First Semester 2003-04

Information and Guidelinesto Assist Sponsors in Formulating Project Requirements

About the project

• Propose a project that, when completed, would result in a product useful to your company, division, or group.
• On an average about 2 out of 4 sponsored projects continue in to the Second Semester as part of some courseat BITS. Such projects almost always result in a product that could be used with little additional work.
• Use-for-profit of any software developed at BITS will require licensing agreement with Purdue's Division of Sponsored Programs.

Project Requirements

• Briefly describe the environment in which the product will be used. Why is the product needed? Is there a commercial product that meets the requirements? If "yes" then why are you asking 406 students to work on this project?
• Write a clear and concise set of requirements for the project. Ambiguities are almost a norm in any requirements document. Hence some ambiguities are useful in the educational process. However, note that each ambiguity leads to a flurry of emails from the students to the sponsor wherein the students ask for clarifications.
• Clearly specify what technologies would you want the students to use. It is preferable to let the students choose the appropriate technology. However, where necessary, please specify any constraints that might effect this choice. Several students prefer the use of new and emerging technologies over the well established ones.
• Complex set of requirements are preferred over simple ones. Let the students decide how to scope the project. This is a part of the learning process in BITS C461. Suggesting a simple project is NOT recommended.
• One way to estimate the complexity of your requirements is to count the number of distinct high level features you request. If you request only one high level feature, the project is not likely to be challenging from an analysis and design point of view. About 3 or more high level features is almost a must for any sponsored project. Past projects that had only 1 high level feature did not excite the students. Complex projects with many (5 or more) high level features challenged the students and helped them in the learning process.
• Click here to look at a sample BITS C461 Requirements Specification Document from the past. You need not conform to the format used in the sample. Each sponsor decides on a format best for describing their project.