Guidance on the Coursework

8/12/2019 Guidance on the Coursework

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Guidance on the coursework (Paper 2) 1Cambridge IGCSE Computer Studies Cambridge University Press 2011

Guidance on thecoursework (Paper 2)

Getting startedIntroduction

Te coursework project is designed to allow you to demonstrate that you have the techniques and

skills to solve a computing problem. In particular, it will be used to assess the three skills:

knowledge and understanding problem-solving and realisation communication.You must undertake and document a project, which involves using a computer to solve a signicant

inormation processing problem o your choice. I you write a thorough report on your work, it islikely to be one o the longest pieces o documentation you have ever produced, although its quality

is as important as its size. It will be an achievement o which you can justly be proud.

It will help to have a copy o the relevant parts o the syllabus, especially the assessment criteria.

I your teacher has not already provided you with a copy, you can nd the syllabus or the year

in which you will submit your coursework by ollowing the instructions at the beginning o the

document Learning and revision guide on this Students CD-ROM. Te Assessment criteria or

coursework occupy several pages towards the end o the syllabus.

You will need to demonstrate that you can perorm a number o tasks, including:

dening your problem clearly, including a clear description o the business or organisation choosing an appropriate method o solution, including:

breaking it down into sub-problems writing and drawing detailed designs or input, processing, storage and output choosing suitable hardware choosing whether sofware should be a customised off-the-shel item or purpose-built

building, describing and testing your solution writing appropriate documentation or the user (user guide), including

general inormation about the problem and solution how to use the new system

writing appropriate technical documentation, including technical explanation and justication o the design inormation to allow maintenance and development o the system

evaluating your solution and suggesting improvements.

Your teacher will award marks or your written work, with the ollowing maximum marks:

Analysis 11 marks

Design 14 marks

Implementation (Building) 8 marks

esting 7 marks

Documentation 5 marks

Evaluation 5 marks

otal 50 marks


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Notice that 25 out o 50 (that is 50%) o the marks are available or Analysis and Design beore

you even build the solution; this emphasises the importance o these sections and the level o

detail required. Perection is notrequired in the Implementation section to score high marks; you

simply need thorough written work and suffi cient testable input, processing, storage and output.

A ew o the trickier parts not working perectly may only cause you to lose 1 mark!

Selecting the problemTink o the inormation processing problem that you choose as a challenge. It will involve nding

a solution to the requirements o a business, organisation or an individual. It has to be suffi ciently

complex that you can write a detailed report but not so complicated that you cannot solve it.

I your problem can be solved in a single step, it is probably not complicated enough.

o get maximum marks, the syllabus requires you to tackle a problem o a complex nature. Tis

means that you should:

use some o the more advanced acilities o a single application package, or use two generic application packages such as a word processing application to produce a mail

merge using a data source managed by a database management application, or write a program or the purpose, using modules and le handling.

You can choose to solve your problem by using an existing sofware applications package or by

writing your own program. I you choose to use existing sofware applications, you need to have

good knowledge o how they work and how they can be used. I you choose to write your own

program, you need some knowledge and experience o a computer programming language.

You might nd it daunting to seek out your own suitable problem to solve. I you have a strong

hobby or business interest, it may pose a suitable challenge. I not, try not to invent an imaginary

user because this might not lead to a challenging problem. Instead, try talking to someone you

know well who is, perhaps, older than you, with experience o good ways o dealing with everyday

business, domestic or social record-keeping or accounting transactions. Such a person might be

able to provide you with a realistic problem.

For example, talk to a parent, teacher or riend about their real or simulated needs:

in the workplace, which could relate to the business or even subscriptions to a workersnight out

at home, or example keeping track o household income and expenditure managing aspects o a club such as participation or subscriptions managing a private hobby activity, which could be anything rom cataloguing a collection o

everyday objects, such as seashells, plants, eathers, postage stamps, beer mats or CDs to an

inventory o the contents o a valuable collection or insurance purposes.

Te problem can involve a manual, paper-based system that would benet rom computerisation,

or a limited computerised system that needs improvement or extension. Remember that a system

that is disorganised and runs on notes jotted on scraps o paper is still a sort o solution or

someones problem. It has problems associated with it that you will be able to describe.

Your teacher might ask you to submit a written proposal or your project or even a brie easibility

study, in which you explain how well your skills and the available resources match the demands o

your proposed problem and are likely to produce a good solution. Your teacher will be able to offeryou guidance, as they know your strengths and weaknesses.


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Most problems use the keyboard as the primary input device. However, as a possible enhancement

to the solution you might wish to suggest using an alternative input method such as a document

reader. As you probably do not have one available, you could state that you will simulate one with a

scanner and optical character recognition (OCR) sofware. Alternatively, you might consider using

a touchscreen. Again, you could state that you will simulate one with a normal mouse and display

screen. You would simply design suitable menus, using command buttons or drawing objects to

which you can assign macros or hyperlinks, and each click with a mouse would simulate a touchwith a nger.

Software

You also need to be sure what sofware is available. Lots o open source sofware is available, but

you may need to negotiate with a technician or them to install it! You also need to use sofware

with which you eel reasonably competent and condent. I you are not already experienced with

certain sofware, how much time can you devote to learning to use it in the timescale available?

Te rst choice is between customising a generic application program (with recorded macros or

written program code) and writing your own bespoke program in a programming language. Withgeneric sofware, the next choice may be between applications such as a spreadsheet program (such

as OpenOffi ce Calc), or a database management program (such as OpenOffi ce Base) or managing

a database. As you may be aware, a spreadsheet program is not designed to manage a relational

database, although one o its lookup unctions can be used to retrieve data rom a table. While a

relational database management program is specically designed to handle relationships between

data tables, you may have ound it more complex to learn.

Opportunities or creating macros in commonly used generic application programs vary, but the

ollowing table gives you a guide:

Application Recording Writing

Microsof Offi ce Word In VBA In VBA

Microsof Offi ce Excel In VBA In VBA

Microsof Offi ce Access In Access action language or VBA

OpenOffi ce Writer In Dispatch API language In OpenOffi ce Basic, Python,

BeanShell or JavaScript

OpenOffi ce Calc In Dispatch API language In OpenOffi ce Basic, Python,

BeanShell or JavaScript

OpenOffi ce Base In OpenOffi ce Basic, Python,BeanShell or JavaScript

Adobe Dreamweaver As a command In JavaScript

With programming, you may be able to create your own user interace (or ront end) or a

database and choose between manipulating it with a database engine and handling your own les.

You may even be able to choose between different programming languages that you have learned.

I in doubt, ask your teacher or advice.

Not all o your system has to be completely computerised and there is no reason why you cannot

use one program or database management and a second program or a mail merge that importsdata created by the rst.


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System life cycle

You have previously studied the theory o the system lie cycle. It is now necessary to use that

theory and put it into practice. Te essential stages in the system lie cycle are represented in the

ollowing diagram.

analysis

design

buildingand testing

changeover

evaluationand maintenance

Solving the problem that you choose or your project will involve working through similar stages,

like a systems analyst. However, you need to be aware that in this coursework, Implementation is

used to mean the building stage, notthe changeover stage.

In your Analysis stage, you will use act-nding techniques to collect inormation rom your client.

Tis will be used to describe the problem, the current solution, the objectives o a new solution and

one or more possible new solutions.

In your Design stage, you will write a project plan, ideally with a Gantt or similar chart. You will

write detailed descriptions o your proposed solution, including a system owchart. You will also

justiy your choices o hardware and sofware.

In your Building stage, you will build your solution rom your Design and write echnical

Documentation or it. You will write a detailed description o the solution, including input

requirements, processing, storage, data structures, hardware and sofware requirements, together

with any backup, security and data recovery procedures. Tis should be a suffi ciently clear and

complete set o documentation o what you build that it would enable uture maintenance or

modication.

In your esting stage, you will write a test strategy. Tis will include a test plan containing test data

and expected results o tests o validation checks, and processing and printing. Tis section should

correspond with all the objectives you set out in the Analysis stage. You will also show evidence o

test results, ideally including those or all three types o test data or validation checks.

You will produce a clear and complete user guide in less technical language than your echnical

Documentation.

In the Evaluation and Development stage, you will write an evaluation o how effectively your

solution achieves all the objectives in your Analysis and some suggestions or possible uture

development.


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The write-up

You have seen that your project will involve working through certain stages o the system

lie cycle, like a systems analyst. You should write up your project as i you were a systems

analyst documenting the job or your client. Te material needs to be clear and presented in

a logical order.

When you write up your project report (or write-up), a good way to organise your work andreduce the risk o leaving something out is to use the ollowing suggested minimumset o headings

and subheadings. You might need to add many more levels o subheading:

Contents

Analysis

Description o the problem

Objectives

Description o existing solution

Evaluation o existing solution

Description o possible solutionsDesign

Action plan

System owchart

Method o solution (designed)

Hardware requirements

Sofware requirements

echnical documentation

esting

est strategy

est results

User guide

Evaluation and development

Evaluation

Future development

I you are word processing your project report, which is strongly recommended, you should

consider the ollowing advice:

Create a older or your coursework Create a single, suitably named, word-processed document in your older with:

a ooter containing:

your name, centre number and candidate number automatic page number orce suffi cient page breaks (usually Ctrl+Enter) to create

enough numbered blank pages or substituting hand-drawn design pages later, but

original documents should go in an appendix

a title a title and your name as a cover sheet, ollowed by a page break allthe headings and subheadings suggested above doing this at the outset is a minor chore,

but helps to establish an ordered structure into which you can write and is likely to stop

you getting lost in the report and save you time in the long run. Ideally, you should apply

suitably modied styles, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc., to all your headings and any

subheadings you add (exceptthe Contents heading) to ensure uniormity o ormatting oreach level o heading and subheading.


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Create backup copies o your coursework everyday. Not only does this help you to developgood habits but, in view o your great investment o time and energy, it may also preserve your

sanity in case o data loss. Tere ofen is no Recycle Bin (or rash) or your user area on a

network and the schools le servers and backup system could malunction! I you rely entirely

on a USB ash drive, what would you do i it were to become damaged or lost?

Ideally, to remain re-proo , you should maintain up to threeup-to-date backup copies, one

at school, one in transit and one on any computer you use at home. For the transit medium,you have three alternatives:

USB ash drive email you may need to convert your older o work to ZIP ormat to keep within the

maximum attachment size

SkyDrive(http://skydrive.live.com) or similar ree online storage. Glue together the components o drawings and screenshots with any annotation callouts, so

that they each behave as a block o text, rather than as oating graphics, using a blank drawing

object (OpenOffi ce Writer) or a drawing canvas (Microsof Word).

Make sure that you know how to insert pairs o section breaks to the next page within your

document, between which you can change the orientation rom portrait to landscape or widecommented code, tables or diagrams.

General things to note

You wont be awarded marks or ancy ormatting but using different styles or different levels o

heading, using bulleted lists and other ormatting can help to harmonise the appearance o the

document, and make it easier to navigate.

One mark is available or creating a table o contents or your project report. Provided that you

have applied the styles Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc., it is simple to create the table o

contents automatically under the Contents heading and to update it i headings or pagination

change. You should include at least two levels o headings in the table o contents. A table o

contents helps the reader navigate and understand the report. I you leave creating the table o

contents until just beore you print your report, there is no risk that you will ail to update it.

However, i you useMicrosof Word, create your table o contents early on and update it requently.

You can also use the hyperlinks in its page numbers to navigate electronically round your report

while you are still writing it!

Unlike Papers 1 and 3, the number o marks awarded or each section does notindicate the

number o points you need to make. As you have an extended period o time to complete this

assessment, you are expected to put in a lot more detail or your marks.

In the rest o this guidance document, we will work through each o the main sections o the

coursework project, offering advice on how to approach them. As this is coursework, it is not

possible to present you with exemplar answers because everyones writing style and approach is

different. Instead we offer you some guidance and some example material to demonstrate some o

the points being made.

Please note that the ollowing material is original and is not advice provided by University o

Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.


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Coursework guidanceAnalysis

Tis division o the assessment criteria has ve sections in which you can earn up to a total

o 11 marks:

1 Description of the problem [2]

2 Objectives [3]

3 Description of the existing solution [2]

4 Evaluation of existing solution [2]

5 Description of possible solutions [2]

Te section numbers correspond to those o the similarly named sections in the assessment

criteria. Te maximum number o marks that it is possible to score or each section is indicated inbrackets [ ].

1 Description of the problem

Te heading Description o the problem can be somewhat misleading because in order to get ull

marks (2 marks) you have to describe the background o the business or organisation, as well asa

description o the problem. It is a common error to orget to describe both. You need to describe

the nature o the business/organisation in order to put the problem into context. Te reader needs

to understand the problem ully beore they can assess i you have provided the correct solution.

As each candidate chooses the particular problem they wish to solve, it is essential that you explain

the problem as clearly as possible because the reader will not be amiliar with it already. Set out

all the details as thoroughly as you can. Do not rely on the reader making the same assumptions

that you have. Write the material so that it can be understood by a third party and not just by your

teacher or client.

Here are a list o the key points you should include in this section:

Description of the business/organisation:

the nameof the business/organisation the purpose/typeof business/organisation, e.g. a shop, a library, a school, a charity

what the business/organisation does,e.g. sells clothes, loans out books, und raising where it is based, e.g. name o a large city, small village, tourist town the number of employees,e.g. 2 ull-time shop assistants, 3 ull-time librarians and 1 part-

time bookcase sorter, 30 volunteers with money buckets

the set up of the business/organisation,e.g. the clothes stop has 10 copies o each clothingitem on the shop oor and up to 20 more in the stock room with anything else available rom

the catalogue in 5 days

the number of customers/usersthere are each day/week/month/year (as appropriate).

Description of the information processing problem to be solved:

the kind of information processing system they currently use, which may be manual, oreven rather disorganised

in general terms, the things that need to be improved.


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You can clearly see that the 2 marks awarded or this section are not or 2 specic points. You need

to include allthe bullet points listed above to have covered the Description o the problem section

satisactorily enough to score the 2 marks.

Example material for Description of the problem

Description of the problem

Tuddenham Village Library is a small public library based in a rural own in France. The library lends bookso members wihin a 10 mile radius of he own. I socks abou 10, 000 books ha range

from very popular iles o more specialised iles.

The library is siuaed on wo oors, each conaining rows of shelves wih books sored by subjec area.

There are also a few areas wih seas and ables called reading areas where people can read books

wihou having o borrow hem. There is no separae sock room for he library; all he books are sored

on he shelves.

There are abou 6000 members of he library. The average number of members ha visi he library in a

six-day week is abou 500. Saurday is he busies day; someimes here can be up o 300 jus in oneday. There are hree full-ime library workers (librarians).

Description of the problem to be solved

The library uses a compleely paper-based sysem o keep records of members; wha books hey have ou

on loan; when hey are due back and if here are any ousanding nes for overdue books. All of he inpu,

processing, sorage and oupu of he paper-based sysem akes place a he fron desk.

A ling sysem is used o sore he members names and conac deails on cards in alphabeical order.

Anoher card-based ling sysem, known as he book caalogue, sores bibliographic informaion (ile,

auhor, publisher) abou each book in he library. These cards are led in alphabeical order by book ile.

Each book has a unique code given o i by he library ha is based on he subjec area and book ile. This

is samped ono he spine and inside cover of he book. The code is also recorded in he book caalogue,

along wih he number of copies he library has of he book. The number of copies of a specic book he

library chooses o sock will depend on he populariy of a book. There are muliple copies of some books,

bu single copies of ohers. The number of copies is recorded in he librarys book caalogue. If he library

receives more han 20 complains in a one monh period abou he poor availabiliy of a specic book,

hey will order more copies of ha book.

Each library member has a membership card and 10 paper ickes ha are needed o borrow books from

he library. The members are only allowed o borrow a maximum of 10 books a any one ime and each one

mus be reurned wihin 21 days of aking i ou. Each book in he library conains a icke on he inside

cover ha conains he books ile, he auhor name, he books unique code and a space o samp he

reurn dae.

The librarians roae heir duies so ha a any ime during he day, here is one worker a he fron

desk, one worker re-socking he shelves wih reurned books, and one who walks around doing general

neaening up of he shelves, and puting books away ha have been lef in reading areas. All he workers

are expeced o answer queries from he members.

Members selec books from he shelves. When a member wans o borrow a book hey have o presen amembership icke a he fron desk. The library worker has o make sure ha no one akes ou a book

wihou exchanging i for one of heir ickes.


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The lending process requires he librarian o remove he books icke from inside he cover, hen samp

he icke wih he reurn dae. The samp is a manual wind-up samp wih an ink pad. Each morning,

a librarian has o make sure ha he dae on he samp is se o 21 days from he curren days dae.

The samped book icke is hen atached o one of he members 10 ickes and sored in a sysem of

ling cabines ha he workers refer o as he loan records. Wihin he cabine here are folders o hold

he ickes, which are sored alphabeically by book ile. The inside cover of he book is also samped

wih he reurn dae for he members reference.

When a member reurns he book, he librarian locaes he relevan book icke from he ling cabine,

removes he members icke and reurns his o he member. They hen replace he book icke back

inside he book. The librarian checks he reurn dae samp; if he book is overdue, he library member

ges charged a small ne depending on how many days i is overdue. The book ges pu ino a reurn-o-

shelf rolley, known as he reurns rolley. A library worker re-socks he book shelves hree imes a day

using he reurns rolley.

If a book is overdue, he librarian works ou he ne using a calculaor. If he member is no able o pay he

fee a ha momen, hen an invoice is writen ou. A op copy of he invoice is given o he member, andanoher copy is led in a separae ling ray. This ray is checked a he end of each week and reminder

leters are writen. Once an invoice has been paid, i is hrown away.

When a member wans o know if a cerain book is available, he librarian has o rs look up he ile in

he book caalogue o see if he library socks i. The librarian can hen ell he member he par of he

library where he book should be found. If he cusomer reurns from he shelf o inform he librarian ha

book is no here, he librarian will check he loans le o see if anoher member has aken i ou on loan.

The librarian will search he ling cabine by book ile, o see if he books icke is in he le atached

o anoher members icke. If i is here, he librarian can inform he rs member when he book is due

back. If he books icke is no in he le, hen he librarian will check o see if i is in he reurns rolley.

This is only possible when he reurns rolley has no been aken o re-sock he shelves.

The members can only reserve books ha are already ou on loan. They canno call he library and ask

hem o reserve a book off he shelf for hem. If he member wans o reserve he ile afer discovering

i is ou on loan, he librarian has o nd he book icke in he loans ling sysem and atach a noe o i.

The noe informs he librarian of he member who wans o borrow i nex. This means he librarian can

noify his member when he book is reurned. A noe is also made in a Reservaion noebook, of he dae

he book is due back and wha member has reserved i, along wih a number o call once he book has

been reurned.

The librarys manager is under pressure o reduce he cos of running he library and needs o be able o

run he library wih a reduced number of saff. A lo of space is occupied by ling cabines and members

someimes have o wai a relaively long ime o be served a busy imes. The manager has asked wheher

a compuerised informaion sysem o replace he exising paper-based sysem would help o run he

library more effi cienly. The new sysem would need o:

Creae and sore records of books, members and loans. Record he reurn of a book and calculae he ne for an overdue book. Creae an invoice and possibly a reminder leter for each ousanding ne. Produce repors of overdue books. Handle members enquiries abou books socked and he daes ha hey are due back

from loan. Handle reservaions for books already ou on loan.


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Comment

You can see the level of detail that has been supplied. Every possible piece of

information that is important to how the business works has been included and

every type of situation covered. All these details are required in order for you,

and anyone reading your report, to be able to understand the problems withthe current system.

Remember, you must describe both the context of the problem (i.e. a description

of the organisation or business) andthe nature of the problem (i.e. a description

of the problem to be solved).

2 Objectives

It is common to conuse aims and objectives. You can think o them like this:

Aim the overall aim is a single sentence describing what you are trying to achieve

Objectives are the details o howthis general aim will be achieved

For example, a systems analyst working or a charity organisation might state the ollowing aim:

Aim of solution o create a computerised membership system to improve administration and

sending letters and emails to members

Tere are many ways that this could be achieved, so you need to use the objectives to explain how

you plan to achieve the aim. Te ollowing are examples:

Objectives:

1. o save paper and storage space by using a computerised database to store member, book and

loan records.

2. o save time when creating well-presented letters and emails by using a database query as a data

source or some orm o automated mail merge.

Te objectives are very important because the planning, testing and evaluation parts o the

coursework will reer back to them. So, i you do not speciy the objectives clearly at this stage,

you will lose marks here but you will alsotend to lose ocus in your design and lose marksin the

building, testing and evaluation sections as well.

For example, without knowing the nature o the problem to be solved and the detailed objectives

to be achieved it will be very diffi cult or you later to evaluate the success or ailure o the solution.

Tereore, getting this section correct is vital.

You should make a numbered list o testable objectives or your proposed solution. Tis is easy to

automate i you are word processing your report and makes it easier to reer back to them later.

You should:

in each case use:

general business terms to state what benet you aim to achieve in what situation and computer-related terms to state what you will provide


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make sure that you include all the areas you will test later, such as: navigation menus and command buttons input and associated validation and verication storage processing and

output.

Further examples:

1. Save ____ or a worker moving between ____ in the database by providing navigation buttons to

return to the ____ or open requently used ____.

2. Save ____ or a worker searching or a members ____ when answering a ____ enquiry by

providing a orm based on a ____ to search the customer ____.

3. Save ____ and make the calculation o a members ____ rom their ____ more ____ by

providing a ____.

4. Save ____ when printing a ____ list, by providing a ____ button on the ____ menu.

Te 3 marks awarded or this section do notindicate that there are only 3 points to make. o get

ull marks, you need to write a comprehensive, numbered list o testableobjectives or your

proposed solution (with at leastten objectives), with each objective phrased in terms o both

general business terms, or example:

to save resources to save time to make a named process asterandcomputer-related terms, or example:

using a orm to create a record using a orm to edit a record sorting or searching database records.

Ofen candidates speciy an objective as being to make a particular process aster, to save time or to

save resources, but they ail to mention how this will be achieved and so score badly. o score higher

marks, you need to make sure that your objectives are also phrased in computer-related terms.

Each objective needs to be something that can easily be tested by producing some screen or

printed output. esting your objectives later allows you to evaluate the extent to which you have

solved the problem. ry to avoid general objectives such as create a database as, although you

would be able to provide plenty o evidence, a complete set o evidence would be very long!

3 Description of the existing solution

I there is a current solution (even i it is manual or very disorganised) or the problem, then you

should describe the ow o data within that solution. You can use words or diagrams, but they

should reect the input-storage-processing-output model o a computer system.

For a ull description o the current solution, make sure you include:

data input requirements such as: data capture methods including:

input devices

examples o data collection or capture orms data dictionary (see example below) detailed specications (where applicable) or the accuracy, quality, le ormat and other

technical eatures o input data


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data storage requirements data processing techniques data output requirements such as:

data output methods including: output devices examples o hard copy output

detailed specications (where applicable) or output data.

Example of an analysis data dictionary for two specimen data items in one specimen table

tblMember

Field Name Description Example Data Type Range Format

(for display)

MemberNo A unique

identifier used

to identify

each member.

Uri Coopers

member

number is

103426.

Integer 100001 to

999999

No comma to

separate last

three digits.

MemberFirstName The first

name of the

member.

Member

number

103426s first

name is Uri.

Text/String 1 to 25

characters

Capitalise

each word.

I the existing system is a manual, paper-based system, then it might involve handwritten notes on

pieces o paper. You can apply the list above to consider all the processes the paper-based system

might have an equivalent or. For example:

data capture: librarian takes a paper ticket rom inside the book and a members ticket rom

the borrower

the books ticket is stamped with the return date. data processing techniques:

librarian attaches members ticket to date-stamped book ticket and les them when a book is returned, a librarian nds the books ticket, gives the members ticket back

to the borrower, calculates any ne due, places the book on the returns trolley and creates

an invoice or an unpaid ne

when a member asks or a book a librarian looks or its record in the catalogue

i a book in the catalogue is not ound by the member, then the librarian looks or its recordin the loans les

i the requested book is not out on loan, the book is looked or on the returns trolley copies o invoices or outstanding nes are checked weekly to decide who needs a

reminder letter

to reserve a book on loan, a librarian nds the books ticket in the loans les, attaches a noteto it and records the requesting members contact details in the reservation notebook.

data storage requirements: card catalogue stores details o books stocked by the library card ling system stores the members names and contact details

book tickets are stored in books in the library ling cabinet store tickets o books on loan


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returned books on returns trolley ling tray stores copies o invoices or overdue nes reservation notebook stores the date a book is due back and the name and phone number o

the member reserving it.

output requirements: an invoice or each unpaid ne

a reminder letter to a member who has not paid an invoiced ne.

o get ull marks, you must include as many as possibleo the bulleted points, notjust 2 o them.

Remember that, or some problems, there may notbe an existing solution and so it will not be

possible to score marks in this section or or evaluating the current solution.

4 Evaluation of existing solution

You should discuss the advantages, disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses o the existing

solution to the inormation processing problem. o get ull marks you mustalso include any

suggested improvements.

When considering disadvantages, think o answers to the ollowing questions:

What goes wrong? When does it go wrong? What issues does this create?

Example material for the library described above

Advantages:

Soring he ickes of books on loan in alphabeical order of ile makes i relaively easy odeermine he number of copies of any book ha are currenly ou on loan and so deermine if here

should be any remaining copies in he library.

Disadvantages:

If a member loses one of heir 10 ickes hen hey are unable o borrow up o 10 books and i ispossible for somebody else o borrow books on heir icke. The librarys records would no be accurae

and a member could be charged nes or even charged for a los book ha hey had no even borrowed.

A librarian only discovers a book is overdue when he member reurns i, so ha he book remainsunavailable o members browsing he shelves and he member who borrowed may build up a large ne

wihou receiving a reminder.

To ge a lis of overdue books would require examining he reurn daes on all he ickes of books onloan because hey are no sored in dae order.

I is no possible o produce any monhly usage saisics because i would be oo ime-consuming. Fines are no auomaically calculaed. The library saff have o noice from he icke ha he book

is overdue and manually calculae he ne.

There is no permanen record of paid invoices for nes, so ha he librarys manager canno refer osuch a record if a member laer dispues he ne.

The sysem would only work correcly if each book had he correc icke inside he cover. If for anyreason a icke inside a book were wrong, when he book was reurned he library saff would be unable

o reurn he members icke.

Improvements:

Compuerised records of loans would make i easy o keep permanen records of loans and nepaymens and o produce a wide variey of usage saisics.


15/44


16/44


It may help to make your design well-structured and easier to understand, modiy and debug, i

you start by drawing a structure diagram to represent a top-down design. Use stepwise renement

to split your solution into successively smaller sub-solutions. It should be possible to read the

sequence o steps at any level rom lef to right.

You will need to show the overall design in the orm o a system owchart. You will need to speciy

the input and output requirements and specications, as well as requirements or data structures,processing, storage and navigation.

Tis division o the assessment criteria has ve sections in which you can earn up to a total o

14 marks:

6 Action plan [3]

7 System Flowchart [2]

8 Description of method of solution (designed) [3]

9 Hardware [3]

10 Software [3]

6 Action plan

By this stage, you should have decided what problem you are going to solve, listed the objectives o

the new solution and chosen an overall method o solution. I you have not already done so, you

now need to plan the order in which the tasks will be carried out, and to assess how long it will

take. Tis requires a ormal action plan.

Your action plan must relate back to the list o objectives you set out in the analysis section as well

as the system lie cycle. Include all the major stages o the system lie cycle as headings, and then

add appropriate subheadings to break the stages down into smaller tasks related to the objectives o

your chosen solution or the problem.

Te plan should include suffi ciently detailed descriptions o activities, with dates shown. Te

plan is more useul i it shows the availability o scarce human resources such as your client and

o scarce physical resources such as a barcode scanner that you may only be able to borrow or a

period o three days in February.

o score ull marks or this section (3 marks) you must display your plan as one o the

ollowing charts:

Gantt chart Project Evaluation and Review echnique (PER) chart Critical Path analysis (which can also be done using a Gantt chart).

A list o things you might want your action plan to include, is as ollows:

phases e.g. analysis, design, implementation etc. tasks a basic unit o work

activity an optional group o tasks that orm a sub-phase time allocation shown in days milestones signicant events/dates against which progress can be measured, such as

intermediate and nal deadlines set by your teacher


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dependencies where the start o one or more tasks is dependent on the nish o another the critical path the sequence o dependent tasks that determines the overall duration o

the project

progress o tasks the amount o a task completed relative to the planned time or baseline.

Project management sofware such as Open WorkbenchorMicrosof Project allows you to create

a project plan and display it in the orm o a chart. Open Workbenchis open source projectmanagement sofware that is reely available rom www.openworkbench.org.

I you do not have access to project management sofware, then you can create your own chart

using a spreadsheet or word-processed table with shaded cells . All you need to do is write your

list o tasks and then include a series o dates as column headings and shaded cells, like the image

below. Make sure you provide a key or legend so that the reader knows how to read the chart.

As with the other sections, the 3 marks are not awarded or 3 specic points that you make. Tey

are awarded or a complete, detailed plan that includes a Gantt or PER chart.

7 System flowchart

You can use a system owchart to demonstrate how the new computer-based system will work.

Tis should include all o the stages that would be in the nal solution. o get ull marks, you need

to make sure that you have used the symbols correctly. Reer to able 6.2 in the coursebook or a

complete list o the owchart symbols.

Monday uesday Wednesday Tursday Friday

Saturday14/01/2012

Sunday15/01/2012

Monday uesday

Name Start Finish 09/01/2012 10/01/2012 11/01/2012 12/01/2012 13/01/2012 16/01/2012 17/01/2012

Analysis 09/01/2012 11/01/2012

Description

o problem &

Objectives

09/01/2012 09/01/2012

Description &

evaluation

o existing

system

10/01/2012 10/01/2012

Description

o possible

solutions

11/01/2012 11/01/2012

Design 12/01/2012 17/01/2012

Action p lan 12/01/2012 13/01/2012

System

owchart16/01/2012 16/01/2012

Description

o method o

solution

17/01/2012 17/01/2012

Hardware 17/01/2012 17/01/2012

Sofware 17/01/2012 17/01/2012

Example of a spreadsheet Gantt chart showing the early stages of a coursework project


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Although the specic content o a system owchart will vary rom project to project depending on

the problem, there are some key things to remember or allsystem owcharts:

emphasis is on input, processing, storage and output more emphasis on the different sorts o hardware than other sorts o owchart as there are

special symbols or manual (keyboard) input, three symbols or different storage hardware and

two symbols or screen and printer output

easier to read i the data entry operations are situated at the lef or top; data processingoperations are in the middle and storage and output operations on the right or bottom

use separate symbols or each sort o processing used by the user/processor only describe processing in a general way, so only limited detail o processing required include SAR and SOP terminator symbols the words used in the owchart must relate to your solution to your problem make sure that both the shape o the symbols used and the text/instruction within a given

symbol are bothcorrect.

When drawing your system owchart, you need to depict all the steps o input, processing, storage

and output that the system will need or the proposed new solution.

Points to note are:

It might help to think o the system owchart as a series o stages that make up the system. Whenever appropriate, work through the stages chronologically (in order o how they would

happen) to help you be systematic, drawing it rom lef-to-right and top-to-bottom, as in the

example answer and those in the coursebook.

Tink o one stage at a time: what input, process, storage or output symbol does the stage need?Label each symbol.

Join together pairs o symbols with ow arrows. Te arrows represent the ow o data betweensymbols and the ow o control to and rom terminator symbols, so make sure they point in

the correct direction. (You do not have to label the arrows with a list o the data items being

transerred, but you might nd this helps.)

Use the ull range o symbols shown in the coursebook to give as much inormation as possibleabout types o processing and hardware used or storage and output.

o decide what stages should be shown in your system owchart, think about the ollowing:

Data entry: how is data entered into the system when a client deals with the organisation, or auser queries the system? Draw the appropriate manual or general input (parallelogram) symbol

(appropriately labelled) with a ow arrow to the next step.

Data processing: what sort o processing is perormed by the system? Draw the appropriatemanual collection, sorting, merging, collating or general process symbol, and label it

appropriately.

Data storage: what sort o storage is the data sent to and retrieved rom? Draw the appropriateonline, hard disk or tape storage symbol, and label it appropriately.

Output o data: how is data output to the client or user? Draw the appropriate VDU ordocument output symbol, and label appropriately.

Other: urther steps o input, processing, storage or output, until complete.


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For each stage o the owchart, make sure you consider what type o symbol is appropriate. And

above all, remember to make it relevant to the problem!

Remember that the 2 marks awarded or this section do not mean you only have to include 2

processes in your owchart. You have to make sure your system owchart shows the complete

system and uses all the correct symbols.

8 Description of method of solution (designed)

Te description o your proposed method o solution involves the ollowing:

output designs (drawings o plans, notscreenshots o prototypes) input designs (drawings o plans, notscreenshots o prototypes) data storage designs processing designs command button and menu designs.

o get ull marks you mustremember the ollowing:

do notinclude screenshots o prototypes in this section because it is meant to be completedbeore you start making the prototype (even i that doesnt happen in reality)

make sure that all o your drawings are clearly annotated using keys, ootnotes and callouts(these are text boxes with arrows that automatically adjust themselves when you move the text

box, sometimes with a coloured handle)

you can either draw ree-hand using pencil, or draw on-screen using a computer.

All computer systems involve input, processing, storage and output. Te systems analysts overall

aim is to produce a system that produces the specied outcomes. Tereore, the designer typically

starts by designing the output, then the input required to produce the output and so on, in the

order listed above. You may nd it helpul to ollow this same order yoursel.

Loan

START

Search formember details,loans and fines

Note: Two aliases ofthe samelibrarydatabase are shown.

Report

Menu: Enquiry,Loan or Report

Details of book(s)or message thatnone is stocked

Search bookrecords forauthor or title

Enter author or titlerequested

Enquiry

Scanmembership

cards ID barcode

Member details,loans and fines

Use memberand book IDs tocreate new loan

Scan booksID barcode

Member detailsand fines andupdated loans

Library databaseLibrary database

Search for lastmonths loansand count bookslent and memberswho borrowed

Report of no. ofbooks lent andno. of borrowers

Generate menu andprocess option selected:Enquiry, Loan or Report

Example of a system flowchart for part of the library problem


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Output designs

o gain ull marks, you need to describe your output designs clearly and in detail. You should use a

pencil or computer to draw your designs or:

output spreadsheets, charts or screen orms/displays any printed reports any other orm o output.

You should also include data output requirements and specications, which may be similar to the

ones or the existing solution.

Your drawings should be clearly annotated using keys, ootnotes and callouts (text boxes with

arrows). Remember to reer back to the common issues when designing on-screen orms/pages.

Return to your objectives and chosen solution to help you consider what output designs you will

need.

Example of a spreadsheet screen output design, hand-drawn on a printed layout grid

Screen output design for Search Results Sorted by Title sheet

A B C D E F G H

1 DJTrax Search Results Sorted by Title

2 TrackNo

Title Artist Duration(mm:ss)

Medium Rating Backedup?

Dateadded

3 563 Atom Bomb Fluke 5:02 DVD 2 TRUE 07/02

4 . .. ..

5 . .. ..

6 . .. ..

7 . .. ..

8 . .. ..

9 . .. ..

10 . .. ..

11 . .. ..

12 . .. ..

13 11 You Want It Back Propellerheads 6:00 MP3 3 FALSE 28/8

14

Return to main menu

Row 2: Labels.

Rows 3 o 13: Resuls of searching for racks lasing beween 5 and 6 minues, sored by ile.

Reurn o main menu buton riggers ViewMain macro, which navigaes o Menu shee.

Input designs

o gain ull marks, you need to describe your input designs clearly and in detail. You should use a

pencil or computer to draw your designs or:

input spreadsheets or screen orms any other orm o input.

You should also include:

data input requirements and specications, which may be similar to the ones or the existingsolution, a list o validation rules and inormative error messages

a list o verication methods and inormative error messages.

Your drawings should be clearly annotated using keys, ootnotes and callouts (text boxes witharrows). Spreadsheet designs should include row and column numbers and letters, since ormulae

you design later will reer to cells shown here.


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Beore you can draw your input designs you need to decide how the required data will be collected.

Will it be automatic (e.g. sensor, barcode scanner) or manual (e.g. keyboard) entry? Return to your

problem and chosen solution to decide on the best methods or data input.

Example of a drawn input design

Input design for Invoice sheet

A B C D E F G

1

A - Z Supplies LLC2 Central Jakarta Tel: 62 21 1234

3 www.a2z.co.id

4 Cash Sale 02-Feb

5

6 Quantity Code Description Item Price Extended Price

7 3 6 Grommet $0.50 $1.50

8 1 2 Nibbler $2.00 $2.00

9 6 1 Widget $3.50 $21.00

10 2 3 Dibber $1.50 $3.00

11 5 5 Dobbler $5.00 $25.00

12

13

14 Subtotal $52.50

15 Sales Tax Payable Sales Tax $10.50 TRUE

16 Total $63.00

Represents input cells

Cells A7:A13 have Validation rule of whole number between 0 and 500 and errormessage Please enter a value between 0 and 500.Cells C7:C13 have Validation rule of limited to list in Stock Database and errormessage Please select a code from the Stock Database.

Spinners to speed upadjustments to Quantity.

Main menu

Print invoice

Check box linkedto cell G15.

Data storage designs

o gain ull marks, you need to describe your data storage designs clearly and in detail. You

should include:

the le types to be used by generic application sofware

the structures or any les that program code will manipulate the structure o any database tables and their relationships methods o controlling access to the data the hardware needed or the data storage and backup.

You should use a pencil or computer to draw your design or any relationships between

database tables.

Your drawings should be clearly annotated using keys, ootnotes and callouts (text boxes

with arrows).


22/44


Example material for data storage design

The daabase will use Microsof Access ACCDB le forma for sorage.Or, he bespoke program code will manipulae ex les srucured as follows:

SudenSubjec le conains xed lengh records consising of he following elds: SudenName(Tex/Sring, 50 characers), Class (Tex/Sring, 5 characers), SubjecCode (Tex/Sring, 10

characers).

The design daa dicionary (showing he srucure of jus hree specimen elds in one specimen

daabase able):

blMember

Field Name Key

(P/F)

Daa

Type

Field Size Validaion

Check(s)

Validaion

Rule

Defaul

Value

Forma

(for

display)

MemberNo P Number Long

Ineger

Range check Beween

100001

And

999999

- No comma o

separae las

hree digis.

MemberFirsName Tex/

Sring

50

characers

Presence

check

- Capialise

each word.

NoOfTickes Number Bye Range check Beween 0

and 10

10

The relaionships of he daabase ables:

blMemberMemberNoMemberFirsNameMemberLasName

blLoanMemberNoBookNoDaeLenDaeDueBack

(o oher ables)

The mehod of conrolling access o he daa will be o se a daabase password of GuEsS9#9mE. The hardware needed for daa sorage is he compuers HDD and a USB ash drive (minimum 1GiB)

for backup.

Backup will be performed manually a he close of business each day by copying ____ from ____ o ____. Daa recovery will be performed by copying ____ from ____ o ____.

Processing designs

Te processing designs must include allo the ollowing:

structure diagram or top-down approach spreadsheet ormulae or database queries drawn on grids owcharts or pseudocode or algorithms or any program code you will write list the steps or macros that you will record you must annotate at least one module o pseudocode, program or query code to explain it,

preerably using comments within the code.

Your drawings should be clearly annotated using keys, ootnotes and callouts (text boxeswith arrows).


23/44


Structure diagram

Te processing design determines howthe system will work; how input data become output

inormation. You should start by drawing a structure diagram or a top-down approach to your

solution. Te advantage o this diagram is that it will create a set o smaller, simpler solutions or you

to tackle.

You might nd it helpul to break down the solution according to the input-storage-processing-output model o computer systems. Write out all the steps your system would need, then decide

i these are input, processing, storage or output steps. Ten decide i these can be broken down to

even smaller steps.

Example structure diagram for solving part of the library problem

Example structure diagram for Create loan records for a member

Create loan recordsfor a member

Input MemberNo byscanning barcode or

typing value

Calculate current date as DateLentand default value of DateDueBack

as current date plus 21

InputBookNo valueby scanning barcode

or typing value

Display memberdetails with updated

loan records

Searchfor member detailswith loans and fines

Display member details withloans and fines

Create new loan recordsfor member while

NoOfCurrentLoans


24/44


Example of drawn spreadsheet design showing formulae to be used

Formulae for Invoice sheet

Example query design in a query-by-example (QBE) or design view grid

Query: qryFindLowMeltingMetals

Field Name Group Melting Point (C)

Table tblElements tblElements tblElements

Sort Ascending

Show Yes Yes

Criterion Metal


25/44


However, i you are not designing and annotating any SQL code or a query, you need to write

some annotated pseudocode to be able to earn all 3 marks. You can annotate pseudocode by

writing a comment afer:

a double slash (//) at the end o a line o code, or a curly brace (}) around several lines.

Example program flowchart for an algorithmProgram flowchart for control of access to extranet

START

Count0

No

OutputEnter MemberNo

InputMemberNo

Record withMemberNo found?

Yes

No

OutputEnter password

InputMemberPassword

MemberPasswordmatched ORCount = 3?

Yes

CountCount + 1

NoCount = 3?

Yes

CONTINUE

STOP

OutputAccess denied

(to rest of programto access extranet)


26/44


Example pseudocode for an algorithm, with annotation

Pseudocode for control of access to extranet

List the steps for macros that you will record

Te steps or a macro may be very ew and written in plain English. Tey can include navigating to

another worksheet, inserting the current date or current time and perorming ormatting. As with

pseudocode, you can annotate a macro by writing a comment afer:

a double slash (//) at the end o a line o code, or a curly brace (}) around several lines.

Example of macro design, with annotation

Comment

This design would be suitable for either a recorded macro or a written one.

Command button and menu designs

o gain ull marks you need to describe any command buttons and menu designs clearly and in

detail. You should use a pencil or computer to draw your designs or command buttons:

on screen orms or navigation and processing on a main menu or start-up user interace.

Your drawings should be clearly annotated using keys, ootnotes and callouts (text boxes with arrows).

01 REPEAT

02 OUTPUT "Please enter your Member Number"

03 INPUT MemberNo

04 UNTIL record with key value matching MemberNo is found05 Count0 // Initialise the control variable Count

06 REPEAT

07 OUTPUT "Please enter password"

08 INPUT MemberPassword

09 CountCount + 1

10 UNTIL (MemberPassword matches password stored in members record) OR (Count = 3)

11 IF Count = 3

12 THEN

13 OUTPUT "Access denied"

14 STOP15 ELSE

16 CONTINUE to access the extranet

17 ENDIF

Repeaedly promp user

unil hey ener an exising

member number.

Repeaedly promp user o ener heir

password and incremen he conrol

variable unil hey ener one ha maches

he password sored in he members record

or hey make hree unsuccessful atemps.

If Coun = 3, he user has made hree

unsuccessful atemps, so is informed ha

access is denied and he program sops.

Oherwise, he user has enered a valid

password and conrol passes o he res of

he program o allow he member o access

he exrane.

Design for macro InsertDateH4 to insert the date into cell H4 on an Excel worksheet

01 Select cell H4

02 Insert spreadsheet formula =Today() // This displays the current date

03 Format the cell to the custom format dddd, dd/mm/yyyy // This formats the date as Monday, 26/11/2012


27/44


Tis is the best place to include a drawing o your main menu. Command buttons on orms should

already have been shown on earlier design drawings or those orms (or example, page 21).

You can either place copies o the drawings here, or simply list the buttons and reer back to the

diagrams on which they are shown. Notice that by using sel-documenting names or the macros,

you can probably avoid any need to describe them.

Example list of command buttons

Command button Macro name Location

Main menu ViewMenu Invoice sheet (see Input design for

Invoice sheet)

Stock sheet

Stock statistics sheet

Stock chart

Print invoice PrintInvoice Invoice sheet (see Input design for Invoice

sheet)

You should also list any menu options or customising the menu system o generic application

sofware or bespoke sofware orms.

Example list of menu options for bespoke software

File menu options

New

OpenSave

Save As

Close

Exit

It is suggested that at this stage you look back at the original objectives and check whether your

method o solution has covered all your objectives.

9 Hardware

For your proposed solution, you need to select suitable hardware or:

input storage, including backup processing output.

o gain ull marks you must include:

a complete list o the hardware to be used, with technical details (or specication) such astechnology used, size, speed and interace

as well asat least two reasons justiying why such hardware is required or your solution.


28/44


Te list can include one or more o the standard hardware items available at your school so long as

you provide a positive justication or the use o each:

keyboard mouse or other pointing device computer, including processor word size (32 or 64 bits) and clock speed, hard disk drive

capacity and RAM capacity

display screen/monitor printer loudspeakers or headphones a USB ash drive or backup storage.

Ideally, you have already thought about the strengths and weaknesses o the available hardware

devices and the reasons or choosing them, when you chose the problem or your coursework.

When speciying the computers processor, hard disk drive and RAM, you should be aware that the

minimum hardware needed might be a lower specication than the computer that you have used.

So, you need to investigate the minimum specication needed or your operating system and allthe sofware needed or your solution.

I your teacher cannot provide you with these minimum specications, they may be obtainable

rom websites by searching or system requirements.

Te justication or the choice o an item may involve stating that:

input or output devices are needed to meet the requirements o a particular application oruser or example, the type o printing device needed will depend on the quality o the printed

output required

a larger than minimum hard disk drive capacity is needed to store a stated amount o data a particularly portable backup storage device is needed to maintain data security in case o a

thef or re.

Do notgive general reasons why, or example, a monitor is needed, but a specic reason why a

particular type o monitor is needed.

Example hardware specification

The minimum specification needed for this solution is:

Item Technical Specification Reason for use

Processor 32-bit (x86) I will use this to support the Windows 7operating system.

Clock speed 1 GHz I will use this to support the Windows 7

operating system.

Hard disk

drive

16 GB available I will use this to support the Windows 7

operating system.

RAM 1 GiB I will use this to support the Windows 7

operating system.

Graphics card DirectX 9 graphics device with

WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

I will use this to support the Windows 7

operating system.

Continued


29/44



CD-ROM drive

Monitor SXGA (1280 x 1024 pixels),

with 24-bit colour depth

I will use this relatively high resolution

monitor in order to provide a clear screen

image when displaying the members

photograph for security purposes.

Standard

keyboard

Quiet action I will use this to avoid disturbance to

readers.

Mouse Optical I will use this to avoid dirt in mechanism.

Barcode

reader

I will use this for more rapid input of the

numerical codes on membership card and

books.

Laser printer I will use this to print the daily and monthly

reports. Any printer might do the job but

speed, print quality and running costs areimportant and the laser printer offers the

best option.

Digital

camera or

webcam

2 megapixels I will use this to take a photograph to be

stored as part of each members record in

the database and subsequent display on

screen every time the member borrows books

for security purposes.

Comment

The standard components of a PC system have been listed, together with some

extra peripherals. Reasons have been given why more than two specific items

of hardware are needed so this should cover all the necessary detail needed in

this section.

10 Software

You need to select sofware and possibly a programming language suitable or your proposed

solution. You really needed to select the sort o sofware to be used earlier on in the Design stage,

as your choice has consequences or the rest o the Design. You may be ortunate in having a

wide choice o sofware available and good programming skills, but you must make sure you are

competent and condent with whatever you choose. I you are still in doubt about this choice,

look back at the earlier section Choice o hardware and sofware.

o gain ull marks you must include:

a complete list o all the sofware to be used, including the operating system, with a descriptiono its relevant acilities

as well asat least two reasons justiying why such sofware is required or your solution.

Ideally, you have already thought about the strengths and weaknesses o the available pieces osofware and the reasons or choosing them, when you chose the problem or your coursework.


30/44


Te justication should be in terms o at least two o the acilities that you stated in the testable

objectives. For example, I will use Brand A database management sofware because it provides

acility B needed to perorm unction C as required by objective X and acility D needed to

perorm unction E as required by objective Y.

It is not a suffi cient reason to say it is the only sofware we have. Even i that were the case, you

would need to state positive reasons why the program can be used to provide a solution.

Example software specification

The minimum specification needed for this solution is:


Windows 7

operating

system

Operating system with GUI. I will use this as a software platform to

provide a user interface and a uniform

environment for application programs,

including versions of those in the

OpenOfficesuite, such as Baseand Writer.OpenOffice

Base

Relational database

management program with

export of data sources for

mail merge using Lightweight

Directory Access Protocol

(LDAP) or commonly available

address book file formats.

I will use this to create and manage a

relational database to:

store multiple tables (withrelationships) to hold records for

members, books and loans, as required

by objective Q;

create forms with which users canenter data, as required by objective R;

create multi-table queries, with which

users can: automatically calculate fines, asrequired by objective S;

search for books by title or author,as required by objective T;

create reports, with which users canprint a daily list of overdue books and a

monthly report of usage statistics, as

required by objective U.

OpenOffice

Writer

Word processing program

with mail merge using LDAPor other data source file

formats.

I will use this because it provides a

mail merge facility needed to producepersonalised letters with merged data

embedded smoothly within a sentence

(unlike a database report), as required by

objective E.

Code 3 of 9

barcode font

A public domain Windows True

Type barcode font available as

code39.zipfrom http://www.

gravic.com/remark/officeomr/

downloads.html.

I will install this font in the operating

system, so that the user can print

barcoded membership cards and book

labels, as required by objective P.


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Technical Documentation

You now use your Design as a recipe or implementing (in the sense o building) your solution.

As you know, a proessionally produced system needs not only hardware and sofware, but also

thorough technical documentation to explain what the system consists o and how it works to

enable technical personnel to maintain it.

Te external moderator or your coursework will never see your hardware or sofware in action,

so your technical documentation not only needs to explain what you have built (which should be

very similar to your design) and how it works, but alsoprovethat you have really built it. Te only

convincing documentary evidence that you have built a system consists o screenshots, except or

printed reports, or which you should include hard copies.

You must clearly explain the screenshots that you are presenting using suitable captions and

annotation. Te annotation may be word-processed callouts or handwritten. Do notpresent small

snippets o screenshot as evidence o building or testing, even as magnications o certain areas, as

these lack suffi cient context to provide hard evidence that they represent your work.

o make the context clear, you ofen need to capture the whole o the application or orm window

with its title bar. Unless you are displaying a dialogue box, the Windowsoperating systems

keyboard shortcutAlt+PrintScreenneatly captures the whole o the active window onto the

Clipboard, rom which you can paste the screenshot into your report. Other operating systems

have similar acilities.

You can ofen improve the legibility o a screenshot by resizing the window and scrolling its

content beore taking the screenshot. By avoiding blank or irrelevant areas, you can ensure that

the screenshot contains everything that the reader needs to see to be convinced and no more.

Tis means its detail is displayed suffi ciently large that the reader will not need a magniying glass.

Avoiding unnecessary visual clutter also aids the readers understanding.

Your text and captioned, annotated screenshot evidence o what you have built should be written

under appropriate subheading and sub-subheadings underneath the main report heading Technical

Documentation. However, you will be awarded marks or this work under our different sections

o the assessment criteria, as explained below. Te our sections, which do notrequire their own

separate subheadings in your report, are:

16 Technical Documentation [2]

11 Method of solution (built) related to problem [2]

12 Accurate method of solution [3]

13 Programming code [3]

16 Technical documentation

echnical documentation is written to provide a systems analyst, programmer or sofware developer

with details o the systems hardware and sofware and a detailed technical explanation o how the

system works.


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Commented program code (see section 13 Programming codebelow) List o variables used File ormats and structures (and tables and relationships i used) Design views o input and output orms and printed reports Validation and verication checks.

For a solution in which you have created a website: Website navigation diagram or site map Program structure diagram Algorithms, as pseudocode or program owcharts Source code, with commented scripts in ASP, PHP, JavaScript or other scripting language

(see section 13 Programming codebelow)

List o variables used File ormats and structures Views o input and output pages in a web browser Validation and verication checks.

Example of an annotated screenshot of the formulae view of a spreadsheet

Formulae view of Random Playlist sheet

Comment

Notice that the screenshot appears under a clear subheading but also requires

detailed annotation to explain the formulae used.

Notice that the application window has been resized and the contents of the

two panes scrolled so that we see all we need to see and no more before

making the screenshot. Otherwise the detail is likely to be squashed up in one

region of the screenshot.

Do not worry i the inclusion o all this content seems a lot o work or a mere 1 mark, because the

Implementation division o the assessment criteria has the other three sections in which you can earn

up to a total o 8 marks or different aspects o the evidence that you provide or what you have built.


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11 Method of solution (built) related to problem

Tese marks are awarded or evidence o what you have built as your method o solution,

described in specic details that are clearly related to the problem that you set out to solve.

12 Accurate method of solution

Tese marks are awarded or successully achieving all o your computer-related objectives in

section 2, as conrmed by your Evaluation later. You can make this more likely i you do notspeciy computer-related objectives that are unrealistic or too numerous in the rst place. Make

sure that your solution tackles all your objectives, so that you can test your success in achieving

them later.

13 Programming code

o gain 1 mark, you have to demonstrate that you have used a recorded macro, other automatically

generated program code, or program code pre-written by someone else as part o your solution.

Example of a recorded macro

Recorded macro PrintInvoice

Comment

Notice that the screenshot appears under a clear subheading and, in this

instance, requires no further annotation.

Notice that the application window has again been resized and the contents of

the two panes scrolled appropriately before making the screenshot.

For 2 marks, you need to write your own macro code and annotate it to explain the purpose o

each section or line.


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Example of a written macro

Written macro InsertDate

Comment

This macro is based on a modification of the design of the same name shown

earlier. However, this macro was obviously written, as it contains code in the first

and second lines that could not have been recorded.

The annotation has been written as comments within the code. Since this

requires a wider window, the text in the screenshot is rather small, so you may

prefer to annotate the screenshot with callouts or notes beneath it that refer to

line numbers.

You can only earn 3 marks i you have written a bespoke program as your complete solution in a

programming or scripting language. o earn the third mark you need to annotate all your program

or scripted source code, although it is probably suffi cient to comment on each section o code

rather than each individual line.

Even i it takes multiple screenshots, it is ar more convincing i you display your code in a window

that clearly identies the le o which it is part, rather than copying-and-pasting your code into

your report document, where the code will become anonymous.

I you do copy-and-paste your code into your report document, it will lose any colour coding that

it had in your programming environment. You do nothave to print your report in colour, but i

you wish to restore the colour coding, you can use an online pretty-printing service or a limited

range o languages at http://www.palrader.org/code2html/code2html.html.


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For a single lower-case alphabetic character:

the extreme data would be both a and z normal data would be any letter rom b to y abnormal data would be any other character, numeral or symbol.

Given that there is only one o you working on your project and your time is limited, you are not

expected to test every single combination o validation check and type o test data. For example, iyou were to have 10 data input elds, even with only a single validation check or each eld, testing

each validation check with each o the three types o test data would require 30 tests!

Since you are undertaking your project as coursework, it is more important that you show that

you can:

use each o the three types o test data to test several different input validation checks,especially i you use different types o validation check, but not necessarily all the validation

checks or example, you might use the three types o test data with one range check and one

length check and normal and abnormal data only with one ormat check (input mask), making

a total o eight tests use test data to test each sort o processing and output or example, you might select suitabletest data and test:

editing a member record creating a loan record (but notnecessarily all the loan records that you need to test returns) returning a book beore it is overdue, returning a book when it is nearly overdue, and

returning a book when it is overdue and calculating a ne

producing a daily printed report o overdue books anda monthly printed statistical report(because they rely on different sorts o processing)

searching or books by title (but notnecessarily also or searching or books by author) test storage, by checking that test data are saved in a le in the expected location and that the

le can be re-opened

perorm at least one test, where relevant, or each o your computer-related objectives.

o provide evidence o your test strategy, you should:

write a paragraph outlining the sorts o tests that you will do write a test plan listing the specic tests and test data that you will use and the expected results

it is probably clearer to the reader i you do this in the orm o a table and in landscape page

orientation as you need many columns

include columns or: the test number

objective number item being tested method o carrying out the test type o test data test data to be used and expected result

include all the numbered objectives that you identied during the Analysis stage, such asnavigation, menus and command buttons, input and associated validation and verication,

storage, backup, processing and output (this is why the objectives need to be testable)

complete your strategy by including by name any o these areas o your solution i you did

not include them in your list o objectives speciy all the relevant details or at least one test or each objective include all three types o test data.


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Example of a partial test plan showing tests for data input validation, processing

and navigation, using three types of test data (where appropriate) and showing

the objective tested

Test Plan

15 Test results

o earn 4 marks, you need to show evidence o testing using all three types o test data and

covering all aspects o your solutions input, storage, backup, processing and output unctionality.

Candidates sometimes produce many pages o testing without any indication o what is being

tested. For the greatest clarity, you should work systematically through your test plan and or each

test in your plan you should: clearly reer to the test perormed this is much easier or the reader i you copy-and-paste the

relevant row rom your test plan

Test

No.

Objective

No.

Item tested Method Type of

test data

Test data Expected

result

4 3 Member first

name length check:

between 1 and 15

characters

Keyboard entry Normal Sunesh

(6 characters)

Accepted

5 3 Member first

name length check:

between 1 and 15

characters

Keyboard entry Extreme Adelaida-Sophia

(15 characters)

Accepted

6 3 Member first

name length check:between 1 and 15

characters

Keyboard entry Abnormal Suneshhhhhhhhhhh

(16 characters)

Rejected with

error message

17 9 Calculation of fine

when a book is

returned

Enter test data for

return date instead

of default value

( = current date)

Normal

= not

overdue

Date of issue +

7 days

Fine calculated

as nil


when a book isreturned

Enter test data for

return date insteadof default value

( = current date)

Extreme =

about tobe overdue

Date of issue +

21 days

Fine calculated

as nil


when a book is

returned

Enter test data for

return date instead

of default value

( = current date)

Abnormal Date of issue +

34 days

Fine calculated

as (34-21)

days 2 cents

per day

= 26 cents

27 14 Navigation back to

main menu

Click Return to

main menubutton

on Member Loans

form

- - Main menu is

displayed


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show beore and afer screenshot evidence o the test: be careul to include the wholeo the application or orm so that the context is clear, but

resize the window and scroll its content beoretaking the screenshot so that we see all we

need to see and no more

in the case o printed output, include the print as the afer evidence in an appendix toyour report

comment on agreement (success) or disagreement (ailure) between the expected andactual results.

I you choose not to use a table or need larger screenshots that do not t in a table, you can place

your screenshots outside a table, either afer each test or at the end o your complete set o test

results. I you place screenshots outside a table, you need to include gure numbers reerring to

specic screenshots or the beore and afer evidence and make sure that each screenshot is

identied by the correct gure number, preerably with a caption conrming what it shows. In

any case, you will need to annotate printed output in your appendix with a reerence code, such

as Print 2, to which you reer or the afer evidence.

In addition to the standard beore and afer screenshot evidence or navigation between

spreadsheets or orms with a command button or to a web page with a hyperlink, you are advised

to ask your teacher to sign a witness statement conrming the result, or at least to initial

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