COMP08097 2018 Project 400

Develop a major project by working either individually or in a small team to a deadline involving, inter alia, planning, and coordination of design & development activities, setting realistic work objectives, and presenting and documenting the work undertaken.

Undertake a comprehensive review of relevant and appropriate literature to determine current knowledge in the project area.

Demonstrate initiative, analytical, and problem-solving skills in developing a detailed, viable methodology for addressing an open-ended problem.

Integrate and evaluate the relevance, strengths, and weaknesses of approaches developed throughout the programme.

Produce a written thesis which meets the required standards of scholarship and technical expertise.

Demonstrate the appropriate written and oral communication skills required of a professional practitioner.

This module provides the student with an opportunity to manage their own learning strategy and is very much student led. 

As the Literature Review is a key component of this research project students will receive guidance in research skills and academic writing.  

30% of the marks will be awarded at the interim presentation stage at the end of semester 7. This 30% is broken down as 10% for the presentation, 10% for a literature review and the security requirements outlined below and 10% for a prototype of some key features of the project. If the project is primarily thesis based then 10% will be awarded for the presentation and 20% for the literature review. Feedback will be provided on the literature review at the interim stage to allow students the opportunity to enhance their literature review.

70% will be awarded for the final deliverable with a breakdown of 40% for the deliverable, 20% for the final report and 10% for the presentation. Where the project is thesis-based 60% is awarded for the final report/thesis and 10% for the presentation. The report length will be approximately 9000 words. In the case of a thesis, the report will not exceed 14,000 words, excluding appendices. 

Where appropriate a screencast and poster may be part of the final deliverable.

Turnitin will be used for submissions.

With a view to promoting cross-module assessment for the software students, it is envisioned that the second assignment for the Secure Software Development module will require the student to produce a set of security requirements for their chosen project in PRJ400, as well as a Threat Model (based on the applications architecture). This set of requirements will form part of the interim report produced for PRJ400. 

This cross-module assessment theme of security will be continued in Semester 8 in conjunction with the Software Application Security Testing module. It is envisioned that the second assessment for Software Application Security Testing will comprise a penetration test of the software artifact produced by the learner as part of PRJ400 with the results documented in the final report produced as part of PRJ400.

This cross-module assessment approach will be employed where it is feasible. 

A repeat project covering all learning outcomes.

Develop a major project by working either individually or in a small team to a deadline involving, inter alia, planning, researching and coordination of design & development activities, setting realistic work objectives, and presenting and documenting the work undertaken.

• Identify a project and its broad scope.
• Students are encouraged to look beyond what they have already learned from the previous years and look at new areas that challenge them
• Identify project management and planning processes and put these in place
• Put in place cloud-based reporting structures
• Assemble facts regarding users, tasks and the problem domain
• Document the proposal in detail
• Work out the software/hardware/cloud requirements and costs
• Produce a detailed plan

Undertake a comprehensive review of the relevant and appropriate literature to determine current knowledge in the project area.

• Carry out detailed research on the problem and technology solutions that can be applied to the problem.
• Use peer-reviewed journals, articles, and books sourced from online databases and search tools such as Google Scholar.
• The literature review should be critical in its analysis and justifications for choices should be clearly backed up with solid arguments
• Appropriate referencing should be used and tools such as Mendeley employed to aid this
• Use appropriate writing conventions such as the 3rd person.

Demonstrate initiative, analytical, and problem-solving skills in developing a detailed, viable methodology for addressing an open-ended problem.

• Determine what methodologies can be used at each stage of the project and select the appropriate one
• Be critical in your choices, can you make a clear argument as to why you choose one option over another
• Apply quality standards (software, networking, accessibility, security, design patterns etc.)

Integrate and evaluate the relevance, strengths, and weaknesses of approaches developed throughout the programme.

• Based on the previous years’ learning on the programme combined with a strong literature review be able to evaluate and critically analyse your programme of learning.
• Identify gaps and consider how those gaps can be filled
• Consider how the various technology sectors are developing and where they will be in 5 years’ time, how will you enhance your skill set to advance.

Produce a written thesis which meets the required standards of scholarship and technical expertise.

• Clearly articulate the problem, the aims, and objectives of the project.
• The report should show how the solution is based on the literature review
• Where a project is producing an application or system the design, development and testing phases should be working to industry best practices and the relevant chapters should articulate this
• Where a project is primarily research based the literature review should be significant and show a depth and breadth of knowledge. Arguments need to be comprehensive.

Demonstrate the appropriate written and oral communication skills required of a professional practitioner.

• Be comfortable answering detailed questions on the problem domain, show a depth of learning on the problem domain
• A breadth of knowledge on the problem domain should be apparent
• Be able to create a presentation that moves from the high-level problem statement through to technical details
• Use of diagrams such as architecture diagrams is essential as good diagrams convey that you have a clear understanding of the elements of the problem and the solution