Wk 10 - Start of System Modelling

Wk 10 - Start of System Modelling

The last few weeks have been very busy due to project research, research and documenting vital issues surrounding the project and progress on assignments for other modules - busy busy busy!!!

All of the topics that needed to be documented for the project have now been finished. Therefore I am now able to the System Modelling phase and really get into the 'nitty gritty' of the project design (my favourite bit).

The Project Research is still ongoing and will be until the start of January. 

Wk 7 - Branding Research

Wk 7 - Branding Research

The 'Branding' topic has been added to the Research Stage, the objective of this research is to: evaluate and decide elements of the product branding; colour schemes, fonts and ideas for the new company logo.

After only a few hours undertaking this research topic the Font of the new company logo and website content has been decided: 'MuseoSlab500' will be used for the logo and 'MuseoSlab300' will be the font of the website. I have chosen these to use fonts of the Museo Slab family because it is a professional but friendly looking font, that is clear to read and compatible on any web browser. 

After looking through Flowers by Song's products, the product below has been chosen as the most attractive and therefore will be integrated in the company logo. The website will follow the theme of the logo and therefore variations of purple will be the colour scheme running throughout. cssdrive.com has been used to generate the colour palette of the image below.

Due to various information gathered from peers, project meetings and the Project Supervisor, a number of changes have been made to the Project Gantt Chart. The following tasks have been added;

1. Branding Research Topic in Research stage
2. Feasibility Study in Analysis stage
3. Administration Section in Product Implementation stage
4. Data Flow Diagram in System Modelling stage
5. Entity Relationship Diagram in System Design stage

Due to the duration of the Research stage being underestimated and new tasks (above) being added, the System Modelling stage, the Product Design stage and the Product Implementation stage have been changed so that the start date of these stages begin later on in the project.

The Terms of Reference has been handed in to the Project Supervisor, therefore feedback on this documentation is due to be delivered in the next week.

The rest of this week's task is to complete the Research Stage.

The Project is coming along nicely so....

WATCH THIS SPACE!!

Wk 6 - Second meeting with Supervisor

Wk 6 - Second meeting with Supervisor

Today was my second meeting with my project supervisor and the other students.

A lot of very helpful information was taken out of today's meeting. The following topics were covered;

1. Final report contents - I developed a draft contents page of the final report, which I took into the meeting, after the discussion I learnt that several other topics need to be covered and included in the final report. For example design of logo, font and colour scheme of website and client and project evaluations need to be included.
2. Life cycle development approaches - A decision needs to be made of which development life cycle approaches is going to be undertaken, and a short summary of; the cycle, the advantages, the disadvantages, how it relates to the project and why it has been chosen needs to be included.
3. Report writing - I learnt how to format various sections a report documentation, for example, figures and references.
4. Testing approaches and methods - different testing approaches and methods were established, a decision of which ones to use and why will be analysed later on in the project.

Two tasks have been set for next week's meeting;

1. To create a rich picture of my system
2. Think and talk about what job role I want after I graduate and what requirements I need to do this

Wk 5 - Research & Initial Project Meeting

Wk 5 Research & Initial Project Meeting

The research topics have been a lot more time consuming then I initially presumed, therefore this task is still on-going. 

 

The first meeting with my project supervisor took place today, a weekly meeting has also been arranged. These meetings will consist of myself and the seven others, who also have Rupert as their supervisor, discussing the progress of our projects, and any problems that occur. In the first meeting we dicussed; what our project was, progress of our projects so far and the Terms of Reference documentation. I think this group meetings each week will really help me develop my project to the best of my ability as it is helpful to be able to discuss my project with other students.

Terms of Reference documentation is due to be handed in on the November 2nd, therefore a list of headings have been developed so I know what has to be covered in this document.

So from now until November 2nd, I will spend my time completing the Terms of Reference documentation.

Wk 4 - Planning & Research

Wk 4 - Planning & Research

A very busy week planning what is going to be included in my project, from what I will analyse to which system model diagrams will be implemented. An initial plan has been created and included in the Project Proposal (see below).

Initial Project Plan

From the initial plan (above) a Gantt Chart (below) has been produced and this is what i will follow throughout the project in order to meet the deliverables. This Gantt Chart will change throughout the project due to new tasks may be added or the duration of a particular task may be lengthened. Below is a screen of the project Baseline Gantt Chart, the tasks visible are project milestones.

Baseline Gantt Chart

In order for the product to be as successful as possible, relevant research is required. Three research topics have been identified along with research objectives;

1. Website Security - To determine the security measures that must to be implemented to provide a secure e-commerce website that is unattainable to hackers.
2. E-commerce websites - To identify the vital design and process of e-commerce webpages, in order to create a successful shopping cart for the client and their users and to establish how to integrate PayPal into a shopping cart.
3. Existing systems - Evaluate page design, site layout and navigation of existing systems in order to acquire enhanced knowledge and understanding of the relevant business category

The rest of the week will be spent carrying out the above research objectives.

Wk 3 - Project Proposal

Wk 3 - project proposal

It's now week 3 of my Individual Project. I just finished the first draft of my Project Proposal, its now been sent off to my Project Supervisor via an email for some formative feedback before it gets submitted on Friday. I found it difficult to keep to the recommended one-page limit as I have so much to write about.

I now have had many communications with my external client - flowers by Song and I have been contacting Andrew Lupton, who is a employee at the company. He answered the questions and gave me feedback on the product ideas that I put forward to him (See blog entry Week 2 (05/10/12). He has sent me images and more information on their best selling products that I suggested get displayed on the homepage of the e-commerce website. Along with the images of the best sellers, he also attached the company logo/banner which he has given me permission to amend if required.

I have so many ideas on the design of the product which I am very eager to start, but first a Gantt chart project plan needs creating...

Wk 2 - Project is underway

Wk 2 - Project is underway

I had a meeting with a potential supervisor at the start of this week! We discussed project ideas and he is now my project supervisor - Rupert Ward.

I have chosen to undertake the Flowers by Song project as my Final Year Project. The company Flowers by Song are a small business that make artificial flowers. The company is growing quickly therefore they would like a e-commerce website to broaden their potential customers, advertise their company and allow users to make orders via Paypal.

Rupert (project supervisor) has put me in contact with the company and we have had communication by email. I have came up with a set of draft requirements, questions and a few ideas for the website and attached these into an email to company.

I am very excited to start working with the Flowers by Song company to create an successful website.