The general problems to be addressed by the Grader Tool are the following:

1. to create an online grade book that gives the user the ability to quickly assign grades in custom categories that can be subdivided into individual assignments
2. to provide a secure means for students to access their grades, predict their grade in the class, and evaluate their performance against their class
3. to provide interactive tools that are able to quickly respond to user input
4. to provide students a secure way to submit their work for classes

While similar products have addressed parts of these problems, the Grader Tool provides teachers with more flexible categorization, more control over curving grades, and gives students the opportunity to predict their grade in their class. The Grader Tool also addresses a problem that has been ignored in similar tools, responsiveness. The interactive tools in the Grader Tool will be able to respond quickly to any user input. Specific problem areas are the following:

1. protecting the privacy of students and their information
2. presenting graphical representations of class scores
3. creating adjustable grade levels to set a curve on assignments

The Grader Tool addresses the requirements of educational faculty as well as students. The tool addresses the users’ needs for a tool that provides more flexibility and accessibility than similar tools. Addressing these needs requires a combination of features from similar tools into a unique product.

Additionally, the development of the Grader Tool addresses issues ignored by commercial tools:

1. to provide a instructional model that teaches students the techniques applied in the formal software engineering process
2. to provide a foundation for future developers to build a better teaching aid tool