Improving project planning/tracking for student software engineering projects through SOPPTS

The Student Online Project Planning and Tracking System, SOPPTS, is an online system designed and implemented to enhance the communication avenues and the project planning/tracking requirements of student projects for the Ball State University (BSU) software engineering classes. This paper presents the design and assessment of this tool SOPPTS has been designed and field-tested to provide real-time feedback from faculty on student project progress, to offer online guidance for project planning and to produce automated tracking of student projects. The tool assessment included interviews of both students at the undergraduate and graduate level and faculty. The interview was a set of specific questions chosen to document each participant's experience and impressions of utilizing SOPPTS. Data evaluation consisted of compiling the reoccurring themes during the interview process. The major themes that emerged are the increased efficiency in developing, recording and tracking of student project plans, the visibility and immediate accessibility of this information and the improved and timely communication among the student team members, faculty and client partners. With the improved access to information and facilitated communication through SOPPTS, the project planning and tracking skills for the software development teams improved. Moreover, the informal aspects of team communication and synergy, factors that can be as important as the technical aspects, were enhanced.