Developing a Web Portal for the University - Essay Example

Work on the user requirements of the project Number: Lecturer: In order to develop a web portal for the using in the there are various needs or requirements which are to be considered for the project by the end users. It is the users who will be the beneficiaries of the project and hence the first or the initial need is to involve them on the development work. They should be allowed to join the development team so that they can help in giving suggestions on how the products need to be addressed. Every user who is integrated into the project development team should be given a task of part or portion of the project for him or her to work on it on his or her own. This will help in creating diversification in the products developed. The work done individually will finally be brought together at some stage definitely at the end period of the project to merge and make one system which would have been developed by only the project developers. This increases the work force and hence saves time because of various users brought to work together. In this project of developing the web portal, there is a phase which will never be skipped before the project is said to be complete. This is ensured that it is done so as to make sure that the project results meet the required standards. It also ensures that quality is met which is the most anticipated aspect by most if not all the end users or consumers. It will be obvious to locate error made as a result of the development but these are eliminated and any alterations are made as soon as they are noted as possible. Before the project is released to the end user it must first be tested for compatibility with the user requirements and this is done under the following testing techniques. There are various testing techniques that can be employed which comprise typically of: there is the functional testing which tests the functions of the product if they meet the required standards. This kind of test is important to be carried out before the product is taken to the market or for the prospective users. This kind of test is done by the few chosen persons who are deemed bets in programming to perform the tests. It always the last test done for the product. Another kind of test is the stress test which involves the testing for progress of the product in its test stage. It is used to ensure that the product behaves in the desired way after being use for a long time that is continual use of the product. Sanity test is the other kind of testing done which helps to confirm if all the sections or parts of the system produced which were brought together work well as expected. The main objective for this is to make sure that the creation or development group never made definitions which conflict with each other. The final of the tests is the unit test which examines part of the product that has been developed in the project during some given period of time. Given that this task is carried out by a group of experts who are good in the coding process, various issues will be fixed at this stage. Understanding the needs of the end users is a very important issue in developing an interactive project like the web portal for an institution. Every successful project never forgot to involve its users in part of the development. Most designs based on the user’s point of view go through after strongly following and understanding the needs of the users. There are various benefits of including the users in the development of the project and include these: there will be enhanced and improved productivity, improved quality of the work that will be done since much will be covered by the team, minimization of the costs which should have been incurred in the training of the members and for supporting them and above all these, there will be improved or enhanced user satisfaction. Some analysis needs to be performed to test what the users need to do on the grounds of acting or action or the cognitive processes for them to attain or achieve the desired objective or goal. An extensive task analysis is undertaken to give an understanding of the current system together with processed facts and figures that move within the system, the short falls for the people resource and finally the opportunities which will show or indicate the needs of the users. Sketches can be used to find and pin point the needs which are hidden through a technique which entails a number of pictures which depict the way people and computers interact with each other in the institution. It will show case the various tasks undertaken by different users, the different types of power structures, the way communication is done and also the reporting techniques. Viewers can also be viewed by investigators through field studies and observation methodologies. The way the user behaves upon the interaction with the project is also investigated by the use of records which are kept through the use of diaries. Successful project come up due to the initial development of distinct user needs. Should the needs of the user not be well specified, the projects which would have been the best end up failing. This calls for a good understanding of the user and institutional need for a better and successful project. This will create an optimum balance and also the best merging between the institution and the users. Over dependence on the requirements which are found from within the institution is not good since it is believed that the very needs are the ones which the users need the most and would like them implemented, so the best option is to seek facts and figures from the end users needs. The requirements of the users are always collected through the following procedures as: through focus groups which assist in the explaining of the user needs and thinking of other ideas. Task analysis is also another way where the users work or operate with the computers which are useful for the analysis of the users’ activities and how they perform them. Formulation of usability objectives and the overall format for designing assist in the focusing and propagating the process of designing, supporting the evaluation of the initial concepts, models and the final designs. The study of the facts and figures concerning the users, their likes and dislikes, characteristics, activities and objectives which help in the supporting initial user interface work of designing Generally a need or requirement is a very important goal which must be met in order to get or develop a good and robust project. Before the tasks of implementation and designing cannot be successful without identifying the user needs or requirements for that matter. Various web site projects consist of masses of processed facts and figures which describe the goods or the products or the results of the work efforts and these kinds of information is concerned with the goals of the last or final product, which is specified in the project requirements together with the constraints for the product creation as defined in the project specifications. It is therefore an important undertaking to manage the users’ needs in order to avoid problems at a later date. The management of the user needs should be embraced in any given project which specializes majorly on finding, collecting, communicating and documenting the needs of the customers who are the users for projects. Before the termination of the project, the team ensures that it chooses whether to employ the rapid application development which helps to generate a prototype which is a model that behaves like the real thing. The use of prototype is fundamentally useful for minute projects which need the interaction or involvement of the users. Security is another requirement which needs to be taken into consideration. The overall security scheme needs to be defined which help identify the shortfalls of the system, the storages and the retention schemes. There is always no need for one to show the rights of allowing access to various user classes. Non-electronic security needs are also part of the requirements which need to be identified and described. Works Cited Berry, Duhig. Project Initiation. NCC Blackwell, 2009. Bolles, Dennis. Building project management centers of excellence. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2008. Westland, Jason. The project management life cycle: A complete step-by-step methodology for initiating, planning, executing & closing a project successfully. Kogan Page Publishers, 2007. Wiegers, Karl. Practical Project Initiation: A Handbook with Tools. Microsoft Press, 2007 Read More