Project: Guide to the ultimate CE project report template

[mayurpathak]

Hey Guys

Time to wake up. I see too many people asking for help in their projects and seminars. Me and Biggie were discussing about how we can help them. Since we are from different engineering backgrounds, we possibly cant solve all your project queries. But we can certainly help you prepare a report. So here is the task.

Job: Most of we guys are brilliant engineers. But not all have the ability to articulate our knowledge in the best way. So here is a task at hand. We need to come up with THE BEST project report template that can be used by one and all.

How will we do it?: We are a good mix of CEans who are students, experienced guys and wizards. Every one will have brilliant ideas. Let them come up. We will follow the same procedure the way we did it for designing resume template.

What we expect from you: Send over your suggestions. If you have project formats (your own), upload it on a file sharing utility and put the link here for people to look at it. Since project report is going to be a major document, we will start with the TOC. Then sample sections and so on.

Schedule: There is no hurry. But lets aim to complete it within a fortnight.

Please note that this project is for the help of CEans who are trying to create a project report. So it is important to keep it simple and real. Let us avoid copy paste.

Shoot your views. If you have doubts, the time to ask is now!

[Lock-Os]

Well, for starters it should contain background information, project goal, device specifications, operational environment conditions, and if possible some schematics of the device.

That should at least cover the basics. I don't think that anything else would add to the clarity of the report.

[mayurpathak]

Good start Lock-Os. Let us remember to create a generic template that can be used by students of all engineering branches. Some might use it for study projects, some for experiments, some for seminars or some might have a working model.

Keep them coming.

[mayurpathak]

Its sad no body is interested in helping the student engineers. Otherwise we would have had replies here. Anyway... may be I will do it as a one man project with some ideas from Lock-Os.

I'll work on the TOC and send across. Anyone interested in working with me?

[ash]

How I've done it so far for most of my proposal reports:

- Abstract (optional)
- Intro/Problem statement (clear and concise)
- Design Objectives/Requirements, Constraints, Criteria
- Proposed Design/Solution (longest section, may have many subsections depending on project type)
- Delegation of responsibility (if working in team)
- Project Schedule (use things methods like PERT, Gantt Chart, etc)
- Budget (if applicable)
- References
- Appendix (component datasheets, long codes, etc)

I've used a hybrid of styles, such as APA and the IEEE ones. I feel the referencing style of APA is counter productive, so I use other ones

I'm not sure if the university or company you are working in is strict or has preference on a specific style for the sake of standardization. So watch out for that

[mayurpathak]

Thanks Ash! That was great effort.

Here is my table of content.

1. Executive Summary (Can be called as an abstract or a prologue. This should be written after you finish the project, except if it is an abstract)
2. Problem Definition (Or in case of a study project, it can be called as objective of the study)
3. Proposed solution (explain in for theoretical and technical manner. Use proofs, past study instances and justify your answer. In case of study or research projects, give details of how do you wish to conduct the study and why)
4. Expected Result (Its good to keep the expectations clear at the start)
5. Assumptions and Constraints (including monitory constraints, if applicable. State all assumptions clearly, it is important.)
6. Methodology (How are you going to go about completing the project and achieve the end result as desired. If you are following a project management protocol (say prince2) mention it and give a small account on why you selected it)
7. Schedule (This is probably one of the most important sections. Prepare a Gantt Chart before hand if possible and adhere to it through out the project. If you cant prepare a chart, decide milestones and put a completion time to it. Best way is to divide the team and assign parallel responsibilities)
8. Conclusion (Here is where you need to write how did you fare. You might want to write an account on highlights of the project.
9. Appendices (Here is where you add all the graphs, charts, study tables, figures, diagrams, flow charts, codes, pictures etc. Number them properly and use them in your earlier sections with proper references mentioned every where. If possible, use footnotes)

I think we will wait for another person to post a TOC. Then we will freeze and work on the individual sections.

[ash]

Nice and detailed, Mayur

Im thinking about the order "constraints" with regards to "solution". From my perspective, constraints would be derived from the problem statement (or other factors) and then be the acting guide for the proposed solution. That sort of fits the thinking process.

Eg:
Problem: Current application A is deemed expensive for the average citizen, blah blah
Constraints: 1) Low Cost 2) Blah blah..
Solution: The new product will utilize other cheaper but still effective mechanisms such as blah blah.