Study on Progress Reports

Description
The idea that the world can become increasingly better in terms of science, technology, modernization, liberty, democracy, quality of life, etc.

© Steve Whitmore & Mike Sjoerdsma January 2012

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals
“You persuade a man only insofar as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his.”
–Kenneth Burke
Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals 1 of 16

Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, you will have a basic understanding of the following: ? How documentation is related to the engineering design process. ? How to write proposals and progress reports. ? The differences between executive summaries and abstracts.

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

2 of 16

DEFINITION

ANALYSIS

DESIGN

PROGRAM/BUILD

SYSTEM TEST

ACCEPTANCE

IMPLEMENTATION

• BUSINESS
QUALIFICATION A C T I V I T I E S PROPOSAL

• FUNCTIONAL
SPECIFICATION

• SYSTEM DESIGN

• ORDER REVIEW

• MODULE DESIGN • TESTING • CODING/BUILDING • INTEGRATION • MODULE TEST

• ACCEPTANCE • OPERATION • TEST PROCEDURE • WARRANTY • POST-PROJECT
REVIEW

PROJECT MANAGEMENT REVIEWS STATUS REPORTS DOCUMENTATION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS WHAT THE SYSTEM WILL DO HOW SYSTEM WILL WORK WHY SYSTEM WILL WORK SYSTEM WORKS USER TRAINING HANDSHAKE & FINAL PAYMENT SYSTEM COMPLETION

OBJECTIVES

• QUALIFIED
BENEFITS

PROSPECT

• WELL-DEFINED
SYSTEM

• TECHNICAL
DEFINITION

• TESTED MODULES • INTEGRATED



TECHNICAL & MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL ACCEPTANCE

• CREDIBILITY • FUNCTIONAL • • • • • • DESIGN • • MODULE DESIGN • SYSTEM TEST
PLAN

• MAINTAINABILITY • USER
SATISFACTION

• OPERATION
INTEGRITY

• REQUIREMENTS
O U T P U T

• PROJECT
MANAGER SIGN OFF

ANALYSIS SPECIFICATION SPECIFICATION D DOCUMENT WORK STATEMENT ACCEPTANCE TEST O PROPOSAL ESTIMATES PLAN C U PRELIMINARY PROJECT PLAN REVISED M PROJECT PLAN TOP LEVEL DESIGN ESTIMATES E N DEVELOPMENT REVISED PROJECT T PROPOSAL PLAN S Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

• TEST RESULTS • USER SIGN OFF

• STATISTICS • FEEDBACK • HISTORY • POST-PROJECT
CRITIQUE

• •



• TECHNICAL
MANUAL

• USER SUPPORT
PLAN



• OPERATOR'S
MANUAL

• PROPOSAL FOR
DEFINITION OF NEXT PROJECT
3 of 16

• USER'S MANUAL • PROJECT LEADER
SIGN OFF

Iterative Design Process
Resources

Business

Physics

Society Psychology

Standards Technology

Perceived Need

Analysis

Synthesis

Build/Test

Desired State

Proposal

Functional Design Low Level Design Post Mortem Specifications Specifications Test Plan
4 of 16

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

Analyze Your Audience
? ? ? ? ? Power (subordinates, peers, supervisors) Age (vision, crystallized vs. fluid intelligence) Needs/Values (money, environs, politics, information) Expertise (high, moderate, low, mixed) Ethics (honesty, credibility, accuracy)

PANE
Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

2

5 of 16

Persuasive Appeals
? Ways to persuade your readers:

• Appeal to logic or reason (logos) • Appeal to emotions, concerns, fears, desires, values (pathos) • Appeal from your credibility (ethos)

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

6 of 16

Ask Questions
Who Is My Audience?
? Who will read this report? Technical experts? Administrators? Business people? ? Why will they read it? What motivated them to request the report? What actions will they take on the basis of this report? ? What information have they requested? Are their instructions clear or do they need clarification? ? How well informed are they about the subject? How much background information is required? Are they familiar with technical terminology? ? What information do they need? Do I have all the information needed to address their concerns? If not, what do I need to find out and how will I do so?
Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals 7 of 16

Ask Questions
?
? What Is My Purpose? What do I hope to accomplish by writing this report? Can I write a clear, concise statement of purpose? How do my goals relate to my reader’s expectations? Do they share my objectives? If not, what are the points of disagreement? How can I meet both my goals and my reader’s expectations? What do I know that they do not and how can I make them aware of it? What attitudes or values do they have that must be taken into account?
8 of 16

?

?

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

Proposal Considerations
? Audience Andrew, Steve, TAs Financier/Accountant, Manager, Senior Engineers

? Purpose To persuade us that you have the expertise, the finances, the facilities, the team, and the plan

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

9 of 16

Proposal Content
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Letter of transmittal Title page Executive summary T of C, (L of F, Glossary) Introduction (include high level graphic) Explanation of key elements of proposal Budget (include expenses and income) Time schedule (both Gantt and milestone charts) Description of team (or resumes as appendix) Conclusion References
10 of 16

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

Executive Summary vs. Abstract
Executive Summary Audience: Non-specialist Purpose: Persuade Plain language/1st person General Sometimes uses graphics Abstract Audience: Specialist Purpose: Inform Technical language/Passive Specific Plain text

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

11 of 16

Progress Report Considerations
? Audience: The usual culprits ? Purpose: To inform ? Content: If everything is going well, introduce what your project is, tell us what you’ve accomplished and whether you are on time and on budget. Informative in nature.

If there are major changes or problems, explain and justify the problem/change. Persuade us here.
Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals 12 of 16

Professional Journals and Project Files
? Audience: The usual culprits ? Purpose: To document and inform ? Form: Project File (CD, Team) and Professional Journal (Lab Book, Individual) ? Content for Project File (440 -- Andrew):
• • • • • Meeting minutes Brainstorming sessions Low level design Circuit diagrams Bill of Materials (BOM) • • • • • E-mails Records of experiments Source code Standards Project documents

? Content for Professional Journal (305 -- Steve):
• Dated entries • Observations • Low level design
Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

• Description of work you did • Ideas, theories, questions • Start this now!!!
13 of 16

Document Submission
? Proposal, Functional Spec, Design Spec, Progress, Report, PowerPoint Presentation, and Post Mortem must be emailed in .pdf format. E-mail copies to Steve Whitmore ([email protected])

? Project File (CD/DVD) and Professional Journal (paper) are submitted during demo.

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

14 of 16

A Few Final Points
? If you intend to graduate (convocate) in the Summer semester, you must send me an e-mail in the next week informing me of that fact (so that we know what groups need to complete early). ? Each team please fill out a file card with all the names of team members and e-mail addresses. Designate one of the people as the team contact. ? Anyone not in a team of 4 to 5 people, see me now.
Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals 15 of 16

Conclusion
Your project proposal is due on Monday January 16 by 11:59 PM. Remember to e-mail it to me as an attachment in .pdf format.

Proposals, Progress Reports, & Professional Journals

16 of 16



doc_659875322.pdf
 

Attachments

Back
Top