TopCoder Conceptualization Contests
Work directly with TopCoder clients to define new projects! In Conceptualization contests, competitors collaborate with clients in the project forums to help identify, organize, and document their needs and ideas, and produce a high-level Business Requirements Document. The Business Requirements Document identifies and describes the workflows that the client follows, or intends to follow, to accomplish one or more business goals. Competitors compete to concisely document who does what, how they do it, and how they should do it.
In later phases of the project, other contests will put "flesh on the bones" of the BRD. Wireframe and Storyboard contests will give the BRD shape and form. Systems Architecture, Module Specification and Module Architecture contests will provide details and precise methods for high level requirements of the BRD. The Component Design and Development and Application Assembly contests will build the requirements and finally, the Testing contests will ensure they work correctly. Through these contests
, TopCoder members are designing the application that the client will use every day, and Conceptualization is where it all starts.
- To learn more about how to compete, click here.
- To start competing on Conceptualization Contests, click here!.
Contest Phases
Conceptualization Competitions are conducted in a single round with a mid-contest Milestone. The Milestone submission is optional. After the Milestone, the client/project stakeholder will review all submissions and provide general feedback to all registrants. Submissions will remain private - the feedback will be generalized and will not copy text from any submission directly, instead, the client/project stakeholder will identify areas that are in or out of scope or require more detail. The contest continues and all final submissions will be reviewed against the Conceptualization Scorecard.
Conceptualization Competitions also feature Moderators. A Moderator is a TopCoder Member who has demonstrated proficiency in Conceptualization Contests in the past, and is an active member of the Conceptualization Review Board. The Moderator reviews the client's completed Questionnaire and posts an initial set of questions to the forum, prior to the contest. The Client responds to the initial posts, also prior to the contest. After the contest begins, the Moderator posts timeline reminders and follows up on forum threads as necessary.
 | Timing the Launch
Project Stakeholders should consider launching Conceptualization contests on Mondays whenever possible, in order to minimize the impact of forum support over the weekends. Competitors should remember that clients typically have very limited time for forum work, and should be sure to ask clear and thorough questions. |
| Phase |
Avg Duration |
Description |
| Setup |
5 days |
Before the competition is posted, the competition will be entered into the pipeline and the requirements will be reviewed. This will allow members to plan, research and prepare for the contest. The contest wiki specification will explain the goal of the project and identify processes that are especially important to consider. |
| Registration |
2 days |
After the competition is posted competitors will have some time (the length depends on the duration of the submission phase) to register for the competition. Members must register in order to compete. |
| Milestone & Feedback |
24 Hours |
The optional Milestone submission will be due at the end of the Registration phase. Milestones will be awarded to first and second place, subjectively selected by the client, and the total prize will be equal to the first place final prize. The Milestone submission is not a complete final submission - see the "how-to" for exact requirements. Project stakeholders will provide generalized feedback on Milestone submissions. Submissions will remain private. The stakeholder will identify areas that are in or out of scope or require more detail. On occasion, Milestone review may require additional time. The client/project stakeholder will post announcements if more time is required. |
| Submission |
3+ days |
During the submission phase competitors will work on developing their submission. During this phase they will be able to ask questions and discuss problems in the forums for the competition. Submission runs concurrently with registration and Generalized Feedback. |
| Screening |
2 hours |
When the submission phase closes, all submissions will be screened against a scorecard to determine if they should move on to the review phase. |
| Review |
24 hours |
All submissions that pass screening will be reviewed by a review panel. Each reviewer completes a detailed score card for each submission. The score cards cover all aspects of a submission including requirements, documentation quality, and stylistic choices (among others). |
| Appeals |
24 hours |
When the review phase is completed, each submitter has the opportunity to appeal anything they believe to be an error in scoring or to provide additional information on things that may not have been clear to the reviewer. |
| Winner Selection |
Instant |
After the appeals process is completed, the final score for each submission will be calculated. The submission with the highest score will be declared the winner. |
| Final Fixes and Review |
24 hours |
After a winner has been named, the submitter must address any issues that were identified with the submission during the review process. These changes will be reviewed again and the process repeated until there are no outstanding issues with the submission. |
| Support |
Ongoing |
Winner will be required to support a downstream contest by being available to answer forum questions for that contest. |
Contest Lifecycle
1. Contest Posting
Contests will be posted to the Active Contest List. Each will have a wiki page associated with it to describe the contest details. Review the details, and if you'd like to compete, click the "Register" button.
2. Competition and Submission Phase
After you have registered, you will be able to download the contest distribution packet (a zip archive). Review the instructions in the wiki and distribution. Review the forums too, for any additional instructions or changes.
| Forum Participation
Because the point of Conceptualization is to bring competitors into contact with the client to develop requirements, forum participation is absolutely crucial. |
3. Review Phase
At the end of the contest, the review panel will begin screening and reviewing submissions. The screening phase verifies that required materials are present and non-trivial. For Conceptualization Contests, the Moderator is both the Primary Screener and Final Reviewer. Following Screening, a Review Panel will begin reviewing passing submissions. The Review Panel is composed entirely of TopCoder members.
4. Support Phase
The winner will be required to support one "downstream" contest via the forums. For the Conceptualization contest, this will usually be a Studio Wireframe or Systems Architecture contest. Other contest types are possible (since we will choose whichever form is most appropriate for the situation), but support will always be by forum.
