INFO4 Coursework: Practical Issues Involved in the Use of ICT in the Digital World

Table of Contents
Report Guidelines....................................................................................................................... 2
Suggested Appendices............................................................................................................... 2
1.

Background and Investigation.............................................................................................. 3

2.

Analysis and Deliverables.................................................................................................... 4

3.

Design and Planning for Implementation............................................................................. 5

4.

Testing and Documentation................................................................................................. 7

5.

Evaluation............................................................................................................................ 8

Report Guidelines
Your report should have:

A cover page
A contents page
Suitable headings & subheadings
Your name and candidate number in the header
Centre name and number, and page number in the footer
Diagrams should be numbered/labelled
Suitable Appendices
Bibliography

Suggested Appendices
Initial Client contact emails
Emails to clients
Emails from clients
Client interview
Skills audit example(s)
Secondary research
Client sign-off of system
Draft design work with client comments
Final design work with client comments
Signed Client Testing
Signed User Testing

1. Background and Investigation

1.1The organisation
What/who is your organisation?
What does the organisation do?
What type of organisation is it? E.g. charity, academic, independent
Is your organisation small/medium/large? How do you know this? E.g. number of
employees
Does your organisation operate on a local, national or international scale?
Who is your contact at the organisation and what is their job role?
1.2The Current System
What is the organisations problem?
How does your organisation currently work/run?
What other people, organisations and/or systems affect your organisations problem?
E.g. competitors, suppliers, niche market
1.3Client, Users & Audience
Who is your client?
Who will be the users of the system?
How will they use it?
Who will be the audience of your system?
1.4The Business Case for Change
Why does the client need a solution?
What are the current problems in the business?
How would a solution improve the organisation?
1.5Investigation
This should include email conversations between you and your contact/client
Explain why you had conversations with the client, and explain why it is important to
discuss problems with clients
Explain why you have asked the questions you have
Analyse the interview to find out what the client wants
Complete a Skills Audit of your client and the users so that you are aware of the level of
expertise your client has
Look at existing solutions what did you find out? How does this impact on the problem
you are solving
Why is it important to consider the existing solutions/competition?
1.6Client Requirements
What are the client requirements?
How do these relate to the problem?

2. Analysis and Deliverables

2.1Statement of Scope
What is the project purpose? Why is this work necessary and how is this going to help the
organisation?
What will the project? E.g. a website with log-in facility or a separate secure area.
What does this project not include? [Brief mention of the things which are not part of your
new system.]
What other systems interact with or affect my problems? E.g. competition, suppliers
What are the internal constraints? E.g. it might need to run on the existing hardware.
What are the external constraints? E.g. sending information to external bodies.
2.2The Proposed System
What are the hardware requirements by the developer i.e. you
What are the hardware requirements by the client i.e. a complete list?
What are the software requirements [by client and by the developer separately]
What communication technologies are available to or required by the system e.g. emailing
facility through outlook or Skype etc.
Is there a specific format in which the information is required to be fed into the system e.g.
format of the input.
Is there a specific format for the output? If yes, tell us about that.
What are the other factors affecting your system or affected by your system e.g. staffing
or the environmental factors.
What are the benefits for the organisation if they implemented your solution? E.g. discuss
the impact on the organisation.
What is your evaluation criteria based on the requirements set by the client?
What are the agreed deliverables at the end i.e. a list of things required through your
system?
What are the different types of processes involved in your new system? E.g. process to
check validation on a data entry form.
2.3Processes
What are the inputs, processes and outputs of your system?
Input
Process
Output
Include, where appropriate, Data Flow Diagrams and/or Entity Relationship Models
2.4The Users of the System
Who are the users of your system?
What are their current ICT skills? Refer back to the skills audit from 1.5
How does this information affect your solution?
2.5Evaluation Criteria
How will you know if your solution has been successful?
How do these criteria meet the client requirements?
Who will test the criteria?
How will they be tested?
2.6Deliverables
What is to be produced and handed over to the client?
2.7Client Approval
Have you presented your findings/ or the proposal to the client in a proper way e.g. using a
presentation or through a document etc.
Has client agreed to the proposed system? Does the proposed system meet the clients
expectations? Give/ attach an evidence asking client to sign a document where all the
deliverables are listed and agreed upon.

3. Design and Planning for Implementation

3.1Alternative Design solutions
List each client requirement and then state how you are going to meet these requirements
in each of the solutions you have mentioned? (Spreadsheet, database, word processing)
Paper based or IT based system? (Explain benefits/limitations of each)
Spreadsheet, database or word processing solution? General Advantages and
disadvantages of each, dont use brand names, e.g. Access, Excel at this stage
You may wish to use a table like the one shown here
Client
Requirement

Possible Solution 1

Possible Solution 2

Possible Solution 3

Final conclusion, why you chose a database/webpage solution? Why you chose a relational
database?
Next step, within your solution, what kind of database/webpage will you create? Flat file
or relational? (Advantages and disadvantages of each). You need to think about what
different ways you could perform particular tasks even within this one software solution?
E.g. create a form using visual basic instead of a wizard.
3.2Draft Designs
Designs of:
Tables (table name, fields, data type, validation including field sizes and any input masks)
Forms (hand drawn or on computer)
Queries (query name, type, purpose, fields required, and criteria)
Reports (hand drawn or on computer)
Macros (macro name, purpose)
Annotations on designs of forms and reports: (could be drawn by hand and scanned in or
drawn on computer) but NOT screenshots (you are not supposed to have created any of
the solution at this stage)
Client feedback show evidence that client has seen the designs and that amendments
have been made with an alternative design which is also shown.
Show final evidence AGAIN of clients approval and satisfaction at the end.
How have your client requirements been met when creating these designs? (You need to
explain how/why).
Client requirements re-identified and an explanation of how the design meets it with client
Signature
3.3Final Designs
Designs of:
Tables (table name, fields, data type, validation including field sizes and any input masks)
Forms (hand drawn or on computer)
Queries (query name, type, purpose, fields required, and criteria)
Reports (hand drawn or on computer)
Macros (macro name, purpose)
Annotations on designs of forms and reports: (could be drawn by hand and scanned in or
drawn on computer) but NOT screenshots (you are not supposed to have created any of
the solution at this stage)
Client feedback show evidence that client has seen the designs and that amendments
have been made with an alternative design which is also shown.
Show final evidence AGAIN of clients approval and satisfaction at the end.
How have your client requirements been met when creating these designs? (You need to
explain how/why).
Client requirements re-identified and an explanation of how the design meets it with client
Signature

3.4Implementation, testing and Installation plan

Ive got my design and now I need to plan. I need durations and deadlines because
A dated table showing every step of implementation, (create a table, a query, a form etc.)
+ Testing (which types i.e. module, integrated, functional, etc.), Installation and Training
(which type? Cascade? One to one?) Along with durations and deadlines for each.
Make sure you include Testing all requirements are met in your chart as well.
After your plan has been created you need:
An explanation of your choice of implementation methodology (Linear, iterative, etc.) in
relation to client requirements
An explanation of your method of testing, in relation to your client requirements.
An explanation of your method of installation (which type? Parallel? Pilot?) in relation to
your client requirements.
An explanation of your method of training in relation to client requirements.
A summary of how client requirements have been met through this plan as well as user
needs.
Why is the plan useful for the client?
How does it help you meet the client requirements?
Justification of each part of the plan required
Definitions of types of testing are not needed as a separate entity write them in the work
Sta
rt
Dat
e

Implementat
ion Step

Methodolo
gy

Durati
on

Deadli
ne

How does
this meet the
client
requirements

3.5Training Requirements
Sta
rt
Dat
e

Trainin
g Step

Methodolo
gy

Durati
on

Deadli
ne

How does
this meet
the client
requiremen
ts

How does
this meet
the user
requiremen
ts

3.6Testing Strategy
What testing is necessary? Think about your client requirements and evaluation criteria
Who will test it?
When will they test it?
Where will they test it?
Are there any constraints on live testing?
Will it be simulated testing?
Why is this testing strategy sufficient?
3.7Test Plan
Test Number

What is being
tested

Expected
Outcome

How this meets

client
requirements
and/or evaluation
criteria

4. Testing and Documentation

4.1Evidence of testing
4.1.1 Whole System Test
You need to prove that you have tested the system as a whole does it do what you set
out to achieve?
Go through, step by step the process from start to finish, taking a screen shot and
annotating at each stage
4.1.2 Functional Testing
Using the table you created in 3.7, show how you have completed your planned tests
Test
Number

What is
being
tested

Expected
Outcome

Actual
Outcome

Action
Taken

4.2Client, User and Audience Testing

4.2.1 Client Testing
Provide evidence that the client has tested the system
4.2.2 User Testing
Provide evidence that the user has tested the system
4.2.3 Audience Testing
Provide evidence that the audience have tested the system
4.3Documentation
4.3.1 User Guide
4.3.2 Technical Manual
4.3.3 Further Development Manual

How this
meets client
requirements
and/or
evaluation
criteria

5. Evaluation
5.1Strengths and weaknesses of solutions
What is good about your system? Where your system consists of several parts, you need
to explain which elements of each section are good
Why/how are these elements good? Explain in relation to the client
requirements/evaluation criteria
What could be improved within your system?
Why?
5.2Evaluation Criteria & Client Requirements
State your clients requirements and explain how your system has met each requirement
(or not) and why/how
State the evaluation criteria and explain how your system has met each criterion (or not)
and why/how
5.3Performance Evaluation
What did you do well in this project?
Why/how?
What did you do poorly?
Why/how?
If you were to do this project again, how would you improve your performance in the
future?
1. Appendices
2. Bibliography