CSE 4317 - Schedule, Deliverables, and Deadlines

All deliverables must be submitted via Blackboard. No scans of handwritten documents are allowed.

Deliverables submitted late will be penalized, at a rate of 10% of the maximum score per hour. The submission time will be the time shown on Blackboard. Any assignment submitted more than 10 hours late will receive no credit. Exceptions will only be made for documented emergencies, in strict adherence to UTA policy. Computer/network crashes are NOT an acceptable excuse for late submissions (if worried, submit early, you can always revise your submission till the deadline).

Itemized list:

• Recurring deliverables, every week, starting Tuesday 01/21:
  • By Tuesday 11:59pm: submit an individual status report on Blackboard. This report should be a SINGLE document, that includes:
    • What your team asked you to do for the project this past week.
    • Specific times that you worked on this project, and what was done during each time period.
    • The total time you have worked on the project this last week.
    • A detailed description of your contributions to the project during the last week. You should treat this description as your chance to impress a very skeptical boss about your value and productivity.
    • A preview of what you plan to do next week for the project.
  • By Tuesday 11:59pm: submit a team status report. One submission per team. This report should be a ZIPPED file containing these documents
    • A recent version of your Microsoft Project file.
    • Slides for a team presentation, describing progress for the past week, plans for the next week, and any other important developments/issues with the project. You should explicitly specify what the team overall has accomplished, how much time each individual spent on each task, how much time each individual spent in total for the last week, and what each individual accomplished. The presentation should include a single slide that lists all team members, and specifies how much time each team member spent on the project over the last week.
    • IMPORTANT: Starting Tuesday January 28, your team status report should always include earned value analysis: cost performance index, and schedule performance index (SPI). If the SPI is indicating delays, the status report should report plans for getting back on schedule.

• Project Timeline, due Tuesday 01/21, 11:59pm. Submit on Blackboard, one per team. Submit a document, in Word or PDF format, that, based on your DDS document, specifies your plan for completing your project. The timeline should include:
  • A list of specific steps that need to be completed. You have some degree of freedom in defining the granularity of the steps. Try to stick to steps that match closely the steps identified on your DDS, and make sure that there are several steps planned to be completed each week (project team progress will be reviewed at every class meeting).
  • In chronological order, list the time when each step will be completed.
  • Estimate, for each step, the budgeted cost, measured in total person-hours. You should make one estimate using COCOMO, and one estimate using function point analysis (so, two estimates for each step).

• Early prototype demo: Friday 03/07, during class time at the senior design lab. Unlike the demos at the end of the semester, no powerpoint presentation is needed for this demo.

• Test Plan document: Due at 11:59pm on Tuesday 04/01. Submit on Blackboard, one per team.
  • A discussion of the expected content and format is included in these slides.
  • A useful reference for preparing test plans in general (not just for this senior design class) can be found here.
  • Examples of test plan documents from previous senior design projects can be found here.

• Internal project demos: Friday 04/25, during class time, at the senior design lab. This is the first of the two key demo events for Senior Design. By this time, projects are expected to be completed, and demos are expected to be fully functional. Demos will be presented to the instructor and classmates.

• Teammate Assessment: Due Thursday 05/01, 11:59pm. Evaluate each one of your teammates, as well as yourself. Fill out, for each person you evaluate, the teammate assessment form available from our documents and forms web page. Submit on Blackboard, one per person.

• External project presentations and demos: Monday 05/05, 1:30pm-5:30pm. First, presentations at ERB 103, then demos at the senior design lab. This is the second of the two key demo events for senior design. The audience will include any interested members of the CSE department, UTA, family members, and the community. Each team must submit their final presentation on Blackboard, by 11:59pm on Sunday 05/04. Follow these guidelines for designing your presentations.

• Final project record (part of project wrap-up), due Tuesday 05/06, 11:59pm. This is a team deliverable. Submit on Blackboard a ZIP file, containing the following:
  • Your updated and final SRS
  • Your updated and final ADS
  • Updated Detailed Design documentation, for hardware and software components
  • Updated System Test Plan document and final results tabulation
  • Final source code files, build instructions and scripts
  • Product installation and set-up instructions
  • Product User's Manual
  • Copy of your Final Project Presentation
  • Appendices - any other essential supporting information, such as component specification sheets, team status reports, copies of purchase requests, relevant email exchanges, etc.

• Project wrap-up: by Wednesday May 07, 5:00pm. Detailed instructions for what you need to wrap up your project can be found in this document. You will not receive a grade if you do not wrap up your project on time.