Haramaya University

College of Computing and Informatics

Department of Information Technology

Final-year project document writing manual

2024
 1. Introduction

A final year project is a student’s final project to complete, with the aim of demonstrating
students’ ability to integrate the knowledge they acquired from more than one course and
subject. It provides a venue for students to show off their practical proficiency. A final year
project is one of the last major requirements for graduating programs in the science stream such
as Information Technology.

With a final year project, students will be able to identify real-world problems and create
solutions while using the learning they obtained throughout their degree program practically.
They will also be able to create a product that can be included in their portfolio to persuade
recruiters. This will in turn maximize their chance of getting jobs. Furthermore, final-year
projects help students develop their intellectual skills, such as communication, teamwork,
analytical, and critical thinking.

The final year project is set to be a mandatory requirement for graduating Information
Technology program students. It has mainly two phases; Final project I and Final Project II.
After the first phase is completed in the first semester, the second phase will continue in the
second semester. The department will decide on areas from where students should select topics
by considering the latest technology areas. This will help students gain an in-depth
understanding, acquire skills in newly trending fields, and be able to compete globally. Based
on the specified areas, students will submit topics of their interest. The department will then
analyze the topics and approve them with certain requirements and features to be included.

This document provides a guideline that describes the contents they should include, standards
they should follow while preparing their document, and how they should work together and
with their advisors.

2. Contents of the project reporting document

The department has prepared a guideline of contents for two major project areas:

 System development such as web-based systems and mobile applications

 Emerging Technologies such as Artificial intelligence based models and Internet of
Things.

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 2.1. Contents for System development

Title Page

Cover Page

Approval sheet

Acknowledgment

Acronyms and Abbreviation

Table of contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Appendix(ces) if any

Abstract

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1. Background
1.2. Statement of the problem
1.3. Objectives
1.3.1. General Objective
1.3.2. Specific Objectives
1.4. Scope and Limitation of the Project
1.5. Significance of the project
1.6. Methodology
1.6.1. System Development Methodology
1.6.2. Data Collection Methods
1.6.3. System Development Tools
1.7. Work breakdown structure
1.8. Project schedule

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Chapter Two: System Requirements

2.1. Introduction

2.1.1. Existing System Overview

2.1.2. Drawbacks of Existing System

2.2. Proposed system

2.2.1. Overview

2.2.2. Functional requirements

2.2.3. Nonfunctional requirements

2.2.3.1. Usability

2.2.3.2. Reliability

2.2.3.3. Performance

2.2.3.4. Supportability

2.2.3.5. Legal

2.2.4. Glossary

Chapter Three: Requirements Analysis

3.1. System models

3.1.1. Scenarios

3.1.2. Use case model

3.1.3. Object model (Class and Object diagrams)

3.1.4. Dynamic model (Sequence, Activity, state Chart Diagrams)

3.1.5. User interface—navigational paths and screen mock-ups

3.2. Glossary

Chapter Four: System Design

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 4.1. Introduction

4.1.1. Overview of System Design

4.1.2. Design Goal

4.2. Current Software architecture

4.3. Proposed Software Architecture

4.3.1. Overview

4.3.2. Sub-system Decomposition with Services (with Deployment Diagram)

4.3.3. Hardware / Software mapping

4.3.4. Database design

 Normalization: no less than 2nd normal form

 Persistent Data management

4.3.5. Access Control and Security

4.3.6. Global control flow

4.3.7. Boundary Condition

4.4. Subsystem services

4.5. Data dictionary

4.6. Glossary

Chapter Five: Implementation (Only in the second phase of the project)

5.1. In this section, a thorough analysis should be given about the implementation based on
the design. For example: an analysis should be given to show the implementation aligns with
the object diagram and dynamic models.

5.2. Quality Assurance and Testing

This sub-section should discuss the tasks performed to make sure that the software being made
is of high quality. It may include code reviews, testing processes, documentation standards, and

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quality metrics. It may also discuss problems found, and measures taken. In addition, system
testing and user satisfaction assessment reports should be presented.

References

Any source that has been used in the document should be listed. APA style should be followed
when listing bibliography for citations.

2.1.1. Description for each section

Title Page

The title page is the first page of the document and it is the only page for which a page number
is not assigned. It should include The title, “Final Year Project”, List of group members, year,
“Haramaya University, Haramaya”.

Cover Page

The cover page is the second page of the document and the first page for which a page number
is assigned although it does not have a page number typed on it. It should include The title, the
name of the university, college, department, “Final year project”, List of group members,
Advisor’s name, and Academic date/ month/ year, “Haramaya University, Haramaya”

Approval Sheet

This sheet should be prepared for the advisor to approve the project done under his/her
supervision.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronyms and abbreviations are written in alphabetical order of the words when written in full.
Obvious abbreviations and acronyms should not be listed. Each abbreviation and acronym
should be defined when they are first used and followed by their abbreviation or acronym in
parentheses. Once defined, acronyms and abbreviations shall be used in place of the full term
except at the beginning of the sentence. Acronyms and abbreviations are used only when they
have to appear several times in the document.

Table of Contents

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The table of contents should be generated automatically and should not have dotted lines that
connect headings and respective pages. Do not use “Title” and “Page” at the top of the table of
contents. If the table of contents is more than one page, the title followed in parenthesis with
the word “Continued” must appear.

Appendix(ces) if any

Questions designed for interviews, and documents that are important for the project such as
forms, figures, etc.

Abstract

This section should give a summary of the document in a way that can hook the reader’s
attention. It should not be divided into sections or paragraphs.

Chapter One: Introduction

In this section, the document should provide background information and set a context. It may
include a description of the topic, previous attempts and current status of the topic, and the
project. The background sub-section should be concluded by introducing what is been included
in the document and the organization of the document. It is always recommended that it should
capture the attention of the reader.

Statement of the problem

In this sub-section, the problem that required a project should be described with a solid
justification and cause-effect relationship.

Objectives

This sub-section should describe clearly the objectives of the project. The specific objectives
should be set in a way that they contribute to the success of the general objective.

Scope and Limitation of the Project

While scope sets the focus, outlines the parameters, and clarifies what the project will and will
not address, limitation refers to potential weaknesses, constraints, or shortcomings that may
affect the validity, reliability, or generalizability of the project.

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Work breakdown structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) visually organizes project deliverables into different levels
based on dependencies. It’s essentially the project plan in a visual form, with the project
objective at the top, and then dependencies and sub-dependencies below.

Project schedule

This sub-section should show the software development project’s major milestones,
deliverables, and deadlines. Gantt charts or other planning tools can be used to show how long
the project took.

2.2.Contents for Emerging Technologies

Title Page

Cover Page

Approval sheet

Acknowledgment

Acronyms and Abbreviation

Table of contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Appendix(ces) if any

Abstract

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1. Background
1.2. Statement of the problem
1.3. Objectives
1.3.1. General Objective
1.3.2. Specific Objectives

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 1.4. Scope and Limitation of the Project
1.5. Significance of the project
1.6. Work breakdown structure
1.7. Project schedule

Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1. Overview

This section provides an overview of the literature review.

2.2. Related Work

2.3. Summary

Chapter Three: Methodology

3.1. System Development Methodology

3.2. Data Collection Methods

3.3. System Development Tools

Chapter Four: Design for (name of the product)

4.1. Overview

This sub-section provides an overview of the architecture

4.2. Architecture of the software/ model

A thorough description of the architecture should be given here.

Chapter Five: Development of (name of the product)

5.1. Overview

This sub-section provides an overview of the development process

5.2. Data Preparation / Hardware Preparation

5.3. Implementation / Development

Chapter Six: Result and Discussion

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In this chapter, the artifact or product should be evaluated and the result obtained should be
discussed in detail.

Chapter Seven: Conclusion and Recommendation

This chapter presents the conclusion derived from the project’s outcome and recommendations
for future projects/studies.

References

Any source that has been used in the document should be listed. APA style should be followed
when listing bibliography for citations.

2.2.1. Description for each section

Title Page

The title page is the first page of the document and it is the only page for which a page number
is not assigned. It should include the name of the university, college, department, Title of the
project, and Academic month/ year.

Cover Page

The cover page is the second page of the document and the first page for which a page number
is assigned although it does not have a page number typed on it. It should include the name of
the university, college, department, Title of the project, List of group members, Advisor’s name,
and Academic date/ month/ year.

Approval Sheet

This sheet should be prepared for the advisor to approve the project done under his/her
supervision.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronyms and abbreviations are written in alphabetical order of the words when written in full.
Obvious abbreviations and acronyms should not be listed. Each abbreviation and acronym
should be defined when they are first used and followed by their abbreviation or acronym in

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parentheses. Once defined, acronyms and abbreviations shall be used in place of the full term
except at the beginning of the sentence. Acronyms and abbreviations are used only when they
have to appear several times in the document.

Table of Contents

The table of contents should be generated automatically and should not have dotted lines that
connect headings and respective pages. Do not use “Title” and “Page” at the top of the table of
contents. If the table of contents is more than one page, the title followed in parenthesis with
the word “Continued” must appear.

Appendix(ces) if any

Questions designed for interviews, documents that are important for the project such as forms,
figures, etc.

Abstract

This section should give a summary of the document in a way that can hook the reader’s
attention. It should not be divided into sections or paragraphs.

Chapter One: Introduction

In this section, the document should provide background information and set a context. It may
include a description of the topic, previous attempts and current status of the topic, and the
project. The background sub-section should be concluded by introducing what is been included
in the document and the organization of the document. It is always recommended that it should
capture the attention of the reader.

Statement of the problem

In this sub-section, the problem that required a project should be described with a solid
justification and cause-effect relationship.

Objectives

This sub-section should describe clearly the objectives of the project. The specific objectives
should be set in a way that they contribute to the success of the general objective.

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Scope and Limitation of the Project

While scope sets the focus, outlines the parameters, and clarifies what the project will and will
not address, limitation refers to potential weaknesses, constraints, or shortcomings that may
affect the validity, reliability, or generalizability of the project.

Work breakdown structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) visually organizes project deliverables into different levels
based on dependencies. It’s essentially the project plan in a visual form, with the project
objective at the top, and then dependencies and sub-dependencies below.

Project schedule

This sub-section should show the software development project’s major milestones,
deliverables, and deadlines. Gantt charts or other planning tools can be used to show how long
the project took.

Chapter Two: Literature Review

This chapter should present the major concepts that are relevant to the project. It can cover as
many concepts as it can.

Related work should discuss previous works in the same area. It should finally summarize the
works in a table including weaknesses of the works.

3. Style and Formatting

3.1. Font type and Size

Times New Roman font must be used throughout the document. The content of the cover page
should be presented in title case except the name of the University, the college, and the
department. The font size in this page is 14-point in bold face. The document should have an
additional cover page with the same font size and face, but with title case letters.

The first level headings in the document should be written in upper case 14-point font size.
Second level headings should written in bold title case in 14-point font size. Third level
headings should be written in bold title case in 12-point font size. Fourth level and all remaining

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lower level headings should be written in 12-point font size and in sentence case unless
required by grammatical or nomenclatural rules.

Apart from this variation in font size and formatting, all captions, column headings of tables
and the entire text in the document should be written in 12-point font size. However, non-
English words can be italicized. Underlining headings, subheadings, or captions of tables or
figures is not permitted.

3.2. Margins

A margin of 3.0 cm from the left and 2.5 cm from the right, top and bottom of the page are
required throughout the document.

3.3. Line Spacing and Paragraph Format

The line spacing is 1.5. This spacing should be applied between paragraphs, above and below
all headings, sub-headings and captions.

Indentation of each paragraph should be justified. However, texts on the title and cover pages
should be centered. List of group members should be aligned left.

3.4. Page Numbering and Setup

Each component of the preliminary section, each chapter, the reference’s chapter and the
appendix(ces) must start on a new page. The content of each component of the preliminary
section should be short and not exceed one page. Exceptions to the latter may be for the Table
of Contents, Acronyms and Abbreviations and the List of Tables and List of Figures.

Except for the cover page and the title page of the document, every page is assigned a page
number. The use of two different types of page numbering is required. Lower case Roman
numerals (ii, iii, iv, etc.) are used for the preliminary section from the cover page to the page
preceding the introduction section and are centered at the bottom of the pages. However, page
number should not appear on the cover page and the following page will be numbered with ii.
Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) are used from the first page of the introduction to the last page
of the document and are right aligned at the top of the page. However, page number should not
appear on the first page of the introduction and the following page will be numbered with 2.

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4. Rules that should be obeyed while working Final project
 The contribution of a group member should not be less than the other (active
participation is non-negotiable)
 Progress report should be presented to respective supervisors at least once in two weeks
 Deadlines for submission have to be respected.

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5. Title page and Cover page templates
5.1 Title page
[Your title here]

Final Year Project

List of Group Members

[Month, Year]
HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY, HARAMAYA

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5.2. Cover Page

[Your title here]

HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

[Final Year Project]

List of Group Members

Advisor Name:

[Month, Year]
HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY, HARAMAYA

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