A brief but concise statement of the nature of the project.

Project Background

A brief description (a paragraph of 100-200 words) providing the project background/context. e.g. is it based on a business need? a technical need? does it arise from the interests of a particular person/company?

Aim/Objectives/Deliverables

This is the heart of the Contract, and will require discussion with your supervisor and possibly several iterations to get it right. It is against the objectives and proposed deliverables that the final product will be assessed. So it is important to ensure that all aspects of the assessment criteria (see Blackboard) are included in the list of objectives/deliverables.

Aims: a statement of the overall aims of the project (in one or two sentences).

Objectives: a list of specific, measurable objectives, each of which is likely to result in a deliverable. They specify all the work tasks to be undertaken to meet the stated aim. They will vary from project to project, as every project is different, but some examples are provided below.

All projects will need to review and report on the literature in a chosen area.

Software Development projects might include such general objectives as:
• To investigate system requirements and produce a Requirements Specification.
• To research and write a report on good practice in HCI design.
• To design an interface using the findings from the HCI report.
• To design and execute a suitable test plan.

Or they might be more specific, e.g.:
• To review and report on how mathematical simulation techniques could be applied to a
traffic simulator.

Research projects might include such objectives as:
• To conduct a literature search into e-learning, resulting in a literature review of the topic and a definition for the purposes of the project.
• To investigate and report on research approaches and methods.
• To select and justify an appropriate research design for the project.
• To describe any research hypotheses for the project.
• To undertake empirical work in accordance with the research design.

Deliverables:

(First delivery)

Various, including
· Project contract
· Ethics form
· Project Plan
· Literature review
And (for development projects)
· Class diagrams/ER model/State transition diagrams
· Functional requirements specification
· Test Plan
· Prototype
Or (for research projects)
· Research question/Consultancy task

(Final delivery)
Various, including
· Final report (including critical evaluation, conclusions and recommendations)
· Appendices e.g. fully cited research, further design documentation, test logs, surveys, interviews
· Software product (specify)

Of course these are only examples: each project will need a complete set of objectives/deliverables

Resources and Constraints

A list of any specific resources that the project requires; for example hardware and software; access to people or organisations.
A list of any known constraints, for example availability of certain resources.

Sources of Information

A list of sources you intend to use. These could include:
• Specific books/journals if you already know of them;
• Library/Internet;
• Organisations or individuals you intend to contact.

Risk Analysis

What could endanger your project, what will you do if it happens

Schedule of Activities

Having defined the tasks to be undertaken in the list of objectives, you need to prepare a Project Plan to show how you intend to carry them out: You may find it helpful to draw up a critical path diagram before drawing a gantt chart.