Lecture 4:

4:
Software Process Management

Dr Valentina Plekhanova
University of Sunderland, UK

http://www.cet.sunderland.ac.uk/~cs0vpl/SE--Com185.htm
http://www.cet.sunderland.ac.uk/~cs0vpl/SE
Process Models «
¦ ˜ isting process models represent various
projects goal(s) and this defines an
ordering of project (tasks) activities.

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Project Management
¦ n contrast with software process models, —

 
  deals with resources.
¦ „oreover, it is used as a means to provide
planning, organisation, direction and control of
resources in order to meet an organisation¶s
objectives by a specific date and within a well-
defined budget.
¦ Project management involves the application of
limited resources to the completion of tasks in the
most effective and efficient manner.
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Project Scheduling
¦ 0 pivotal problem of project management
is to find the best trade-offs among
resources.
¦ Support for the co-ordination of people,
tasks, equipment, products, time and
money is provided by —
  
 
 
.
 

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Planning Phase:
Estimating Duration & Cost
¦ ï ???
Duration ï
º 0nother important part is estimating the
duration of the project.
project
º Ñowever, in estimating these issues a large
number of variables are involved,
principally the human factor.

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Cost Estimation
¦ 0n accurate cost estimation is an integral part of
any software project management plan.
¦ 0 number of approaches can be used for cost
estimation. These include:
¦ ˜ pert judgement by analogy: consultation
between a number of e perts to devise a cost
structure based on previous similar projects
he/she has worked on Bottom-up approach:
breaking the target product into smaller units.
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COCOMO
¦ 0 number of algorithmic models have been
devised.
¦ The major one is Boehm¶s Constructive
Cost Model (COCO„O).

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ÿraining Requirements
¦ Staff must be trained in new software
development methods; operating systems,
documentation preparation and hardware.
¦ 0 training plan must then be incorporated
into the SP„P.

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Project Management: „etrics
¦ „etrics can be used to measure the size of
a product.
¦ These include:
º Lines of code (?!)
º Thousand delivered source instructions (?!)
º «?

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Project Management: „etrics
¦ Ñowever, the above metrics are dependent
on the language used, whether e ecutable
or comments should be counted and not all
source code is delivered to the client.

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Project Management ÿools
¦ Îell-known management tools are Critical Path
Method (CP„) and Program Evaluation
Report technique (P˜
T).
¦ These tools are used to assist in the planning
phase.
¦ This can determine which activities are critical
and may delay the project if not completed on
time.

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asic Project Management Scheduling
ÿechniques
¦ There are different types of schedules.
¦ Some of the basic ones are åantt charts
charts,
CPM and PERÿ types.

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åantt Charts
¦ å
   is the typical method of
scheduling construction projects.
¦ The primary limitation of this technique, as
is outlined in literature is its inability to
direct attention to the interrelationships and
interdependencies among the activities.

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åantt Charts

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Critical Path Method
¦ CPM  is based on the Critical Path „ethod.
¦ This type looks for the schedule with
minimum cost in a definite period of time
in the case where the cost is associated
with each activity.
¦ Time is a resource.
¦ The resource allocation problem is to
allocate time among project tasks.

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Critical Path Method «& SE ..??!
..??!
10 E
 10
10 5
20 5
A V
D
15 C 15
10 F 10

0B˜V 30 ACDFV 50
0CDV 30 0DFV 45
0D˜V 35

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Program Evaluation Review ÿechniques
¦  which is based on the Program
PERT  ,
˜valuation
eview Techniques, looks for
the schedule, which minimises the
objective function such as project time
(total elapsed time).
¦ That is, it determines the start and
completion times of each activity.

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CPM & PERÿ
¦ Both techniques CPM and PERÿ use network
methods to assist in project management and to
overcome the interrelationship limitation in Gantt
charts.
¦ Both these techniques CPM & PERÿ identify a
—
 — whose activities could not be
delayed, and also indicate  that
could be somewhat delayed without lengthening
the project completion time.

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CPM & PERÿ
PERÿ:: Difference
¦ CP„ and P˜
T have the underlying
difference. From its origin viewpoint, the
CPM technique was developed for

 
projects, while PERÿ was
elaborated for    
— 
projects.

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CPM
¦ n the 
 
  , prior
e perience with similar projects can be
used to predict time estimates for projects
within a relatively tight range.
¦ n the CP„ method the e pected activity
time is a 
—
  that assumes
certainty: each activity is considered of
e act fi ed length. That is, CP„ assumes
that time is predictable or deterministic.
deterministic

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PERÿ
¦ Ñowever, with   and 
— 
—
,

 a great deal of uncertainty is
associated with time estimates because no
previous similar e perience e ists and
precise time estimates are not available.
¦ P˜
T assumes the time estimate for an
activity lies within the range of earliest
time and latest time.
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PERÿ [Gray, 1981]
¦ P˜
T uses   (optimistic,
most likely, and pessimistic) to compute
the average or e pected time.
¦ P˜
T offers a way of dealing with
random variation and considers each
activity stochastic in that variability is
allowed in each activity.

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PERÿ [Plekhanova, 1998; Plekhanova 2000]
¦ t should be pointed out, that P˜
T was
developed for   and 
— 
—
,

 which consist of 




.
¦ Ñowever, P˜
T is not concerned with the
specific character of cognitive tasks.

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CPM & PERÿ
¦ PERÿ&CPM have been found to be
useful in project management to provide
efficient resource scheduling. n particular,
P˜
T&CP„ identify the critical jobs,
which control the project completion date.
¦ „oreover, the application of these tools
reduces the degree of scheduling errors
and, hence, increases the cost savings.
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CPM & PERÿ
¦ Ñowever, as mentioned in project
management literature, the actual savings
derived from using P˜
T&CP„ methods
are difficult to identify and measure
precisely.

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*ote that [Plekhanova 2000]«
X e isting project management scheduling
tools are concerned with a problem of
resource availability and utilisation,
utilisation not
with capability and compatibility of project
resources.
X There is, therefore, an assumption that the
quality of project resources does not have
an impact on project scheduling and task
performance.
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Paradox !!!! [Plekhanova 2000]
¦ Î— 

 

—
 —
 
 
——

 
  
 
—
  
—
[Gray, 1981]
   

—

 — 

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Management is a human activity !
¦ t is important to notice that although there
are many project management (scheduling)
tools, use of them does not guarantee
success.
¦ „anagement is a human activity and
project success depends on the competence
of management.

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