DESIGN PHASE 1 - PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

• IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PROJECTS & PARTNERS​ 
  • Who is a Project Partner?
    This is the main contact between the students and the stakeholder and gives important guidance concerning the needs of the stakeholder and the project. The stakeholder is the user of the project and the Community partner (if there is one) could be the parent organization of the project partner
  • Key Criteria for a Project and Project Partner
    • Project Partner Commitment:
      Would the Project Partner and Stakeholder be willing to meet with us to give us guidance for the project?
    • Significance of the Project:
      What Project Partner would benefit most from the project that you can provide?
    • Expected Duration:
      What is the expected duration of the project based on the resources and guidance available?
    • Student Expertise:
      Do we have enough expertise in our class and help in our community to be able to design, develop and deliver the project?
    • Student Availability:
      Do we have enough students with the right skills to be able to deliver the project?
      Availability of community expertise – Do we enough help from community experts to complete the project?
  • What are the next steps?
    • Communicate with project partner and plan a visit
    • Develop survey to get feedback from stakeholders

• DEVELOP A PROJECT CHARTER
  • EPICS Project Charter - add this to your Engineering folder
    • ​Example: 2018 EPICS Project Charter_PopUp Shop 

• RESEARCH PRIOR ART
  • ​​EPICS Prior Art -  add this to your Engineering Folder
    • Examples: 2020 EPICS Prior Art_Goose Creek Stream Monitoring, 2018 EPICS Prior Art_Pop Up Shop ​

Prior Art in Engineering is the gathering of information that is attainable by the public about any product that is on the market for consumer use. This includes any patents that are related to the product, any published articles about the design or any open demonstrations. The main reason for exploring Prior Art in Engineering is to make sure that we do not violate patent law or existing products. It is also used to determine if there are other products that are already on the market that will suit the needs of our stakeholders.  The products are analyzed to determine specifics including the cost, ergonomic aspects, aesthetics of the product, and the general safety. Engineers then use this information to make further evaluations concerning the features of the product and why it does not meet the needs of the stakeholder. This helps them be able to better focus their attention on details that will make their project unique and feasible.

• CREATE FIRST PROTOTYPE
  • ​​Download file from link, print, and scan finished work into Google Drive folder.

• MAINTAIN A PROJECT WEBSITE
  • ​Add the EPICS Google Site to your engineering folder. 
    ​Add the following pages to cover the first 5 design phases: 
    • Home​  EPICS team introduction and final project delivery (Design Phase 5)
    • Project Identification & Specification Development (Design Phase 1-2)
    • Conceptual & Detailed Design (Design Phases 3-4)

• SET UP EPICS NOTEBOOKS
  • ​​Create a new Google Doc in your Engineering folder and share it only with your instructor.

• PREPARE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS REVIEW (SDR)
  • Edit the project website and arrange to present to the project partner and stakeholders.