a2 applied ict major project booklet

8/3/2019 A2 Applied ICT Major Project Booklet

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A2 Applied ICT Major Project

Culcheth High School

Re-Branding for the Future

In year 13 you have to undergo a major project that will cover two of the

three units you will be studying, which are Unit 8 Managing a Project

and Unit 10 Multimedia Software Products. Full copies of the Unit

specifications can be found in the appendix.

Produced: Mr Bolton July 2007-Amended: Mr Nolan July 2010


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Introduction

Culcheth high school is currently in the process of undertaking a full re-

branding initiative that will ultimately result in the design and

construction of a new school building. As part of this initiative they arelooking to design and create an effective and up to date Web Site that

will encompass these changes as well as provide their target audience

with a broad picture of the school as a whole. The Web Site is due to be

launched on 1st April 2011 and they need the project completed by Friday

4th March 2011 to allow time to upload the whole presentations.

The Web Site you have been asked to help design will include the

following information:

Home Page with an introduction form the Head

School Prospectus (PDF document of original)

Calendar of Events

School Shop

Job Vacancies

Subjects (Profiles of teachers / syllabuses / extra curricular

activities / trips / interviews with students)

Links (external educational Web Sites subject specific)

Students Section (revision guides and general information) Parents (specific information about subjects and important dates /

events)

Governors (reports and notes from meetings)

Current News

The project Manager, Mrs Stevens, has asked if you could help with the

Subjects section of the Web Site. This will involve designing a

presentation that makes good use of multimedia software to attract

potential students and parents to the school as well as provide existingparents and students with all the information they will need to know

about the subjects they are studying. It should:

Have a style and format consistent with the new school image

Be interactive

Have a modern / futuristic appeal

Suitable for both adults and students to use

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Project Personnel

Below is a list of the people who will be involved with your project. You

will have to liaise with throughout its duration and record your

conversations / communications as best you can.

Personnel Initials Role

Peer reviewers ??? 3 fellow students who will help

review and evaluate your progress

Mr Bolton NB Senior Manager in charge of ICT

developments at CHS

Mr Mullens CM Web Site manager CHS

Mrs Stevens AJS Re-branding Project ManagerHead of Department /

Faculty

??? Provide details about the

department / faculty

User People who will be using / viewing

the presentation live

Yourself ??? You are the person in charge of

this section of the project

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Task

As part of your Project Proposal you will need to use the above personnel

details to outline the following people, their roles and the part they will play

in your project.

Senior Management

Customer / Client

UserProject Manager

Team Member

Peer Reviewer

Supplier


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Project Phases & Planning

To begin with you will need to outline a progress chart that identifies the

key features of your project as well as the dates you intend to complete

them by. A calendar is provided in the appendix to help you.

Project Phases

You will also have to plan the progress of your project and monitor your

progress throughout. The plan should include:

Analysis (Client needs and Project Proposals)

Initial Design (refers to all the features of the software you will

be creating) Prototyping and Formative Testing (specific features of the

project similar to the above)

Summative Testing

Documentation (design features and user guides etc)

Hand over to customer

Project Planning

Your plan above should also include:

Activities to be carried out at each phase

Start and end date for each activity

Dependencies (what is each section relying on)

Resources required for each section

Dates for Key Milestones (see below)

Potential Risks

Key Milestones

Throughout the project you will need to arrange interviews and

discussions with key personnel to help your project run smoothly.

Initial meeting with Client

Initial meeting with supplier

Prototype testing / feedback

Interim meetings to check progress of your designs

Testing deadlines and times

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Handover dates

Project Proposal

Once you have established your client needs the proposal needs to be

addressed. Some of the issues may have been mentioned in the Client

Needs but more detail is needed. It should include:

A description of the project and what it will include. (This may

have been addresses in the client needs so just make reference to it)

What the project will deliver (describe what it will solve and

how it will solve your problem)

Benefits (list the advantages successful completion will bring)

Risks (what problems may be brought about with the completion

of the project?)

Impact on personnel( who will be in charge of monitoring andamending the presentation if necessary?)

Impact on practices (How will the inclusion of the presentation

affect the way the web site is run / up dated / technicians time)

Functional Requirements (what does the system have to do?

This may have been covered in the client needs, if so make reference to

it)

Who will use the product (end users need to be described in

detail)

Time scale (how long do you think it will take / have you beengiven)

Hardware & Software required (list the items needed to create

and operate the system)

Planning the Design (on paper)

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Once you have all your written documentation for your plan together you

need to start on the initial design stages. This is a series of drawings

that will help to map out the structure and features of your presentation.

It should include:

Map of the structure of the presentation to show how it will all

link together

Hand drawn designs that indicate:

Graphics to be used (imported and original)

Interactivity (buttons and links)

User Interface features (background / font details)

Multimedia components (Animation / video / sounds)

Master slides (basic layout of similar pages)

Detailed testing plan (Indicates how each of the above feature

you have described will be tested as well as the expected outcome.

See page 8 for more details of what to include)

Prototyping

This section should also include some images of what you think your

presentation will look like. This does not have to be done in Flash just

make sure that it is clear what the layout of different pages in yourpresentations will look like.

Client Approval

Once you have completed your initial proposal you need to present it to

your client to gain their approval of your plans.

You will need to prepare the following documents:

Agenda for the meeting

Minutes of the issues that were discussed and the actions that

now need to be taken

Approval form signed by your client to show they accept your

proposals and have agreed to you designing the presentation for

them.

Communication

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Throughout the course of the project you will need to communicate with

most of the people mentioned in the personnel section. You will need to

use and document the following types of communications:

Formal Meetings (minutes / agendas)

Informal Meetings (notes)

Questionnaires (record responses)

Email (evidence of contacts and attachments)

Conversations (recorded evidence of interviews)

Memos (saved copies of those sent and received)

Scope of the Problem

Once you have received approval for your project ideas you need to

identify scope of the project. It includes:

Reasons for undertaking the project (relate to client needs)

Benefits to the organisation (in relation to the web site and your

presentation)

Objectives (measurable targets - qualitative and quantitative)

Success criteria (how will you know you have achieved the

objectives) Constraints (what do you have to consider about what you cannot

do in your presentation eg. Students photos / data protection)

Areas of risk (complexity of software / time constraints / end user

ability)

Roadmap (make links to your plans here)

Resource requirements (materials / people / time reference to

plans)

Interim review points (reference to plans)

Testing

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You should have designed Testing Plan at the start of the project.

You also need to make sure that the project is tested throughout its

implementation. You need evidence of:

Formative Testing

Evidence that the presentation has been tested by yourself

and the end user at regular intervals before the final test plan

is completed.

Summative Testing

This is conducted at the end of the project in 2 sections.

ALPHA TESTING This is done by you and must address the following

issues:

Does the product meet all the requirements listed in the

Functional Specification

Do all the Interactive features work correctly Do all the links take the user to the correct place

Is there a way for the end user to disrupt the program

Is the product user friendly

Are there enough instructions

Also at this stage it would be useful to involve other students (min

of 3) to get their opinions and thoughts about the quality of your

work.

BETA TESTING - This is where your client will test the productto make sure that it meets all of their needs identified at the

start of the project.

The above will need to be conducted in the END OF PROJECT

REVIEW MEETING with your client. It needs to be documented in

the appropriate way and can use a variety of documents to collect

the test data such as: Questionnaire / Test Data / Test

Instructions

Evaluation

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Once the testing is complete you need to evaluate your project as a

whole. The evaluation needs to be in 2 sections.

Evaluation of the Product

This is where you evaluate the success of your presentation against

your original specifications and includes:

How well does it meet the client needs?

Any shortcomings (flaws) in the project

The effectiveness of the solution (how well does it work / look)

Suggestions for enhancements if you had more time / skill (what

would you like to add or have done)

A description of your current skill level and the effect this hadon your presentation

Documented feedback from other students

Description of how your work could be improved using this

feedback

Evaluation of the Plan

Once you have conducted your End of Project Review Meeting you

need to comment on the following making reference to the informationgained in the aforementioned meeting:

Success of the project measured against the original objectives

(should be covered in the above evaluation)

The effectiveness of the Project Management methods used

(how well did your plan work / was it thorough)

Explain the key lessons that you learned from the experience

Justifying the actions and decisions you made

Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your performanceas a project manager

Identify areas for improvement based on your own and other

opinions of your performance as a project manager

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Project Activity Check List

Unit 8 Folder

Proposal Folder

Project ProposalThis section may overlap with the Client Needs in some places. If

this is the case make sure you include a heading and a link to the

necessary information.

Describe what the project is about

Explain what it will deliver

Describe the benefits to the organisation from a successful

completion

Describe the potential risks involved with the projectExplain how the project will impact on Personnel in the

organisation

Explain how the project will impact on practices in the

organisation

List the functional requirements of the project (what must it

be able to do / objectives)

Explain time lengths

Describe Hardware and Software needed to complete the

projectDescribe who else will be involved in the project

List the ways you could tackle the project

Make recommendations about why you are doing it in a specific

way

Create a Structure diagram to show how a user will navigate

through the presentation (mind map)

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Plan Folder

Project Planning & PhasesProduce an Initial Plan that covers in detail the phases mentioned

below and breaks them into smaller sections

AnalysisInitial designs

Prototyping

Formative testing (see testing on p8)

Summative Testing

Documentation User Guides as well as plans to show how your

design was developed

Handover Date

Review Documents

Review Point 1 change on plan and comments on changes that

occurred


occurred


occurred


occurred

Final review point with completed plan/timeline of project andcomments on changes that occurred

Communication FolderA main page that has a table outlining the following communication

both formally and informally

Initial ideas meeting with Stakeholders

Design Meeting with Stakeholders

Initial product review meeting

First completion of product meetingAlpha & Beta testing completion meeting

Final Handover meeting

A range of memos\emails communicating with head of

department setting up meetings\sharing information etc

Evidence of you acting upon comments and feedback given by

head of department.

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Product Folder

For unit 8 you just need a link to your product within unit 10

folder on your e-portfolio homepage.

Project Evaluation Folder

Project EvaluationSuccess of the project measured against the original

objectives (should be covered in the above evaluation)

The effectiveness of the Project Management methods used

(how well did your plan work / was it thorough)

Explain the key lessons that you learned from the experience

Justifying the actions and decisions you made

Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of yourperformance as a project manager

Identify areas for improvement based on your own and other

opinions of your performance as a project manager

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Project Activity Check List

Unit 10 Folder

Functional Specification Folder

Identifying the Clients NeedsIdentify the whole problem that you have been asked to solve

and then the specific section you will be working on

Include the dates for the project completion

Provide background details of the company and the Clients

Describe the reasons why your client wants you to complete

the project for them

Describe the content of the Web Site that they want to

construct / developDescribe the specific task you have been asked to do

Provide a list of measurable objectives that you have been set

by the client

Identifying the StakeholdersFor each of the following identify the person(s) you will be

communicating with, their role in the organization and their role in

your project

Senior managementCustomer / Client

User(s)

Project manager

Team member

Peer reviewer(s)

Supplier

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Design Folder

Produce hand drawn designs that show

Graphics to be used (custom / digital / imported)

Interaction (buttons / navigation)

User Interface (background / font / styles / layout)Media components (sound / animation / video clips)

Produce a prototype design for the presentation including all

of the above features (it does not have to be animated)

Agenda for your Initial meeting with your Client

Minutes from the initial meeting with your client

Agreement form signed by the client authorizing you to

proceed with the project

Prototyping

You need to create a page that shows all the ideas you came up withduring the planning and creation of your product to show how you

ended up with the final version.

Even if you did use them but did consider them put them into the

table, try to include:

Ideas for background images

Ideas for buttons

Ideas for video clips

Ideas for pictures

Ideas for sound clips

Evidence of feedback sought from head of department and the

decisions that they took on the ones to use.

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Product Folder

Implementing the DesignYour completed presentation must include the following features of

Multimedia software

Navigation linear / hierarchicalGraphical designs :

User Interface

Effective use of colour

Effective impact of your design

Effective use of Fonts

Consideration of presentation method

Consistency throughout

Corporate image has also been considered

Interactive Design:

Buttons / Hot Spots / Text Links / Roll over / menus

User response- text boxes / list boxes / check boxes

Image capture and manipulation

Capture ready made images paper based and digital

Create original images digital camera / graphic software

Manipulate images

Video

Capture ready made clipsRecord original video clips

Edit video clips

Select and use appropriate file formats

Sound

Record live sound

Select and import pre-recorded sound

Manipulate sound Cut & edit / speed up / slow down

Assign sound to an action / event

Select and use appropriate file formatsAnimation

Include Stop Frame animation

Create and use Motion Tweening

Include an Animated GIF

User InterfaceUsed a consistent layout

Used graphics to illustrate a message

Prompts have been used to help users navigate your

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presentation

Interactive features used to initiate certain features

Implementation Report

A detailed report on how you created your product and the

different elements you included.

User Guide

How to install the product on a computer/website

How to use the product

Testing Folder

TestingProduce a detailed Testing Plan that covers the following criteriaAre all the functional specifications met

Do all interactive features work

Do all the links work

Is the presentation robust

Can it be used without help

Feedback from other sources (min 3) including the Final

Project Review Meeting

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Product Evaluation Folder

Product EvaluationHow well does it meet the client needs?

Any shortcomings (flaws) in the project

The effectiveness of the solution (how well does it work /look)

Suggestions for enhancements if you had more time / skill

(what would you like to add or have done)

A description of your current skill level and the effect this

had on your presentation

Documented feedback from other students

Description of how your work could be improved using this

feedback

How well does it meet the client needs?Any shortcomings (flaws) in the project

The effectiveness of the solution (how well does it work /

look)

Suggestions for enhancements if you had more time / skill

A description of your current skill level and the effect this

had on your presentation

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Key Dates for Handing in Work

Each section although created for an E-Portfolio will be required to be

printed out and handed in for marking and improvement suggestions.

ActivityDate

DueProject Proposal 10/9/10

Plan & Plan Home Page 17/9/10

Communications page setup and initial meeting 24/9/10

Client Needs and Stakeholders 1/10/10

Hand Drawn Designs for Backgrounds + Buttons 8/10/10

Hand drawn designs for each page15/10/10

Prototyping + Second Client Meeting + 1st Plan Review29/10/10

Flash Home Page 19/11/10

Flash 2nd page26/11/10

Flash 3rd Page 3/12/10

Flash 4th Page10/11/10

Complete initial Flash document + third client meeting + 2ndplan review

17/12/10

Alpha Testing 8/1/11

Beta Testing 15/1/11

Improvements to Flash File 22/1/112nd Beta Testing + test meeting with client 29/1/11

Implementation Guide 5/2/11

User and installation Guide 11/2/11

Product Evaluation 25/2/11

Project Evaluation + Final Client Meeting 4/3/11

Initial Hand in 4/3/11

Final Hand in25/3/1

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