The Open University of Tanzania (OUT)

FINAL YEAR PROJECT

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 INTRODUCTION
• A Project is a temporary attempt undertaken to create
a unique product, service or result. ALL Projects have
three ingredients:
– Specific Outcomes: Ex: Product such as car.
– Definite Start and End Dates (Schedule): Dates
when project work begins and when it ends.
– Resources: Required amount of people, funds,
equipments, facilities and information.

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 INTRODUCTION
• The purpose of the FYP is to provide students
with the opportunity to showcase the abilities
and talents they have acquired during their
studies
• It gives students a chance to demonstrate all
they have learned.

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 IMPORTANT ISSUES
The FYP is a year-long project that evolves through
following phases:
the Preparation
the Proposal writing
the project execution
the Progress Report
the Final Report and presentation

it is important to realize that each is derived from the

phase before it.

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 PREPARATION
This section outlines the kinds of material you need to
collect before you can begin writing in earnest.
1.Choosing Your Project Title
2.references such as papers, books, websites with full
bibliography details;
3.lessons learned, for inclusion in the “reflective” part of your
report;
4.notes from meetings or interviews with
• your supervisor;
• potential end-users and other stakeholders;
• technical experts;
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 Choosing Your Project Title
It is essential that you pick a project which you
like and which you are capable of doing.
Steps to follow
•Make a short-list of three projects.
•Go and talk to the supervisor
•Submit a project title selected to the project
coordinator

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 PROPOSAL
• A project proposal is basically a document
that describes the project in detail, as well as
the strategy and tactics you plan to use to
achieve its completion.
• There are several formats to follow in order
to develop a good project proposal.
• The nature of the project proposal is
basically the area where the project belongs
to.
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 Proposal
• Structure
– Title Page
– Table of Contents
– Introduction
– Background
– Problem Statement
– Methodology
– Project Planning
– Hardware and Software Requirements
– References

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 PROPOSAL CONTENTS
• Project title: The title should be a stand-alone
statement that can fully describe the project
by summarizing the main idea of the project.
The title is supremely important. A successful
title will attract readers while an unsuccessful
one will discourage readers.

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 Table of Contents
• A table of contents should list each of the
main sections of the proposal, and the
beginning page numbers for each section.
• As shown at the next slide

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 Introduction
• A good introduction should tell the reader what the project
is about without assuming special knowledge and without
introducing any specific material that might obscure the
overview. it should include such things as:
• the aim(s) or goal(s) of the project;
• the intended audience or “beneficiaries” of the work done;
• the scope of the project;
• the approach to be used in carrying out the project
• assumptions on which the work is based; and
• a broad summary of important outcomes.

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 Background
• It should explain why the project is addressing
the problem described , indicate an awareness of
other work relevant to this problem and show
clearly that the problem has not been solved by
anyone else

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 Background Cont……….
This section may describe such things as:
• the wider context of the project;
• the problem that has been identified;
• likely stakeholders within the problem area;
• any theory associated with the problem area;
• any constraints on the approach to be adopted;
• existing solutions relevant to the problem area,
and why these are unsuitable or insufficient in
this particular case;
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 Statement of the Problem
• A problem statement is a brief piece of writing
that usually comes at the beginning of a report or
proposal to explain the problem or issue the
document is addressing to the reader. In general,
a problem statement will outline the basic facts
of the problem, explain why the problem
matters, and pinpoint a solution as quickly and
directly as possible.

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 Defining Project Goals and
Objectives
• Goal: A goal is much broader than objectives
and activities. Keep the following in mind
when defining your goals:
• A goal should be
...the big picture of what you want the final
outcome to be.
...related to the project need statement.

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 Objectives
An objective is a performance measure that
would lead to achieving the goal. An objective
should be SMART: Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
. A goal may have a few or several objectives.
Keep in mind the following when developing
objectives:
Who/What?
Expected outcomes (results of activities)
Measures
Criteria for achieving the expected outcomes
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 Objectives
Project Objectives should be:
SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant
and Time-bound.
Project objectives are the specific objectives for
which the project works to achieve them within a
stipulated time.
Objectives should have measurable indicators
which show what, when, and how conditions,
behaviors, and practices will change

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 Objectives
Some Relevant Words to be used while writing Objectives
• Decrease…
• Increase…
• Strengthen…
• Improve…
• Enhance…
• Some Inappropriate words not to be used while writing
Objectives
• Train
• Provide
• Produce
• Establish
• Create
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 Project Beneficiaries
• State who will be benefited (and how) from
output of your project

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 Project Methodology
• A Methodology tells you what you have to do, to
manage your projects from start to finish. It describes
every step in the project life cycle in depth, so you
know exactly which tasks to complete, when and how.
Whether you're an expert or a novice, it helps you
complete tasks faster than before.
• A Methodology is a body of practices, procedures,
methods and phases used by those who work in a
discipline. A methodology for a project is about
managing the project activities.

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 Project Methodology
• Is there a difference between the term SDLC and the
term ‘methodology’?
• Whereas the SDLC refers to a stage all systems naturally
undergo, a methodology refers to an approach invented
by humans to manage the events naturally occurring in
the SDLC.
• A methodology is, in simple terms, a set of steps,
guidelines, activities and/or principles to follow in a
particular situation.
• In ICT/IT or Computer Science, Methodology depend on
category of Project and particular area of study.
Example Methodology for Networking Project will be
different from System Development Project.

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METHODOLOGIES FOR SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
PROJECT

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Systems Development Methodology
• A standard process followed in an organization
to conduct all the steps necessary to analyze,
design, implement, and maintain information
systems
• Two categories:
– Systems Development Life Cycle - SDLC
– Alternative methodologies

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Systems Development Life Cycle

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 Systems Development Life Cycle
Phase 1: System Planning and Selection
1.1. Study/Analyze the need for a new or enhanced IS
The need may result from …
• Requests to deal with problems in current system
• Desire to perform additional tasks
• Desire to use IS to capitalize on existing opportunity
1.2. Investigate and propose a baseline plan
• Estimate project’s scope
• Estimate time and resources needed
• Estimate cost and benefits
• Submit baseline plan (which is the output of the System Planning
& Selection phase) for management’s approval

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 Systems Development Life Cycle
Phase 2: Systems Analysis
Phase consists in …
• Determining what users are doing in the current system
• Determining what users want from the proposed system
• Generating alternative initial solutions
• Comparing alternative solutions to choose the one that best fit
requirements
Phase 3: Systems Design
Phase consists in converting recommended alternative
solution into logical and physical specifications
• Logical design: design of the system independent of any computer
platform (i.e. any hardware or systems software)
• Physical design: technical specifications including diagrams, inputs,
processing, reports, programming languages to use, DBMS to use, etc.
• Logical and physical designs are turned over to programmers and other
system builders.

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 Systems Development Life Cycle
Phase 4: Systems Implementation and Operation
Phase consists in turning logical and physical designs into
working system. It includes …
• Coding (i.e. programming)
• Testing
• Documentation
• Hardware and software installation
• User training

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Systems Development Life Cycle
• Series of steps to manage
development/maintenance
of a system
• Phases are not necessarily
sequential.
• Each phase has a specific
outcome and deliverable.
• Individual companies use
customized life cycle.

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 Alternative Approaches
• Prototyping
– Building a scaled-down working version of the system
– Advantages:
• Users are involved in design
• Captures requirements in concrete form
• Rapid Application Development (RAD)
– Utilizes prototyping to delay producing system design until
after user requirements are clear

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Prototyping
Fig. 1-6

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 Alternative Approaches
• Joint Application Design (JAD)
– Users, Managers and Analysts work together for
several days
– System requirements are reviewed
– Structured meetings

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 Alternative Approaches
• Evolutionary or spiral methodology
The *** never gets done! Different versions, always in
different stages.

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METHODOLOGIES FOR NETWORK DESIGN AND
IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT

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 Traditional Network Design Methodology

• Many network design tools and methodologies that have

been used resemble the “connect-the-dots” game

• These tools let you place internetworking devices on a palette

and connect them with LAN or WAN media

• Problem with this methodology:

– It skips the steps of analyzing a customer's requirements, and
selecting devices and media based on those requirements

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 Top-Down Network Design Methodology

• Good network design

– Recognizes that a customer’s requirements embody many
business and technical goals
– May specify a required level of network performance, i.e.,
service level
– Includes difficult network design choices and tradeoffs that
must be made when designing the logical network before any
physical devices or media are selected
• When a customer expects a quick response to a network
design request
– A bottom-up (connect-the-dots) network design methodology
can be used, if the customer’s applications and goals are well
known

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 Top-Down Network Design Methodology

• Network designers often think they understand a customer’s

applications and requirements.
• However, after the network installation, they may discover
that:
– They did not capture the customer's most important needs
– Unexpected scalability and performance problems appear as the
number of network users increases

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 Top-Down Network Design Process

• Begins at the upper layers of the OSI reference model before

moving to the lower layers
– Focuses on applications, sessions, and data transport before the
selection of routers, switches, and media that operate at the
lower layers
• Explores divisional structures to find the people:
– For whom the network will provide services, and
– From whom to get valuable information to make the design
succeed

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 Top-Down Network Design Process

• It is an iterative process:
– It is important to first get an overall view of a customer's
requirements
– More detail can be gathered later on protocol behavior,
scalability requirements, technology preferences, etc.
• Recognizes that the logical model and the physical design may
change as more information is gathered
• A top-down approach lets a network designer get “the big
picture” first and then spiral downward into detailed technical
requirements and specifications

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Network Development Life Cycle
Analysis

Management Design

Simulation/
Prototyping
Monitoring

Implementation

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Network Design and Implementation Cycle

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 Network Design and Implementation Cycle

• Analyze requirements:
– Interviews with users and technical personnel
– Understand business and technical goals for a new
or enhanced system
– Characterize the existing network: logical and
physical topology, and network performance
– Analyze current and future network traffic,
including traffic flow and load, protocol behavior,
and QoS requirements

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 Network Design and Implementation Cycle

• Develop the logical design:

– Deals with a logical topology for the new or
enhanced network
– Network layer addressing and naming
– Switching and routing protocols
– Security planning
– Network management design
– Initial investigation into which service providers
can meet WAN and remote access requirements

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 Network Design and Implementation Cycle

• Develop the physical design:

– Specific technologies and products to realize the logical design
are selected
– The investigation into service providers must be completed
during this phase

• Test, optimize, and document the design:

– Write and implement a test plan
– Build a prototype or pilot
– Optimize the network design
– Document your work with a network design proposal

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PDIOO Network Life Cycle Methodology
(Cisco)

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PDIOO Network Life Cycle Methodology
(Cisco)
• Plan:
– Network requirements are identified in this phase
– Analysis of areas where the network will be installed
– Identification of users who will require network services
• Design:
– Accomplish the logical and physical design, according to
requirements gathered during the Plan phase
• Implement:
– Network is built according to the Design specifications
– Implementation also serves to verify the design

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 PDIOO Network Life Cycle
(Cisco)
• Operate:
– Operation is the final test of the effectiveness of the design
– The network is monitored during this phase for performance
problems and any faults, to provide input into the Optimize phase
• Optimize:
– Based on proactive network management which identifies and
resolves problems before network disruptions arise
– The optimize phase may lead to a network redesign
• if too many problems arise due to design errors, or
• as network performance degrades over time as actual use and
capabilities diverge
– Redesign may also be required when requirements change
significantly
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 PDIOO Network Life Cycle
(Cisco)

• Retire:
– When the network, or a part of the network, is out-of-date, it may
be taken out of production
– Although Retire is not incorporated into the name of the life cycle
(PDIOO), it is nonetheless an important phase

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 Types of Network Design
• New network design

• Re-engineering a network design

• Network expansion design

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 New Network Design
• Actually starting from scratch

• No legacy networks to accommodate

• Major driver is the budget, no compatibility

issues to worry about

• Getting harder to find these situations

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 Re-engineering a Network Design

• Modifications to an existing network to

compensate for original design problems

• Sometimes required when network users

change existing applications or functionality

• More of the type of problems seen today

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 Network Expansion Design
• Network designs that expand network
capacity

• Technology upgrades

• Adding more users or networked equipment

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 Project Scope
• Project scope is the boundary of the project.
Think of the “project scope” as an imaginary box
you are describing that will enclose all the
activities for the team’s activities. It not only
defines what you are doing, but it sets the
boundaries on what the team will not be doing.
Scope answers what’s inside the box? What’s
outside the box? What is the project going to look
like? How much is your project going to contain?

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 Project Planning
• All projects require planning
including an outline of who in the
team is doing what and when; thus,
you will need to include a Gantt
chart.

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 Citations and References
• Throughout the paper, you must provide citations
whenever you paraphrase and/or summarize someone
else's ideas and when you use a direct quote. The
citation style depend on the requirement of your
institution.

• Providing no citations equals plagiarism-the academic

equivalent to robbery. Examples of what constitutes
plagiarism.

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 Citations
• Under the Harvard System, references are made by giving the
author's surname together with the year of publication. In the
text, the year of publication appears within parentheses after
the author's surname if the latter forms part of a sentence; for
examples, Ch'ng (1986) or Saleh and Zainuddin (1987) or,
where there are more than two authors, Nagendran et.al
(1990).

• In contrast, both the author's surname and the year of

publication appear within parentheses if the author's surname
does not form aprt of a sentence; for example: (Omar & Tan,
1989).

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 References
• At the end of the document, all the references cited are listed in
alphabetical order.

• There is no necessity to number the references. References to

periodicals should be listed as follows:
• authors' surnames and initials (instead of first author et.al), year of
publication in parentheses, exact title of paper, contracted title of
periodical in italics (or underlined), volume number in Arabic
figures double underline (or in bold print), initial and final page
numbers of article. For example:

• Kalotas, T.M. & Lee, A.R. (1990). A simple device to illustrate

angular momentum conservation and instability. Am. J. Phys.
58(1), 80-81.

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 PROGRESS REPORT
• The Progress Report evolves from the Proposal --
it should not be a completely new document.
• A progress report is simply what the name
implies - a report, usually brief, explaining the
progress you've made on a given project.

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 FYP REPORT
• Once you have gathered and organized enough
material you can turn it into written prose. To
write effectively requires sustained
concentration over long periods of time.
• There are rules you can follow which may make
the task easier and which will certainly improve
the quality of your writing.

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 FYP Report
• We recommend that you start with the
middle sections, then write the
Introduction (guiding the reader to what
they will find in the report), then the
Conclusions (bringing the report together
at the end) and Reflection, and finally the
Abstract (summing up the entire report).

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 FYP Report
Recommendation:
• Write as you go along, rather than leaving all the writing
until last (writing takes longer than you think, and is best
done when the ideas remain fresh in your mind);
• Leave time for someone you trust to proof-read your
work, and for you to correct errors (it is not your
supervisor’s responsibility to correct your written
English);
• Read your work out loud to yourself.

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 FYP Report
• In fact, the proposal is identical to more
than ¾ of the final report except that it's
written in future tense. In the proposal,
you might say something like "the system
will secure the data to ...", while in the final
report, it would be changed to "the system
secured the data to ...". Once again, with
the exception of tense.

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 THE END
Thank You
For Your
Attention
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