serious progression and have almost all of the solutions required by the project.  All design documents must be finished by this point, ready to begin development.  This will be included in the deliverable.  In addition the research, I intend to include an initial prototype that demonstrates the core features of the project.  This is not a finished product, but must be a solid foundation that shows off how the product will behave.  This prototype must have full comments, testing of methods and brief manual sections indicating usage.  Every part of this prototype must be of excellent quality as it will form the basis of the entire product.   Throughout this report, I will clearly show how the design process has progressed and how I have mapped the initial development to it.  Each solution will have pseudo-code and possibly a code fragment attached to it, showing research output has yielded a finished product.

3. Final Report: (Wednesday 1st February 2012)

Relevant Details:

• Report approximating 100 pages.
• Worth 70% of overall mark.
• Application Devlierable
• Completed extended design documents
• Research and evaluation undertaken for each solution
• All solutions and documentation
• Full solution testing compiled into log
• Application manual
• Full commenting
• All documentation included in an appropriate manner

Sample Layout and Topics:

1. Title Page
2. Statement of originality
3. Abstract
4. Acknowledgments
5. Table of Contents
6. Introduction and Objectives
7. Main Report
1. Plan (Timescale or GANTT chart)
2. Research and Output (Extended M1)
3. Design and Development (Extended M2)
4. Evaluation Methodology
5. Evaluation Completed
6. Future Enhancements
7. Conclusions
8. Appendices:
1. Objectives Report (Initial Presentation)
2. Weightings
3. References
4. Bibliography
5. Webliography
6. Blog Transcript

This is the final deliverable and the summation of the entire project.  Everything here must be of the highest  quality and conform to each criteria officially and personally set.  All research and documentation up to this point will be extended and covered in greater depth throughout.  All individual documents will be included either as appendices or within the report as appropriate.  The application deliverable must be complete, fully functional in all proposed areas and come with extensive documentation concerning usage, testing and code flow (Through the use of comments).  Both Milestones and the final report will covered in far greater depth as I progress through them.

The next post will contain a general overview of the task timeline, with some areas broken down into smaller  and more specific tasks.  The initial, general design documents created as a result of this planning will also be included.