The 'AS' course involves a piece of coursework using a spreadsheet package.
The A2 course involves a piece of coursework using a relational database package.
RESOURCES ON THIS PAGE (Click the link to be taken further down...)
We will use a spreadsheet package called EXCEL (a Microsoft product, but other products are available) to produce a product which is designed for a specific end user (a bespoke package....)
Candidates will receive a BOOKLET which takes you through the procedure. The METHODOLOGY is important to the final mark - need to be clear about what is expected of you, and how to best complete the coursework.
The coursework is a TASK RELATED PROBLEM for a specific END USER. The end user needs to be REAL OR REALISTIC and the project needs to be LIMITED IN SCOPE.
What this means in practice is that you need to work out an actual person who would benefit from having a spreadsheet solution designed for them.
The SOLUTION has to meet the specifications that the end user ACTUALLY wants, rather than what you THINK they want.
Think carefully before deciding what you are going to spend the next several months working on. It should be:
FUN
A CHALLENGE
INTERESTING
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM AND THE END USER
Think about what ICT is good at - in the theory section we learnt that ICT can:
process data quickly and accurately
improve presentation
improve the speed and quality of communication
provide new opportunities for business
This means that ICT is often used in particular situations - which include situations where there is:
a lot of repetition
where mistakes made by people can cause problems, and accuracy is vital
where presentation is poor at the moment
where there is a lack of security
where time is an issue
Think of the following situations where people may have use for an ICT solution:
small businesses (or large ones....) - could be local self-employed person who needs to print invoices or keep financial records, decorators, builders, plumbers, hairdressers, farmers, market gardeners
(these people are often too busy to do the admin side as they are doing the practical jobs that actually earn them the money...)
clubs and societies: sporting or otherwise
home / leisure users (could be parents...)
schools
charities or voluntary organisations
neighbours
past and present teachers
the places you do your part time jobs / or where you did your work experience...
Don't choose something that is too complex.
Here are some suggestions adapted from BARBARA WILSON's book (a recommended purchase...)
Coursework projects could be examples of the following:
|
A system to produce invoices for a small business |
| A system to work out quotations |
| An ordering system - take orders and deal with them |
| Recording payments |
| Timetable / booking for freelance people or locations e.g. church halls |
| Analysis of statistical / financial data |
| Record keeping for small businesses |
Once you've identified a possible END USER: you will need to identify the REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION. This may involve a meeting or formal interview, or period of observation.
FIRST PRIORITY
Identify an end-user
Find out what they want
Needs to be a solution that is solvable using EXCEL.
Bear in mind the following issues:
Your coursework will need to be APPROVED by myself or Mr. McLean. Fill in the APPROVAL FORM which is duplicated lower down this page.
In addition to actually putting together the spreadsheet, you will also need to provide complete DOCUMENTATION. This includes a USER GUIDE, SYSTEMS ANALYSIS, TESTING SCHEME and EVALUATION.
COURSEWORK APPROVAL SHEET
(Needs to be filled in by each candidate / student)
| Organisation / Person (End
User):
|
| Background: (Brief description
of organisation / person)
|
| Problem Statement (describe the
nature of the problem):
|
| Objectives:
|
| MS Excel features that will be
used in the implementation: a) b) c) d) e) f)
|
| Project Approved ? YES NO |
| Comment:
|
Recommended reading:
"ICT Coursework for AS Level" - Barbara Wilson (Hodder and Stoughton, 2003) - ISBN: 0 340 85789 7
First Coursework Deadline is now passed... December 19th was the deadline for handing in the first section...
We are now into the testing stage. This involves checking that your piece of software works. Clearly it has to be implemented first.
The book above gives some excellent advice on this, and perhaps you can spend some of your Christmas book tokens on this.. (I bought a biography of Isaac Newton with mine...)
You will need to set up a TESTING STRATEGY. This will involve a series of different types of test.
Testing is not to find programming errors or 'bugs'. It is to ensure that the piece of software you have written meets the performance criteria and satisfies the end user. It is a test to see that the spreadsheet does what it is supposed to do.
UNIT TESTING
Deals with one element. Could be VALIDATION checks on data input, IFs, calculations etc.
INTEGRATION TESTING
LOOKUPs - where more than one sheet is referenced
SYSTEM TESTING
Take a set of data on a dummy run through the solution.
END USER TESTING
TEST PLANS
These need to include details of all the tests that need to be carried out. You need to do SCREEN DUMPS. If you are unsure as to how to do this a good example is the BARBARA WILSON textbook mentioned further up the page.
The marker needs to see that you have tested your solution to ensure that all the sections and sub sections have been tested to ensure that they link to each other appropriately. Any HYPERLINKS, FUNCTIONS, FORMULAE, VALIDATION etc have to be tested.
