College of Computing Sciences Report on Senior Project

College of Computing Sciences Report on Senior Project Capstone Courses: Strategies, Techniques and Progress Prepared by Osama Eljabiri Director of Senior Project Capstone Courses Presented to The EDC Monthly Meeting

Senior Project Capstone Course What is it ? n Team-oriented project course which is result-driven , ROIfocused and customer-oriented. n Course instructor offers or solicits a selection of projects from industry , faculty and students themselves. n Students utilize their backgrounds in 4 years of college education in producing well-engineered and well documented products. n Students develop a software-driven solution for a business problem they firstly have to analyze , diagnose and model.

Senior Project Capstone Course How it works? n During the early part of the semester : n Students choose one of the proposed projects n If approved ( by instructor and sponsor) they sign a disclosure agreement with their sponsor. n Form interdisciplinary teams of 4 -6 students that fit into 4 -6 key job descriptions n Teams devise and implement a plan for solving the business problem n Then throughout the semester : n Teams periodically report to [ class , instructor and sponsor ] to present the progress of their work. n Finally : n Teams formally present their projects and submit deliverables to sponsor and course instructor.

The Triple Win Multi-Stakeholder Satisfaction Triangle

The First Winner Students • Real world exposure and problem solving • Interaction with professional stakeholders • New skills mastered and experience acquired. • Effective usage of education and backgrounds • Substantial value to their resumes

The Second Winner Industry • Cost effective : Students achieve solutions to business problems free of charge • Productive : Students provide solutions in a short time frame using rapid application development • Adaptive and Flexible : Students can do projects from 3 -12 credits project (one to four semester projects) • Effective : Teams combined from 4 majors will use their 4 years of college education plus experience and university resources in tackling problems • Comprehensive : Students will provide a complete documentation for the full development process from problem identification to final implementation • Measurable and Tangible : Project progress can be easily assessed via biweekly progress reports , biweekly prototypes , biweekly presentations , testing methods and statistical analysis • Result-Driven : Through the sponsor evaluation form , no grade is given without user acceptance and customer satisfaction

The Second Winner Other Industry Benefits • Creates an opportunity for evaluating potential hires • Builds strong ties with the university and faculty that may result into research and consulting benefits to the sponsor in fields of interest. • Makes the sponsor more visible on and off-campus. • Involves sponsor in supporting educational efforts for future specialists in area of interest to him.

The Third Winner College and University • • Added-value for all academic courses Students become as school performance indicators wherever they go. • Endless windows of opportunities for research , support and placement for graduates. • The entire school system becomes more attractive which boosts enrollment rates.

Well-Defined Plan Clear Agenda Leadership Project Managers Work Flow Standardized Process Channels Effective Communication METHOD Teamwork Interdisciplinary Team structure Motivation • Continuous Feedback • Evaluation techniques • Competitive environment Productivity Iterative Development Help Facilitating Resources

Senior Project Statistics n For the Fall 2002 , we had a total of 22 groups doing 22 senior projects. In Spring 2003 we had 34 teams doing 491/492 , 10 teams doing 490 and 2 supportive research teams doing 485. n In Fall projects, (15) were externally sponsored. This is a percentage of 68. 2% of our senior projects currently with external sponsors while we have 26 projects with external sponsors in Spring 2003 (i. e. : 76. 5%) n This makes the total parentage of sponsored projects (internally and externally ) this semester 90. 9%. The percentage of Sponsorships in Spring 2003 was 94. 2%. n Only two of our Fall 2002 senior projects are generic (but good) applications without sponsors. We have the same number this semester. n Some important projects this Spring include : one of Mc. Kesson and one with CIT (multiple-team project), a project for NASA and another one with NSF , a project for the National Guard and several 3 D-driven projects.

Spring 2003 Statistics Number of projects available : 47 Number of teams : 34 in The senior project class 10 in The pre-senior project class 2 in The research support class Number students enrolled in the senior project classes : 190 Number of sections : 9 combined in three times Number of departments : 4 (i. e. : CS , IT , HCI ) More …. Course is offered year round (Fall , Spring and even throughout the two summer sessions from May 27 th to August 7 th) In Fall 2003 we expect an enrollment level up to 270 students This implies about 45 teams ready to do new projects In the new settings. . Teams have three options Regular option : To do a three credit project Enhanced mode : To do the project over two consecutive semesters (6 credits) Advanced Mode : To do the project over three consecutive semesters (9 credits)

List of some of our External Sponsors -1 Large Companies • • • Mc. Kesson , Systems & Technology Solutions, Revenue Cycle Mgmt. Services, Somerset, NJ 08873 CIT @ Livingston , NJ Scholastic Books Inc. , 26 Glen Oaks Ct. , Clifton, NJ 07012 AVIS car rental Recent contacts with UPS and PSE&G for Summer and Fall 2003 projects Medium-Size Companies • • • Professional Resources Corporation (PRC) , 8 Twin Lakes Dr Manalapan, NJ 07726. Green Roof Suites , 45 River Road, Suite-301, Flemington, NJ 08822 PF Laboratories Inc. , Damon G. Douglas CO. , 700 Union Blvd. , Totowa, NJ 07512 Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs • • • Wendy’s Fast Food Restaurants (one branch) , 59 Central Avenue , Union , NJ MGR Enterprises, 421 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 Heights Service Station, Inc. , 70 Glen Ave. , Midland Park, NJ 07432 “ Intellinetix “ Inc. , 35 Parchment Drive New Hope, PA 18938 Duet Designer Consignment Boutiqu, 79 S. Livingston Ave, Livingston, NJ 07039 Pomarico Pharmacy, 239 Old Bergen Road, Jersey city, NJ A-1 Construction Services, Inc. , 33 Sackett St. , Jersey City , NJ 07304. Cyber. Extruder Docu. Mat

List of some of our External Sponsors -2 n Educational Institutions • • • Newark Public Library , (973)-733 -3607 Rutgers University –New Brunswick, Cook College, Department of Food Science Essex County College 303 university ave (IT department) Newark, 07102, NJ Torah Academy of Bergen County , 1600 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666. Global Education Mission , 2184 Kennedy , Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07305 n Federal Organizations • • NSF (National Science Foundation) NASA n National Guard

Date Week 1 Sep 3 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Oct 8 Week 7 Oct 15 Week 8 Topic Course Introduction and Goals - Project Ideas What to do? -Browse ideas -Add ideas Team Composition (Team Formation and Project Selection Begins) - Select an Idea code -Apply for a job code in a team Supervised Team meeting + orientation + discussions Participate as an active team member. Project Initiation Project Management Discussion Project Management application Requirements engineering discussion Requirements Engineering application What to submit? What to Present? Individual Professional WEBCT Introduction Individual project suggestion (optional) -Application for a group - Reserve a project idea None Submit deliverables and present them -Project Abstract -Project Team, roles and responsibilities First Presentation (Project Abstracts) 5 minutes Participate in discussion Progress Report 1 Via Webct email None Submit deliverables and present them Project plan and feasibility: - WBS /Gannt, etc. - Cost –benefit, cost Second Presentation (Project Plan) 10 minutes Participate in discussion Progress Report 2 Via Webct email None Submit deliverables and present them Requirements report: Requirements definition, DFD, DD, process Third Presentation (Requirements Analysis) 10 minutes None Week 9 Design and prototyping discussion Participate in discussion Progress Report 3 Via Webct email Week 10 Design and Prototyping Application Submit deliverables and present them -Requirements Spec. -Architectural models -User Interface prototype Week 11 Supervised group meetings Participate , contribute , and revise Progress Report 4 Via Webct Week 12 Supervised group meetings Participate , contribute , and revise Progress Report 5 Via Webct email Week 13 Supervised group meetings Participate, contribute, and revise Week 14 Implementation, testing, installation, and maintenance Submit deliverables and present them -Progress Report 6 Via Webct email -Mail Client Eva. -Full documentation Dec 10 -Software Product Forth Presentation (Initial design and Prototyping) 10 minutes None Final Project Presentation ( 20 minutes)

Position Cod e Job Description/responsibilities Qualifications Project manager In addition to managing the team, project managers will be responsible for project management deliverables including feasibility study. Should use project management tool (Microsoft Project Manager) to plan project tasks, allocate and mange resources, assign team members to complete tasks, compile team members' weekly time sheets, report task completion and actual hours worked on tasks, prepare periodic reports on project progress. Receives extra credit when successful. In addition to the criteria stated in the previous section, background in software economics, process life cycle models and project management techniques is essential. 02 System Analyst System analysts will be responsible for requirements gathering and documentation (Problem definition, requirements report, DFD’s, process specifications, data dictionary , etc) and coordinating with other team members. Experience/ background in requirements analysis, requirements elicitation techniques, and project documentation. 03 Back-end designer Responsible for designing the backend of the system including data structures, entity relation ship models normalization, SQL, normalization, system structure and other architectural models (repository , clientserver, abstract machine model , objectoriented design in UML , etc. ) Experience/ background in DBMS, CASE tools and modeling techniques in software engineering. 01 Position 0301 Data Base Designer 0302 Network Designer 04 Front-end designer Responsible for designing the user interface for users (including GUI components , forms , reports , navigation , etc. Experience/ background in HCI , cognitive psychology , user interface design, user manuals 05 Programmer Implementing the system at the unit level and system level. Testing and Maintaining the system Writing user manual. Experience in web programming and other programming such as C++ , Visual Basic , Java, and the like)

Criterion Percentage Explanation Attendance 10% (100 points) 2% deduction for every absence 1% deduction for each group meeting absence Class Participation 2. 5% (25 points) Through class Discussions (quantifiable) Online Participation (Class & in-group) 2. 5% ( 25 points) Determined through statistical Webct data 4 Documentation Reports 10 % (100 points) First report 1% (10 points) Each other report 3% 4 Presentations 4 % (40 points) 4 x 10= 40 points 6 progress reports 6 % (60 points) Final software product Instructor evaluation 20 % Final Documentation report Final presentation 15 % (150 points) Full project documentation w/ user manuals/supplements 5% (50 points) Present both documentation and software solution (implementation) Individual File 5% (50 points) Described earlier Extra Credits Up to 10% Exceptional efforts , innovation remarkable performance excellent participation. Client Evaluation 20% (200 points) Total / (Max Total) 6 x 10= 60 points Final working software solution (Tested and installed, with full source code) 1000 points/ (1100 points)

FUTURE DIRECTIONS • Enhancing communication channels sponsors • Establishing a foundation for improving software engineering education nation-wide. • Interdisciplinary team composition will be cross-departmental. • Empirical and theoretical research work will emerge and evolve from this work • Best practices in both academia and industry will be adapted and incorporated.

Thank You