Thesis report guidelines for a system project
BIT Thesis Group
Bachelor’s Thesis Guidelines
DP in Business Information Technology
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HAAGA-HELIA
BIT
THESIS REPORT GUIDELINES
System project
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Thesis report guidelines for a system project
The purpose of this guide is to give instructions how to write a thesis, when the
thesis is a system project.
This guide is for BIT students.
The basic structure and instructions of the guide have been taken from the
Writing your thesis at HAAGA-HELIA document.
The main parts of the guide are
1 The basic structure of the system project thesis
2 Guidelines for the contents of the system project thesis
3 The system work thesis in a nutshell.
There are also instructions concerning the confidential material of the thesis.
When writing the thesis the BIT student must also follow the common instructions
concerning bibliography, references, use of source etc. given in Writing your thesis at
HAAGA-HELIA. See HH extranet Studies/Thesis/ThesisReportGuide(word2007).
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THESIS REPORT GUIDELINES
System project
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1 The basic structure of the system project thesis
Cover page
Assessment statement
Abstract
(Preface)
Contents
Vocabulary
Abbreviation
Introduction
Basis
Work implementation
Results
Summary and conclusions
Recommendations
Bibliography
Appendices
- the actual results of the system project delivered to the sponsor
The confidential results (if any) are not in the public version. In the library
version there are only short references of the confidential appendices.
Back cover
Note! Confidential material
If the thesis contains business or trade secrets, then
1) primarily the sponsor and business branch are blotted out from the thesis
and its appendices.
If that is not possible, then
2) the confidential appendices are removed from the public thesis (which
goes to the HAAGA-HELIA library and to the electronic Theseus library)
and in the appendices there are only a list of the results with short
descriptions of their purpose.
Note! Numbers of the sections
The first numbered section is the “Introductions” section with number 1 and
the last the "Recommendations". The other numbers depend on the way you
dived and label the thesis sections.
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THESIS REPORT GUIDELINES
System project
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2 Guidelines for the contents of the system project thesis
Cover page
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educational institution, logo
name of the thesis
writer's/ the writers' names
text = “Bachelor´s Thesis”
training programme
publication year
See Thesis cover example
You may edit your thesis title also after you have completed your work to
ensure that the title matches with the contents.
Assessment statement
 the final assessment statement, which is given to the student after the
thesis assessment meeting.
Abstract
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must fit to one page
in English only
short, independent presentation of the contents of the thesis, is
published in the HH library
contents: background, deliverables and other objectives, delimitations,
used methods, obtained results, conclusions and given
recommendations
also bibliographic information
keywords (the index terms)
length: English 250 - 500 words
standard SFS 3855
Use Abstract template
Preface
not necessary
 for example reasons for the making of the thesis joining an assignment
extensions to the bigger wholeness or division of labour, if two writers
or thanks to the persons or organisations got help along from which
 to end: place, date the writer's name's/ the writers' names
 If there is no preface, thanks can be presented here in a "Thanks" paragraph
If the work contains confidential appendices, it must be told here. In that
case and the preface is mandatory
Contents
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tall headings and corresponding page numbers
appendices with page numbers
possible list of pictures and tables (after the actual table of contents)
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BIT
THESIS REPORT GUIDELINES
System project
Vocabulary
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Abbreviation
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if the thesis contains signs, terms and units the reader cannot easily
understand, they are explained in a separate list
a list of abbreviations with total names and explanations if needed
(Introduction)
Introduction
The introduction has two primary tasks:
- to raise the reader’s interest and
- to provide the reader with background information about the topic.
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general introduction: background, importance, current interest
definition of the assignment
deliverables and other objectives, the scope and delimitation of the
thesis
methodology employed
the commissioning party
key concepts and other factors effecting the work’s structure
Write the introduction so that the reader will understand the whole thesis. It
is best that you finalise your introduction only after you have completed the
remainder of your thesis. A good introduction is short, for a thesis 2-4
pages.
(Theoretical part)
Basis
Theoretical background of your thesis based on professional literature and
other sources - basis of the thesis:
 the application domain on the common level
 key concepts, if not in the introduction
 standards/common solutions etc. your work is based on
 etc.
(Empirical part)
Work implementation
The system project thesis implementation description should be precise
enough that the reader would be able to reproduce the results achieved on
the basis of the information provided.
Describe what you did, how you did and what the deliverables were, step by
step; remember to include used methods and tools in the steps.
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THESIS REPORT GUIDELINES
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Here you have
 presentation of target under study: the business case, special
features/exceptions and other information that helps the reader to
understand the deliverables
 used development models, methods and tools
 the reasons for the choice of methods
 project implementation, the milestones and results step by step,
 pay attention to the problems, especially their solutions and new ways
of operation used in this thesis work
Results
The deliverables and their validity
 presentation of the project deliverables
 analyze quality of the deliverables
(Discussion= analysis)
Summary and conclusions
This section reviews the key results, and the conclusions that can be made
from them. The section should indicate how successfully the system work
was done. It also discusses the significance and validity of the results, and
value of the results to the commissioning party and commonly.
(summary)
 a review of the work’s primary objectives and purpose
 a review of the deliverables and other results
(conclusions)
 significance, importance of the results and their value (economic,
social, competitive ..)
 the new knowledge which increase knowledge about the topic
(discussion)
 estimate how successfully the thesis contribute to the topic under study
 estimate suitability of the chosen approaches, methods, tools etc. to this
work
 any limitations in your work, methods, and equipments, if so, what they
were and how they could be further improved upon in further system
works projects
(Evaluation and reflection of the learning and experiences during the thesis
project belong to the project final report.)
Recommendations
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concrete recommendations with reasoning based on the obtained results
and experience (to the sponsor, some other organizations…)
recommendation to future development projects, plan of action,
promotion of a matter …
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THESIS REPORT GUIDELINES
System project
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(Recommendations concerning project management belong to the project
final report.)
(Bibliography and appendices)
Bibliography
The basis of your thesis is based on your reference:
 all the sources, which are in the text referenced to, are listed
 research studies, books, articles, interviews, the Internet, professional
seminars, lectures, as well as reports produced by companies,
associations or the public sector
Appendices
Project deliverables, the documentation
 the actual results of the system project delivered to the sponsor etc.
like
- system documentation according to the used documentation
instruction (HAAGA-HELIA´s system description recommendations or
the sponsor’s instructions).
- user guide
- other reports
- source code along in agreed way, if the system project has contained
the implementation stage
- test documents
Note! Confidential material
If the thesis contains business or trade secrets, then
1) primarily the sponsor and business branch are blotted out from the report
and its appendices.
If that is not possible, then
2) the confidential appendices are removed from the public thesis report
(which goes to the HAAGA-HELIA library and to the electronic Theseus
library) and in the appendices there are only a list of the results with short
descriptions of the purpose.
Standards concerning appendices
 Writing your thesis at HAAGA-HELIA, Report Guidelines Working
Group, 1.9.2007
 Standard ISO 5966: in identification of appendices upper-case letters:
Appendix A, the Appendix B etc., for example Appendix an
Equipment.
 Headlining in appendices: A.2. Peripheral devices, A.2.3. Printers.
Back cover
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BIT
THESIS REPORT GUIDELINES
System project
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3 The system work thesis in a nutshell
The main structure of the system project thesis according to the HH Thesis Report
Guidelines
SYSTEM-ORIENTED THESIS
A project concerning information system development:
a planning, a study, an analysis or a development project
Official assessment statement
Abstract
in English only
Preface
not necessary
Contents
Vocabulary and abbreviations
Introduction
- general introduction
- definition of assignment (detailed)
- objectives, the scope of work
- methodology, key concepts
Theoretical part
- basis of the work
- application domain and models
- professional literature and other sources
Empirical part
- presentation of target under study, the business case
- development models, methods, tools, solutions
- work implementation
- deliverables and their quality
Discussion (analysis)
- summary and conclusions
- discussion (success, used methods, limitations)
- recommendations
Bibliography
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Appendices
deliverables of the project
other appendices, if any
The emphasis of this type of a thesis is on the following parts: the empirical part, the
deliverables in the appendices and recommendations. The size of the system project
thesis without appendices is about 15 pages.
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