Module:Software Engineering Principles
Module code:COMP2912/XJCO2912
Year:2019-2020
Assignment:Coursework 2: Proof of Architecture
Assignment weighting: 15%
Due:21th November 2019 – VLE submission
Brief
The assignment is to implement a proof of architecture for a software design brief which will establish the development platform, tools and technical feasibility of your chosen design.
Scenario
This scenario follows on from that in coursework 1. In coursework 1 students prepared a design brief for a mental health application and in this coursework the university has asked you to build a proof of architecture prototype to explore the technical feasibility of the design.
Your task is to confirm the software architecture for the design and the implement it using programme languages, development tools and technologies of your choice. You have been asked to build and demonstrate a “proof of architecture” prototype, this means that you should only implement the bare minimum of code necessary to prove that each component of the proposed software architecture will function as required. You will need to submit a technical description of your proof of architecture prototype together with a short description of the programming, testing, tools and technologies you have used along with an evaluation of success.
As a minimum your design should consist of a user interface that can be accessed on a smartphone (or other device) and some data stored on a central database (or other format) on a server (or any other separate compute). Note that the user interface component could be implemented as a smartphone app but does not have to be and Web pages, for example, are perfectly acceptable. The minimum evidence for the proof of architecture prototype should demonstrate that some text can be displayed and that at least one field can be created, read and updated using the user interface component and, if valid, stored on the central database. Stronger developers may choose to implement test scenarios for other components of their design and these may include support for multiple devices, security features, and test harnesses that simulate interfaces to other university systems.
You may choose to implement your design from coursework 1 but please note this is NOT a requirement, you may implement a colleague’s design or a fresh design if you prefer. You will not get feedback from coursework 1 before you need to start building your software for coursework 2. You may work with other students to discuss the range of issues and options but you must submit an individual piece of work. Each assignment must be submitted in the VLE and is automatically checked by Turnitin for plagiarism against current students, previous students and other universities as well as against online sources.
Your task
STEP 1
Review your software design brief or that of a colleague or two if you prefer. In particular study the implementation diagram in your design brief and consider the implementation you proposed. Reflect on the choice of architecture and decide which technologies you know well enough to be able to use for this assignment. You will need to find a way to deploy your system such that you can test it for real.Feel free to revise your choice and redesign your architecture to make sure that you have a design that you can build and test. Decide what languages, data storage, devices, tools etc. you will use for software development, version control, testing etc.
STEP 2
Build a minimum viable proof of architecture that demonstrates you chosen design working for real. You should follow good programming and database practice and use professional development tools, clear comments and effective unit testing but you do not need to write more than a few dozen lines of code for each component as you are simply trying to demonstrate that it is technically feasible to build your design (you should not get carried away actually building it).
STEP 3
Test your proof of architecture. As a minimum perform the following test a) launch the application and check the displayed text is correct; b) add some data; c) if the data is valid store it on the database; d) turn off the application device and re-launch the application; e) check the added data is correct and change it to a different value; f) check that the changes are stored correctly.
STEP 4
Evidence and Evaluate. Submit the following as a Word or PDF document via Turnitin.
WHAT TO SUBMIT
Overview of Technical Design (4 marks)
An implementation diagram (deployment and component combined) to show the hardware and network infrastructure for the design together with the software components that will be required (this may be as per coursework 1 or a revised version, or a colleagues (please state their full name). Describe what will be used to do the real life testing of the design. Provide a short summary of exactly which programming languages, libraries, frameworks, databases testing and development tools and other technologies that you have used (include version numbers etc).
Evidence of development (6 marks)
For each development tool (editor, IDE, version control, testing tools, RDBMS etc). that you have used provide a screenshot of the tool with some example code. Write a few sentences explaining each screenshot and what it shows including any examples of good practice.
Evidence of deployment (4 marks)
Provide a series of photographs or screen shots that evidence the tests in STEP 3 above. [Note that if anything fails you can still evidence the errors and get full marks for this section.]
Evaluation of design (6 marks, max 300 words)
Write up a summary of your proof of architecture that describes the work you have done to test the technical feasibility of the design. Describe the challenges you have faced and how you overcame them (or didn’t). Perform a brief review of the non-functional requirements of you design (considering usability, security and performance). What challenges will there be in scaling up this design to run across the whole University? What are the limitations of your proposed solution and what outstanding issues have not been addressed?
Assessment Criteria
Your assignment should demonstrate that you can:
Apply a range of tools and approaches from the module to design a system.
Structure a report based on your design.
Demonstrate an ability to work as a software engineer.
Your report should:
Be logically structured
Use good English
Use clear images and neat diagrams where appropriate
Use correct spelling and punctuation.
Word Count: There is no word limit but there is a 4 page limit. Font size for the report should not be smaller than Arial 11 but may be smaller in tables or diagrams provided these are still clear and legible. Hand drawn diagrams and prototypes are perfectly acceptable.
COMP2912 – Coursework 2
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