Project Requirements

Senior Projects can follow one of the following formats:

• Professional Certification - For example this could include pursuing professional certifications such as the CCNA, SCJP, SSCP, MCTIP, CISA, etc. See the CCNA Certification Option for applicable course requirements.  If you choose to pursue some other certification, you will need to work with the course instructor to define the requirements for the course.
• Information System Implementation and Research Study - For example this could include building software, database, web application, and/or network and testing the performance or usability of your system under at least two different designs or iterations and then finalizing the design into a finished product.  The requirements listed below address this option.
  

Ideal Job Description / Vision Paper

In order to help you make and meet your goals for life beyond school, you will be required to create a 1-2 page single-spaced paper describing what your ideal job or vision for where you would like to go with your career. The purpose of the paper is to encourage you to research and evaluate how you can use your education as a step to improving your future. Please include an explanation of at least 4 sources that helped you develop your ideas for the paper.  These could include job search sites and at least one professional in the field you are pursuing (for example a professional network engineer if you want to go into networking). This paper should also provide direction to help turn your senior project into a portfolio building experience that will put you in a more proactive stance for job interviews and your plans for the future. Instead of having employers asking you questions to which you must think up answers on the spot, you will be able to show them what you can do based on your experience. The job description / vision paper will be the first deliverable of the course and will be due no later than the second week of the semester (see the course schedule for a specific date).

Preliminary Proposal

 
The proposal should address the following items:

• a description of the problem or opportunity the project will address
• a description of the expected results, outcomes, and deliverables of the project
• a description of the specific knowledge and skills that you will develop beyond what you've been taught in previous classes
• a list of resources required for the implementation (hardware and software)
• a tentative design for the project such as diagrams of the user interface, use cases, database relationships, network connections, etc.
• a project delivery schedule including review dates with your mentor/instructor and major milestones
• a testing/evaluation strategy such as performance testing or usability testing
• a grading rubric for the final result (e.g. what does an "A" level effort look like, a "B" level effort, etc.)

Approved Project Plan

Obtain feedback on your preliminary proposal from a classmate, your mentor, instructor, and third committee member. Address their feedback and refine your proposal into a finalized project plan. You must obtain approval on your final proposal from all three of your committee members before the deadline identified in the schedule.

Weekly Reports

Meet with your mentor or course instructor on a weekly basis to discuss your progress, obstacles, and goals.  This should be a 15-20 minute meeting and you will be expected to submit documentation of the meeting showing the following:

• Progress on the previous week’s goals
• Time spent and work activities pursued during that time
• Obstacles encountered
• Solutions attempted and resources consulted to overcome obstacles
• Goals for the coming week

The weekly reports should become part of your final documentation.

Final Documentation

Submit your final documentation in both hard copy and electronic formats (Word or .pdf).  Final documentation should be in a report format and should address the following:

• an introduction that reviews what you set out to accomplish
• changes to the design or deviations from the approved project plan for your project
• a history of the implementation and your experiences
• explanation of any obstacles and how you dealt with them
• reflection on how you would improve your system if you could do it all over again from the start
• a conclusion describing the final status of the project, what you learned, and how it prepared you to meet your ideal job/vision

Appendices

• Ideal Job/Vision paper
• Preliminary proposal
• Approved Project Plan
• Time log listing the dates of your work, time spent, and description of activities for the day
• Results of weekly meetings with mentor/instructor (can be documented in e-mail correspondence or meeting notes)
• Feedback from committee (especially the Mid-term and trial presentations)
• Bibliography stating all of your references and sources consulted

Presentation

You will be expected to provide three presentations as part of this course.  Presentations should show the highlights of your project and should summarize your proposal, design, implementation and conclusions. Consider the first two presentations as a trial run so that your final presentation will be highly polished.  Obtain feedback from each member of your required audience and be sure to incorporate their feedback as best you can in the final presentation.

Mid-term (see the course schedule for specific dates)

• Required audience: a peer (you are required to attend another student's presentation), mentor, instructor, and committee member
• Expected duration: 15 minutes

Trial Presentation (two weeks prior to scheduled final presentation)

• Required audience: instructor and mentor
• Expected duration: 20 minutes

Final

• Required audience: a peer, mentor, instructor, and committee member (other students will also be invited to attend)
• Expected duration: 20 minute presentation + 10 minutes for questions

This is not an official BYU- Idaho web page.