CPS406: Introduction to Software Engineering
Lab and Project Information
- Team formation:
- Each section has a weekly one-hour lab scheduled.
This lab time is used for several different purposes as the course
progresses. In week 1 and 2, the lab time is used for team formation.
Unless your team is formed and approved by the instructor, you should
go to the lab and meet the other students in your section or your class.
You should talk with the students who have not committed to a team
(if you are not a member of a team yet) to determine those persons whom you
wish to team with. If you have not formed a team by the end of the
second week, you will be arbitrarily assigned to one by the instructor.
All members of a team must be from one section or cross sections.
- By the end of week 2, each team must have designated an individual
to be the spokesperson for the team. The spokesperson will
notify the instructor by email when the team is formed,
indicating the group name as well as all the members by name, student id and SCS email userid.
- Operational issues and expectations:
- Team members are required to produce the
Weekly Meeting Minutes from week 2 to week 12 (excluding the reading week), using the format as indicated.
- Lab hours are used for project development, periodic team meetings,
and evaluations. There will be tutorials as well.
On weeks when tutorials are scheduled, punctual attendance
is compulsory - marks will be deducted for unjustified
absences.
- TAs are responsible for marking weekly meeting minutes, please make
sure you submit them to TAs on time (one week after the meeting time) and in
the format as required by TAs (emails or hardcopies).
- On weeks when there is a feedback meeting, each team will be assigned a 15-minute time slot.
You should choose a time which is good for all team members. The punctual
attendence is compulsory - marks will be deducted for unjustified absences.
- It is the responsability of the team to divide the work among its
members in a fair and appropriate way. In case of conflict, you should
attempt to resolve the issues within the team. In the case a team member
is not performing adequately, the issues should be identified clearly
before being brought to the instructor, preferably at a feedback meeting. At that
time, a set of performance expectations will be developed. If the
member does not fulfill these expectations, he/she will be warned. Report
problems as soon as they are perceived (not at the last minute!). It is
virtually impossible to solve problems late in the course. The team
self-evaluation process cannot be used to "punish" a member who has not
contributed adequately unless the problem was clearly reported in a
timely manner, with all the parties (i.e. instructor and ALL the members
of the team).
- A major portion of the project mark is based on the witten materials,
which together with the code, constitute the final documentation package.
The quality of these written materials is a major factor in the marks
assigned. In this course, all the documentation will follow the IEEE standard formats
(which will be posted on the course website).
- All schedules are non-negotiable. If a product is not
available on the due date, the mark will be solely based on what
is available. If you are unable to do a demonstration of your software,
the mark will be zero for that demonstration. It is much better to have
a complete implementation of 80% of the client's requirements than an
80% (and not functioning) implementation of ALL the requirements. Design
the full system. Implement what is possible for your team, based on what
the client considers most essential.
- Project marks will be assigned to the team. Half of the team mark goes
to each member. The other half of the team mark will then be allocated to
individual team members based on their contribution to the project. The division
of the marks among team members will be based mainly on input from the team
members, with additional input from the instructor (based on performance in
presentations and demonstrations, observations from feedback meetings, punctual
attendence, the quality and on-time submission of each required document, etc.).
- There will be a 15-20 minute final presentation in week 12&13, which will
allow you to present the advantages of your system to the other teams in
your class, and you should also discuss what you have learned through this project and what
can be improved if you have more time. In this occasion, all team members should present part of the
material in the presentation. There will be an opportunity to receive
feedback on the quality of your presentation and the final documentation.
- Environment facilities:
- There is no restriction on the development and running environment
as long as the project can be successfully demonstrated from the lab computer or your
own laptop, and the instructor can successfully install and run the system (on Windows XP machine).
- There is no restriction on the programming languages, but it should be
object-oriented. The access to the MySQL Database Server will be provided, while you can also
install your own database server.
- Project scenarios:
Your team should prepare two to three test scenarios for demonstration.
- The marking scheme for the final project (group marks):
Item |
Percent |
SPMP |
10% |
SRS |
15% |
SDD |
15% |
Implementation |
25% |
Test Cases Document |
7% |
User Manual |
8% |
SRS Presentation |
2% |
Final Presentation |
8% |
Weekly Minutes |
10% |