Sample Project 1:
Embedded System Architecting

You are the system architect of a large multi-national electronic company, ABC Electronics Ltd. Your division, the Audio-Video System (AVS) division is in the business of developing and supplying optical-based drives or end-product deriving from such drives. You are in both the OEM and end-consumer sectors.

A key project for your division in the next work year is the roll out of blue-ray based products for the CE and/or PC sectors. You, as the system architect of the division are nominated to lead the development of the product road-map. This development is the joint effort of the Blue-ray PCT (Product Creation Team), which has representations from all job functions.

Having weathered the ups and downs of the last two generations of products, based on CD and DVD technologies, your GM is very concern about getting offerings and timings right. There is no doubt that this new line will eventually replace the DVD line, but the questions are when, in what form, and at what price point. These are multi-billion dollar questions as shipment volume is expected to reach 200 millions and beyond per year. Product window is also deemed short, as other new technologies are already in the wings. It is also widely expected that history will repeat itself, with lessons from CD and DVD, being useful in predicting the expected path of blue-ray. However concerns on standards, end-applications, consumer expectations, remedial challenges from DVDs, supporting technologies and other may greatly distort the perceived landscape.

Part I
You are therefore asked to perform a very detailed justification document for your final product roadmap. In this document, you are to do the following.

1. Clearly identify your key information sources
2. Examine your data gathering process and justify why your selected process would be able to fulfill the objective of your task.
3. Your analysis and the assurance that conclusions are accurate and complete.
4. Outline the workflow to gain acceptance from members of the PCT.

Your submission in this section shall be in the form of a report and a short 15-min oral presentation summarizing the salient points of the report.

Part II
Once you have gained the agreement with the PCT, the next stage is to work with the software architect, hardware architect and the various technology managers to develop the design. Note that re-use, process orientation and quality documentation are important elements that the GM wants the development team to follow. You should do the following.

1. Based on the report that you have just completed, compile a summary of business needs for the technical team. You may also want to lay down the process operational requirements to guide the subsequent design process.
2. Determine the technical design features and translate these requirements into technical requirements. Note that the company has adopted the design principles of the OMG, which in embedded in the diagrams of UML. You should therefore in all circumstances present your design and findings using the appropriate UML diagrams. While using UML diagrams have the advantage of self-documentation, you should help the readers by peppering your diagrams with generous annotations for further elaborations.
3. Based on inputs from the various architects, as well as knowledge of platforms and/or components that are already in use in the division, you should come up with a list of suitable hardware and software in the realization of the various products. Note that backward compatibility, general applicability are all important factors to consider and should be highlighted.
4. To guide hardware and software developers, you may also want to come up with guidelines on development of hardware/software specifications, configurations and validations.
5. Finally based on your development model that you are following, you should come up with a timeline for design review and sign-off. In particular, you should clearly list the schedule, activities and deliverables for design review and refinement meetings, and sign-off procedure, change management and others.

You are to complete a report and make a 45-minute oral presentation on this second part of the project, addressing all the items listed above diligently. Note that each item is associated with one or more CEs of the various CUs. Assessor will therefore be identifying the quality and appropriateness of the statements that you make in contribution to the various CEs and therefore assessing your competency in those CEs.

Sample Project 2:
Diploma of Information Technology

Classic National Ceramics' business growth is outstanding; they have engaged new staff, surpassed targeted sales growth and international demand for the product is growing daily.

Classic National Ceramics are seeking to develop a website that enables new and existing customers to select products for purchase. A web presence will enable them to showcase their wares, increase sales and enable feedback from potential customers.

Online Systems Solutions has been asked to develop their website. The project will be implemented over a number of stages.

In stage one of the project, you will be required to develop a detailed project plan and contract for the Classic National Ceramics Website.

In this first stage of the project you will be planning for and managing the website development process. You are required to create a contract, project plan and supporting material to facilitate this development.

Project Deliverables

At the completion of this stage of the project, you must submit the following items.

• Project plan
• Change request documentation
• Progress report

The Client

The owner of the company has become increasingly aware of the importance of the Internet as a marketing and sales tool. Many of their competitors and industry partners now have websites and Classic National has decided that in order not to be left behind, the company must develop a web presence.

You can view an interview with the owner of the company, see a catalogue of their products and review all client documents from the link below or from the "clients" menu.

Project Tasks

Create project plan for Classic National Ceramics website project and create report on project phasesYou are required to develop a project plan for the Classic National Ceramics website project. You should:

• Review Classic National Ceramics Information for an overview of the client's business.
• Select the project planning tool you intend to use (eg Microsoft Project/Work Breakdown structure).

• Review the project background document, for more detailed information on the project.
• Review the document which identifies project phases, activities and tasks
• Use the information reviewed above and the project planning tool of your choice to create the Work Breakdown structure. You will need to:
• Schedule the tasks in order to complete the project in four months.
• You will need to determine which tasks need to be started or finished before the next task starts; that is you will need to work out dependency for each task.
• Create draft budget using the formula in the project background document.
• Write a report describing project phases and test plan. The project background document provides some hints on what to include in this report.

Document change request

The client has requested a change to the scope of the project. You should:

• Review the change request document.
• Cost the change request and assess impact on project scope and schedule.
• Create variation for contract using variation of contract template.
• Update project plan to reflect changes.
  Note: if you are using MS project as your tool for developing the project schedule, you may want to save a baseline before making changes.
• Submit the variation for client approval

Write progress and status report

You will need to do the following:

• Review the progress report information.
• Write a progress report based on the progress report example.
• Write a status report based on the status report example.

• A presentation of the project execution plan to meet the performance criteria on the Outreach learning site.
• Recordings of any demonstration of work leading to your final report and/or product. Please label your uploaded documents clearly, and include clear but brief description of what you intend to demonstrate in the recordings. If possible you should clearly label it with the performance criterion which a particular recording would provide evidence of competency.
• All your final reports and corresponding oral presentation.