EMA: The Final Project Report

Introduction

The EMA takes the form of the final project report which follows the structure of the Interim Report you completed for TMA03. The Word template we provide for the EMA is exactly the same as those for TMA01, TMA02 and TMA03. You may find it helpful to save your TMA03 with a new filename, and work on this for your EMA.

If you did well in TMA03 do not stop your project work, as the mark you were awarded represents where you were up to when you submitted TMA03, not where you should be when you submit your EMA. There are around 2 months between the cut-off dates for TMA03 and the EMA. Depending on whether you started your project in February or April, this means that when you submitted TMA03 you were either three quarters or two thirds of the way through your project work. We expect to see progression and development in your work between TMA03 and the EMA.

In the following section, the EMA activities are listed and described. In section 3, there is a detailed description of what you should submit for the EMA, and in section 4, the indicative marking scheme. Please read these sections carefully, paying particular attention to the progression we are looking for.

The marking of your EMA will assume that you have continued working at the required study rate since you submitted TMA03. You should be spending about 75% of your time on your project work, and about 25% of your time writing your final report.

Submitting your EMA

This module uses the electronic TMA (eTMA) system for submission of the EMA. You can access this system through your StudentHome page.

An e-mail will be sent to you approximately six weeks before the EMA submission cut-off date by the University’s Examinations and Assessment Department. This will give you formal guidance about submitting your EMA, and you should read it carefully. Submission of your EMA differs to the submission of TMAs and you must follow the instructions given in this e-mail. If you have not received this e-mail when expected, check the junk and spam folders in your e-mail account, and check that the university holds up-to-date records of your e-mail address.

Your TM470 Project Report should consist of one Microsoft Office Word file. If this is zipped it should have the extension .zip; do not use any other format, such as RAR or 7z.

The eTMA system limits file sizes to 50 MB for this EMA. If your submission file is larger than this you may need to remove some of the less important aspects of the appendices and/or reduce the resolution of any image files. Leave yourself plenty of time to do this before the cut-off date.

If you choose to submit early you can overwrite this submission with another submission, up to the cut-off date. This can be useful if you need to correct a mistake or think of something you have missed out.

No extension to the cut-off date of the EMA will be possible. Your tutor does not have authority to offer or approve extensions for the EMA.

If you feel that special circumstances have affected your performance in the EMA, then please refer to the Special Circumstances section of the Help Centre, accessible via Student Home.

What you need to demonstrate in your Final Project Report

Your EMA is your final project report. It will be marked by your own project tutor, and by another tutor who will not be familiar with your work.

You should carefully read through the feedback your tutor has provided on your TMA03.

As a reminder:

• Your tutor will have provided an feedback overview of your progress in the PT3 of returned work.

• Your tutor may well have provided in-script comments throughout your TMA03.

• Your tutor will have provided feedback for each of the assessed learning outcomes on a marking grid.

If any of the feedback you have received is unclear, contact your tutor and ask for further support.

At this stage you need to complete your project work (as best you are able; some parts may need to remain incomplete) and produce your project report.

Your report should provide evidence of having achieved all of the learning outcomes, that is, your ability to:

• demonstrate and apply a systematic understanding of fundamental technical concepts and principles relevant to your project.

• identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your specialist route, if applicable.

• identify, list and justify the resources, skills and activities needed to carry out the project successfully, and identify and address any associated risks

• gather, analyse and evaluate relevant information to complete the project successfully

• analyse a practical problem and devise and implement a solution, which should be within the area of your specialist route, if applicable, building on the knowledge and skills developed throughout your earlier OU studies and experience

• make effective use of a variety of information sources, including the internet, demonstrating awareness of the credibility of the source

• communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions clearly

• learn independently and reflect on what has been done, with a view to improving skills and knowledge

• plan and organise your project work appropriately, and keep systematic records of plans, progress and outcomes

• identify and address the legal, social, ethical and professional issues (LSEPIs) and the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) concerns that that may arise during the development and use of computing and IT systems

• critically review how you have tackled the project.

 What to submit for the EMA

Your final project report should give a comprehensive account of all aspects of your project work, and especially the outcomes or products of your work. Your TMA 03, your project outputs, and your project journal should provide you with most of the information you need to write your report.

Developing your report

You should write in a grammatically correct, professional manner, avoiding slang or colloquialisms, recognising that your markers are broadly knowledgeable in Computing and IT, but may not be familiar with the specifics of your particular project.

Title and Contents

Your EMA should have a cover page containing your working title, the word “EMA”, and your name and your personal identifier (PI). Following this title page you should then include a contents page, indicating the page number(s) of each section.

Your Project Description and Scope

In the TMAs you have developed and refined an account of the problem that makes clear both the nature and the context of the problem, and you have received feedback from your tutor on the accounts you have submitted and so drafting this part of the project report should be fairly easy.

One useful framework is to give short, one- or two-sentence answers to each of the following questions:

• What is the problem to be solved or the purpose of your project?
• Why is it important to address it?
• What will be the benefits of addressing it?
• What might the solution or results look like?

If you are registered in a Computing and IT (Honours degree) specialist route:

• Will the solution be within the specialist route of my degree?
• What, specifically, did you aim to deliver?

You may need to adapt some of these to suit the nature of your project. In particular, you will need to expand a little on the context within which the problem arose.

The description of the proposed solution should be about what you aimed to deliver (what you initially set out to do) rather than what you did eventually deliver. Having developed a project outcome (what you actually produced), you should also be in a position to indicate its likely impact if adopted. You should think of impact not just in terms of benefits, but also on change that might need to be managed, especially in relation to established ways of doing things in some organisational context and in terms of people. In respect of the latter, you should be able to draw on and further develop the thinking.

Account of Related Literature

How you organise this section will depend very much on the nature of your project. If you have undertaken a project that draws on literature from more than one field, then it is a good idea to cover these separately. You should build on the work you have already done in earlier TMAs, ensuring that you demonstrate the skills of comparative and critical reading and evaluation. You should also aim to relate the main elements of the literature to each other so that it is clear how individually and collectively they contribute to the work you have done. You should continue to make it clear how your references contribute to your work.

Resources and Planning

Building on your earlier work, you should provide a comprehensive description of the resources you have used, the associated risks, and your management of these. As part of your narrative, you should identify where your risk assessment was strong or weak, and the impact this had on your planning and time management.

marker who cannot be expected to mark reports that exceed this word count.

Indicative marking scheme

Please read this mark scheme carefully as your EMA mark will be based upon it.

The tutors and possibly the module team members marking your EMA will use a grade-related marking scheme based on Table 4.1. You should check against this table as you carry out your project work for the EMA, and as you complete the EMA. This will act as a form of self-assessment to help ensure you are working at the appropriate level. The maximum number of marks for each learning outcome is indicated in the column entitled Marks.

LO2 (Project Goals) 

Identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable.

Clear title and description of the project. The problem addressed is well defined. The boundaries of the project and the outcome are clear and within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable. Comprehensive statement of the likely impact of the outcome.

LO3 (Determining resources, skills and activities needed) 

Identify, list and justify the resources, skills and activities needed to carry out the project successfully. Identify and address any associated risks. Comprehensively Identifies, lists and justifies the resources, skills and activities needed to carry out the project successfully. Identifies and addresses any associated risks and how they were mitigated.

LO4 (Planning and organising work)

Plan and organise your project work appropriately, and keep systematic records of plans, progress and outcomes. Has clearly planned (choice of lifecycle & time plan) and accurately managed progress in relation to the original plan. Understands what has gone well and what has not gone to plan.

Summary of Assessment Requirements

The End-of-Module Assessment (EMA) is the final project report for the TM470 module. It builds upon the interim report (TMA03) and must show progression and development.

Key Requirements

• Project Report Structure: Follow the same template used in TMAs (TMA01–TMA03).

• Completion of Project Work: Demonstrate continuation and completion beyond TMA03.

• Submission Format: A single Word file (not exceeding 50 MB) submitted via the eTMA system.

• Key Deliverables:

  • Title and contents page.

  • Project description and scope (problem definition, importance, objectives).

  • Proposed solution (planned vs. actual outcomes).

  • Account of related literature (critical analysis and relevance).

  • Resources and planning (risks, management, tools, timeline).

  • Reflection (challenges, strengths, improvements).

Learning Outcomes Demonstrated

• Apply systematic technical knowledge.

• Identify and refine project goals.

• Plan, organise, and document progress.

• Gather, analyse, and evaluate information.

• Provide a practical solution.

• Demonstrate awareness of legal, social, ethical, and professional issues.

• Communicate clearly and reflect independently.

Academic Mentor’s Step-by-Step Guidance

Step 1 Understanding Requirements

• Clarified the difference between TMA03 and EMA.

• Emphasised progression: EMA should show refinement and final outcomes.

• Highlighted marking criteria and alignment with learning outcomes.

Step 2 Structuring the Report

• Advised starting with a clear project scope (problem, purpose, benefits, expected solution).

• Guided the student to separate initial aims from achieved outcomes.

• Helped refine the contents page for logical flow.

Step 3 Literature Review Development

• Encouraged critical reading and evaluation, not just summaries.

• Showed how to link different fields of literature into a cohesive argument.

• Trained the student to highlight how each reference supported the project solution.

Step 4 Resource and Risk Planning

• Reviewed the student’s earlier resource list.

• Suggested adding risk mitigation strategies and reflecting on real challenges faced.

• Helped restructure the timeline to demonstrate strong project management.

Step 5 Writing the Analysis and Reflection

• Guided the student to:

  • Compare planned vs. achieved results.

  • Analyse what worked well and what did not.

  • Show awareness of legal, social, and ethical issues in computing projects.

• Emphasised reflective writing with focus on learning gained.

Step 6 Ensuring Academic Standards

• Reviewed writing style to ensure it was professional, grammatically correct, and formal.

• Checked formatting, citations, and overall presentation.

• Ensured compliance with word count and submission rules.

Outcome Achieved

Final Submission Results

• The final EMA submission was structured, comprehensive, and reflective.

• The student successfully:

  • Defined and refined goals.

  • Applied technical knowledge effectively.

  • Planned and documented work with systematic records.

  • Conducted a critical literature review.

  • Identified risks and proposed mitigation strategies.

  • Delivered a practical solution supported by evidence.

  • Addressed ethical and professional considerations.

  • Reflected on learning progress and improvements.

Learning Objectives Covered

Key Achievements

The EMA ensured the student achieved the following:

• Application of systematic technical concepts to a practical project.

• Independent project management and organisational skills.

• Ability to analyse, evaluate, and communicate solutions effectively.

• Practice of critical literature review and evaluation.

• Development of professional and ethical awareness.

• Strengthened self-reflection and lifelong learning capabilities.

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