| The
Long Term Project Plan |
 |
RWL |
Introduction and Conception History
In the Summer of 2000 Lockheed Martin
requested the services of the RWL to design a flexible and robust information
system for the management of mechanical devices.
The integration of computers with
devices is inevitable. With continually decreasing size, computers will
be embedded into many devices to make them "smart". A refrigerator is an
example of a device that will be made intelligent with the addition of
a computer. The refrigerator will report when the milk is getting low,
or when items stored within it are on sale at the online grocery store,
or when the temperature has become too high.
The intent of this project is to
provide an information system for the data collected from these "smart"
devices. The system will be flexible, allowing for many types of devices.
The system will also be modular; new devices can be added at any time.
Furthermore, the system will provide an interface to the data. The interface
presents instantaneous status information and historical data for each
device. The parameters of the system, such as user access and device properties,
will be configurable. Finally, the system will be redundant.
One might envision this system in
a warship. The devices would include every part on that warship.
At any point, designated members would be able to check the status
of each device to be sure that everything is working properly. They
would also be able to view the history of each device. This system
could also work inside a car, plane, factory, a home, or numerous other
places. Basically, anywhere one can find an abundance of devices
which may or may not work together but are all part of a large system.
The tentative completion date is
Summer 2001.
Contacts
Location of Project Artifacts
-
Lockheed Martin device specification
-
/net/www/classes/RWL/Projects/lockheed/Docs
Personnel History by Quarter
-
Summer 2000
-
Brandon
Beacher, Project Manager, beacher@cc.gatech.edu,
schedule meetings, communicate with project customer, maintain project
integrity
-
Trevor
Robbie, Architect, gt6645f@prism.gatech.edu,
database design, database server configuration
-
Jason
Smith, Configuration Manager, jsmith@cc.gatech.edu,
author project documents, version control, maintain code integrity
-
Jason
Yeo, Programmer, gt5323b@prism.gatech.edu,
prototype interface and device simulations
-
Fall 2000
Resources
-
Resource: Lockheed Martin laptops
-
Location: One in custody of
Mike Emard, other is in route
-
Need: To setup our software development
environment
-
Resource: Development Software
-
Location: Lockheed
-
Need: All software we use must
be licensed by Lockheed
Past Quarters' Activities
Summer
2000
Present and Future Quarters' Activities
-
Fall 2000
-
Create Use Cases
-
Setup Laptops
-
Complete E-R diagram
-
Finalize design and implementation of database
-
Test Database
-
Analyze results of database testing and act on those results
-
Design and Implement a User Interface
-
Test the Usability of that UI (if time)
-
Spring 2001
-
Test User Interface
-
Possible reiteration of the database
-
Test entire system
-
Interface to some actual devices
-
Turn system over to Lockheed
Long Term Risks
-
Chosen platform is not scalable
-
Avoidance: Prototype systems
and perform stress tests
-
Likelihood: Medium
-
Why: Improper testing does not
reveal scalability problems
-
Device interfaces are difficult to program
-
Avoidance: Obtain documentation
from manufacturer
-
Likelihood: Medium
-
Why: Documentation is poor
-
Our client may no longer need the design
-
Avoidance: Design the product
to be flexible so that it might be attractive to a different project customer
-
Likelihood: Low
-
Why: Our client is a profit organization
Recurring Short Term Risks
-
Communication with out of town project
customer becomes difficult
-
Avoidance: Schedule recurring
conference calls; in town visits
-
Likelihood: Low
-
Why: Out of town customer becomes
inaccessible
-
Cannot reconstruct previous semester's
work
-
Avoidance: Every term, each team
much ensure all files are ready and accessible
-
Likelihood: Low
-
Why: Accidental file erasing,
forgetfulness in including files or documentation
-
Establishing database server environment
is difficult
-
Avoidance: Excellent documentation
of database server setup
-
Likelihood: Medium
-
Why: College of Computing CNS
does not provide consistent environment for database server
-
Team member withdraws from course
-
Avoidance: Have a flexible project
plan that isn't dependent on one person
-
Likelihood: Medium
-
Why: Member has too much work
outside of class
-
Member is unable to keep up with assigned
work
-
Avoidance: Motivational exercises,
schedule making and accountability
-
Likelihood: Medium
-
Why: Senior-itis, too much work
in other classes
-
Laptops "explode"
-
Avoidance: Backup all work on
disk and an alternate computer
-
Likelihood: Low
-
Why: We can only hope
-
Unable to find suitable participants
for usability tests
-
Avoidance: Communication
and cooperation with Lockheed
-
Likelihood: High
-
Why: The end users will be persons
which no group members have current contact with
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