Reference no: EM133019885

Topic - Building a e-commerce website

Learning outcomes

• Apply theoretical and practical concepts from the programme of study to the construction of a solution to a practical problem. (First and Final)

• Carry out research and analysis to support the project requirements. (First)

• Plan and self-manage the work. (First and Final)

• Assess the potential global impact of the work (First)

• Present the work using a report in which the process and product are described, analysed, and critically evaluated. (Final)

• Present and defend the work in a formal demonstration/Viva (Final)

Project plan

This is usually in the form of your product and sprint backlogs. To complete the plan, you will need to:
• Identify the tasks you intend to undertake and their order, remembering that some tasks can be undertaken in parallel.
• Allocate time for each task to be carried out.
You are likely to find it difficult to allocate time to each task, as you may not know what a realistic amount of time is. But you could work backwards from the deadline for project report hand-in, all tasks will need to be completed by then. You may find it helpful to do a critical path analysis. Allow some contingency for falling behind (you might get sick or have some unavoidable delays). Your supervisor will advise whether your initial plan looks realistic. You may use a Scrum framework in your project. An example is shown in Figure 2.
As you progress through your project you will need to update your plan for each meeting with your supervisor. Use it to indicate what progress you have made by showing which tasks are complete and which are ongoing. Take it to every supervision meeting. MS Project is available in all labs of Gateway House. Double-check the COVID-19 regulations with the university. Please seek advice from ITMS on how to use this at home.
Remember that you start writing up on day one, you accumulate documents throughout the project period and the final stage should ideally be a matter of tidying up and writing your introduction, conclusions, evaluation etc.

4.3. Ethical review
It is a university requirement that every project undergoes an Ethical Review. This is to ensure the protection of the interests of any humans affected by research studies and to carefully consider any legal risks associated with the project. A client, end-user, or research participant can be affected by:
• Collection of data directly from people (e.g., via interviews, surveys, questionnaires, observation).
• Collection of data about individuals whose identity can be detected from the data.

In addition, research may be at risk of involving illegal activities, activities at the margins of the law (e.g., software piracy, illegal downloads of music) or activities that have a risk of injury.
The University policy states that research (including student projects) involving human subjects should ensure:
• All participants volunteer, normally without inducement and give their written consent to participation.
• Written consent is given in the light of full awareness of the objectives of the teaching/research, the procedures to be followed and the anticipated outcomes particularly in the respect of publication of findings.
• All participants be given a written description of their involvement in the project, the demands to be made, their rights and how their rights and interests will be protected, particularly in respect of publication of findings.
• All participants are made aware of their freedom to withdraw consent and discontinue participation at any time.
• Appropriate documentation must be designed to meet these objectives and to keep appropriate records, for example information regarding the project should be given in writing and the participant should sign to acknowledge receipt of the material.
You should discuss with your supervisor whether your project will give rise to any ethical issues, and if so, how they will be addressed.
A simplified form has been approved for the Ethical Review process on the Final Year Project; you will find this on the module Blackboard shell under ‘Module Information/Module Forms. This form is to be completed and signed off by week 4. If necessary, it can be reviewed later; it may be that you decide later to involve some human subjects (for example, to carry out some user testing); or if you are undertaking a ‘research' project you might not have completed your research design, and thus cannot identify what ethical issues may be involved, by week 4.
The possible outcomes of the Ethical Review are:
1. No ethical issues
2. Minor ethical issues which have been addressed and concerns resolved
3. Major ethical issues which have been addressed and concerns resolved
4. Ethical issues that have not been resolved/addressed
It is likely that for most projects the outcome will be 1 or 2: in these cases, the Ethical Review form is completed accordingly, and signed off by the student and supervisor.
If the outcome is 3 or 4, the completed form must be forwarded to the Faculty Research Ethics committee.

Your supervisor has been allocated 5 hours for face-to-face or online supervision, with additional time for reading drafts, marking deliverables, and providing feedback on all of those. In order to get the most out of supervision sessions, we suggest that before every supervision session, you
• Produce a summary of your progress since the last meeting: the work you have completed, the problems you have encountered and how you propose to solve them, etc. This should be documented on a Project Progress Report (available in the Appendix and on the Blackboard shell)
• Prepare a list of questions that you want to ask your supervisor, or issues about which you need some advice/guidance.
• Prepare a list of tasks you intend to work on between this and the next supervision meeting.
and during the supervision session, you
• Make sure you are clear about any feedback and advice you are given. Ask for clarification and consider taking notes.
• Agree with your supervisor the work you plan to tackle next.
• Agree the date of the next supervision meeting or how contact will be made to agree the next meeting.
and after the supervision session, you
• Revise your project plan, if necessary.
• Plan your time until the next supervision meeting, considering your other commitments.