MG6088 - Software Project Management Department of CSE / IT UNIT I PROJECT EVALUATION AND PROJECT PLANNING Importance of Software Project Management – Activities Methodologies – Categorization of Software Projects – Setting objectives – Management Principles – Management Control – Project portfolio Management – Cost-benefit evaluation technology – Risk evaluation – Strategic program Management – Stepwise Project Planning. PART-A 1 What is a project? The dictionary definitions put a clear emphasis on the project being a planned activity. The other definitions include A Specific plan or design A planned undertaking A large undertaking 2 Define software project management.(May 14) Software project management is the art and science of planning and leading software projects. It is a sub-discipline of project management in which software projects are planned, implemented, monitored and controlled. 3 What are the characteristics of a project? (Dec 12, 13) Non-routine tasks are involved Planning is required Specific objectives are to be met The project has a predetermined time span Work is carried out for someone other than yourself Work involves several specialism People are formed into temporary work group Work is carried out in several phases Resources available are constrained The project is large and complex. 4 What are the characteristics that make software projects different from other projects? (Dec 14, May 12,15) Invisibility - When a physical artifact is being constructed the progress being made can actually be seen. With Software, progress is not immediately visible. Complexity - software products contain more complexity than other engineered artifacts. Conformity - The ‘traditional’ engineer is usually working with physical. These physical systems can have some complexity, but are governed by physical laws that are consistent. Software developers have to conform to the requirements of human clients. It is not just that individual can be inconsistent. Flexibility - The ease with which software can be changed is usually seen as one of its strengths. 5 What are the three successive processes that bring a new system?(Dec 11) The feasibility study- Evaluate the cost of the software development against the Software Engineering Planning-Outline the structure of the project Project Execution- Product Implementation activities. Aalim Muhammed Salegh College of Engineering Page | 1 MG6088 - Software Project Management Department of CSE / IT 6 What are the phases in software development life cycle? Requirement analysis Architecture design Detailed design Code and test Integration Qualification testing Installation Acceptance support 7 List the various ways to categorize software projects. Compulsory versus voluntary projects Information systems versus embedded systems Outsourced projects Object driven versus product driven development 8 Who are project stakeholders? (May 15) These are people who have a stake or interest in the project. Stakeholders can be categorized as: Internal to the project team External to the project team but within the same organization External to both the project and the organization. 9 What is project steering committee? What are their roles? Overall authority over the project is often termed as project steering committee or project management board. The project manager runs the project on a day-to-day basis, but regularly reports to the steering committee. Roles: Setting, monitoring and modifying objectives. The project manager runs the project on a day-to-day basis, but regularly reports to the steering committee. 10 What are the activities of management? Planning –deciding what is to be done. Organizing – making arrangements. Staffing-selecting the right people for the job Directing-giving instructions. Monitoring – checking on progress Controlling- taking action to remedy hold-ups Innovating-coming up with new solutions. Representing – liaising with clients, users , developers , suppliers 11 Define SMART. S – specific, that is, concrete and well-defined M – measurable, that is, satisfaction of the objective can be objectively judged A – achievable, that is, it is within the power of the individual or group concerned to meet the target R – relevant, the objective must relevant to the true purpose of the project T – time constrained: there is defined point in time by which the objective should be achieved Aalim Muhammed Salegh College of Engineering Page | 2 MG6088 - Software Project Management Department of CSE / IT 12 What is Goals/sub-objectives? A goal can be allocated to an individual. Individual may have the capability of achieving goal, but not the objective on their own. A more appropriate goal or sub- objective for the software developers would be to keep development costs within a certain budget. e.g. Objective – user satisfaction with software product , Analyst goal – accurate requirements and Developer goal – software that is reliable 13 Define Management control. (Dec 18) Management Control System is defined a ‘set of policies and procedures designed to keep operations going according to plan. 14 What is project evaluation? Project evaluation is a step by step process of collecting, recording and organizing information about Project results short - term outputs (immediate results of activities or project deliverables) Long – term outputs (changes in behavior, practice or policy resulting from the result. 15 Why is project evaluation important? What progress has been made? Were the desired outcomes achieved? Why? Whether the project can be refined to achieve better outcomes? Do the project results justify the project inputs? 16 What is Project portfolio Management? Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is the centralized management of the processes, methods, and technologies used by project managers and project management offices(PMOs) to analyze and collectively manage current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics. 17 What are the key aspects of Project portfolio Management? Portfolio definition Portfolio management Portfolio optimization 18 What is objective of a project? Informally, the objective of a project can be defined by completing the statement: The project will be regarded as a success “if……….” Rather like post-conditions for the project, Focus on what will be put in place, rather than how activities will be carried out. e.g. ‘a new payroll application will be operational by 4th April’ not ‘design and code a new payroll application’ 19 What are the steps in cost-benefit analysis?(Dec 12, 13,18) Cost –benefit analysis consists of two steps Identifying and estimating all of the costs and benefits of carrying out the project and operating the delivered application. It includes development cost of system, Operating cost of system, Benefits obtained by system. Expressing these costs and benefits in common units. Aalim Muhammed Salegh College of Engineering Page | 3 MG6088 - Software Project Management Department of CSE / IT 20 What is net profit? The net profit of a project is the differences between the total costs and the total income over the life of the project. Advantage is easy to calculate and disadvantages are does not show profit relative to size investment 21 What do you understand by payback period?(Dec 14) The payback period is the time taken to break even or pay back the initial investment. Normally, the project with the shortest payback period will be chosen on the basis that an organization will wish to minimize the time that a project is ‘in debt’. Advantage: Simple to calculate, not sensitive to small forecasting errors. Disadvantage: Ignores the overall profitability of the project. 22 What is Return on investment?(May 12) It provides a way of comparing the net profitability to the investment required. A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments Disadvantages It takes no account of the timing of the cash flows. Rate of returns bears no relationship to the interest rates offered or changed by bank. ROI = average annual profit * 100 Total investment Average annual profit = net profit Total no. of years 23 When Net present value is calculated for a project? (Dec 12) The calculation of net present value is a project evaluation technique that takes into account the profitability of a project and the timing of cash flows that are produced. The NPV for a project is obtained by discounting each cash flow and summing the discounted values. 24 What is the use of decision tree in Risk Evaluation? (May 13) A decision tree is a diagramming analysis technique used to help select the best course of action in situations in which future outcomes are uncertain 25 What is the concept of strategic programmes? (Dec 13) Several projects together can implement a single strategy. For example the merging of two organizations’ computer systems could require several projects each dealing with particular application area. Each activity could be treated as a distinct project, but would be coordinated as a programme. 26 What are the steps involved in step wise planning? Identify project scope and objectives. Identify project infrastructure. Analyze project characteristics. Identify project products and activities. Estimate effort for each activity. Identify activity risks. Allocate resources. Review / publicize plan Execute plan/ lower levels of planning. Aalim Muhammed Salegh College of Engineering Page | 4 MG6088