Assignment: Software Design, Modelling and Analysis

School of Computer Science

CS5030 - Software Engineering Principles
Assignment: Software Design, Modelling and Analysis

(MMS is the definitive source for deadlines)
Credits: 60% of coursework mark
Aims
The aims of this assignment are to
• demonstrate your understanding of software design, UML diagrams and the
applicability of these diagrams to different artefacts of the software lifecycle;
• use appropriate UML diagrams to model the functional requirements, logical software
architecture, and structural and behavioural design of a small software system;
• analyse the models produced in the previous step;
• document the outcomes of your work in a precise and logical manner as a technical
report.
System description
You are required to design an application to support feedback, response and actions
between students and schools at the University of St Andrews. Each school will appoint a
member of administrative staff, who does not teach, supervise or advise students, to
manage the system. All students and staff of the school are registered as users of the
system and therefore, the application must interact with systems used by the University’s
Human Resources unit (for staff details) and Registry (for student details). In addition, the
application should have information regarding role holders among staff and students, such
as lecturers of modules, level coordinators, student representatives for different levels and
technicians. The data contained in the application should be updated on a regular basis and
reset each academic year.
Feedback can be provided by students or staff. Feedback is not anonymous at the point of
submission but it will be anonymised, unless requested otherwise, before it is passed on by
the administrator to relevant stakeholders for response and action. Student representatives
can submit feedback on behalf of other students. Feedback could relate to a specific
module, a level of study (for example, Junior Honours or PGT) or a wider concern (for
example, lab provision or school environment). A response from the role holder who
receives feedback is expected within the specified time frame. Feedback from staff for
students is passed on to the relevant level representatives to be disseminated to students.
Actions can be associated with each feedback, to be completed within a set time and an
update on actions taken is provided to the person, who provided the feedback. The
application should enable anonymised summary reports to be generated for school
management as well as ‘you said, we did’ reports for students. The system should be 
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configurable, for example, to enable reminder notifications of upcoming response
deadlines, set default response time frames and specify the period covered by reports.
The system will be initially trialled in 2 schools at the University. It will be refined based on
feedback from this use and deployed to all the schools. There is also a plan to release the
software for use by other universities in the future.
Requirements
The report should include
1. A specification of functional and non-functional requirements for the system;
2. A brief discussion of any ethical considerations for the system;
3. A UML use case diagram for the system;
4. A use case specification for 1 use case from the use case diagram;
5. A specification of the logical (application) software architecture of the system using an
appropriate UML diagram;
6. Structural design of significant parts of the system using appropriate UML diagrams;
7. Behaviour design of the system for one particular interaction sequence using an
appropriate UML diagram;
8. An analysis of the design you created with respect to given specification and
consistency with other artefacts;
9. A brief reflection of the merits and limitations of using UML diagrams to document the
design of this system; and
10. References (if applicable).
Notes
• If you find the specification ambiguous or incomplete in anyway, resolve the issues in a
manner consistent with the information provided and list any assumptions you make in
the report.
• You can draw UML models using any tool of your choice. You should use standard UML
notations.
• Document your decisions and the rationale for making them as you go.
• Any extensions or additions to the specification should be clearly identified in the
report. I would strongly advise completing the basic requirements before extensions
are attempted.
• If you have difficulty showing any of the UML models in a legible manner in the report,
you may include them separately in pdf format as part of your submission in addition to
including them in the report.
Submission
A report in pdf format must be submitted electronically via MMS by the deadline. Report
submissions in any other format will be rejected.
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School of Computer Science
2021/22 3
Assessment
Marking will follow the guidelines given in the school student handbook (see link in next
section).
Some specific descriptors for this assignment are:
Mark range Descriptor
1 - 6 Minimal attempt to complete assignment and/or poor documentation of
work.
7 - 10 Reasonable attempt at the assignment with use case, structural and
behavioural modelling and some understanding of UML diagrams but
with substantial problems relating to relevance or correctness.
11 - 13 Competent attempt at the assignment covering most required aspects
including the above types of modelling, with a clear understanding of
the use of UML, analysis and supporting conclusions.
14 - 16 Good attempt at the assignment addressing all required aspects
including requirements extraction and UML modelling without major
problems, documented in a well-written report showing good
understanding of UML and critical thinking.
17 - 20 Well-written report outlining excellent work addressing all required
aspects without any defects, possibly including more complex modelling
and critical analysis of the work.
Policies and Guidelines
Marking
See the standard mark descriptors in the School Student Handbook:
http://info.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/student-handbook/learningteaching/feedback.html#Mark_Descriptors
Lateness penalty
The standard penalty for late submission applies (Scheme B: 1 mark per 8 hour period,
or part thereof):
http://info.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/student-handbook/learningteaching/assessment.html#lateness-penalties
Good academic practice
The University policy on Good Academic Practice applies:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/rules/academicpractice/