Alternative Site:
www.fatmax.org/as3
These are notes that I give to my students at St Mary's College when they do their project. At our college, we recommend very strongly that students do a database. Databases are difficult, so it is easier to access the higher level skills. Some colleges recommend a spreadsheet, but you do need to work with advanced functions to get the higher marks. With presentation graphics it is almost impossible to get away from the lowest levels.
Whatever you decide to do, you must ensure that your package is appropriate to the task. With Excel, you can make a flat-file database, but Access is more appropriate. Access cannot do the number-crunching that Excel can. Do NOT do as one of my students did, which was to use Excel to present graphic images, which should have been done with PowerPoint; he got very few marks.
These notes are there to help you. Use them as you wish, but be guided by what your teacher has to say.
Keep these notes to hand while you are doing the project. They explain exactly what the board wants for you to access the highest marks. These notes will give the stage, the marking criterion, then points you will need to address that criterion. The criteria shown are in the top band.
· Keep your project simple. It is a single task, not a system.
· You may ask for guidance. However when something has to be done for you, that has to be noted.
· You may use any resource you like to help you fulfil the requirements of the project.
· You must not plagiarise other people’s work.
· Word-process everything you do as you go along. You can always get rid of unnecessary stuff later.
· Complete each stage by the deadline set. The deadlines are there to help you.
· Your teacher will mark the work you hand in and suggest improvements.
· After the final deadline, the work will be taken in for final marking. It takes a long time to mark the projects with the care they deserve. So please be patient.
· Take pride in your presentation, and take care with your word-processing.
· Use lots of screen-dumps (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence for what you have done. Make them big so that detail can be seen. The moderator will need to see evidence that you have done what you claim to have done.
· Lost or corrupted disks are not accepted as an excuse by the AQA. You are an ICT student and you know how to avoid such problems, don’t you? Keep a back up of EVERYTHING you do in case you lose it. Do the actual database on your college network, if possible, as there can be problems in porting Access files.
Specification (13 marks)
A
detailed requirements specification has been produced for the identified problem
which matches the needs of the end users.
· Research what your end user actually wants.
· Write down the intended outcomes of the system.
· Write these as meaningful ICT statements [ User – I want a system that contacts my customers after two months for a follow-up appointment. ICT outcome – I will provide a facility that runs a query to find out customers who have not made a follow-up appointment after two months. I will use a mail-merge to produce a personalised letter.] These statements form the requirements specification.
· You will need to refer to the outcomes in your evaluation.
The input, processing, and output needs which match the requirements specification are stated.
· Explain clearly what kinds of inputs you are going to use. A statement like “keyboard entry” is too vague. State what you are going to put in and why.
· Explain exactly what processing you are going to do. Be precise; a statement like “I shall get the program to produce a report” is too vague. If you are going to include a formula in your processing, state what its expected result should be.
· Explain in detail what the output is going to be. What will the reports contain? How will they be of use to the end user?
· Show how the input, processing, and output are related using a data flow diagram.
· Show what tables you are going to use and their attributes.
· Normalise your data.
· Draw an ER diagram [You will need link tables for many-to-many relationships. One to one relationships can be merged into one table.]
Effective designs have been completed which would enable a third party to implement the solution.
· You should produce designs (either in Word graphics or hand-drawn) that would enable somebody else to complete the solution using your design.
· You should show your tables with their attributes.
· You should demonstrate which attributes are the primary keys.
· You should show all the field formats, input masks, and validation rules.
· Show all your tables, input forms, buttons, menus, queries, etc.
An appropriate test strategy has been determined. An effective and full test plan has been devised. The testing plan includes test data, expected outcomes and relates directly to the requirements specification.
·
You need to state in
detail how you are going to test your solution.
·
You must make sure
you plan your tests in a logical
order and make sure that the reader can follow your test strategy.
·
Number your tests.
·
Your testing must
cover all the functionality of your
solution
·
You should use the
normal data expected in your solution.
·
You must also use
boundary (extreme) data and erroneous data. You should explain why you are going to use these.
·
You will need to
state the expected outcomes in terms of
what your end user wants your solution to do.
[For example one test could be that when you press the reminder letter
button, the mail merge letter comes out inviting the customer to a follow-up
appointment IF they haven’t been two months after their first appointment.]
·
You will need to
state the expected outcomes for erroneous and boundary data as well.
·
Your test plan should
be the one that you follow when you do your testing.
Implementation
(20 marks)
Your
account should not be a general account of how to use the software.
You MUST state how you used the software to implement your solution.
However make sure that what you include is relevant.
Do not put in, for example, Access table print-outs without explanation.
An effective solution has been developed that is operable in the proposed environment by the intended end-user.
·
You must show
screen-dumps of each stage of the development of the project.
Have a Word file open as you go along.
·
State what problems
you had and how you overcame the problems.
·
Your solution must
work.
·
Your solution must be
user-friendly. The end-user will
not know much about computers. They
just want to use your solution as a productivity tool.
Appropriate
data capture and validation procedures, data organisation methods, output
contents, formats, and user interfaces have been used.
·
Show how data is
input into the system.
·
Show what is done
with data inputs.
·
Show all the formulae
you used and how you set these up.
·
Show other data
organisation methods such as ordering data, making queries and reports.
·
Show your user
interfaces.
·
Show how you used
buttons and combo boxes in your interface.
·
Do print outs of your
reports as well as the screen dumps.
Generic
and package specific skills have been fully employed in an effective and
appropriate manner.
·
The idea is that you
should demonstrate your understanding of the software.
·
Show how you use
wizards.
·
Show how you use
advanced features.
·
Show how you set
criteria for queries and reports.
·
Show your macros, and
their code. You should explain what
the code means.
The selection of chosen hardware and software facilities has been fully justified in relation to the solution developed.
·
Discuss the
end-user’s system. Include what
input devices there are, and what output devices there are that are relevant to the requirements specification.
A keyboard will be relevant, a scanner possibly, but a flight yoke
probably not! Include the output
devices, such as the printer.
·
State why your
software choice is relevant to the
requirements specification.
·
You might want to put
this discussion at the start of your account of the implementation.
This
is a crucially important part of the project.
You must show how your testing ensures that your project actually works.
You must show evidence of everything you do.
The test
strategy and test plan previously
devised have now been followed in a systematic manner using normal, boundary,
and erroneous data.
·
You must follow your
plan.
·
You must show the
results of your tests as screen shots. If in doubt, include it.
The results of the testing are fully documented with outputs cross referenced to the original plan.
·
Show both
the erroneous data and the error
messages in your screen-dumps.
·
Make sure you cross-reference
the test to your plan.
·
State the outcome of
your test, showing evidence. A
statement such as OK without evidence to back it up will not gain credit.
·
If you are doing a
similar test on different tables, you can show a sample screen-dump and then
state which other tests gave that result.
·
If you have devised
further tests that you didn’t think of in your testing strategy, make sure you
state these. There is nothing wrong
at all in doing this.
Corrective
action taken due to test results is clearly documented.
·
There is nothing
wrong at all in having to take corrective action.
You are not expected to get it perfect first go.
·
If your test
doesn’t come out as expected, find out why and put it right.
·
State what went wrong
and what you did to correct it.
·
Show evidence for
this as a written statement and supporting screen-dump.
Evaluation
(6 marks)
The effectiveness of the solution in meeting the detailed requirements specification has been fully assessed, with the candidate showing full awareness of the criteria for a successful ICT solution. The limitations are clearly defined.
·
Does your solution to
the job that your end-user wanted?
·
Is it user-friendly
to someone who does not know how to use the software?
·
You need to cross
reference with your original requirements specification.
·
You need to state,
and show evidence for, how your solution is going to meet those requirements.
·
You need to say what
your solution is not intended to do. This
statement should be relevant to the end-user’s environment.
·
Remember you are
doing a single task; you are not expected to develop a whole system.
You will do that next year.
·
Avoid vague
“sunny-day” comments such as “I think the project went well”. Be
specific and show that you understand how your solution is effective.
User
Documentation (9 marks)
There is extensive user documentation for the solution that covers all relevant aspects, including normal operation and common problems. It is appropriate to the needs of the end user.
This
is a chance for you to explain your work in terms that a non-expert user can
understand and, more importantly, use your solution.
·
Go through things
logically
·
Assume the reader
knows nothing. If the reader has to
ask you a question, then you have not gone through it thoroughly enough.
·
Illustrate each step
with labeled diagrams and/or screen-dumps.
·
Explain what each
function does.
·
Explain what the
queries and reports do.
·
Discuss the
importance of good housekeeping, e.g. back-ups.
·
You must show how to
trouble-shoot for common problems, such as those you may have encountered
yourself.
Appendix
Include
in the appendix:
·
Transcripts of
interviews.
·
Questionnaires
·
Your project log.
Presentation: Module 3