Unit 1 - System Fundamentals - IA Mini Project

1. Designing your project

Unit 1 will be split into two parts:

1. The theory: How computer systems are built and maintained, and

2. The practice: A simplified version of the IA, which itself is a simplifies version of a real world
project.

Here we will describe part 2.

Choose a client
For you project you must choose a client, somebody who you will create your project. For this mini-
project you will just choose an imaginary person.

Resources
1. Drawio and Pencil

2. CompSci Hub IA Section

3. CompSci Hub IA Section Examples

4. IB Computer Science Guide P75-86

The project sections

The mini-project will be split up into 5 Criterion, just like a real IA, but each Criterion will contain less
stuff compared to the main IA. The grade for each is in brackets after the title…

A. Planning (6)

B. Solution Overview(6)

C. Development(12)

D. Functionality and extensibility of product(4)

E. Evaluation

Criterion B. Solution Overview (Design) (6)

Normally (in your IA) this section would consist of around 20 pages for a good grade, with lots of
different sections. The main idea of this section (and I will repeat this lots of times over the next year) is
that you should be able to give this document to a programmer and they should be able to produce
the software for you without having to ask any questions.

We are going to this mini-IA to just 3 sections:

1
1. Screen Designs.
There are many ways to do screen designs. I will be expecting you to produce professional looking
results with annotations and a line or two describing each control and what it does, it’s name in code
and any links to databases.

For this you can download Pencil (my recommendation), use an online application (of which there are
many (including drawio, but most are paid) or draw it yourself.

Example

2. Database Design
Don’t worry, this needs to be very simple for this piece of work and I’ll give you some coding examples
to make it easier for you in lessons as we build an example together.

These can be completed in many diagram apps (a good one is drawio.

2
Example

3. Flowcharts and/or Pseudo-code

Here I am expecting a simple example of the basics of how your program will flow.

You can create flowcharts at drawio also.

Example

3
 

Rubric
• 0 Marks

The response does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below.

• 1-2 Marks

The screen designs and flowchart/pseudo-code are limited. Your database design is limited to non-
existent. From this information it is difficult to see how the product was developed.

• 3-4 Marks

The screen designs, flowchart/pseudo-code and database design are partially complete. You provide
a basic understanding of how the product was developed.

• 5-6 Marks

The screen designs, flowchart/pseudo-code and database design are detailed and complete. From the
information it is clear how the product was developed.

Completion Date:
Criterion B must be completed by Wed 22th April at 8am.