Software Project

Management

SEN-269 : Software Engineering

Tazeen Muzammil
 Project management
Organising, planning and
scheduling software projects
 Software project
management
Concerned with activities involved in ensuring
that software is delivered on time and on
schedule and in accordance with the
requirements of the organisations developing
and procuring the software

Project management is needed because software

development is always subject to budget and schedule
constraints that are set by the organisation developing
the software
MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

S/W Design 4
 Topics covered

Management activities
Project planning
Project scheduling
Risk management
 Management activities

Proposal writing
Project planning and scheduling
Project costing
Project monitoring and reviews
Personnel selection and evaluation
Report writing and presentations
 Project staffing
May not be possible to appoint the ideal people to
work on a project
Project budget may not allow for the use of
highly-paid staff
Staff with the appropriate experience may not
be available
An organisation may wish to develop employee
skills on a software project
Managers have to work within these constraints
especially when (as is currently the case) there is
an international shortage of skilled IT staff
Project planning

S/W Design 8
 Project planning
Probably the most time-consuming project
management activity
Continuous activity from initial concept through
to system delivery. Plans must be regularly
revised as new information becomes available
Various different types of plan may be developed
to support the main software project plan that is
concerned with schedule and budget
 Types of project plan
Plan Description
Quality plan Describes the quality procedures and
standards that will be used in a project.
Validation plan Describes the approach, resources and
schedule used for system validation.
Configuration Describes the configuration management
management plan procedures and structures to be used.
Maintenance plan Predicts the maintenance requirements of
the system, maintenance costs and effort
required.
Staff development plan. Describes how the skills andexperience of
the project team members will be
developed.
 Project Plan Structure
Introduction
Project organisation
Risk analysis
Hardware and software resource
requirements
Work breakdown
Project schedule
Monitoring and reporting mechanisms
Project scheduling

S/W Design 12
 Project scheduling
Split project into tasks and estimate time and resources
required to complete each task

Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal

use of workforce

Minimize task dependencies to avoid delays

caused by one task waiting for another to complete

Dependent on project managers intuition and experience

 Scheduling problems
Estimating the difficulty of problems and
hence the cost of developing a solution is
hard
Productivity is not proportional to the
number of people working on a task
Adding people to a late project makes it
later because of communication
overheads
The unexpected always happens. Always
allow contingency in planning
 Bar charts and activity
networks
Graphical notations used to illustrate the
project schedule
Show project breakdown into tasks. Tasks
should not be too small. They should take
about a week or two
Activity charts show task dependencies
and the the critical path
Bar charts show schedule against
calendar time
Task durations and
dependencies

Tas
T1
 Activity network
14/7/99 15 days
15 days
M1 T3
8 days T9
T1 5 days 4/8/99 25/8/99
25/7/99
T6 M4 M6
4/7/99 M3
start 20 days 7 days
15 days
T7 T11
T2

25/7/99 10 days 11/8/99 5/9/99

10 days
M2 M7 M8
T4 T5 15 days
T10 10 days
18/7/99
T12
M5
25 days
T8 Finish
19/9/99
 Critical Path Method
(CPM)
Critical Path Method (CPM), is a procedure for using network
analysis to identify those tasks which are on the critical path: i.e.
where any delay in the completion of these tasks will lengthen
the project timescale, unless action is taken.

Network charts and CPM analysis used to be carried out by hand.

Software is now available which requires the user only to enter
the tasks, duration of each task and dependencies upon other
tasks; a network chart and CPM is then automatically created.
PlanBee Pro.(CPM,PERT and Gantt charts)
The Power Angle Software Critical Path Method Project
Scheduler is currently available completely FREE.

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 Why the CPM?
The CPM formally identifies tasks which must be
completed on time for the whole project to be
completed on time.
Identifies which tasks can be delayed for a while if
resource needs to be reallocated to catch up on
missed tasks
It helps you to identify the minimum length of time
needed to complete a project
The CPM determines both the early start and the
late start date for each activity in the schedule.

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 How to use CPM
D

ES-Earliest Start
EF-Earliest Finish
LS-Latest Start
LF-Latest Finish
D-Duration
F-Float (Slack)

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Formula for Forward and
Backward Pas
ES(current)+D=EF(successor)
Use highest values on a join
LS(current)-
D(predecessor)=LS(predecessor)
Use lowest values on a join
Float=LS-ES

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 Critical Path
Float=0 are the critical tasks.

Series of events with no slack time.

Shortest path to finish.

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Task durations and
dependencies

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Forward Pass

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Backward Pass

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 Calculating the
Float/Critical Path

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Task durations and
dependencies

Critical Path
A-B-C-F-I-J-K-L
Tas
A
 Timeline Chart/ Gantt
Chart
4
/7 11
/7 1
8/7 2
5/7 1
/8 8
/8 1
5/8 2
2/8 2
9/8 5
/9 1
2/9 1
9/9
S
tart
T4
T
1
T2
M
1
T
7
T
3
M5
T8
M
3
M
2
T
6
T
5
M
4
T
9
M
7
T
10
M
6
T
11
M
8
T
12
F
in
ish
 Staff allocation
4/7 11/7 18/7 25/ 1/8 8/8 15/8 22/8 29/8 5/9 12/9 19/9

Fred T4
T8 T11
T12
Jane T1
T3
T9
Anne T2
T6 T10

Jim T7

Mary T5
Risk management

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 Risk management
Risk management is concerned with
identifying risks and drawing up plans to
minimise their effect on a project.
A risk is a probability that some adverse
circumstance will occur.
Project risks affect schedule or resources
Product risks affect the quality or performance
of the software being developed
Business risks affect the organisation
developing or procuring the software
 Categories of Risks
Project Risk: That affect the
project schedule or resources.
Product Risk: That affect the
quality or performance of the
software.
Business Risk: That affect the
organization developing or
procuring the software.
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 Possible Software Risks
Risk Risk Type Description
Staff turnover Project Experienced staff leave the project
before it is finished
Management change Project Change of organizational
management with different priorities.

Hardware Project Hardware essential for project not

unavailability delivered on time.
Requirements change Project and Large number of changes to the
Product requirements that can be
anticipated.
Specification delays Project and Specification of essential interface
Product are not available on time

Size underestimate Project and The size of the system has been
Product underestimated.

CASE tool under- Product CASE tools which support the project
performance do not perform as anticipated.
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 The risk management
process
Risk identification
Identify project, product and business risks
Risk analysis
Assess the likelihood and consequences of these
risks
Risk planning
Draw up plans to avoid or minimise the effects of
the risk
Risk monitoring
Monitor the risks throughout the project
 Risk analysis

Assess probability and seriousness

of each risk
Probability may be very low, low,
moderate, high or very high
Risk effects might be catastrophic,
serious, tolerable or insignificant
Risk analysis

Risk
Organisatio
in the proje
It is impos
 Risk planning
Consider each risk and develop a strategy to
manage that risk
Avoidance strategies
The probability that the risk will arise is reduced
Minimisation strategies
The impact of the risk on the project or product
will be reduced
Contingency plans
If the risk arises, contingency plans are plan to
deal with that risk
 Risk Monitoring
Involves regularly assessing each of
the identified risks.

Plan for the risk mitigation are

revised.

Risk monitoring should be the

continuous process .

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 Risk factors

R is k t y p
T e c h n o lo