The Capstone is the culminating project for the Software Test Engineer (STE) certificate program. Students must complete all required coursework before enrolling in the Capstone project, since the project incorporates skills from all the required courses. The Capstone project must be successfully completed in the allotted amount of time before a certificate will be awarded.

For the STE Capstone project, the student will create a test environment, design and execute appropriate test cases, find and report bugs, and provide test status reports for an application under development. Completion of each project task will demonstrate skills learned in the certificate courses. Since the Capstone simulates a real life project, it also serves as a sample for the student’s job portfolio.

The objectives of the Capstone project are to:

• Determine an effective test approach for the application under development, using all available resources including specifications and working code (C#).
• Demonstrate ability to create a test environment.
• Define and Execute 2 test passes utilizing the skills acquired from the curriculum.
• Identify and Report issues and bugs found during test execution.
• Present final evaluation and project documentation to instructor.

The first meeting of the Capstone project is a two-hour scheduled class with the instructor and up to six students. The purpose of this kick-off class includes:

1. Distribution and discussion of the project details and requirements.



2. Clarification about the purpose or expected outcome of the project including a review of the evaluation components of the project.



3. Establishing the project milestones that the student will use in the execution of the project.



4. A review of the process that students will use during the project to get feedback from the instructor.



5. A discussion of the last class, during which the instructor will evaluate the student’s project.



6. An outline of the process and steps that will be used to evaluate the student’s project.



7. An opportunity for the student to get started on the reading and review of initial project documents related to the application under test. This will allow the student to discuss immediate technical questions with the instructor.

After the initial two-hour class, there are three one-hour, in-person “checkpoint” meetings between the student and instructor—each scheduled two weeks apart. These checkpoint meetings will allow the student to check in with the instructor to make sure they are on track for completion. Additional follow-up communication with the instructor will occur via e-mail.

As the student completes pre-defined tasks during the project, they will earn points towards successful project completion. A written status report will be e-mailed to the instructor by the student 24 hours before each checkpoint meeting.

Students may contact the instructor as many times as necessary to ask clarifying questions regarding the project. They may also contact the instructor up to four times for direction or suggestions.

The project is expected to take from 70 to 90 hours of student time to complete, however completion time will depend on the student’s mastery of the material covered in the STE certificate classes.

The fifth and final meeting between the student and instructor is the Final Presentation, when the student’s Capstone project entire body of work will be evaluated. It will occur in person seven weeks after the initial kick-off class at the Bellevue College North Campus (one week after the third checkpoint meeting).

1. If at that time the project is considered by the instructor to be complete, the student will have successfully passed the Capstone class. To pass, the student must earn a minimum of 140 points from a possible 200. Points are awarded based on task completion, on-time delivery, and quality of work.



2. If the student does not earn the minimum of 140 points the instructor will review with the student the area(s) where the project did not meet expectations. The student will then have an additional 15 days to correct these problems and resubmit the project via e-mail. The 15 day grace period may not be extended for any reason, and only one resubmission is allowed; this will be considered the final opportunity to pass the project. The instructor will notify the student of the pass/fail status of the final submission via reply e-mail. If, after resubmitting the project the second time, the instructor believes that the work is not satisfactory, then the student will be considered to have failed the project, and the certificate will not be issued. The student’s only recourse is to re-enroll in and pay for the Capstone course again.



3. If the student does not have their project completed in time for the Final Presentation, an additional 15 day grace period will be extended to the student only if the student requests an extension prior to the Final Presentation. This request must be submitted to the instructor via e-mail. However, if the student either does not submit the project by the end of the 15 day extension or does submit it to the instructor, but does not meet the minimum standards required for the project to pass, then the student will be considered to have failed the project and the certificate will not be issued. A second resubmission of the project is not allowed, and the 15 day grace period will not be extended for any reason. The student’s only recourse is to re-enroll in and pay for the Capstone course again.



4. If the student would like an earlier evaluation than the date of the Final Presentation, they must contact the instructor to see if an earlier date can be arranged. Such arrangements will be on a case-by-case basis and, if an early evaluation is agreed to, it may need to take place via e-mail rather than in a face-to-face meeting. If an early evaluation takes place and the student does not successfully complete the project, an additional 15 day extension, starting from the date that the instructor informs the student of the failing grade, will be granted to the student. If, after resubmitting the project the second time, the instructor believes that the work is not satisfactory, then the student will be considered to have failed the project, and the certificate will not be issued. The student’s only recourse is to re-enroll in and pay for the Capstone course again.

1. Once the student enrolls in the Capstone project, it is expected that they have successfully learned the material presented in the required and elective classes. Therefore, the instructor will not supplement the Capstone project with tutoring or instruction on previous coursework. Although we want to help students who are stuck, we also want to maintain the integrity of this Capstone project. Therefore, the instructor of the Capstone Project will only provide general guidance and suggestions (up to four times per student) for improvement of the student’s project. The purpose of an instructor answering students’ questions during the Capstone project is to give direction, help students overcome impediments, and provide feedback, not solutions. It is not an opportunity to have the instructor make design or execution choices about the student’s project.



2. To successfully complete the Capstone project, each student will need their own test system. Minimum requirements for the system are that it can support running Microsoft Visual Studio, can be reconfigured as needed during test execution phases, and can be subjected to potential system crashes while testing an application under development.



3. Each student may contact the instructor an unlimited number of times during the Capstone project development phase to ask questions and receive clarification on the project requirements.



4. Milestone checkpoints are designed to help the student stay on track through the stages of project development so they can complete their project on time. Milestone checkpoints have specific deliverables, such as Status Reporting, which must be completed on time to earn points.



5. Progress towards successful completion of the Capstone project will be evaluated in phases. The points awarded at Final Presentation represent about half of the total points needed. The remaining points are earned during each of the three execution phases by successful completion of specific project tasks.



6. If a student fails the initial project evaluation and resubmits their project, the instructor will only evaluate those areas that failed the initial evaluation and verify that those areas now meet the project specifications. This is not an additional full-project evaluation.



7. A student who does not successfully pass the project may retake the Capstone project class in the future; however the full class charge will be assessed at that time. The student will be required to create a new project, and will not be able to rework their previous project.