¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 For my final project, I decided on creating a project proposal. As some of you may remember, I gave a short presentation in the last class about it. It was an application for a classroom library. I also did a short demonstration of the first iteration I made a few months ago. That version is still in use, but doesn’t have the full range of features that this new one will. It was more of a pet project that has no avenue for expansion.

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Inside my proposal, I laid out a full view of exactly what I’ll be building. Some of the biggest features will include a quick and simple way to upload your own books, a process for delegating responsibilities to students or librarians, and a comprehensive student history (showing progression in reading levels). I found a few classroom library applications in my environment survey, but a lot of them missed out on having a simple upload process and the delegation of responsibilities. That’s where I want my project to fit in. One of the applications I found was actually really well-made. It was called Classroom Organizer, and a company called Book Source built it. I appreciated their design and a lot of the features they use.

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 I liked a lot of what I did in creating my initial classroom library project, and decided on keeping the technological workflow. The project will still use the same basic back-end and database infrastructure, while the front-end would see a major overhaul. The actual tables inside the database would also be rebuilt to different specifications. I made a blog post a few days ago showing an entity-relationship diagram that I created for the proposal. The proposal also named a few roles that will need to be filled: project manager, programmers, graphic designer, teachers, librarians, and social media experts. I’m only competent in one of those fields.

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 The project plan follows the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). That’s the umbrella term for things like agile or scrum development that a lot of companies use as buzz words. In truth, it does work and I tend to go along with it at my job and on my own projects. It follows this basic cycle:

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Gathering requirements -> designing -> coding -> testing -> operation and maintenance

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 Technically, writing this proposal is part of the first phase. Once all of the phases are done, a new iteration would begin and the cycle will repeat.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 My hope for the future is to eventually build this. Even if I don’t have any help or team members, it will still be useful as a tool for learning new technologies and creating a project from start to finish. I hope that anyone else who does a project proposal does the same. It may take a while, but the best way to get better at development is to actually do it. It doesn’t matter if the project ever sees the light of day. Plus, employers love seeing it.