MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

Transcription

1 MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT.../.../2011 Preamble Students are expected to produce a fully functional Dissertation projects that have an accompanying documentation that clearly outlines the architecture of the product i.e. if software system is developed, it should have an accompanying system manual, user specification and a comprehensive help system as your dissertation. Dissertation Options The proposed undergraduate Second year Dissertation projects are as follows, Please note that the list is just a guide not a comprehensive list! It s open for additional dissertation topics, which are subject to approval by the department. 1. HelpDesk System: The Help Desk is not a island. It must fit comfortably within the organization and should ideally comply with the requirements of ISO and ITIL. System should have the essential core elements are the recording and tracking of support requests. Service Level management is often crucial to the helpdesk process as a measure of its success.this is usually an automated benefit of the helpdesk application 2. Student Records Management System: a) Web based Exam timetabling and results handling component which correlates with student database b) Student Selection component; with the ability to cater for a University set up with many departments! 3. Telephone Management System: A telephone management system which manages all outgoing and incoming calls in an organisation. 4. Portfolio Management System: A portfolio management accounting and trading system offering a true multicurrency system. Includes daily performance measurement. It should cater for the management of derivative and fixed income portfolios

2 Dissertation Style There are two ways that you can use to present your sub headings 1) Bold ONLY 2) Underline ONLY A graduate is supposed to choose ONE way of presenting sub headings. The style must be consistent throughout the dissertation document. Each Main heading MUST start on a fresh page and must be BOLD MAIN Headings should be of font size 14 and Sub headings of font size 12. E.g Chapter 4 : Design Phase (14) Introduction (12). The font style used in the document must be consistent and a graduate must select a font style of choice. Each and every table, diagram, graph, chart etc MUST be numbered and Labelled. The numbering must depend with the Chapter in which the item is in Eg diagram in Chapter 1 can be numbered as Figure 1.1: Organogram. Note that the First 1 denotes the chapter in which the diagram falls under and the Last 1 tells us about the position of the diagram in the chapter, so literally Figure 1.1 means the figure is in Chapter 1 and its diagram number 1. This means that the next diagram must have a.2 suffix, thus Figure 1.2, and the labelling of course is the description of the diagram in question. Note that * Each and every heading, sub heading must be numbered. Referencing As an undergraduate, it is important that you identify in your dissertation document when you are using the words or ideas of another author. The most accepted way of acknowledging the work of another author is to use a referencing system. In the Department Computer Science and Information Systems at Midlands State University you are required to use the Harvard referencing system. As a part of an academic community, it is important that you show the reader where you have used someone else s ideas or words. Failure to properly reference using the Harvard system may make the reader think that you are cheating by claiming someone else s work as your own. In the academic environment, we call this plagiarism and it is seen as a very serious offence. Please remember that plagiarism is not just when you directly copy words from another student s or expert s work. Plagiarism also occurs when you re-word someone else s ideas in your own work and you do not give credit to the original source. Referencing is important for reasons other than avoiding plagiarism. When you reference correctly you are demonstrating that you have read widely on a topic. You are also supporting your hypothesis with comments from expert authors. This lends credibility to your own work. Also, by correctly referencing, you allow the marker or reader to followup your references and to check the validity of your arguments for themselves. This is an important part of the academic process as it leads to student accountability.

3 Supervision Students must ensure that upon the approval of their proposals are allocated supervisors. Candidates are encouraged to work with their supervisors and meet the suggested deadlines. No student is expected to proceed to the next chapter of their dissertation without the approval of the preceding chapter by the supervisor. After every chapter the supervisor and the student are required to sign a supervision form, as a way to authenticate the completion of a chapter. Candidates will only be allowed to defend their projects after their supervisor has signed the dissertation document. Dissertation Documents Format All dissertation documents for final year undergraduates must have the same format agreed upon by the department. The following is a recommended format Cover Page Acknowledgements Dedication Table of contents List of Acronyms List of Tables List of Figures List of Appendices i ii iii iv v vi vii.etc NB. Each of the topics above must have a different page and must be paginated using Roman Numerals except for the COVER PAGE Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction (introduce your topic) 1.2 Background Background of Organisation Organisational Structure Vision Mission Statement) 1.3 Problem definition 1.4 Aim 1.5 Objectives (* Note that objectives must be S.M.A.R.T) 1.6 Hypothesis 1.7 Justification 1.8 Conclusion Chapter 2: Planning phase 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Why build the system 2.3 Identify business value 2.4 Analyze feasibility 2.4.1Technical Economic

4 2.4.3 Social Operational Feasibility 2.5 Develop work plan 2.6 Conclusion Chapter 3: Analysis phase 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Information gathering methodologies 3.3 Analysis of existing system - Description of current system 3.4 Data Analysis - Context Diagram and DFD 3.5 Weaknesses of current system 3.6 Evaluate Alternatives (Refer to Feasibility Analysis) - Outsource (outline reasons why not) - Improvement (outline reasons why not) - Development (Why, justify in terms of costs from others) 3.7 Requirements Analysis - Functional Requirements - Non-functional requirements (outline constraints) 3.8 Conclusion Chapter 4: Design phase 4.1 Introduction 4.2 System Design (How will the system work?) Context Diagram and DFD of the proposed System 4.3 Architectural design**** 4.4 Physical design **** - How software and hardware interact 4.5 Database design (ER diagram or Tables) 4.6 Interface design 4.7 Conclusion Chapter 5: Implementation phase 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Coding (Pseudo Code) 5.3 Testing 5.4 Installation 5.5 Maintenance 5.6 Conclusion Bibliography (Harvard Referencing Style and arrange in alphabetic order) Eg Surname, Initial. (Year of publication), Title of Book or Journal, publishing hall, country of publication

5 Note that if you are referencing a site you need to state exactly the document accessed and the date you accessed the document Eg Accessed 20/08/2011. Wikipedia is not an academic website so don t include information from that site, educational sites have an extension.edu, ac, etc eg Appendices Appendix A : User manual Evidence of research Appendix B : interview checklist Appendix C : Questionnaire checklist Appendix D : observation score sheet Appendix E : etc. Appendix F : Snippet of Code Final Stage Documentation Binding Oral presentation (30%) Final Document (70%)