Advanced Diploma in Information Technology

IT404.NET – Advanced Visual Basic.NET

Project Guidelines

This module is 100 percent project based module. The students are required to demonstrate VB.NET Web Applications (ASP.Net Applications).

The detailed documents submission schedule is as follows:

The students have to submit the necessary documents for the Project according to the following schedule:

A. Project Proposal: 1^st Submission Date – Lesson 3

B. Analysis & Design: 2^nd Submission Date_Lesson6

Description of Current System

(Problem and Limitation, Scope and Constraints)

Narrative and requirement specification for new system

Interface Design, Procedural Design, Input screen and data design

C. Development and Testing: 3rd Submission Date _Lesson10

ASP usage with complete Web Application

ADO usage with web application

Meaningful object names and standard naming convention

Indentation / use of comments in web application

Web application Validation

Test plan, Test cases & test log shown

Expected result & actual result

Conclusion of tests conducted

D. Implementation: 4th Submission Date _Lesson 12

Justification for New System

User guide

Strengths, weaknesses and enhancements

E. Documentation

Page Numbering, TOC, and Cover page

Project Layout (Header, footer, cleanliness)

F. Presentation/ Viva (student performance, presentation skill): Lesson 13-Lesson14

G. Scope and Limitation of project meets with module’s objective

Note: Students have to bind all documents together from previous submission and submit it as a final project document in Lesson 13 or Lesson 14.

General information

Lecturers will be suggesting a list of possible projects for the students and students are encouraged to take up the challenge. If students want to develop their own projects, then individual student should provide a project proposal to the respective lecturer. The lecturer will be reviewing the proposal and promptly reply to the student regarding the status of proposal.

Lecturer can reject a project proposal if he/she feels that the project is too simple or too difficult for the student to complete in time.

Lecturer will be monitoring the progress of the students by asking them to submit deliverables regularly.

Acceptable Projects: These are just some example that students can choose.

Email Communication System	Multiple document interface System	Database system
Online Order system	Internet application	Simulation
Web base Data Management system	Web based game application	Web Business application

Project Specification

A project is something to enjoy. If you are not enjoying the stimulation of being involved in a major piece of work then see the project co-ordinator. Self-motivation is an important aim of the project and it will be accessed.

1. Presentations and Demonstrations

1.1 Interim Presentation: The interim presentation will:

a) Provide a fixed point in the academic year at which students must demonstrate the progress made, and outline the future work to be done,

b) Enable students to practice presentation skills.

The presentation should include:

1. An outline of the project.

2. Demonstration of the program.

1.2 Final presentation:

The student will formally present his/her project to the Lecturer.

External examiners are also invited to attend this session, which will normally consist of:

A 5 –10 minute assessed presentation.

2. Project Documentation

The project report is a self-contained document normally consisting of, an introduction, Objectives, Specification, Design, Testing, Operating Instruction, and Conclusion. Supplementary detailed material should be supplied as Appendices, It should be noted that the production of the project is the responsibility of the student.

Although there is no absolute format the following guidelines should prove useful.

Contents

The content of project documentation will vary and will be dependent upon the type and scope of the project.

Introduction and Problem Background

In this section, students have to give brief outline of the project that they have chosen and why they have chosen it. Briefly describe on the organization and the present system. State the problem associated with it.

Example: “company XYZ is a MNC company with several branches all over the world. The company has been giving newsletter to the employees informing them of the deadlines, activities and the meeting dates to take place. The newsletter is published once in 12 months and is distributed to the employees. A lot of problems were encountered during the 12 months. Meeting that are cancelled are postponed were not conveyed to some of the employees. Also, not all the employees received he newsletter. Due to these reasons, I have decided to create a Web based database application system for the newsletter.

Objective

Student must define a set of goals and what it is he/she wants to accomplish with the program. The objective should contain the following;

Identify the target audience

Have a statement of purpose

Know your main objectives

Design

Screen and input layout

Students have to design the screen before doing the actual coding. On each page of the design, students have to create a data dictionary explaining section of the design and the type of data that can be input.

Output and display layout

Design the screen with the actual values. Students have to also create a data dictionary to explain what type of data is expected to display with the given input.

Process Design (Pseudocode and JSP)

Students have to design the process in a Pseudocode and JSP in a design tool.

This must be design before the actual coding is done.

Pseudocode: Logical steps,Written in English, Indenting for logical

Structures.

Example of Pseudocode:

Begin game

display instructions

pick a number between 1 and 100

repeat turn until number is guessed or seven turns are completed

input guess from user

respond to guess

end repeat

end game

display end message

Program Listing

The printout of the code.

Testing

A test plan, test cases and test results should be clearly shown. Number of test cases is up to the discretion of the lecturer to decide.

Operating Instructions

Software and hardware configurations

Write down in points form the minimum software and hardware requirements. Specify the main software required before your program can be run, such as the operating system, your program name etc. indicate the version of the software used.

More details on the amount of RAM used and hard disk space required. Mention the type of input/output devices, which are essential in running the program such as the printer, mouse or keyboard, monitor, etc.

User manual

Students are expected to document user instructions showing the user’s step-by-step guide of different functions of the program. There must be enough coverage on each function outlined. The students are encouraged to have some screen displays shown when guiding the users with step by step instructions. This gives the users a better idea of how the screen would look like and the ways to respond to such screens. Your user manual must be very simple. No computer jargon should be included.

Conclusion

Program strengths

You can also comment on the strength of your program. Specify in what ways it benefits users.

Program weaknesses

Briefly explain the weaknesses of your program. You may comment on the performance of your program.

Program enhancement

State what you think needs improvement in your program. In your next update, you might want to include more functions. State what you would do to improve on the weaknesses of your program as mentioned above.

Glossary

References

1.3 Format

The following points give only the specific requirements for the format of the final documentation.

Abstract

An abstract should be provided with the documentation. It must:

– not be bound with the documentation

– be typed

– not extend beyond one page of A4

The abstract should include:

– the student’s name

– project title

– Lecturer’s name

MAIN DOCUMENTATION

This must be typed using double line spacing. All diagrams should be drawn using black ink. Sample outputs may be included.

NUMBER OF COPIES

One copies of the main documentationmust be provided for the School. The copy will be retained and will ultimately be stored in the School or Library.

TYPING

Typing should be double spaced on A4 with a 1 ½ inch left margin and 1 inch right margin.

Each chapter should start on a new page with the title typed in block letters. Numbered sections within the chapter should be typed in lower case and underlined or highlighted.

BINDING

The main report should be bound separately but appendices can be grouped together. Computer output should be trimmed where possible to A4 size. Ensure each item has a title.

Text Layout

Section and paragraph identification will follow the chapter numbers. Chapters labeled 1, 2, 3,…. And are subdivided into sections labeled 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, … and so on indefinitely, adding a decimal point for each subdivision.

All abbreviations used by the author should on their first occurrence be given in full with the abbreviation given in brackets. Table and diagrams should be placed as near as possible to the appropriate text and should be labeled as Table 1.1, Figure 4.5, etc.

2. Assessments

2.1 Assessment Mark Scheme

The project will be assessed in the following categories: A student is expected to be satisfactory in both of the assessed categories.

a) Project quality 90%

b) Presentation 10%

2.2 Project quality (90%)

The project report will be accessed by the one to two readers on a basis of the quality of the product. The project reader will normally be the project Lecturer.

These assessment will take into account the complexity and scope of the project, the demonstrated performance and the quality, relevance and completeness of the detailed documentation contained within the project documentation.

2.3 Presentation (10%)

The presentation of the project is assessed under the following sections:

The presentation panel on the student ability to select and organize relevant material to form a structured presentation and his/her ability to communicate both in a formal way and in a less formal assesses the final presentation.

The following table provides a guideline for marking the project report. Once the percentage mark is obtained it must be weighted to produce a weighted mark out of 100% for the documentation.

Mark	Grade	Description
75% (70- 100)	A	Outstanding performance, showing insight, creative thinking and flair exceeding normal expectations. Extremely well designed program and very clear and accurate documentation. Program should work perfectly and should be fail-proof.
65% (60- 69)	B	Very good performance, showing some insight, creative thinking or flair in excess of the normal expectations for a sound performance. Close to an “A” performance but falling short in some significant respect. When the work is considered as a whole some shortcomings cannot be overlooked.
55% (50- 59)	C	A sound performance. Competent and appropriate responses to the relevant tasks. Several minor but tolerable shortcomings, which are not serious enough to gravely, weaken the entire exercise.
45% (40- 49)	D	A fair attempt. Some acceptable elements achieved, but the work may lack organization and lack coherence as a whole, or have other important weaknesses.
35% (35- 39)	(Fail)	A borderline work. The minimum standard expected.
25% (15- 34)	(Fail)	Not up to the minimum standard, but some credit earned.
<15% (0- 15)	(Fail)	Unacceptable work or not submitted.

Appendix A

Project Title:

Software Requirement:

Hardware Requirement:

Abstract:

Project status: Reject/Pending/Refinement/Accept

Date of Approval:

Approved by:

Signature:

Appendix B

Cover Page

Student Name: Lecturer/Supervisor Name:

Student Number: Student Contact Number:

Class Code: Center Code:

Subject Name: Adv Visual Basic Country:

Subject Code: IT404

Other Guidelines

1. Indicate all references, e.g. Web-site URL or reference books, used in the preparation of the assignment.

Students are to indicate the following items of information in referencing:

· Author of the reference

· Title of the reference

· Publisher

· Edition

· Year of edition

· Pages to which information was taken from.

An example of such a referencing would be as follows:

[PRE97] Pressman, Roger S., Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach (4^thEdition), McGraw-Hill International Editions, 1997. Pages 400 to 405.

If you are drawing information from a web site, indicate the following:

· Web site URL

· Title of URL

· Author of URL/Publisher of URL

· Year of last modification

[TAT97] Tate, Debi (1997). NT Firewalls take charge of network. LAN Times Online.

http://www.lantimes.com/97/97aug/708a005a.html

Marks will be deducted for improper or inadequate referencing.

2. Plagiarism, i.e. copying and treating it off as original willresult in your entire assignment being awarded zeromarks. In the event that quotations from various published works are used, you are to indicate the reference behind the quotation.

3. The marks indicated behind each question part of the assignment are indications of the weight of your answer. You should correspondingly accord more attention to the parts that have been allocated more marks.