BACKGROUND
- In this Assignment 1 you are the Manager of a department in a Global multinational company (the type of organization/industry/business/service will be assigned to you via an email from the course examiner)
- In the light of the increasing number of your employees using different types of applications for managing all aspects of operations, you have come up with an idea for a Desktop Application for a particular problem that will help improve the workflow, communications and productivity of your staff, both in-house as well as with company employees across the globe.
REQUIREMENTS
- Using Microsoft PowerPoint, develop a professional presentation to the CIO to convince him/her to provide the appropriate resources to realize the development, implementation and integration of your concept application into the Enterprise’s in-house Application Store.
- The concept of the application does not have to be particularly sophisticated or innovative for the purposes of this course. We are more interested in the processes and issues involved rather than the end product itself, and the application is therefore to be considered only as a means to an end. So an adaptation of an existing product or solution is acceptable.
Your pitch to the CIO will include:
- Details about the organization/industry/business/service
- Type (assigned to you)
- Description of the organization
- Description of department of which you are the Manager
- The concept
- The business drivers
- The benefits
- The target audience
- Impact on existing staff, processes and procedures
- A wireframe/prototype design of the user interfaces showing the application in its various steps and phases
In the design process, the best way to
show customers, managers, and programmers the product you have in mind
and want to create is to make a mockup of the views that compose the
application user interface.
-
- One of the first things you want to do to develop your application idea is to create a mockup of the application. A mockup, as the name implies, is a basic visual prototype of the look and feel of your application.
- Mockups serve two purposes, one is to test the core concepts of your application and the second is to serve as a blueprint to use when working with developers to build your application.
- A good mockup will lay out what every screen in your application looks like down to the buttons, colours and fonts and will illustrate how someone moves through the application to complete basic tasks.
- The maximum number of slides is 20 (twenty).
- Each slide must include speaker’s notes (in the Notes section) that expand on the bullet points and graphics on the slide.
- There must be evidence in your presentation that your application is directly related to the organization/industry/business/service that you have been assigned.
- Failure to do so will result in zero marks being awarded for this assignment.
Wireframe diagrams (60 MARKS)
Your PowerPoint presentation will include
a series of slides showing wireframes of each of the steps and stages
of your application.
- It will show the (screen) transitions from one screen to the next based on user interaction, workflows and screen navigations.
- The slides must detail the purpose of the wireframe diagram, its role in the application and any other important information that would help a developer to write the code to perform that functionality
- Demonstrate ability to use the use of the wireframe tool
HINTS AND ADVICE
- The organization/business type was sent to all students who were enrolled at the start of the semester.
- If you have not received an email at your USQ email address from me with your allocated business type, then email me with your full name and student number to
REFERENCING
- With Assignment 1, there is no need to reference/cite statements in each slide. You should include a final slide with any reference materials you may have used. For Assignment 2, you will need to cite all referenced sources in your report along with a list of references at the end of the report.
Provide the context in which the project
exists. Provide a description of the business – who they are, what
industry they operate in, what products/services they sell, etc.
- This section must provide sufficient briefing on the project background to enable the CIO to understand the context and importance of your project.
The concept
- What is the purpose of your Application: Describe the situation or problem that your Application is designed to address and why it is important to do so?
- How does your Application provide a solution: Discuss how you plan to address the problem outlined above. Make sure you clearly describe how your proposed solution will address the problem as you’ve described it.
- It is a description/explanation of the plan and intention for the application. It should help sell the application.
- What was the reason for coming up with this idea? What problem/process, usually a business one, does this application attempt to solve. What impact will the application have on the business.
Business Drivers
- Discuss what resources, processes and/or conditions from the organization are going to be needed to ensure the development and success of your application concept.
- Business factors that drive the need for improvement
- Cost, customer satisfaction, innovation, competitive advantages, quality and efficiency, speed, innovation, etc.
- Relationship between Application and allocated theme
- Many applications can be generic enough to solve problems for a multitude of businesses/organizations.
- When presenting your application idea, I only need for you to make reasonable and plausible references in your presentation to your theme.
WHERE DO I START?
Look at an existing business/organization
that falls within your allocated theme, see what their core business is
and come up with an application that might be useful to them.
It does not have to be a completely new idea – an adaption of an existing one will do.
Even consider reverse-engineering (or tweaking) an existing application
- The APPLICATION IDEA
- Brand new
- Adaptation of existing application
- Reengineering of existing application
q You have the latitude and
flexibility to be as creative as you wish and to make reasonable
assumptions where necessary including:
- How you contextualize your organization
- How you develop and pitch your presentation
- Your company name, logo, statistics, etc.
- How you use the wireframe tool to express your concept and requirement
About the business model/industry
- Be creative and imaginative
- Make reasonable assumptions where necessary
- See how it can be a global business model
Start ASAP
- Develop your idea
- Familiarise yourself with the wireframing tool
- Put together the pitch and presentation
PLEASE NOTE:
- I am not requiring the actual development of the application. I only want the design of the application in the form of a set of wireframe diagrams from which a programmer can start to code the application.
- An architect of a house/building versus a builder/construction company.
- You are the architect,
- The programmer is the builder/construction company.
Wireframing
- When beginning a new web design or desktop application project, it’s always a good idea to begin with a wireframe.
- The purpose of a wireframe is to communicate the layout of a page without getting caught up in colour and design elements.
- Wireframes can be a big time saver as they help all parties involved come to an agreement on placement of major page elements such as headers, content areas, navigation menus, and footers.
- The key is to get the layout nailed down so major layout changes won’t take place once detailed design elements are in place.
- UI in this case stands for user interface.
- In any software development environment, the user interface is the starting point.
- It’s the central point around which you organize your development activities and you organize what you’re trying to do.
- And that reflects a commitment to user experience.
- Wireframes typically support the conceptualization of the application, meaning the way in which the concept of what you’re trying to communicate is anchored.
- And it’s the point at which the construction of that application emanates from.
- Look at this from the point of view of the person who’s using the desktop and is interfacing with the application.
- It is the user interface from which all the functionality emanates
- Design is really an iterative process.
Watch the tutorials on the Study desk
Questions to ask about your design…
- Is it useful? Why/why not?
- Is it desirable? Why/why not?
- Is it easy to use? Why/why not
- Is it functional? Why/why not?
- Is it sustainable? Why/why not?
- How does it compare with the alternatives?
Assignment 2 FOCUS
o You will have to
think of the implications of your application when being deployed in a
global environment, and of all of the issues and integration strategies
that have to be taken into consideration in the development and
deployment of your application.
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