Methods and Modelling

Coursework Part One

CONTRIBUTION: 50% of Final Mark
HAND OUT DATE: 3rd and 10th November
HAND IN DATE: Full time students: Friday 19th November and November 26th
Part Time Students: Friday 3rd December and Friday 10th December.

This assignment is intended to give you a chance to think about how the techniques we have been
discussing might be applied in a case study situation. I have tried to make the assignment specification
flexible so that you can use your imagination and initiative.

I would like to make your work available to future students of this module so think of them as the “clients”
for your work. You will be developing a case study to show how modelling can be used within a method to
take us from the struggle to understand a problem towards the struggle to imagine a solution.

Part One
You should select one of the following projects:

 An information retrieval system supporting academic research.

 The Industrial Placement Unit in our School.
 A module selection system for students studying a joint honours degree.

Further information about these can be found at the end of this document.

Having selected one of the above you are free to make any reasonable assumptions about the nature of the
system. You should use your imagination to flesh out the basic idea into a more substantial case study. The
case study should illustrate your understanding of how we can move step-by-step from models that help us
to understand a problematic situation to ones that specify the design of a software system that will be
helpful in resolving the problems.

The method you follow should be based on the “Huddersfield” method. But you can take an agile approach
to this – meaning that you should use only the modelling techniques that seem helpful in developing your
case study.

Typically you might provide the following:

i. An SSM root definition of the proposed system. (A system to do X, by (means

of) Y, in order to Z)
ii. An SSM conceptual model or UML activity diagram to describe the system – or
a substantial part of the system.
iii. A use case diagram for all the use cases and actors you can identify to support
that part of the system.
iv. For three significant use cases, a completed Use Case proforma.
v. For each of the three use cases, a sequence diagram.
vi. A class diagram that is consistent with your sequence diagrams.

You might find it useful to follow these steps and produce all 6 of the deliverables listed above. You may
however choose to skip a step or add additional steps (e.g. CATWOE for your root definition) as you think
appropriate for your chosen case study. I am being flexible about this to encourage you to think like an
“agile” developer - choosing only the techniques that are useful for a particular project.

Part Two
You should submit your own critical assessment of the coursework (approx 2 pages). The evaluation
should include a discussion on how the coursework has reinforced (or otherwise) your appreciation of the
techniques and processes employed in undertaking a development project. In addition the evaluation may
include a wider discussion on topics such as:

 How the Methods and Modelling module relates to the other modules on your course.
 How the knowledge and skills taught on the module relates to your previous experience as a
student and/or employee.
 The appropriateness of the knowledge and skills taught on the module for future employment.
 Any particular aspects of the module that you have found difficult. Specifically any aspect of the
real world that you wanted to capture in the models produced for Part One but couldn’t. Or any
step in the process carried out in Part One that seemed to be a waste of time. Or any additional
steps that you think would have been useful.
Marking Scheme
The assessment of this coursework will be carried out on the following components of the work.
Part 1 – 80%
Part 2 – 20%

Further Information on Case Studies

An information retrieval system for academic research.

I have in mind a system like Summon which has just been installed by our library. This is a Google-like
search engine that provides fast, relevancy-ranked results through a single search box. If you choose this
case study you might be interested in the MSc project report that you will find in the folder named
“Information Retrieval Case Study” in the assignments folder on Blackboard. In the same folder you will
find an old paper by me describing the design of an object oriented information retrieval system. The paper
does include some UML diagrams which may give you some ideas but be sure to develop your own
solution.

The Industrial Placement Unit in our School

If you are interested in this project take a look at the business process models that describe the activities of
the placement unit in considerable detail. You will find these in the folder named “Industrial Placement
Case Study” in the Blackboard assignments folder. This is a very substantial document you could not
consider everything in it but you could select one particular aspect of the Placement Unit’s work and focus
on that. You will also find an undergraduate project from the University of Leeds describing their
placement unit.

A module selection system for students studying a joint honours degree.

If you are interested in this project take a look at the undergraduate projects in the folder “Module Selection
System”. These are from students at Leeds University where they operate an interesting, if complicated,
joint honours programme. These projects do include UML diagrams which may give you some ideas but be
sure to develop your own solution.