Roadmap for ME 492 and ME 493

This page does not describe an assignment for ME 491.

Rather, this document gives you a preview of ME 492 and 493 so that you can better understand the goals of writing a project proposal as your final assignment for ME 491.

The "What is Capstone?" page discusses the overarching goals of Capstone. That information may help to put the roadmap for ME 492 and ME 493 in context.

Milestones for ME 492

• Week 1: First draft of project contract.

  The proposal submitted at the end of ME 491 evolves into the team contract between the instructor and Capstone team. The contract specifies the goals for the project and will be used to assign finals grade for ME 492 and ME 493. An evaluation by the project sponsor will also factor into the final grades.

  The version of the project contract submitted at the end of the first week of ME 492 will need to reflect feedback on the proposal submitted at the end of ME 491. It will also need to incorporate information gained from communication with the sponsor.

• Week 3: Final draft of project contract.

  During the first three weeks of ME 492, the team works on the opportunity development phase of design. In this phase, performance goals and milestones for the project as a whole are established. The final project proposal is subject to approval by the instructor, with input from the academic mentor and the project sponsor.

  It is possible that project proposals submitted in week 3 may not be approved. In that case the team will need to work with the instructor to re-submit an acceptable project proposal, and points will be deducted from the final grade of team members. Though it should not be too difficult to meet expectations for the project proposals, teams doing substandard work will not have their proposals approved without further revision.

• Status presentations: During the term, teams will be required to make public presentations of their status on the project. The presentations require teams document measurable progress, or lack thereof, toward intermediate project goals. Teams are also expected to identify current and next challenges and the concrete steps the team is making to overcome those challenges. Teams will be expected to answer questions about their project. The status presentations are focused on demonstrated results and are not merely reports on activity.

• Design review: In the final weeks of Winter term, the team meets with the project sponsor to review progress toward meeting goals of the project. A memo summarizing the outcome of the design review is submitted that is separate from the progress report for the term.

• Last week of class: the progress report for ME 492 is due.

Note: Other team assignments will be due during the Winter Quarter. These assignments will consist of planning documents like Gantt charts, client/market requirements, requirements-measurements matrices, prototype reports, etc. As with ME 491, the goal of these assignments is to keep your team making progress toward completion of the design project in June.

Milestones for ME 493

Here are the currently identified milestones for ME 493. The dates and requirements of the milestones may shift slightly as necessary to reflect the progress made by teams in ME 492.

• Week 4: Report on Prototype Performance

• Week 5: Meet with sponsor to review prototype performance

• Week 7: Draft of project web site due

• Week 9: Project poster due, Project web site update

• Week 10: Design Exposition with presentations and prototype display

• Final exam week: Final project report due