Project Report & Viva Voce

Introduction

What is a project?

In project management, a project is an endeavor that is undertaken by one or more person(s) to deliver
one or more business products to help/promote a business. Goals for projects are determined by the
type of project that is undertaken. For e.g. for innovative projects the goals are specific & measurable
and for radical projects they are broad and success driven.

In order to begin a project we need to follow the stages of Software Engineering SDLC. The System
Development Life Cycle (SDLC) adheres to important phases that are essential for designers and
developers.

The SDLC is divided into 10 phases during which the defined target for project is achieved. Not every
project will require that the phases be sequentially executed. The phases in the SDLC are
interdependent. Depending upon the size and complexity of the project, phases may be combined or
overlap.

The phases in the SDLC are as follows:

1. Initiation: Begins when a sponsor identifies a need or an opportunity. Conceptual proposal is

created.
2. System Concept Development: Defines the scope or boundary of the concepts which includes
system boundary document, cost benefit analysis, risk management plan and feasibility study.
3. Planning: Develops a project management plan and other planning documents. Provides the
basis for acquiring the resources needed to achieve the solution.
4. Requirement Gathering and Analysis: Analyses user needs and develops user requirements.
Creates a functional requirements document.
5. Design: Transforms the detailed requirements into complete detailed system design document.
Focuses on how to deliver the functional requirement.
6. Development: Converts a design into a complete information system. Includes acquiring and
installing systems environment; creating and testing databases, preparing test case procedures;
preparing test files, coding, compiling, refining programs; performing test readiness review and
procurement activities.
7. Integration & Testing: Demonstrates that developed system conforms to requirements as
specified in the functional requirements document. Conducted by quality assurance staff and
users. Produces test analysis reports.
8. Implementation: Includes implementation of the system into a production environment and
resolution of problems identified in the Integration and Testing phases.
9. Operations & Maintenance: Describes tasks to operate and maintain information systems in a
production environment includes post-implementation and in-process reviews.
10. Disposition: Describes end-of-system activities, emphasis is given to proper preparation of data.
Project initiation involves identifying the problem statement, deciding the technology and preparing the
synopsis. The synopsis is the extract of the project which gives a brief idea about the project
undertaken. The objective and implementation of the project should be explain in brief not exceeding
more than three to four pages. The topics of the synopsis is organized in the following way:

 Name / Title of the Project.

 Statement about the Problem.
 Objective and scope of the Project.
 Methodology (including a summary of the project).
 Hardware & Software to be used
 Testing Technologies used.
 Limitations if any
 Conclusion
 Bibliography and References

Name/Title of the Project – this should be explicitly mentioned at the beginning of the Synopsis. Since
the topic itself gives a peep into the project to be taken up, candidate is advised to be prudent on naming
the project. This being the overall impression on the future work, the topic should corroborate the work.

Statement about the Problem – this should mention about why this particular topic has been chosen.
What does the current system do and what is the problem with it. What solution(s) does the candidate
propose to do about the problem?

Objective and scope of the Project – This should give a clear picture of the project. Objective should be
clearly specified. What the project ends up to and in what way this is going to help the end user has to be
mentioned.

Methodology – The process of the whole software system proposed, to be developed, should be
mentioned in brief. This includes explaining the software engineering model adopted for developing the
project, description/short summary about the project, how you propose to develop it, the flow of
information etc.

Resources – The requirement of the resources (hardware & software) for designing and developing the
proposed system must be given. Also any data that might be needed from the industry needs to be
mentioned. The testing technologies to be used for the proposed system also must be mentioned.

Limitations – The limitation of the proposed system in respect of a larger and comprehensive system
must be given.

Conclusion – The write-up must end with the concluding remarks – briefly describing innovation in the
approach for implementing the Project, main achievements and also any other important feature that
makes the system stand out from the rest.

Bibliography & References – This includes the books and websites referenced for the proposed system.
Also includes any other reference material that can be used for the proposed system.
The Project Report needs to be submitted after the completion of the Project (also known as Project Black
Book). The Project Report is the proper documentation of the project and helps in maintaining, modifying
and updating after the project has been implemented (in case of live projects). The project report contains
the user requirements, analysis of the requirements, constraints and schedule undertaken to develop the
project. The project report generally follows a particular format which explains the sequence of how the
project was actually developed.

Suggested Format of the Project Report

 Cover Page
 Certificate of the College (certified by the project guide).
 Certificate of the Company/Organization (for live projects).
 Acknowledgement.
 Synopsis of the Project.
 Main Report (index)
o Objective & Scope of the Project.
o Theoretical Background.
o Definition of Problem.
o System Analysis & Design vis-a-vis User Requirements.
o System Planning (PERT Chart and Gantt chart).
o Methodology adopted, System Implementation & Details of Hardware & Software used.
o System Maintenance & Evaluation.
o Cost and Benefit Analysis.
o Detailed Life Cycle of the Project
 ERD, DFD, UML
 Input and Output Screen Design
 Methodology used for testing
 Test Report, Printout of the Reports, Printout of the Code Sheet
 User/Operational Manual - including security aspects, access rights, back up,
controls, etc.
 Annexure
o Brief background of the organization where the student has developed the project.
o Data Dictionary
o Reference
 Bibliography
 Websites used

Although most of the content of the above given format is self-explanatory, however it is necessary to
discuss some of them.

Cover Page: The cover page of the project report contains the name of the project, name and seat number
of the candidate doing the project, month and year of submission, name of the project guide and name of
the college. This generally needs to be created by the student.

Certificate: This contains the information regarding the project name, student name, seat number of the
student along with the signature of the guide. This is provided by the college and company (in case of live
projects)
System Analysis: This contains the user requirements, analysis of those requirements, and feasibility
study.

System Planning: This contains the time schedule of the proposed project in the form of diagrams.

Cost and Benefit Analysis: The projected cost of the proposed project needs to be calculated. This can be
done using Function Point Analysis and/or COCOMO Model. After calculating the cost, the benefits of
the project needs to be mentioned. The benefits can be both tangible and non-tangible.

Detailed Life Cycle: This contains all the diagrams related to the project which mention about the
database, flow of data and connection among different modules and interfaces. Also various test cases and
test reports are shown.

Data Dictionary: This should give a catalogue of the data elements used in the system / sub system
developed. The following are the details required: various elements of the database (table details, aliases,
triggers, procedures, functions etc.) and list of abbreviations, figures, tables.