Disclaimer 2COM0002 Systems Design and Development (SDD)
Course Tutor(s):
Name Office Email Phone
Lorna Peters LC252 comrlp, L.Peters 4342 Vito Veneziano LC266 comqvv, V.Veneziano 4323 Mick Wood (course leader) LB206 comqmw, M.Wood 4308
Course web page: http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~2com0002
Class contact arrangements:
In Semester A, you are timetabled for two lectures + one tutorial per week. In Semester B, in which most of the practical work will take place, you are timetabled for one lecture + one tutorial per week.
Assessment method: 50 % Coursework 50 % Examination
Pass conditions: To pass the Course, you must pass the Exam and pass overall.
In-course assignments:
The coursework component of the assessment will all be based on a major practical project, which will involve group work (in a group of 4 or 5) and will involve you building a system that you will demonstrate to us. There are five deliverables associated with this project, as follows:
| 1 Date set: | 09/11/2000 |
| Submission date: | 07/12/2000 |
| Percentage of total assessment: | 5% |
| Group or Individual: | Group |
| Topic: | Use Cases + Class Model |
| Target date for return of marked work: | 11/01/2001 |
| 2 Date set: | 09/11/2000 |
| Submission date: | 15/02/2001 |
| Percentage of total assessment: | 10% |
| Group or Individual: | Group |
| Topic: | Database Prototype - demonstration of a prototype showing that your database can support the necessary queries. |
| Target date for return of marked work: | 22/02/2001 |
| 3 Date set: | 09/11/2000 |
| Submission date: | 22/03/2001 |
| Percentage of total assessment: | 10% |
| Group or Individual: | Group |
| Topic: | User Interface Design - demonstration of a prototype showing main screens and navigation between them |
| Target date for return of marked work: | 29/03/2001 |
| 4 Date set: | 09/11/2000 |
| Submission date: | 03/05/2001 |
| Percentage of total assessment: | 15% |
| Group or Individual: | Group |
| Topic: | Demonstration of completed System |
| Target date for return of marked work: | 10/05/2001 |
| 5 Date set: | 09/11/2000 |
| Submission date: | 03/05/2001 |
| Percentage of total assessment: | 10% |
| Group or Individual: | Group |
| Topic: | Project Planning and Management - based on initial and final versions of Project Plan, the Progress Summaries, and the final Report on management. |
| Target date for return of marked work: | 17/05/2001 |
Study time:
Total: 210 hours of directed study.
of which
Class contact: 60
Assessment: D1: 6 hours; D2: 14 hours; D3: 20 hours; D4: 40 hours; D5: 10 hours = 90 hours total.
Other directed study outside class time: 20 hours on OO Modelling weeks 2-8.
Other activities:
Work on Exam Case Study + Revision + Exam: 25 hours
Other: 15 hours.
Recommended reading (see also below)
Required Texts:
Object-Oriented Systems Development: a gentle introduction McGraw-Hill 2000 Carol Britton and Jill Doake See below.
Introduction to Borland Delphi for CS2/CSP3/KST2 UH FEIS 2000 Mick Wood, Vito Veneziano, Steve Brown
Additional Information
What the Course is About...
This course is about the development of computer-based solutions to real-world problems. It builds on your experience of analysing problems and implementing programs to solve them which you acquired in earlier courses. So far, your experience may be limited to rather small problems. SDD is about what happens when you apply the techniques you have learnt in those courses (plus some new ones) to bigger programs or complete systems.
A number of new factors need to be considered, such as:
• the problems will generally be bigger than brain-sized - that means you have to write things down and be organized about documentation, otherwise you'll forget something important, or otherwise get into a mess, and...
• you will need to work in a team to stand any chance of getting the job done within a reasonable time. This brings both benefits and additional problems.
• we will be concerned with the whole process of development, from finding out the users' requirements right through to delivery and maintenance of a completed system.
The only way to get a feel for how to develop a system is to get on and do it. So, this is a practical course, but we mustn't get so involved with the practice that we neglect to reflect more generally. How good are the techniques we are using? Do they match up to the claims made for them? How do we use them together?
Assessment and Group Work
The coursework component of the assessment will all be based on a major practical project, which will involve group work (in a group of 4 or 5) and will involve you building a system that you will demonstrate to us. This system involves a database that is to be accessed from both a PC application and via the WWW. We recommend that you use Delphi for the PC development.
• The members of your group must be able to meet regularly, and attend the same tutorial.
• Once you have formed a group, we expect you to stick with it, except in exceptional circumstances. But if your group shows signs of falling apart, you MUST let us know so that we can help you to take remedial action.
• Please inform us promptly of any individual circumstances that might affect your ability to contribute to your group.
• The majority of the tutorials for SDD are student driven. Each individual or group works on practical exercises and on project material, under our direction. You will be given tasks and deadlines to meet. How you organise the work within a group is up to you, as long as you stay on schedule, but we may expect you to keep a record of your group's activities, time spent, etc.
• In general, we expect to give the same group coursework mark to all members of a group, unless it is obvious from oral examination at the practical demos that a group has been carrying one or more passengers. We may, however, use peer assessment to award some proportion of the marks in a fair manner.
Reading
SDD covers such a wide range of material, and it is hard to find a single book that covers everything. We will recommend suitable reading material as the course progresses. However, we will make extensive use of the following book during the first term of the course, and you will need access to a copy.
Object-Oriented Systems Development: a gentle introduction McGraw-Hill 2000 Carol Britton and Jill Doake
There is a useful Web site for this book at:
The following books are among the many others that are worth looking at (copies in the library):
Using UML - Software Engineering with Objects and Components Addison-Wesley 1999 R. Pooley and P.Stevens
This is a pretty readable description of the UML and how to use it, with some more general coverage of OO matters, both technical and managerial.
This also has a Web site with lots of general goodies at:
Practical object oriented design with UML, 2nd ed MGraw Hill 2000 Mark Priestley
More focussed on the use of UML during program design than either of the above. Again, see:
Software Engineering Addison Wesley 6th edition 2000 Ian Sommerville
Broad if not very deep; this is useful as an introductory reference book on a wide range of topics, and includes good suggestions for further reading.
The Mythical Man Month Addison-Wesley 1978/1995 Fred P Brooks
A collection of essays about project management. A classic work on the practicalities of computing projects. Now reprinted with some additional material (including the famous 'No Silver Bullet' paper).
Strategies for Software Engineering - The Management of Risk and Quality Martyn Ould Wiley 1990
About the process of systems development and how to manage it Very readable with lots of anecdotes from real projects.
Project Management for Information Systems. 2nd Ed. Pitman Publishing 1996. D.Yeates J. Cadle.
Good overall summary of project management issues.
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams Dorset House 1987 Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister
Graphical User Interface Design and Evaluation Prentice-Hall 1995 David Redmond-Pyle & Alan Moore
Describes their GUIDE method for develpment of systems with event-driven interfaces. Has had some effect on our approach to Willowbank.
The Elements of Friendly Software Design Paul Heckel Sybex 1991 (2nd ed) £20.95
By a pioneer in this field - one of the brains behind Hypercard. Recommended easy reading.
Human-Computer Interaction Prentice Hall 1993 A Dix, J Finlay, G Abowd, R Beale
Good general and fairly up-to-date work on principles and practice of HCI design.
Human-Computer Interface Design. MacMillan Press 1995 A.G. Sutcliffe.
Discusses psychology behind good interface design and suggests methodological approach to designing interfaces.
Designing the User Interface. 3rd Ed. Addison Wesley 1997 B. Schneiderman.
Good Coverage of the Topic.
Last Updated: 09/10/00 by M.Wood@herts.ac.uk
© University of Hertfordshire Higher Education Corporation (2000)