SAE Systems and Networks

But du cours

Design and administer an enterprise network, and deploy servers and services to meet an application need. This project-based learning and assessment activity (French acronym: SAE) develops the competency ‘Design the architecture of an information system’ at the 3A level: the first year of the French engineering cycle and the third year of higher education. Students design, implement and operate a coherent, secure and documented service pipeline, including the server-side infrastructure of an IoT project where relevant.

Acquis d'apprentissage visés

On successful completion, students will be able to:

• Analyse client needs and justify system, network and software solutions suited to use cases, constraints and available resources.
• Describe functional, software, infrastructure and communication architectures, including interfaces between components.
• Implement a pipeline for data reception, validation, persistent storage and access, with a simulator for independent testing.
• Deploy and administer services, configure communications and access rights, and apply fundamental security principles.
• Define and carry out performance, load and recovery tests; analyse measurements to identify limitations and propose improvements.
• Implement robust, scalable infrastructure with backup, restoration and redeployment procedures appropriate to the need.
• Document design choices, system behaviour and operating procedures so another team can take over; present and defend the results.

Prérequis

Foundations of computer networking, system administration, programming, databases and web development. Supporting Semester 1 modules include SR501 (networking), SR502 (system administration), DAT501 (databases), DEV502 (web and APIs), and version control and documentation tools. For a project shared with the IoT SAE, the device/server interface contract is agreed jointly; the simulator supports development and testing before the hardware prototype is available.

Programme

Students work in teams to design and deploy services addressing a real or representative need. For an IoT project, the infrastructure receives data from devices or gateways, retains it and makes it usable by people and other applications. Project topics may vary; protocols, languages, databases and deployment tools are selected and justified against the requirements.

The project follows these stages:

1. Analysis and architecture: define functions, actors, normal scenarios and error cases; describe components, exchanges and deployment. Compare choices in terms of robustness, scalability, cost and security.
2. Data contract and simulation: specify formats, identifiers, timestamps and protocols; generate plausible data and representative scenarios to test the system independently of physical data sources.
3. Reception and persistence: implement ingestion, decoding, message validation, error handling and database storage. Justify the data model and mechanisms that preserve integrity.
4. Consultation and interoperability: develop a dashboard with an overview and detailed exploration; expose relevant data through a documented API protected by access controls.
5. Deployment and operation: install and configure services in a production-like environment; manage permissions, configuration, logs and persistence; document administration, maintenance, backup, restoration and redeployment.
6. Validation and improvement: demonstrate end-to-end operation, measure behaviour under load and after a restart or failure, quantify acceptable data loss and recovery time, and propose justified improvements. Distinguish measured performance from capabilities that are only proposed.

Eight deliverables provide the expected evidence:

• A backend architecture document covering functional, software, infrastructure and communication views.
• A simulator producing data representative of the project.
• A reception backend with persistent storage.
• A visualisation dashboard.
• A secure data-access API.
• Technical, administration and reproducible deployment documentation.
• A Git repository and history showing work organisation, contributions and submitted versions.
• A system demonstration and oral defence of design choices and results.

The SAE may share a year-long project with the IoT SAE. Interfaces are coordinated, while each assessment retains its own deliverables and criteria. Submission formats, deadlines, working arrangements and rules for using AI tools are specified in the instructions applicable to the cohort.

Modalités d'évaluation

Competency-based assessment by the ESIROI teaching team, drawing on the architecture document, technical implementation, tests and measurements, documentation, Git history and oral demonstration. Rubrics and expected evidence are communicated in advance.

Assessment follows the five dimensions of the SYSRES competency framework in COBIA:

• Selecting solutions and technologies appropriate to client needs.
• Analysing and measuring performance to improve the information system.
• Recommending and implementing solutions that incorporate fundamental security principles.
• Documenting the work and enabling its transfer to another team.
• Providing robust, scalable infrastructure that meets operational needs.

Criteria use the framework’s performance levels: unacceptable, insufficient, satisfactory and excellent. Weightings, thresholds and detailed arrangements follow the rubric applicable to the cohort. The demonstration verifies understanding of the architecture, the deployed system and reproducibility of tests. Partner feedback informs validation of use cases; the teaching team assesses the deliverables.

Bibliographie

• SYSRES competency framework, 3A level, and assessment rubrics in COBIA.
• Reference brief for the Semester 1 SYSRES SAE and assessment criteria. Use the version and instructions applicable to the academic year.
• Official documentation for the selected systems, protocols, databases and tools; research papers and technical experience reports supporting architecture, security and capacity decisions.

Supports

Materials from supporting modules; the partner’s needs and documentation; interface and data-format specifications; architecture, deployment and testing guides; a server, virtual machine or container environment appropriate to the project; the Git repository and COBIA for submissions and assessment tracking.