Final Design Report¶
Final Design Report is a written report describing your project and detailing what you have done the accomplishments in this semester. This report provides an opportunity to exhibit your skills in formal technical writing. The written report and final presentation should be prepared in cooperation with all members of the project team.
- The template for preparing the Final Design Report: Templates and Forms
- Rubrics for evaluation of your Final Design Report: Tasks and Due Dates
Instructions for preparing the Final Design Report¶
Instructions to complete each section of the report is given below:
- Cover Page - Complete it with your Project title, Client name, month/year of submission, Team Members name with major, Project Engineer name and Chief Engineer name with discipline.
- Acknowledgments (one page) - Acknowledge and thank all who have provided the opportunity and enabled you to complete this capstone project.
- Executive Summary - One-page executive summary should reflect the primary problem you addressed in your capstone project and the solution you have proposed and developed. Include significant accomplishments. It provides the reader with an overview of the report and motivates them to read the full report.
- Table of Contents - Update the table after you have completed the table. You can use the auto update field feature in word for this.
- List of Figures / List of Tables - Name all Figures and Tables in the format given in the template. And put in the list in this section with the page numbers.
- Glossary - Define all the abbreviations, acronyms, and terms required to interpret your final report properly, keeping in mind that many abbreviations have more than one commonly-used meaning, e.g. ATM – Asynchronous Transfer Mode or Automated Teller Machine. For any unfamiliar abbreviation, write the full name followed by the abbreviation in parentheses the first time it is mentioned in the report. Unfamiliar terms might benefit from one or two short examples as clarification. Please alphabetize this list for easy searching.
- Section 1 Introduction - Introduce your project. Include the background information and motivation/ justification for conducting this project. You can use the information in your project statement and objectives, and technical memo. Be sure to address work done by prior capstone team(s) to provide context for later sections.
- Section 2 Project Overview - This gives the overview of your project and includes sub-section 2.1 to 2.3. For sub-section 2.1 to 2.3 use the information from your Project Statement and Objectives Deliverable.
2.1. Project Statement
2.2. Semester Objectives / Deliverables
2.3. System Overview - Include the overall system block diagram (created for X? Deliverable, or Class Y activity) with the subsystems to give an overview of your project. You can use information from client meeting presentations. This is not a list of the tools nor components used but more an overview of the functionality of your system. - Section 3 Engineering Definition of Problem - Summarize the key and high priority customer Needs and Engineering Requirements, Use Cases, and User Stories that led to the development of your project and each of the subsystems. Use information from the Engineering Definition documentation. Utilize a tabular or list format and include any additional explanations in the text.
- Section 4 System Concept Development - Present the system concept that the team ultimately developed. Help the reader visualize the system concept using appropriate drawings/diagrams, such as sketches, system schematics, circuit diagrams, and UML diagrams. Explain the development and selection of design concepts – such as the significant criteria that lead to specific concept selection, alternate concepts that were considered, design analysis and trade-offs. See Design Process for more info on the Design Process and where concept development fits in.
- Section 5 Final Design - Present the final design (including the detailed design) and implementation, with appropriate diagrams/drawings with design values. Describe the critical design parameters. Where applicable, address manufacturability and cost issues; include details in the Appendices. Similarly, organize and place large data tables and/or a full set of detailed diagrams/drawings in Appendices. It should be clear from this section how your design met the project's needs and requirements.
- Section 6 System Evaluation - Copy the information from the same section of the midterm System Design Report. Add a column to the table to show your results. Outside this table, be sure to explain the information in the table. You may update if needed to represent your final plan. As part of your explanation, provide the analysis of the test results and how that validates your project design.
- Section 7 Significant Accomplishments and Recommendations - Indicate what you have accomplished in the project this semester and give your recommendations on what can be done in the future to enhance this project. Use separate numbered lists for the Accomplishments and the Recommendations. A table with any Open Issues and your suggestions for resolving them will benefit the client (and the next team, if applicable).
- Section 8 Conclusions - Based on the work you have done, put together a concise conclusion. What is the outcome of your work? How will it be used? Who will benefit?
- References - Use IEEE style referencing with numbered citation in the text. https://ieee-dataport.org/sites/default/files/analysis/27/IEEE%20Citation%20Guidelines.pdf
- Appendix A: Standards - Merge the Standards tables from section 7.8 of all System Design Reports Appendices, into ONE table of standards for the entire project. Update as necessary, to incorporate any additional work/scope since midterm.
- Appendix B: Bill of Materials - Add the Bill of Materials for the system developed. Include part numbers.
- Appendix C: Ethical and Professional Responsibilities Worksheet - Your project could impact the world beyond its immediate scope.
- Complete the worksheet individually and post to the Repository.
- Combine thoughts as a team into this appendix.
Tips¶
- Format: Arial, 12pt, double spaced, left-justified.
- Be mindful of Design Lab's Generative_AI policy.
- Do not start from scratch - Re-use information and add/update the work your team has already accomplished!
- Much of the information for the first half of report is already written in System Design Report. Simply update with any changes.
- Much of the second half of report can be taken from Client Meeting PPTs and Design Forum on EDN.
Submission¶
Report should be committed to the Repository - /working/Reports/Design Report + Poster