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- | ====== Initial Project Plan ====== | ||
- | |||
- | The final year project is a substantial part of your degree. It can have a | ||
- | major effect on the degree class you are awarded and even whether or not | ||
- | you pass the degree. The initial project plan is to make sure you understand | ||
- | what your project requires you to do and how you are going to finish it successfully. | ||
- | You must submit an initial project plan at the beginning of the first semester of | ||
- | your project (the deadline for this is listed in your PATS account under the project | ||
- | description). | ||
- | |||
- | The initial project plan must be approved by your supervisor and moderator. Therefore, | ||
- | you should discuss the plan with your supervisor and moderator before you submit it to | ||
- | make sure both of you agree on what your project entails. You should further check the | ||
- | project plan with your moderator, but the first person to talk about it is usually your | ||
- | supervisor. | ||
- | |||
- | We suggest that you write an initial version of your project plan and arrange meetings | ||
- | with your supervisor and moderator to discuss it and revise the plan. If you are not sure | ||
- | what to write in the plan, please first discuss this with your supervisor. Once your | ||
- | supervisor and moderator are happy with your plan, submit it to PATS and they can | ||
- | officially approve it there. As you can resubmit the plan via PATS multiple times, you can | ||
- | also submit a draft and your supervisor and moderator can look at it there and even leave | ||
- | comments. However, unless there are exceptional circumstances (e..g supervisor or moderator | ||
- | may be away), we highly recommend to discuss the plan in person and not just in PATS or by | ||
- | e-mail. | ||
- | |||
- | Finally, note that this is an initial plan, and you can, and most likely should, adjust the | ||
- | plan as you progress. Note, however, that with the initial plan you are prescribing what you | ||
- | intend to deliver at the various stages of the project (in particular for the final and, if | ||
- | applicable, interim report). | ||
- | |||
- | For information about how to submit your initial plan via pats please see the [[Submission Guide]]. | ||
- | |||
- | ===== Structure and Contents ===== | ||
- | |||
- | For the initial plan one to at most two pages text are sufficient. It should contain | ||
- | the following information: | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Project Title ==== | ||
- | |||
- | The title of the initial plan document should be " | ||
- | title of your project. List yourself as author and also say who your supervisor | ||
- | and moderator is. | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Project Description ==== | ||
- | |||
- | The first section of the document should be a brief description of your project | ||
- | outlining its context and what it is overall about. You can adapt the original | ||
- | project description used to select your project there. There is no need to describe | ||
- | a lot of detail there and this would usually not be longer than half a page. | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Project Aims and Objectives ==== | ||
- | |||
- | The second section of the document should be a list of top-level aims and objectives | ||
- | for your project. These are statements of what you set out to achieve with your project. | ||
- | Try to be as specific as possible here at this stage, but avoid getting into too many | ||
- | details that may change later. A list of some top-level bullet points with at most one | ||
- | level of sub-points is usually sufficient. | ||
- | |||
- | === For Projects with Final Report Only === | ||
- | |||
- | If you are taking module CM0300, CM0333 or CM0400 your aims and objectives are what | ||
- | you expect to have at the end of the module for your final report. | ||
- | |||
- | === For Projects with Interim and Final Report === | ||
- | |||
- | If you are taking module CM0343 you should also clearly indicate what you expect to include | ||
- | in the interim report and the final report. Note that the contents of the interim report | ||
- | should not be repeated in the final report. You may think of the interim report as volume I | ||
- | and the final report as volume II of your overall project report. Your final deliverables | ||
- | (e.g. any final versions of software you developed) form part III of the project. | ||
- | |||
- | What to include in the two reports depends on the nature of your project. Your interim report | ||
- | should provide the results of the first stage of the project, representing about 25% of | ||
- | the total project work. This would usually be the results of the background study and a | ||
- | detailed analysis of the problem with a description of an approach of how to address the | ||
- | problem. For some projects, e.g., it may also contain an initial version of a final | ||
- | deliverable or some other building block of the overall project. | ||
- | |||
- | The final report then contains the overall project findings and achievements and the | ||
- | complete set of deliverables developed for the project to account for 75% of the complete | ||
- | project. The report should not repeat the contents of the interim report, but may refer to | ||
- | it and expand on it. | ||
- | |||
- | Your project plan effectively defines what should go into which report. Hence, you should | ||
- | carefully discuss this with your supervisor to make sure there is enough for 25% in the | ||
- | interim report and you neither try to do too much or too little for the interim report. | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Work Plan ==== | ||
- | |||
- | The last section of your plan should consist of a time plan stating what you are working | ||
- | on when. This should include clear milestones of what you expect to achieve by which date | ||
- | and also show how you intent to achieve these milestones. Make sure the deliverables for | ||
- | the final (and interim) report clearly link with your time plan, such that you can actually | ||
- | deliver them when they are due. | ||
- | |||
- | You are free to choose the work plan format that you think is best suited for your project. | ||
- | This //may// be in a GANTT chart format, but sometimes it may also be fine to simply list | ||
- | in sequence what you are working on. Usually a weekly scale for the plan is a good choice. | ||
- | Take note of the deadlines for the deliverables as listed in your PATS project description | ||
- | when you develop the work plan. | ||
- | |||
- | ===== Approval Procedure ===== | ||
- | |||
- | Once you have discussed your project plan with your supervisor and moderator and have | ||
- | submitted it on PATS, both, your supervisor and moderator, must approve your plan on PATS | ||
- | as well. They can also choose to leave any comments with your plan. You will see the comments | ||
- | and the approval as soon as they have done this. | ||
- | |||
- | You can resubmit your plan at any time until the deadline listed. Should you resubmit a plan | ||
- | that has already been approved, the approval will be removed and the new plan must be | ||
- | approved again. | ||
- | |||
- | After the submission deadline your supervisor and moderator can still approve the plan, | ||
- | edit their comments, etc. and in very special cases even remove approval (they should | ||
- | get in contact with you to discuss if they choose to do this). They can do this until about | ||
- | one week after the plan submission deadline. After this approval deadline they cannot | ||
- | undo any approval (but still approve your plan in case there is any delay, just that | ||
- | approval will then be final). | ||
- | |||
- | In case you fail to submit your plan by deadline or wish to resubmit a plan after the | ||
- | submission deadline, please get in contact with the project coordinator to discuss this. | ||