Deliverable: DOER
The first deliverable is a short document referred to as the DOER. The template form is provided in PDF and Word formats. The completed form must be submitted in PDF format.
You and your supervisor must agree on everything in the DOER document, so you need to meet to discuss as early as possible. Submission of the DOER by the advertised deadline is a compulsory module element.
Declarations
Give your project title and project type. Select the most appropriate project type for your project. Select the appropriate declaration on AI use, taking into account the guidance on AI use.
After completing the remainder of the form, sign and date, and get your supervisor to sign and date.
Description
Give a short description of the project aims, context and background. Explain the big picture of what you would like to achieve, why it is important, and how you intend to go about doing it (e.g. by using some kind of technology or developing a new algorithm, or following a particular methodology, etc).
Objectives
Give a list of clearly defined, measurable objectives that you intend to achieve by the end of your project. This could include any software artifacts you intend to submit in the end, results of an evaluation (for surveys or research algorithms), etc. Your achievements will be assessed against these objectives.
Typically, you will list about 3–5 primary objectives which are necessary for a project to be deemed successful, and further 3 or so secondary objectives which allow a successful project to be extended in an interesting direction.
Ethics
For guidance on completing the Ethics section, see the ethics documentation. If you also need to submit a full ethics application or amendment, you are very strongly advised to do so as early as possible.
Resources and risks
This includes a list of any special resources your project will need: hardware, software, licenses, access to infrastructure, external access to School servers, etc. Think ahead, but be realistic—the School may not be able to meet all requests. Listing a resource here will not automatically notify the Systems team, so you should also proactively contact them via cs-support@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Most projects can be completed using standard school equipment, in which case you can just select the first option.
See also: DOER examples. Note that these examples were written before the current DOER template form was published.
You must also note any significant risks to the success of the project, such as reliance on a dataset that you don’t yet have. Your fall-back plan must mitigate any such risks (e.g. using an alternative dataset). If this is not feasible then you need to redesign your project. It is unlikely that any deadline extension will be granted where the request is based on such an identified risk having arisen, or where that risk should reasonably have been identified at the start of the project.