CS486 Course Schedule

Spring 2023
(Tentative. Dates may be adjusted slightly and other assignments may be added)

 

Week	Topics and Assignments	Deliverables
1 (1/16) Holiday Monday	Welcome! First day of class: Friday, 20 January 2023 Kickoff Meetings: Opening Comments and Introduction Assmt: Contact your Mentor and schedule your meeting times ASAP Mentor meetings start next week	Class meeting planned All mentor meetings: Weekly task report
2 (1/23)	Task: Communication Strategy Memo Assmt: Software Design Document	Due: Comm. memo task
3 (1/30)	Assmt: Start on Design Document
4 (2/6)	Design Doc Draft Due to mentor	Class meeting planned Due: Draft of Design Doc
5 (2/13)	Design doc, final version due	Due: Final Design Doc Due: Peer Eval #1
6 (2/20)	Task: UGRADS registration
7 (2/27)	DR2 Presentation guidelines spec Team Grading Matrix	Due: UGRADS registration printed summary as specified in the instructions due to your mentor no later than 5:00 pm, Friday, 3 March (media as specified by your mentor)
8 (3/6)	Design Review II presentations (as Videos) DR2: Special video format instructions Assmt: Full Prototype Tech Demo Milestone Spec. (Demo "Flight Plan" Template)	Class meeting planned Due: DR2, Step1, videos posted Prep for Alpha Prototype Demo!
-- (3/13) --	SPRING BREAK	No Classes
9 (3/20)	Alpha Demos this week	Due: Schedule/hold tech Alpha demo with mentor on or before Friday Due Friday: DR2, step2, your review due back to your assigned teams Due: Peer Eval #2
10 (3/27)	Assmt: Software Testing Plan	Due: DR2, step3, final versions due
11 (4/3)	Review: DR3 Presentation guidelines spec Hard work! Testing, refinement of prototype Assmt: Capstone Poster	Due: Software Testing Plan
12 (4/10)	Design Review III presentations (in parallel sessions) Italo's Teams: EGR 101 Rudhira's Teams: EGR 218 Vahid's Teams: SBS 241	Class meeting planned Due In Class: Design review Presentations! Due: Peer Eval #3 Due To Mentor: Poster for review, mentor will specify the deadline
13 (4/17)	Assmt: Project Mini-Video (final version) Assmt: Completed Team Website Assmt: Capstone Presentation (+ Dry run)	Due: Dry run, Schedule with your mentor. Due: Hard Deadline: 19 April, Poster to Printing Services, and uploaded to UGRADS Note: You may also upload a video as noted in the UGRAD instructions
14 (4/24)	CAPSTONE Conference! UGRADS, 8am-5pm You must be there to pass the class. The University will provide you an Institutional Excuse Assmt: Final Product Acceptance Demos (demo plan template) Room Assignments will be linked here - TBA	Due at UGRADS: Capstone Presentation Due: Completed Team Website Due: Peer Eval #4
15 (5/1)	Project completion work: Finish up reports, documentation, user manuals, deployment prep Assmt: Final (as-built) report Task: Team Reflection Document	Due: Acceptance Test Demo: schedule with your mentor Due: Project Mini-Video, posted on team website, plus email to mentor
16 (5/8) FINALS WEEK	Assmt: Final Project Delivery (Product Delivery Check-off sheet)	Due: Final project report Due: User manual and completed checkoff sheet, signed by client Due: Team Reflection Document Due: Peer Eval#5

In the table above:

• Specific due dates are rarely used in the above schedule, because each team's mentor meeting is at a different time. Unless otherwise specified, due dates and times will be provided by the team mentor. If the mentor does not specify a deadline, all deliverables shown as "due" in a particular week are due by 5pm on Friday of that week


• A TASK is a small, fast job that you need to get done. Tasks may or may not have deliverables; if they do, they are generally very short, e.g., send someone an email


• An Assignment (Assmt) is a larger deliverable that you will want to get started on right away in the week that you see it in the schedule. Assignments are generally larger deliverables that will take the team a week or more to prepare.


• An example GANTT Chart from a previous project calendar: here

 

Don't forget:

• All deliverables (hardcopy or electronic) should have a cover sheet with team logo, team name, team members, class, assignment title, date. For evolving documents, a version number is also desirable.


• For smaller hardcopy document deliverables (<5 pages), a staple is adequate. Larger document deliverables must be bound in a professional report cover. No paper clips, dog-ears, or other "alternative" methods of grouping papers allowed.


• Document deliverables that are allowed in electronic form must be packaged in a single, professional PDF document.