Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 1

Software Project Planning

Project Planning, Scheduling, and Monitoring

Jalote-2002, etc.

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 2

Introduction Effectively schedule, allocate, use, and replace

resources to achieve goals Master schedule is the basic tool and main output

of planning Project control is based on comparing the

progress with schedule Planning and scheduling are dynamic

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 3

Reluctance to Planning Takes too much time and cost

• Preventive action

• Long-term payoff is greater than short-term cost

Too tedious (mental activity)• “Thinker” and “doer”

Ego (shoot from the hip)• Not realistic

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 4

Effective Schedule Understandable Sufficiently detailed Highlighting critical tasks Flexible Based on reliable estimates Conform to available resources Compatible with other related projects

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 5

Scheduling Total schedule is a function of total effort and

(flexible) resource allocation issues. Simple estimate of schedule:

• S = a * Eb

“Square root” rule of thumb:• Proposed schedule and number of resources should be around

the square root of total effort in person-month.

Dependencies have to be considered too.

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 6

Scheduling Next step: milestones, per-phase resource allocation, and

detailed scheduling• Rayleigh curve and peak time size (PTS)• Peak usually happens at “build” phases after “design” and before “test”• In detailed schedule, low level tasks should need a few days and one

person Slack time

• Due to fixed resource allocation• Used for training, documentation, …

Schedule and effort distributions are different• Design and test usually have larger percentage of schedule compared

to effort• Schedule: 40-40-20%, manpower ratio: 1,2,1

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 7

Developing the Schedule Defining objectives

• Attainable, definitive, quantifiable, with specific duration

Breaking down the work Sequencing the activities Estimating the activity costs and durations Reconciling with time constraints Reconciling with resource constraints Reviewing

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 8

Work Breakdown Structure WBS is a hierarchical representation of a process

or product or both (hybrid). WBS can be shown in a tree graph or as an

indented list A decimal numbering to label the elements

• e.g. 4.1.2 is the 2nd element of the 1st element of the 4th

4th

1st

2nd

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 9

Tree Graph WBS for ATC

Project Management

ATC System

SW Eng. Product Assur.Operations

Req. Eng. Design Coding Test

V&VQA

DetailedPreliminary

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 10

Indented List WBS for ATC 0.0 Air Traffic Control (ATC) System 1.0 Project Management 2.0 Software Engineering

• 2.1 Requirement Engineering• 2.2 Design• 2.3 Coding• 2.4 Test

3.0 Operations 4.0 Product Assurance

• 4.1 Quality Assurance• 4.2 Verification and Validation

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 11

Notes on WBS “Rolling wave” approach

• First top levels

• Gradual completion

Keep partitioning into 72 elements WBS dictionary Make sure about numbering scheme

• Top-level zero or one, …

Work package specification for lowest level entries (info, completion, …)

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 12

Sequencing Scheduled Activities Interrelationship among activities Milestones and Gantt charts are most common

• Gantt chart also shows the relationship between work load and time

Full-wall method gives a global view Precedence networks are used for larger projects

• Critical Path Method (CPM)

• Program Evaluation and Review Technique

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 13

Milestone Chart Simplest scheduling method Small projects or summary of larger ones Ease and minimal cost No interrelationships exhibited Only completion dates Not enough feedback

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 14

Gantt Chart Gantt or Bar chart used more frequently than

others Suitable for projects with less than 25 activities Graphical display of start/end times Shows overlapping activities easily

• CPM or PERT are translated to Gantt sometimes

For estimation of resource and budget vs. time

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 15

Gantt Example - 1

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 16

Gantt Example - 2

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 17

Precedence Networks Network is a graphical representation of

sequential relationship between:• Activities

• Events

Critical Path Method (CPM)• Activity-based

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)• Event-based

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 18

CPM/PERT AOA (activity-on-arc)

• Nodes are “events” and arcs are “activities” leading to them AON (activity-on-node)

• Nodes are “activities” and arcs show the sequence/order CPM

• Labels and focuses on activities• Usually AOA• e.g. construction projects

PERT• Labels and focuses on events• Almost always AOA• More complicated projects

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 19

CPM/PERT Graph

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 20

Critical Path

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 21

Activity Slack Maximum time that an activity can be delayed without

delaying the entire project Zero for those on critical path S = LS - ES or S = LF – EF

• LS is Latest and ES is Earliest Start time for activity (or source node)• LF is Latest and EF is Earliest Finish time

Earliest times calculated using “forward pass”• ESj = maxi {(ESi + time for activity ai,j)} , i and j are nodes • ES for last node is “project deadline”

Latest times calculated using “backward pass”• What’s the latest time for each node, keeping the deadline?

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 22

Probabilistic PERT No unique estimate for time/effort

• Optimistic, a• Realistic, m• Pessimistic, b

mean=((2m+(a+b)/2)/3) sigma2=((b-a)/6)2 Central Limit Theorem

• Sum of the activity times on the critical path is a random variable with a normal distribution, its mean and variance the sum of the means and variances of the activities on the critical path

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 23

When CPM/PERT? Sequential Interrelated Ordered Without interruption Well-defined

• CPM

Uncertain• PERT (allows probability for time estimates)

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 24

Format for Project Plan - 1 Title page Signature page Change history Preface Table of contents List of figures List of tables

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 25

Format for Project Plan - 2 1- Overview

• Summary» Purpose, scope, objectives

» Assumptions and constraints

» Deliverables

» Schedule and budget summary

• Evolution of plan

2- References 3- Definitions

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 26

Format for Project Plan - 3 4- Project organization

• External interface

• Internal structure

• Roles and responsibilities

5- Managerial process plans• Estimation (cost, schedule)

• Work (activities, resource and budget allocation)

• Control (quality, metrics, …)

• Risk management

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 27

Format for Project Plan - 4 6- Technical process plans

• Process model• Methods, tools• Acceptance plan

7- Supporting process plans• Configuration management• Verification/validation• Quality assurance (reviews, audits, …)• Subcontract• Process improvement plan

Annexes Index

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 28

Effective Project Control Detailed planning Deliverables and measurable milestones Communication Tracking (money, time, resources, tasks) Reviews Signing-on Reasons for poor control?

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 29

Project Tracking Activities tracking

• Use Microsoft Project or similar tools• Percent completed

Defect tracking• Submission, injection, detection, closure dates• Type, severity, people involved• Related changes

Issues tracking• Small jobs, …

Status reports

Ali Arya, 2003 Software Project Management, Planning Slide 30

Milestone Analysis Actual vs. estimated effort and schedule

• Re-schedule

• Scheduling training

• Review tasks

Quality monitoring• Review test procedure

• More tests

Risk-related monitoring