IT 499 Bachelor Capstone
Week 7
Adgenda
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Administrative
Review UNIT Six
UNIT Seven Project
UNIT Eight Preview
Project Status
Summary
Administrative
• Seminar
– Course is project based, 85% for project, 15% for
discussion. Seminars are not graded.
• Project overview:
• In this Unit, students conduct a technology or design needs
analysis within an organization in which a problem or need
has been identified. They will develop and implement a
solution to this problem or need later in the course. Students
submit a PowerPoint Presentation containing a summary of
identified needs and a preliminary system specification of
their proposed solution to meet the identified needs.
• All papers submitted should be in proper APA format.
Administrative
• Remember that as we conclude week seven,
the projects are due in UNIT nine and ten. We
are quickly closing in on the final submissions.
• The Discussion Board Requirement:
– Students are to post a minimum of three posts per discussion thread.
One initial response and two replies to their classmates
– Posting on a minimum of three different days, for example:
Wednesday, Friday and Monday
– The first post must be made by Saturday.
Week Four Review
• Security
– Security Management ensures that critical assets are
protected in a cost-effective manner. In the last few
decades, the field of Security Management has grown and
evolved, and several best practices have been identified
and documented in a number of national and international
standards. By conducting risk assessments, organizations
can select controls and safeguards to reduce identified
risks.
UNIT Seven Report Progress
• In this Unit, you will continue development and
implementation work on your Capstone Project. You will
conduct a client review of the project to date, and you will
report progress to your instructor and the class.
– Conduct a client review of the project to date.
– Report any issues or possible problems.
– Include any client feedback.
UNIT Seven Report Progress
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Reporting project progress on a regular basis (as you have been in the course) is an
expected activity in the development and implementation of any project. Standard
project reporting involves verbal and written reports to team members (usually at
the weekly or daily project team meeting), your management (often at critical
milestones), clients, stakeholders, and client management. Reporting is another
project management methodology designed to help keep the project on track and
consistent with the design specification and the implementation plan.
At certain project milestones, you may be required to present your progress
reports to your client or your management for approval to continue development.
Having a template that can be followed for progress reports is a great idea. Below
are some links that may help:
A quick one-page guide to the content of a progress report can be found
in Progress Reports from the Engineering Communication Centre at the University
of Toronto.
Status Report Document
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1. Introduction
As always, first indicate the purpose of the report and its intended audience. Clearly define the time
period covered in the report (see also titles). Then, explain the project's objectives and summarize the
major issues. Sometimes the summary can be a separate section from the introduction [2].
2. Project Description
In very short reports, the introduction might contain this section, but if it is under its own heading, readers
who are familiar with the project can skip it. Someone unfamiliar with the project, however, needs
summarized details such as purpose and scope of the project, start and completion dates, and names of
parties involved [8]. Often this section can be adapted from a proposal or borrowed from a previous
progress report.
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3. Progress Summary
This is the substance of the report (so "summary" may be a misnomer). You want to discuss work done,
work in progress, and work to be done. You might just use these as subheadings to structure the section.
This would be a project-tasks approach. Other approaches are time-periods or a combined
approach. Project-tasks approach: Focus on the tasks. Defined milestones can logically organize your
discussion into this kind of structure. Also if you are working on a number of semi-independent tasks at
the same time, this approach will work well [8].
Time-periods approach: Focus on time: the previous period, the current period, the future. If a timeline
(or deadline) is more important than milestones, then use this approach. Also, use it for projects with a
simple linear structure.
Combined approach: The two above approaches could be combined if, for example, under previous work,
you break down what you have done by individual tasks. Or, under the tasks, you focus on what part is
Status Report Document
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Your project (and sometimes your sponsor) will determine which of these three you use. If the problems
encountered or changes required are time-related, then use the time-periods approach to your
advantage; likewise, if the problems or changes relate to specific tasks then use the project-tasks
approach. Another item that may be included here is a summary of financial data. This last item could be
contained in a table or appendix, or an independent section.
4. Problems Encountered
As noted in the opening, snags are expected. Don't hide from them; explain what they are and how they
might affect key areas of the job (such as timing, price or quality). If the problem occurred in the past, you
can explain how you overcame it. This is least serious; in fact, you look good. If the problem is in front of
you (now or in the future), explain how you hope to overcome it, if you can.
5. Changes in Requirements
Here, you record the changes to the project: milestones added, new requirements, or schedule changes
(good or bad). Even if these changes have not affected the ultimate goal of the project, you need to tell
the sponsor how problems have been accommodated.
Note: If changes are a direct result of problems encountered, sections 4 and 5 may be combined. This
would lead to a modified organization: first problem and the change it required, then the next problem
and change, and so on.
Status Report Document
• 6. Overall Assessment of the Project
Since a progress report is not about a finished work, the conclusion needs
only to give your professional opinion of how the project is going. Being
unrealistically optimistic is as inappropriate as being unduly negative.
Beware of promising early completion: a single setback can gobble up
much time. Likewise, don't overreact if you are behind schedule. You may
also gain time along the way. Far more significant for the engineer is to
explain anything that may change the expected quality of the final
product. Keeping in mind your purpose can help you focus here: your goal
is to enable the manager or sponsor to make informed decisions.
• 7. Report Apparatus
A long progress report will include all the apparatus of formal reports:
letter of transmittal, title page, table of contents, abstract, appendices,
references. Only the most common will be addressed here.
Seminar
• This week's Seminar session is about meeting timelines and milestones.
• In this week's Seminar, we will continue discussion of the development of
the Capstone Project. Are you meeting timeline and milestones? How will
you (or how did you) handle the client review session? Bring any
development issues or problems to the meeting. Plan to report on your
client meeting and the current status of your project.
• The Seminar session is your opportunity to ask any questions or to clarify
material that has been presented in this week’s learning outcomes or
readings. If you have specific questions or topics that you would like to see
addressed in the Seminar session, please email your instructor prior to the
day of your chat.
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Week Seven Project
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There are only two weeks left to complete the Capstone Project. Your client wants
to know that you are moving the project forward in compliance with the
implementation plan's established timeline and milestones, and that development
is consistent with the needs analysis and system specification.
Prepare a PowerPoint presentation reporting progress to date on your Capstone
Project. Use the general template below as a guide.
Project and contact information.
Details of your client review session.
Changes in your development and implementation plan required as a result of
your client review session.
Timeline showing tasks completed to date, and target milestones for remaining
work (revised if necessary based on the client review).
The projected impact of this implementation on the business.
Other information as required to report progress.
Use more slides for each topic as needed.
Week Eight Preview
• In this Unit, you will revise your specification and project
documentation to include changes made to the project to
date. Next, you will create a PowerPoint presentation to
report those changes. The presentation should include a timeline listing the tasks/milestones accomplished to date, and
pending, started, or in-progress tasks remaining.
• The specification is used to communicate to all stakeholders
the exact nature and low-level details of the project. As
development proceeds, the specification may have to be
revised due to project changes that necessitate design or
detail changes.
Week Eight Project
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Prepare a PowerPoint presentation reporting progress to date on your Capstone
Project. Use the general template below as a guide.
Contact information.
Description of project being developed.
Original Project needs and goals.
Show changes that have happened since Unit 3.
Diagrams, flow charts, page screen shots or mockups, etc. (Use as many slides as
needed.)
Revised timeline with dates for remaining development and deliverables. (Use as
many slides as needed.)
Project Status
• Status
• Issues
• Concerns
Questions
• Summary