Systems Design Project (SDP) Course Outline

A. Course Information

Pre-requisites: IE2100, IE2110, IE2111

The Systems Design Project Course (SDP) lasts for one academic year. Objective is for students to gain experience in real-world projects through application of knowledge and honing of skills.

Upon successful completion of SDP, students would have sharpened their skills in the following :

1. Systems Analysis and Design

1. Gather requirements and frame problem in Systems Engineering context, identify relevant data sources for data collection.
2. Identify and apply appropriate methodology for model formulation.
3. Design solution including implementation following a typical Software Development Lifecycle.
4. Document requirements, design, implementation, test and roll-out in crisp and comprehensive manner.

2. Team Work

1. Fundamental project management.
2. Leadership and teaming.
3. Organisational skills.
4. Inculcation of values of diligence, resilience, pro-active, integrity and duty.

3. Communication

a. Present in a clear and concise manner. b. Respond to questions with appropriate facts.

B. Projects and Teams

The Department forms teams based on:

1. Student Year.
2. Team Size.
3. Team Composition.
4. Project Complexity.
5. Company Requirements.

The Department actively engages companies to curate interesting projects for students, providing exposure to various industries and problem statements. Students may also submit their self-sourced project proposal for the Department’s consideration and approval. Department Supervisors are assigned to each project team for mentorship of students, working in tandem with a Company Supervisor.

The team is to liaise with the Company Supervisor and carry out the project independently. The role of Department Supervisor is to provide advice and direction. There should be regular sycnups with both Supervisors at least on a bi-weekly basis.

It is important that you see the Schedule on the last page and refer to the website. The Department may email updates to SDP students at times.

C. Administration

Students are to submit the following documents on the stated submission dates to ISEM Department Office. All forms can be downloaded from the website.

1. Form of Undertaking of Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure

Each student must submit to the company a Form of Undertaking of Confidentiality & Non Disclosure at the start of the project. All information and data availed to you during course are to kept confidential. Non-compliance may lead to legal actions taken against you. The company may provide its own documents for Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure.

2. IE3100R Peer Evaluation Form

Each student must complete an evaluation form for themselves and team members. The form must be submitted personally to the Department Office at the end of the final oral presentation. Details in the form are confidential. The Supervisor may discuss general observation and recommendation with the team.

D. Allowances

For transport and other necessary items, each project team may claim up to a maximum of $400. Students are to note that this is a privilege subject to change and complete revocation at any time. All claims need the approval of the course advisor/supervisor in the Department.

Students may claim for mileage if they use their private vehicles for travelling for the purpose of research for the project, at the following rates: Motor car: $0.60 per km Motor cycle / scooter: $0.20 per km

Please attach original receipts to the forms and submit your claims by the end of each month for crediting into the payee’s bank account within one month of the claim unless notified otherwise.

All claims are subject to the Department’s approval.

E. Project Evaluation

The assessment of the project proposal comprises of two parts:

1. Preliminary Examination (10%)

Interim Report

Students are required to submit an interim report to their Supervisors and Examiner according to the schedule below. By now, teams are expected to have gone through the requirements gathering phase and undertook preliminary design.

These are mandatory contents of report :

1. Finalized Suitable Project Title
2. Composition of Team Members with Team Leader Identified
3. Problem Definition and Drivers
4. Solution Requirements, Approach and Benefits
5. Proposed Approach and Background Comparison of Approaches
6. System Design and Implementation to Date
7. Work done to date
8. Simple project time line to show major deliverables and their dates with these milestones.

Report should be written clearly and concisely. Font sizes no smaller than 13 should be used and line spacing should be 1.2. Section headings should start at A and subsections labelled 1, 2, 3 and so on, with subsections labelled i., ii., and so on. Further subsections within these are labelled a., b., and so on and the recursively repeats from 1, 2 and 3 again.

Preliminary Oral Presentation

Teams are required to give a preliminary oral presentation on the project – 20 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for question and answer. Each team member is required to present and if possible, his/her role described as well. Teams are advised to adhere strictly to the time limit to avoid penalty.

2. Final Examination (90%).

From AY2015/16 onwards and given the growing importance of SDP, the final assessment of the project (with submissions) includes the following items:

1. Individual Working Attitude (25%). Awarded by Supervisor(s) only; feedback from participating company will be solicited and taken into consideration
2. Project Execution and Achievement (35%). Feedback from participating company will be solicited and taken into consideration
3. Oral Presentation – Project (10%).
4. Report Writing (15%).
5. Project Poster (5%).
6. Peer Assessment and Company Feedback – These can and will be taken into account.

It is crucial that you understand the above evaluation criteria as groups and individuals.

3. Guidelines to Final Report

Contents (including but not restricted to)

1. Executive Summary which must list the Project Achievements and Skillsets acquired in the Project. A good Executive Summary is impactful as it helps the reader to understand the Report better.
2. Background of Company in Brief
3. Problem Description
4. Methodologies / Approaches
5. Comparison and Critique of Design Alternatives
6. Discussion of Results
7. Recommendations including Future Directions, Improvements Needed and Conclusions
8. References
9. Appendices including an appropriate system architecture or diagram(s) as guidance to the system developed and if necessary, documentation about the system source or application.
10. Main report should not be more than 30 pages (excluding cover page, references and appendices). Executive summary should not exceed 4 pages.

4. Guidelines to Project Poster

Each team is required to submit an A1-sized (594mm x 841mm) poster about your project. Your poster should be a summary of your project, enhanced with high-resolution pictures, graphics or tables.

Please ensure that your poster includes the following:

1. Project title.
2. Names of group members.
3. Names of Supervisor(s).
4. Department name.
5. Course title – Systems Design Project.
6. Company / Organization name & logo (if any).
7. NUS logo (Download from: http://www.nus.edu.sg/identity/).
8. Project Illustration with Achievements, Outcomes, Benefits and equally importantly, the key Skillsets (technical) acquired from the Project – how you have applied your ISE content as well as what you have learned in that problem solving process in real-life. This is equivalent to expressing your ‘CV’ in the Poster

Please ensure that the company has approved the content of the poster to be suitable for public display. Past projects can be found here.

5. Submission of Final Report for Examination and Online Submission of SDP Materials

Each team is required to submit the final report, Case Study and Teaching Note upon approval by your Supervisor according to the schedule below.

The Final Report and Case Study/Teaching Note will be submitted as a set together for evaluation, one each to your Project Advisor, the Case Study Examiner and the Examiner-Moderator through the Department Office.

You will also submit 2 more sets or copies of the Final Report itself to 2 other Examiners through the Department Office.

Oral Project Presentations will be required in the final examination. Please refer to the section on Preliminary Oral Presentation section. The Department will also make a video recording of your Oral Presentation to accompany the PowerPoint itself. Please consult your Supervisors and see the schedule.

Depending upon prior arrangements, copies of the Project Report may have to be submitted to the company concerned through the Supervisor.

In addition, the Final Report, Case Study/Teaching Note in their Word and PDF formats together with a. Project Work files and data and b. Other relevant materials or information (posters, presentation slides etc.) must be saved in CD-ROM/DVD/Thumb Drive and submitted to your Industry Supervisor and Department Supervisor.

At the same time, an online submission of the above-mentioned to the Department is to be done at the end of the final examination. You will be informed on how this is to be properly done later.

6. Final Oral Presentation and Peer Evaluation

Each team will be given the following planned times (the order of which is to be decided by the SDP Group and announced beforehand) for the Project Presentation:

1. 35 minutes for Oral Presentation.
2. 15 minutes for Question and Answer.

Each team member is required to present and they will be graded individually. It would be appropriate for each team member to mention his/her role and contributions.

The conclusion of the presentation should also include the skillsets that the team can consider to be achieved or acquired due to the project efforts and experience. This can be related to how ISEM content has been applied in the project as well as what various problem-solving lessons have been experienced and internalized.

Teams are advised to adhere strictly to the time limit to avoid penalty.

Each team member must also submit a peer evaluation form to the ISEM Department Office after their presentation. Peer evaluation forms should be kept confidential. As SDP is based on team efforts, the purpose of peer assessment is to allow team members to be fair and objective to each other.

F. FAILURE

In the event that teams fail to achieve a pass mark, they will be required to re-write the report and/or make more progress (depending on the recommendation of the supervisor/s and examiner) before re-submission.