#Evaluation There are 6 marks available for this section.
##Introduction In this section you must produce an evaluation of your solution.
To do this you will need to:
- Say whether you met the specific requirements of the end user
- Comment on the effectiveness of the solution
- Discuss how easy the system is to learn
- Discuss how usable the system is
- Discuss how maintainable the system is
- Discuss possible future improvements to the system
- Provide evidence that the end-user has evaluated the solution
##Customer Requirements In this section you will need to refer back to the project objectives you produced previously. Due to the way the coursework is marked it makes sense to copy these objectives into the evaluation rather than referencing a page number.
For each objective you must explain whether you satisfied it or not. It is not enough to say ‘I satisfied this objective’ or ‘I did not satisfy this objective’.
You must evidence your conclusions. Evidence could be in the from of:
- Annotated Screenshots
- Questionnaire results/Graph Analysis
- Written statements from the end user(s)
###Layout The layout of each objective is important. Make sure it is clear whether you have met the objective or not. it would be preferable to have the following structure:
####My First Objective
- This objective has been met
- Explanation of meeting objective
####My Second Objective
- This objective has not been met
- Explanation of not meeting objective
###Evidence Make use of all sources of evidence. Sometimes a walkthrough with step-by-step screenshots will be necessary, other times a single annotated screenshot with suffice. Make use of user feedback whenever possible and reference to other sections of your coursework document.
Be sure to include screenshots, written quotes, graphs etc. in the text where possible - don't just reference a section at the end.
##Effectiveness In the previous section you have shown whether you satisfied each objective of project. However, merely satisfying the objective is not enough. Sometimes you can satisfy the objective but have a solution that is not effective.
There is a good example of this on page 274-275 of the textbook.
###Explain For each objective you should explain why the solution you have developed is effective/not effective. There are two points that must be considered:
- How do you judge effectiveness?
- How do you prove that solution is effective?
###Judge You will have to develop a range of criteria for your objectives to judge there effectiveness. This is difficult to provide examples for in the general sense but consider a situation where one of the objectives is: Provide an overview of a students progress.
Possible effectiveness criteria might be:
- Can the user clearly identify the student details?
- Does the user interface separate relevant content into sections to add readability?
- Have visualisations (graphs) been provided to aid comprehension?
- Is it possible to navigate to more detailed information on a particular area?
###Prove Similar to section one you will need to evidence your assertions that your solution is effective. When designing questionnaires etc. You should consider including questions that will allow you to complete this section as well as the first rather than having two separate questionnaires.
##Learnability All new software has a learning curve. You must evaluate how easy or difficult your solution is to learn.
Again, you must back-up your comments with evidence - user feedback is vital in this section.
When discussing learnability be sure to take into consideration any prior knowledge the client has. This could take the form of:
- Knowledge from other software?
- Knowledge from previous (paper-based) systems?
Identifying prior knowledge will allow you to make evaluative comparisons, for instance:
- The user said they previous used Outlook to keep track of bookings
- As you can see from these screenshots I have based the user interface of the booking screen to match outlook so that can use existing knowledge
##Usability You must also evaluate the usability of your system. There is an excellent section on pages 277-278 of the book that covers this.
Be sure to evidence your statements carefully.
##Maintainability You must also evaluate the maintainability of your system. There is an excellent section on pages 278-279 of the book that covers this.
Make sure that you discuss how appropriate variable names, functions, classes, modules, comment lines make your program easier to maintain in future.
If you have sections that are dependent on external factors such as Google APIs or data from a website, explain how maintaining these might be more difficult.
Be sure to evidence your statements carefully.
##Improvements Finally you you provide several suggestions for future improvement to the system. These need not be based on your abilities as a programmer. Your suggestions should go beyong saying "finish the objectives I didn’t have time for". For instance, what else would you add to version 2.0 of your system?
Be sure to explain how some of your suggestions are related to user feedback.
##Mark Scheme
| 1 mark | 2 marks | 3 marks |
|---|---|---|
| A reasoned and detailed explanation of how objectives have been met for a problem of adequate complexity with less SMART objectives | A reasoned and detailed explanation of how objectives have been met for a problem of adequate complexity with SMART objectives. | A reasoned and detailed explanation of how objectives have been met for a complex problem with SMART objectives. |
| A reasoned and detailed explanation of how objectives have been met for a complex problem with less SMART objectives |
| Additional Mark | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 mark | Clear evidence of genuine user feedback authenticated by assessor |
| 1 mark | Thorough analysis of user feedback and/or evidence of continual interaction with user during the development of the system |
| 1 mark | Full and realistic suggestions as to how improvements and/or extensions are related to user feedback |