FIT4037 Case study - Semester 1, 2013

The Case study provides the opportunity for students to focus their skills of system analysis and development, software design and development, documentation development and quality, system and software quality, interpersonal relationships and formal and quality documentation in the development of a solution to the Case Study project. Working as members of supervised teams, students undertake the analysis, design, documentation and implementation of an appropriate software system to assist with the resolution of a realistic business problem. As part of their success, teams will decide their methodology, and demonstrate quality planning and project planning skills.

Mode of Delivery

Contact Hours

1 hr seminar/wk, 3 hrs tutorials/wk

Workload requirements

Workload commitments per week are:

• one-hour seminar
• three-hour studio

You are expected to spend an additional 8 hours per week on various activities including reading, communication with other students and unit lecturers, and preparation for learning tasks and formal assessments.

Tutorials are to be used as the first point of contact for your groups and as such attendance is a necessary prerequisite.

Unit Relationships

Prohibitions

CSE3900, CSE9020, FIT3015, FIT3048, GCO9800,GCO3500

Prerequisites

FIT9017, FIT9018, FIT9019 and FIT9030
Must be enrolled in course 3309, 0366, 0539, 0360 or 1772

Chief Examiner

Campus Lecturer

Tutors

Academic Overview

Learning Outcomes

• Implement system analysis skills;
• Implement quality planning and project planning skills;
• Provide resolution of a realistic business problem;
• Implement software design and development skills;
• Implement software implementation skills;
• develop documentation.

Unit Schedule

*Unit Schedule details will be maintained and communicated to you via your learning system.

Assessment Summary

Practical work: 100%

Teaching Approach

• Studio teaching
  Studio teaching is a facilitated active, participatory, peer learning approach.  This approach is hands-on learning where you interact in project teams with fellow students in a laboratory workroom.
• Problem-based learning
  Students are encouraged to take responsibility for organising and directing their learning with support from their supervisor.  As a problem based learning approach you will be presented with a web design problem and guided on how to best find solutions for the problem.

Assessment Requirements

Assessment Policy

Faculty Policy - Unit Assessment Hurdles (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/staff/edgov/policies/assessment-examinations/unit-assessment-hurdles.html)

Academic Integrity - Please see the Demystifying Citing and Referencing tutorial at http://lib.monash.edu/tutorials/citing/

Assessment Tasks

Participation

Students will be assessed in tutorials on their contribution within their teams and on attendance in the tutorials.  Contribution is assessed by the supervisor in the tutorial.  The supervisor will assess contribution on how the student interacts in the project teams and how their contribution is valued by the project team members.

• Assessment task 1

  Title:

  Team project management document

  Description:

  A team project management document will be assessed from a marking criteria prepared by the unit leader.

  Weighting:

  5%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Specific tasks and marking criteria will be distributed at the beginning of the semester.

  The criteria for assessing this project management document is to:

  • identify the actual team members and their roles
  • establish appropriate roles for each team members
  • create a functional project management document that can be used throughout the life of the project by all team members

  Due date:

  Tuesday 19 March 2013

• Assessment task 2

  Title:

  Business case document and requirements

  Description:

  Project teams are expected to develop a business case document.  Templates are provided for ease of use.  The business case will be assessed from a marking criteria developed by the unit leader.

  Weighting:

  10%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Specific tasks and marking criteria will be distributed at the appropriate time.

  The criteria for development a business document is:

  • to ensure the working prototype is developed in line with the specifications of the case study

  • to ensure this is seen as a working document that can be used by all team members over the life of the project

  Project teams are expected to provide requirements in the form of minutes of meetings, and individual timesheets as well as confidential peer reviews.  These are assessable items.  Students may be individually assessed on the level and standard of their contributions where applicable.

  Due date:

  Tuesday 26 March 2013

• Assessment task 3

  Title:

  Functional requirements and design document

  Description:

  Project teams are expected to develop a functional requirements and design document.

  Weighting:

  15%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Specific tasks and marking criteria will be distributed at the appropriate time.

  The criteria for assessment is to:

  • develop functional requirements for the working prototype
  • develop an appropriate design for the working prototype

  Project teams are expected to provide requirements in the form of minutes of meetings, and individual timesheets as well as confidential peer reviews.  These are assessable items.  Students may be individually assessed on the level and standard of their contributions where applicable.

  Due date:

  Tuesday 16 April 2013

• Assessment task 4

  Title:

  Technical documents and user manuals

  Description:

  Project teams are to prepare technical documents, including a test plan as well as a user manual.  These are to be handed in to their supervisor on the due date in the labs.

  Weighting:

  25%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Specific tasks and marking criteria will be distributed at the appropriate time.

  Teams will be assessed on:

  • the preparation of their technical specifications
  • the preparation of a detailed test plan
  • the clarity and appropriateness of their user manual

  Project teams are expected to provide requirements in the form of minutes of meetings, and individual timesheets as well as confidential peer reviews.  These are assessable items.  Students may be individually assessed on the level and standard of their contributions where applicable.

  Due date:

  Tuesday 7 May 2013

• Assessment task 5

  Title:

  Presentation of project

  Description:

  Each project will be presented using power point slides.  The slides will include screen shots of the partially developed prototype.

  Weighting:

  10%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Specific tasks and marking criteria will be distributed at the appropriate time.
  
  Students are marked on:

  • presentation skills
  • appropriateness and clarity of their screen shots
  • How well the presentation meets the objectives and criteria of the system

  Students may be individually assessed on the level and standard of their contributions where applicable.

  Due date:

  Tuesday 21 May 2013

• Assessment task 6

  Title:

  Presentation of working prototype

  Description:

  Project team members will present their prototypes to the student cohort on the due date.

  Weighting:

  25%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Specific tasks and marking criteria will be distributed at the appropriate time.

  The prototypes will be assessed, by the unit leader and supervisor from a marking criteria designed by the unit leader, at the time project teams present their prototype.  Project teams will be given this marking guide closer to the time of their presentation. 

  Criteria for assessment:

  • The degree to which programs meet the problem specification.
  • The level of testing demonstrated.
  • How well the code is written and how easy it is to understand and be maintained.
  • How well the program is documented.

  Project teams are required to also provide hurdle requirements in the form of minutes of meetings, individual timesheets as well as confidential peer reviews.  These are assessable items.  Students may be individually assessed on the level and standard of their contributions where applicable.

  Due date:

  Tuesday 28 May 2013

• Assessment task 7

  Title:

  Tutorial attendance and contribution

  Description:

  Students are required to attend all tutorials for group meetings, participate in all activities within the team, and to be interviewed by their supervisor and client.

  Weighting:

  10%

  Criteria for assessment:

  Tutorial attendance and group contribution.

  To ensure all group members attend and contribute in the tutorials, students will be allocated a mark out of 10.

  This will be assessed over the 12 weeks of the semester.

  Due date:

  Weekly during tutorials

Learning resources

Reading list

Yardley, D. (2002) ‘Successful IT Project Delivery’, Addison-Wesley, UK. ISBN 0-201-75606-4

Schwalbe, K. (2004) ‘Information Technology Project Management’, Thomson Course Technology – 3rd (or 4th) Edition. ISBN 0-619-15984-7

Curry, J. & Stanford, P. (2005) ‘Practical System Development: A Project-based Approach’, Pearson SprintPrint, Australia. ISBN 0-7339-7336-1

Feedback to you

• Informal feedback on progress in labs/tutes
• Graded assignments with comments
• Interviews
• Other: We will also provide feedback to each group member or group where appropriate

Extensions and penalties

Returning assignments

Resubmission of assignments

Assignments in this unit cannot be resubmitted.

Referencing requirements

Students are required to be aware of the referencing requirements for creating assignments.  All assignments in this unit are required to be referenced where a contribution to the assignment has come from a source other than the student themselves. 

The following link will provide you with an appropriate array of referencing requirements:

http://www.monash.edu/lls/llonline/quickrefs/19-styles.xml

If you are unsure about the appropriate reference style to use please talk with your supervisor.

Assignment submission

Online submission

If Electronic Submission has been approved for your unit, please submit your work via the learning system for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal.

Required Resources

You will need Adobe Acrobat reader to access weekly lecture and class materials.  This is freely available from: http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/

Access to Microsoft Office software (PowerPoint, Word, and Excel) for document preparation.  These software programs are available for use in University computer labs.

Other Information

Policies

Graduate Attributes Policy

Student services

Monash University Library

Disability Liaison Unit

Your feedback to Us

Previous Student Evaluations of this Unit

Students have found this unit intellectually stimulating, with sufficient resources and support to complete the learning objectives.

Students have found the pace and structure of this unit sufficiently appropriate to complete the tasks required of them in a timely manner.

Students have found this unit extremely helpful in bringing together information from core units.  However, they have also indicated they would like to have more help with database design, structure and management.  Unfortunately this unit is designed to facilitate the knowledge previously obtained from the core units.  To aid students with this dilemma handouts will provide database design etc, and more dedicated tutoring will focus on this issue.

Students did mention issues regarding group involvement and support.  To provide teams with the opportunity to communicate team member concerns or issues they are supplied with Confidential Peer Review forms that are completed and given to their supervisor confidentially.  This is an opportunity for the supervisor and client to view issues within the team that may not be evident in the weekly tutorial meetings.  These forms are an important opportunity for each team member to have their say and to have the information they provide to their supervisor and client acknowledged and assessed.  This form when compared to other team members' forms can influence a mark differential for team members.