CS@NAU: Senior Capstone Design
The Capstone process is based on a two semester course sequence, with projects solicited and collected shortly before it all kicks off in late August:
Phase 0: Project Solicitation and Development (late July-August). Project proposals are solicited via a reminder email to our mailing list of "Potential Capstone Sponsors". If you'd like to receive this notification, please contact us and ask to be put on this list! Usually potential sponsors with an idea start by contacting us with a brief email or phone call to outline the idea and vet it for basic suitability. If it sounds good, a full project proposal is developed, using templates and examples provided (below) on this web page.
As the semester begins (end of August), students review all posted projects and submit their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice projects to work on in a professional memo to the faculty, including their motivating reasons. The faculty then meet as a group and, in a complex negotiated process, place students on teams for projects that have received the most interest. Great care is taken to create teams that have one or more natural leaders, and with members who are deemed capable of tackling the complexity of the particular project. At the end of this process (a) students are informed of their project and teammates; and (b) sponsors are informed of their team and the contact for the team lead, if the sponsor's project was chosen. If a project was not chosen, the sponsor is encouraged to re-work the description (pep it up a bit!) and re-submit it the next year.
Phase 1: Requirements acquisition and exploration of technologies (September-December). The first semester of the process is less intense (students only get two credits that term), and is devoted to requirements acquisition, feasibility analysis, and exploration of potential implementation techniques and technologies. Strong sponsor engagement is especially important during this time, as students will want to have a number of interviews with sponsors and, if applicable, end-users of the planned product. Even if you already have a tight set of requirements in mind, we encourage sponsors to back up and allow the team leeway to explore. They are trained to design from the ground up: begin by exposing and understanding the client's business, existing processes, and workflow --- and then develop a solution to that problem. If you just hand them fixed requirements, you are short-circuiting the process...and potentially short-changing yourself: perhaps there is an even better, more effective solution out there that you haven't thought of. In any case, having student teams arrive at the requirements on their own (even if they ultimately match yours) ensures that they understand the context extremely well, which will pay large dividends towards correctly deciding a million smaller implementation issues later on. The end product of this semester is a complete requirements document, signed off by the client; and, where applicable, small proof-of-concept demonstrations of key technologies or elements. In short, the way should be completely clear to begin intensive final design and implementation in Phase 2.
Phase 2: Implementation and testing (January-End of April). Focused, intensive development of complete prototype, interative testing and refinement, and packaging and delivery of final product. The true implementation push begins as the second semester begins in mid-January, as the team shifts to very intensive development (students earn 4 credits this term). Teams move rapidly to produce a complete final design, while working in parallel to implement foundational elements. Sponsor involvement in this term is focused around giving fast feedback on evolving design elements and the many small implementation-level questions that arise as overall requirements are translated into a working product. Final design details are solidified by early February, and a complete working alpha prototype is targeted by early March. The remaining time is devoted to quick iterative refinement with progressively intense testing. The Capstone Design Conference (now integrated as the cornerstone of NAU's Celebration of Undergraduate Research, CURD) in the last week of April is the culmination of the Capstone Sequence. Here, students will be required to do a formal technical conference presentation on their projects to a varied audience including sponsors, faculty, other students, and members of the community.
Final delivery of the product, including all documentation, occurs within the week or so after the Capstone Conference, allowing students some time to wrap up final delivery details.
Although the detailed format, timing, and deliverables may vary based on the nature and goals of individual projects, all Capstone projects MUST adhere to the following baseline structure and deliverables.