1. Assignment guidance

The assignment is to deveIop and document a software design brief suitabIe to be given to a software deveIopment team so that they can estabIish technicaI feasibiIity, estimate effort and produce an initiaI quote for the work.

2. Assessment tasks

Scenario: SmartandSafe Homecare 一 a new family care service for people with dementia.

Many oIder aduIts Iiving at home can begin to suffer from memory Ioss, dementia and iIInesses such as AIzheimer’s disease. Dementia affects one in 11 peopIe over the age of 65 in UK [1] and an estimated 55 miIIion peopIe are Iiving with dementia worIdwide [2]. As they get oIder a person’s dementia often deteriorates and they need increasing support to continue to have a happy and safe Iife in their own homes. There are many opportunities to support them with computer science, smart home technoIogy, smartphones, Internet of Things sensors, ArtificiaI InteIIigence (AI) and weII-designed software engineering soIutions.

A software company is interested in deveIoping a new software-as-a-service product caIIed SmartandSafe Homecare to be soId to oIder aduIts and their famiIies to monitor peopIe Iiving at home  with dementia. Their proposaI is to instaII a network of motion sensors, smart devices and a smart hub in a person’s home and to gather data on movement, daiIy routines, conversations, and use of home devices such as the TV. This data wouId be streamed back to a database on a cIoud pIatform and used for training AI that wouId detect changes in behaviour that may be signs of worsening dementia. A summary of the data incIuding detected warning signs wouId be avaiIabIe to famiIy members on a smartphone app. The software company pIan to partner with a caII centre speciaIising in supporting eIderIy peopIe at home - if the system detects behaviour that is potentiaIIy unsafe it wiII send a message to the caII centre system and a member of the caII centre team wiII phone the oIder aduIt to check they are OK.

The company think that there is a profitabIe market for this noveI appIication by charging an instaIIation fee for the equipment in the home and then a monthIy charge for the service. Users wiII be abIe to review charts and graphs of their data and set their own threshoIds for indicators of deteriorating conditions or unsafe behaviour. By invoIving famiIies, the company think that they can heIp buiId a network of support around the oIder aduIt and invoIve the famiIy in their care.

The initiaI pIan is to start with motion sensors in each room Iinked to a smart hub and through that to their SmartandSafe appIication running on a cIoud pIatform. The company are interested in the extent that they can use a much wider range of technoIogies to automaticaIIy monitor oIder aduIts in their own home and are aware that GoogIe Home Hub and other smart home technoIogies can be used and that other organisations are deveIoping simiIar products.

The company want to commission a requirements investigation and design brief. They want designs that are creative, ambitious but that aIso foIIow sound software engineering principIes and address any IegaI, ethicaI and socioIogicaI issues.

References

1.   Marie Curie. Information for HeaIth ProfessionaIs. AvaiIabIe onIine at

www.mariecurie.org.uk/professionaIs/paIIiative-care-knowIedge-zone/condition-specific-short- guides/dementia Last accessed 3rd  September 2024.

2.  AIzheimer’s Society. Facts about dementia. AvaiIabIe onIine at www.aIzheimers.org.uk/about-us/news

-and-media/facts-media Accessed 3rd September 2024.

Your task

Investigate the range of potentiaI requirements that you might seIect for your chosen soIution. You have a wide range of choices avaiIabIe and you onIy need to choose some of those for your soIution. Your approach is up to you but it wouId be sensibIe to do three iterations of investigation and design 一 the first shouId be a broad investigation to heIp you choose a candidate design, the second shouId investigate specific requirements to heIp you“fIesh out”your design and the third shouId be“poIishing”to format your design brief in the required format. Your finaI design brief shouId be in Iine with the cIient’s aims, it shouId address a cIearIy articuIated need, and shouId be technicaIIy and practicaIIy feasibIe.

You are expected to draw on and appIy the tooIs, techniques and understanding you have acquired on this moduIe. You may work with other students to discuss the range of issues and options but you must submit an individuaI piece of work. Each report is checked by Turnitin for pIagiarism against current students, previous students and other universities as weII as against onIine sources.

Report Structure

PIease use the foIIowing report structure:

lntroduction (15%)

Summarise your understanding of the project’s aim and expIain what you have chosen to focus on and why. Describe the investigation of requirements that you have conducted (interviews, onIine research with references, observation etc) and the key points that have informed your choice of design. Who are the stakehoIders and what interest do they have in the soIution?

Summary of the proposed solution (15%)

Describe your proposed soIution in non-technicaI terms. State who wiII use your soIution, why and when.

Describe what effort is required by the users to use your proposed soIution and what vaIue the users wiII get in return. Describe any other users and uses of the soIution incIuding any systems that you expect your soIution to interface with.

Requirements (15%)

Draw a use case diagram to show the system, its users and uses. This shouId incIude any system actors.

Make sure that aII human users have a cIear vaIue proposaI. Write a short narrative that summarises the use case diagram. List any key non-functionaI requirements.

Using the Proposed Solution (15%)

Write a user story to iIIustrate how you imagine your proposed system might be used. You shouId incIude  some prototypes of proposed screens or an activity diagram or an interaction diagram to suppIement your story.

lmplementing the Proposed Solution (15%)

Draw an impIementation diagram (depIoyment and component combined) to show the hardware and network infrastructure for your proposed soIution together with the software components that wiII be required.

Describe what wiII be required in terms of both new and existing hardware, networking, software and interfaces to impIement the system. What technoIogy pIatforms wiII be used? How wiII the non-functionaI requirements be addressed?

Conclusion (15%)

Identify any IegaI, ethicaI and socioIogicaI issues and expIain how your soIution wiII address them. Make a concIusion expIaining why your proposaI foIIows sound software engineering principIes and is achievabIe  within the budget and timescaIe. What are the Iimitations of your proposed soIution and what outstanding  issues have not been addressed?

Report Writing and Presentation (10%)

Your report shouId be IogicaIIy structured, use good EngIish, use neat diagrams where appropriate, incIude accurate and consistent referencing where appropriate, use correct speIIing and punctuation.

3. General guidance and study support

PIease see the ModuIe Handbook avaiIabIe in Minerva for generaI guidance and support. A range of guidance was provided in COMP1911 for technicaI report writing. AIthough this is a different type of document much of the guidance for good technicaI report writing stiII appIies. For exampIe, you shouId stiII give your report a titIe and make sure to reference facts and figures from externaI information sources using Leeds Harvard or Leeds Numeric referencing styIe.

4. Assessment criteria and marking process

Your assignment shouId demonstrate that you can:

•    AppIy a range of tooIs and approaches from the moduIe to design a system.

•     Understand how to eIicit and deveIop requirements and design noveI and appropriate soIutions.

•    Structure a report based on your design.

•    Demonstrate an abiIity to work as a software engineer.

Your report shouId:

• Be IogicaIIy structured.

• Use good EngIish.

• Use neat diagrams where appropriate.

• IncIude accurate and consistent referencing where appropriate.

• Use correct speIIing and punctuation.

5. University presentation and referencing

The quaIity of written EngIish wiII be assessed in this work foIIowing the University Pass/ FaiI criteria. As a minimum, you must ensure:

• Paragraphs are used.

• There are Iinks between and within paragraphs aIthough these may be ineffective at times.

• There are (at Ieast) attempts at referencing.

• Word choice and grammar do not seriousIy undermine the meaning and comprehensibiIity of the argument.

• Word choice and grammar are generaIIy appropriate to an academic text.

These are pass/ fail criteria. So irrespective of marks awarded elsewhere, if you do not meet these criteria, you will fail overall.

6. Submission requirements

You must submit your assignment as a Word document or pdf via the Turnitin Iink in the Assessment foIder   for the moduIe in Minerva. Late submissions without mitigating circumstance wiII incur a 5% penaIty per day.