Detailed Table of

Contents

XV
Preface to the Sixth Edition (SIE)
Preface to the Fifth Edition xvii

1. Introduction to Software Project Management 1

1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Why is Software Project Management Important?
1.3 What is a Project? 2
1.4 Software Projects versus Other Types of Project 4
1.5 Contract Management and Technical Project Management 4
1.6 Activities Covered by Software Project Management 4
1.7 Plans, Methods and Methodologies7
1.8 Some Ways of Categorizing Software Projects 8
1.9 Project Charter 11
1.10 Stakeholders 12
1.11 Setting Objectives 13
1.12 The Business Case 14
1.13 Project Success and Failure 15
1.14 What is Management? 16
1.15 Management Control 18
1.16 Project Management Life Cycle 21
1.17 Traditional versus Modern Project Management Practices 23
Conclusion 25
Annex 1 Contents List for a Project Plan 25
Further Exercises 26
2. Project Evaluation and Programme Management 31
2.1 Introduction 31
 Detailed Table of Contents xi
INeterilnd Tahle of Contents
4.17 Len Software Development 108
Busne Case
i4 4.18 Munaging lterative Processes 10
Managemem
Pwthoho s 4.19 Selecting the Most Appropriate Process Model 111
Hont PnNts
4Evaluaton of Indin ndualwhimques Conclusion 112
SCoNt nehi laluain Further Exercises I12
Rish valuatnm
g r a m N Managemcnt 40
47 5. Software Effort Estimation 117
NesOunres wilhun Programmes
Alxation of 5.1 Introduction 17
the
Managing 48
PHgramme
Managemcnt
5.2 Where are the Estimates Done? 119
Stratcg 48
Creanng a Pmgramme 5.3 Problems with Over- and Under-Estimates 120
S0
Programme Management 5.4 The Basis for Software Estimating 121
A1ds to
Managemenn 2
Resernaonsabout
Somc
Programme 5.5 Software Effort Estimation Techniques 124
1 5.6 Botom-up Estimating 125
1Benchts Managcment
5.7
Com lusuon
5.8
The Top-down
Approach and Parametric Models
Expert Judgement 128
126
FurtherEnises
58 5.9 Estimating by Analogy 128
A n Overview of Project Planning 58 5.10 Albrecht Function Point Analysis 129
Introduction to StepWise Project Planning
5.11 Function Points Mark II 131
Siep 0 Sclect Project o0
62 5.12 COSMIC Full Function Points 133
Step i ldentity Project Scope and Objectives 5.13 COCOMO II: A Parametric Productivity Model 135
Infrastructure 64
Siep 2 ldentify Project
66 5.14 Cost Estimation 141
Siep Analyse Project Charactenstics 5.15 Staffing Pattern 141
68
ldentufy Project Products and
Activities
Step 4 5.16 Effect of Schedule Compression 143
Estimate Effort for Each Activity 73
Step5 S.17 Capers Jones Estimating Rules of Thumb 144
Step 6 ldentify Actuvity Risks 74
39 Step 7 Alocate Resources 75 Conclusion 146
3.10 Step 8 Review/Publicize Plan 77 Further Exercises 146
78
3.11 Steps 9 and 10: Execute Plan/Lower Levels of Planning 6. Activity Planning
155
Conctusion 78 6.1 Introduction 155
Further Exercises 79 6.2 Objectives of Activity Planning 156
Selection of an Appropriate Project Approach 81 6.3 When to Plan 157
6.4 Project Schedules 157
41 Introduction 87
42 Build or Buy? 8:3
6.5 Projects and Activities 157
Choosing Methodologies and Technologies 84
6.6 Sequencing and Scheduling Activities 163
4 Software Processes and Process Models 88
6.7 Network Planning Models 164
45 Choce of Process Models 88 6.8 Formulating a Network Model 164
46 Structure versus Speed of Delivery 88 6.9 Adding the Time Dimension 168
4.7 The WaterfalI Model 89 6.10 The Forward Pass 169
48 The Spiral Model 91 6.11 Backward Pass 171
49 Software 6.12 ldentifying the Critical Path 172
4 10
Prototyping 92 6.13 Activity Float 174
Other Ways of
Calegorizing Prototypes 9 6.14 ortening the Project Duration 174
411
Incremental Delivery 95 6.15 Identifying Critical Activities 175
412 Aten/Dynamic Systems Development Method 98
413
Rapd Application Development 100 6.16 Activity-on-Arrow Networks 175
414
Agile Methods 101 Conclusion 183
415 Extreme Programming (XP) 103 Further Exercises 183
4 16 Scrum 106
 Detailed Tauble of Contents xii
Contents
xii Detailed Table of 188 270
10. Managing Contracts
7. Risk Management 10.1 Introduction 270
7.1 Introduction 188 10.2 Types of Contract 271
Risk 189 10.3 Stages in Contract Placement 276
7.2 Risk 190
7.3 Categories of 192 10.4 Typical Terms of a Contract 280
Approaches
7.4 Risk Management
with Risk 192 10.5 Contract Management 283
for Dealing
7.5 A Framework 10.6 Acceptance 283
Risk Identification 193
7.6 Conclusion 284
Risk Assessment 194
7.7 Further Exercises 284
197
Risk Planning
7.8 199 11. Managing People in Software Environments 286
7.9 Risk Management 200
the Schedule 11.1 Introduction 286
to
7.10 Evaluating Risks 202
and Counter Measures 11.2 Understanding Behaviour 288
7.11 Boehm's Top 10 Risks
the PERT Technique 203 11.3 Organizational Behaviour: A Background 289
7.12 Applying
7.13 Monte Carlo Simulation 208 11.4 Selecting the Right Person for the Job 290
209 11.5 Instruction in the Best Methods 292
7.14 Critical Chain Concepts
Conclusion 214 11.6 Motivation 292
Further Exercises 215 11.7 The Oldham-Hackman Job Characteristics Model 295
219 11.8 Stress 296
8. Resource Allocation
8.1 Introduction 219
11.9 Stress Management 297
11.10 Health and Safety 297
8.2 Nature of Resources 220
221 11.11 Some Ethical and Professional Concerns 298
8.3 Identifying Resource Requirements
Conclusion 300
8.4 Scheduling Resources 224
8.5 Creating Critical Paths 228 Further Exercises 300
8.6 Counting the Cost 228 12. Working in Teams 303
8.7 Being Specific 228 12.1 Introduction 303
8.8 Publishing the Resource Schedule 230
12.2 Becoming a Team 304
8.9 Cost Schedules 232 12.3 Decision Making 307
8.10 Scheduling Sequence 233 12.4 Organization and Team Structures 312
Conclusion 235 12.5 Coordination Dependencies 318
Further Exercises 235
12.6 Dispersed and Virtual Teams 319
9. Monitoring and Control 238 12.7 Communication Genres 321
9.1 Introduction 238 12.8 Communication Plans 323
9.2 Creating the Framework 238 12.9 Leadership 323
9.3 Collecting the Data 241 Conclusion 325
9.4 Review 244 Further Exercises 326
9.5 Visualizing Progress 247
9.6 13. Software Quality 327
Cost Monitoring 250
9.7 Earned Value Analysis 251 13.1 Introduction 327
9.8 13.2 The Place of Software Quality in Project Planning 328
Prioritizing Monitoring 256
9.9 Getting the Project Back to Target 257 13.3 Importance of Software Quality 329
9.10 Change Control 259 13.4 Defining Software Quality 329
9.11 Software Configuration 13.5 Software Quality Models 331
Conclusion 267 Management (SCM) 261| 13.6 ISO 9126 333
Further Exercises 267 13.7 Product and Process Metrics 339
13.8 Product versus Process Quality Management 339
 Cmtents
Detazled TaNe of
iv

Managenent
Systems
13.9
13.10
13.11
Quality
Proess Capubility

Tochniques to Help
Models

Enhame
A
Software Quality
Preface to the
13.12 Testing 7

13.13
13.14
Sothware

Quaity
Reliabiliy

Plans 67
as
Sixth Edition (SIE)
Comclusiom
Further Exeriss av
374
14 Project Closeout
14.1 Intrduction 374
Closure 375
Reasons for Project
14.2 377
Process
14.3 Projet Closure Closure 378
Pertorming a Financial
144
S0
145 Project
Claseout Report
Comclusion 381
Exerise 3S2
383
PRINCE2-An Overview
Appendix A: 394
Management Tools The 5th Special Indian Edition was released in 2011 and was widely accepted and appreciated. The positive
Appendix B: Project feedback encouraged me to come with a 6th Special Indian Edition of this book. This edition attempts to
397
Pointers
Appendix C: Answer accommodate the requests received from a large cross section of the users of the book. Several teachers
436
Farther Reading expressed that multiple choice questions have become a popular means to evaluate the understanding of the
440 students, hence, same has been included in every chapter. Also, the following additional topics have been
Index incorporated:
Software services
Project charter
Project management life cycle
Enhanced discussion on agile techniques and inclusion of Scrum and Lean models
Enriched discussion on COCOMO II
Risk management approaches and Boehm's top 10 risks with theircountermeasures
Stress management
Quality models
. Personal software process (PSP)
Software reliability and reliability growth models
A new chapter on project close out

Comments from the readers are much appreciated and can be sent at rajib@cse.iitkgp.ernet.in.
Rajib Mall
Publisher's Note
Remember to write to us. We look forward to receiving your feedback, comments and ideas to enhance
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 Preface to the
Fifth Edition

Preparing the fifth edition of this book has reminded us that project management is not just a crucial element
in successful software and IT development, but is also a fascinating topic in its own It is a
right. intriguing
mixture of the technical and the very human, of the rational and also the intuitive. Initially we offered this
become
topic as an ancillary discipline for software engineers and IT practitioners. We have, however,
increasingly convinced that the discipline should have a more central role: that the question of how systems
are implemented is a vital one to be asked at the same time as that of what a system is to do.

Not many software books have lasted as long as this one. Clearly the principles of project management are
less transient than those of software design and implementation, which have gone through some very major
developments over recent years. However, project management has not been immune from change. One
development has been the growth in project management bodies of knowledge such as those of the Project
Management Institute (PMI) in the United States and the Association for Project Management (APM) in the
United Kingdom. There has also been the development of project management standards such as PRINCE2.
These developments are to be welcomed as externalizing and codifying good practice-indeed we have
included an appendix on PRINCE2. However, we have resisted becoming a PMI' book or a PRINCE2"
book. Partly this is because we believe that software project management, while incorporating all the key
elements of generic project management, also has to deal with the peculiar problems associated with creating
software. These include the relative intangibility of software, its extreme mallebility, the intimate relationship
it has with the system within which it is embedded, and its sheer complexity. We also wanted to avoid
means-end inversion where there was a focus on the recall of specific terminology and procedural detail at
the expense of an understanding of underlying concepts and purpose.

One new development that has been taken on board has been the growing awareness that a project is rarely
an isolated activity but is almost always part of a broader programme of work aimed at meeting organiza-
tional and business objectives. There are also agile approaches, such as extreme programming, which have
been a timely reminder that software development is an intensely human activity. In contrast to this emphasis
on the highly productive, highly interactive co-located team, there is also a growth of dispersed or virtual
projects where all or part of the development team is in another country or even continent. We noted these
 geta 1eirmdu um fr
Shurary Prourt Management
the ivntral e s

NA Tfdh ng characteristic e dietinguish pruecto

val nath (ah
ver

the fina .mwr tn vlated hhmh tath Aut

th v l a i n d
AiRgvkw durmg n i t r a

mied than . nutine taske are ivedved

t peopn
Rr7 e partmental *
wner
dhyMrtmental
m e was the
a The hgpe
te 14 hill IMA) malm .Flanneng s requrrod
lie a wthe
y
Wi and AaKA thai thev kean ' yYt on g d thines .ef e tves are to be met ix a specifhed pruxdact
perte
moans
is
sto b created
isanemww
l
K Tpron .The peuges t has a
predetermaned time pan
hita
repwt puhlished
n a0 .W.1s 4artied Rut fer swemecne otheT than youreif
aways
sKvful in a the
p r o t av
x
N and oN Jued thatonly .Wir rvodves several spec ialuums
analyai 1
elvtemaelh

the United Sates lale anht 4*eneededtheu

Suan Np in
A moNNEN
Wr
.People are furmed intes a
temprr afy r group to
werr
saveful carry out the task
therd o peoNNE . W r s carticd unut in several phases
ot projects
oten t h managetent The The rewurues that are av atlabie tox ue on the
sh mungs n
proyet are constraned
The ea o thee aNT
amg oNher tactorS caus1ng proie
roje .The peJect is large r complc
the &A for examplk
Naeonal Aadit O t e
n
A A" pRyext a r i g e m e n t and risk
skils ani porewen a n A
s k n i t e kak
aikure
af
The more. any of thee tactors apply to a Lank. the more difficuit that tank l
be Pogect suze s partacularty
nrtant The project that cmpioy deveoperi is likcly to be
with only 10 staft berause of the need fur addtional coordinatbon
dispruportonatchy more daftcult than onc
The campies and euercises used in
this book usually relate to smaller projects in orier to makc the
1.3 What is e Project? technaques casucr to grasp However, the
a planned activiy
techniques and issucs discussed are ot cqual reievance to larger pruyects
dkehnitos pNat a ckear emphas1s om the project being
The dtonary
we a n d e i e i n e
OW to camy out a task
The emphaxs teang pianned a s s u n e s
on
this might be difhcult. Planning is in
siar Yer with expiorator projects
eto w

E h a n á i n g carefulh
ahoul smethang betore you do il -even with uncertain Exercise 1.1
plans are seen as provisional. Consider the following
this w a t h doung as kong as the resulung
p mantenance, wall have been performed so many
Otr actvDS u h a r a u t n e .Producing an cdition of a newspuper
ha evmae knows ekactty what to do In
as
these cases. planning hardly seemns
.Putting a robot vehicie on Mars to search for sugns ot lhte
praedures mghi bx dcumented
although to ensure consistency and to
n ,
Getting mamed
elp acwomen
Amending hnancial computer s stem to deal w 1th a common
a
European curren
Th hal tachi most trom coventional projeci management are likely to A research projevt into
aNtes
b e t w e e n t h e x t w o exDemes - ** hgurtll
what makes a good human-vomputer intertace
An investugation unto the reason why a u r has a
probiem with a coenputer sv stem
Ther a hary boundary hetween the non-routine project and the rouune job. The A second-year
programung asignment tor
a student cvmput1ng
ya aroun tsk wal be likc a proyect On the other hand, a project to develop a system .Wnung an operating system tor a new computer
prras yau have devekaped will have a
large eiement of the routine.
Installing a new veson ot a word praxessing package in an
organuzatkn
Some seem more lke real prujats than
ot what constitutes a
othen Put them unto an oruer mst ckoseiy malhung your deas
Rauine Uncertainty projot kr eah enuy in the ordered lis descnbe the dtference betwoen t and
the one above w hich makes it less
of outcome worthy ot the term projet
There is no one coTNt answer to this enercie. but this nd the other
a
possble soluton to eicrCIses
u will come anss may be tond at the end ot the aek

For exampie see Ro

Snie argue that projevts are problemaths as they are temporary sub-organ1-
Projacts espevially A Lundin and
Andres
Expioration atins A grvup ot people s brvught together u camy vut laså The eustence of
a
Sooemom(995)
A theory of ne tem
ths sub
organizativm cuts a n s s the authonty ot the ensting unts withun the urgani-
porary organzaton
Foe 1.1 Acthivities Zaln. This has the advantage that a group cvniaining vardUs peul1sts d tocuseu Scandinav1an Jouma
most likely to benetit from project
management on a single nmportant lask However. the prvjet is hàely w e een as disrupave to Management 11(4)
437
7-55
 Introduc tion to Software Project Management 5

team is
eventually dis cd at the
4 N o P u r r m o w t AManevme the
i t
mav e lost when
hunt up
darny
ihe
Foasibility stud
eapvtisr
Ai, Heu do ue
thers

ent of the
NNT
Other Iypes
of Project 1 it worth
versus
ply to soflware n
to sofiware pujec doing
Software Projects management
also apply
1.4 in general pmojot charactenstics
sofiware rojecs
ofl soltware Plan
higues voe
ndeniuhod
Ma Brnds
, B manavement.
hut Frod

makr them
jurtNularin ith ult the progress
S .can
whh
is constructed, Sottware
sene an a n d

sunh as a brndge
artelat
phyS al
n

essty he Im vailar
When a
in noN immediately
Visible.
project Proyect g4ecution
Wth ofiware.
prgrew
inVIsible VIsible.
sn the
atuallh he of making
e n as the pmaess
van he
management
software products contain more
A n cun pent.
Compniexirn Per dollar. pund
artefacts
FicURE 1.2 The feasibility study/plan/execution cycle
than Nher
engineerN
and materials
like cement and
an.

vmneksty sJstems
usually
wrks uith phisical laws. Software devel
The
raditkonal enginoer
govemed by
conSIstent physiCal
the value of the benefits of the new system, will also have to be estimated. With Chapter 2 explores
Cantormu ompic\ity, but be inconsiste
are
have individuals can 1stent. some further as
sustems that a large system, the feasibil1ty study could be a project in its own nght with its
The phvaal clients lt is noN Just
see of human or in etfective decision pects of programm
contom to the requirements communication 10n own plan. The study could be part of a strategic planning exercise examin1ng a
open have to e v a u of lapses in o l l e a t i v e
memory, in intemal
management.
ganzathons
remarkabik rganizalnal stupiditn. range of potential software developments.
Sometimes an organization assesses

makamg can exhibii

the sotware system inter. a programme of development made up of a number of project.
However, where
is scen as a strength.

That
Flexihilan i hange
softwarr a easy
that the software
will change to accommodate 2. Planning If the feasibility study indicates that the prospective project appearsThe PRINCE2 method,
it is eapected
pbysucal
or organ1zatonal svstem. are particularly subject
to change. viable, then project planning can start. For larger projects, we would not do all which is described in
tac with a

Thus. softw are systems

versa
our detailed planning at the beginning. We create an outline plan for the whole Appendix A, takes this
components rather than
ie

the other
terative approach to
project and a detailed one for the first stage. Because we will have more detailed planning Annex 1 to
1.5 Controct Management
and Technical Project Management and accurate project information after the earlier stages of the project have been this chapter has an
outline of the content
completed, planning of he later stages is left to nearer their start
software work for the same organization.
are where the users and the developers ofl new of a plan.
projects 3. Project execution The project can now be executed. The execution of a project
to outside developers. Here, the client
In -house
contract out ICT development
However. ncreas1nghy organizations often contains design and implementation sub-phases. Students new to project
the contract who will delegate many techni.
organzation wall often appount project manager
a supervise to
the planning often find that the boundary between design and planning can be hazy. Design is making
the project manager will not worry about estimating
cally onentced decissons to the contractors. Thus, decisions about the fom of the products to be created. This could relate to the extemal appearance of
the overall project is within budget and on
effon needed to wnic ind1vadual software components as long as
the software, that is, the user interface, or the internal architecture. The plan details the activities to be
who deal with the more technical issues.
tame On uhe supplier sidc. there will need to be project managers
carried out to create these products. Planning and design can be confused because at the most detailed
Thas book icans Lowards the concems of these 'technical project managers.
level, planning decisions are influenced by design decisions. Thus a software product with five major
components is likely to require five sets of activities to create them
1.6 Activities Covered by Software Project Management
Figure 1.3 shows the typical sequence of software development activities recom- Figure 1.3 suggests
Chapter 4 orn proyec A sofrware project is not only concemed with the actual writing of software. In fact mended in the international standard ISO 12207. Some activities are concermed with that these stages must
a sa eca where asoftware application is bought 'off the shelf', there may be no software the system while others relate to software. The development of software will be only be done stricty In
panrung iocOks Some sequence - we will se

altemabve ite cyes

wriung as such. but this is still fundamentally a software project because so many ol one part ofa project. Software could be developed, for example. for a project which in Chapter 4 that other,
the othet actvities associated with software will still be present. also requires the installation of an ICT infrastructure, the design of user jobs and user iterative approaches
can be adopted.
Usually thecre arc threc successive
processes that bring a new
system into being -
see Figure 1.2.
training However, the actual
Requirements analysis starts with requirements elicitation or requirements activities listed here
Thefeasibility study whether a project is worth
assesses
starting that it has a valid business cusE -

Informaton is gatheted about the gathering which establishes what the potential users and their managers require would still be done.
requirements of the proposed application. Requirements elicitation of the new system. It could relate to a function - that the system should do
can, at least
initually, be complex and difficul.
The stakeholders may know the aims
pursue. but not be sure about the means of achievement. they wISn something. It could be a quality requirement - how well the functions must work. An example of this
The developmental and
operational costs, auna
 Project
Management Introduction to Softrware Project Management 7
6 Softrwvane
Code and test refers to writing code for each software unit. Initial testing to debug individual software
units would be carried out at this
stage.
ERequirements analysis Integration The components are tested together to see if they
meet the overall requirements. Integration
could involve combining different software components, or combining and testing the software element
Architecture design of the system in conjunction with the hardware platforms and user interactions.
Requirements analysis Qualification testing The system, including the software components, has to be tested carefully to
ensure that all the
requirements have been fulfilled.
Architecture design
Installation This is the process of making the new system operational. It would include activities such
as setting
Requirements analysis up standing data (for example, the details for employees in a payroll system), setting systerm
parameters, installing the software onto the hardware platforms and user training.
Acceptance support This is the resolving of problems with the newly installed system, including the
Detailed design
correction of any errors, and
implementing agreed extensions and improvements. Software maintenance
can be seen as a series of minor software
projects. In many environments, most software development
Code and test_ is in fact maintenance.

Integration

Qualification test Exercise 1.2

Brightmouth College is a higher education institution which used to be managed by a local government
Integration authority but has now become autonomous. Its payroll is still administered by the local authority and

Qualification test pay sipsand other outputs are produced in the local authority'sofcomputer
charges the college for this service. The college management are
the
centre. The authority now

opinion
that it bewould cheaper
to obtain an 'off-the shelf' payroll package and do the payroll processing themselves.
What would be the main stages of the project to convert to independent payroll processing by the
Installation
college? Bearing in mind that an off-the-shelf package is to be used, how would this project differ from
|Acceptance support one where the software was to be written from scratch?

FiGURE 1.3 The ISO 12207 software development life cycle

Exercise 1.3
call. n this case transaction t1me
is dispatching an ambulance in response to an emergency telephone Assume that a software organization development has been asked to carry out a feasibility study to
would be affected by hardware and software performance as well as the speed of human operatio.
Training to ensure that operators use the computer system efficiently is an example of a system develop the payroll package for Brightmouth College. The development organization plans to develop
requirement for the project, as opposed to a specifically software requirement. There would also D the software by customizing one of its existing products. What are the main steps through which the
project manager of the organization would carry out the feasibility study?
requirements that relate to application development costs.
resource

Architecture design The components of the new system that fulfil each requirement have to beidentint
Existing components may be able to satisfy some requirements. In other cases, a new compo
will have
1.7 Plans, Methods and Methodologies
to be made. These
components are not only software: they could be new hardware oro
processes. Although software developers are primarily concerned with software s very
rare that these can be
componenis,
developed isolation. They will, for example, have to take account o
in xisting A plan for an activity must be based on some idea of a method of work. For example, if you were asked
legacy systems with which they will interoperate. The a0 thus testsome software, you may know nothing about the software to be tested, but you could assunme that
input to the software requirements. A second architecture
design of the system architecturE 1 aps the would need to:
software requirements to software design process then takes place that software.
components. Analyse the requirements forthe
Detailed design Each software
component is made up of a number of
separately coded and tested. The detailed design of these software units u
units is carried out
separately.
 A
arge cumr of projexts
for
that heing undertaken a w a r esuennally customizatikn of svne existing
ae

t h (ani grhas oxher)

sot are
or devekpmen reicase
a new of an existing woftware In these projoctt maxh of the ande of the
devekyed wta arr comes frm rrused cnde and only a small part of the o e s atualy wnten by the devek
p e icam Congacnthy. prayet durathoes have aw hrunk to oely a few moeths cvmpared tomult-year
proyts that were heung undkertaken till ahot a few deraes hacà Further. n the past. custvner partvipatovn

inpecahcathn
sotw are pryts waslargely restnctod to only the imital interaxtkoes fir roquirementx gathering. and
and later. on cvmpietion of the proyat. takung delvery of the devekpad sotware. In vntrast

- will *
ai psent. custemer
aafeu particapaton inalms every aspet of a proats eing axtely envuragnd and ovtten
manas
- aladng
intvrmae
custnet representatives ae being included un the devekpment team
. a
ak and
Compulsony versus voluntary users
sodjatientd dngn
m c h u i n i e s t
In wrkplaes. there are systems that staff have to use if they want to do something, sach as muning a sak
However. use disysem is inreasingly woluntary. the
as in of computer games. Here it
case
dhthiult to
is

Exercise 1.4 elicit pravise rouirements from pxential cvukd with business sysiem. What the game will o
uses as we a
will thus depend much a the informod ingenuity of the devekopers akng with teochniques suxh as mark
how you would o she
can think ahour sunes fxus mus and protoope evaluation.
o ahut fur ut vuu
dealy be áne gups has m e than one stoey. From
in
Ths shuid
in a duuling that
e i e. Yuenhahly
this eaeris a vor own if the berter. Information syslems versus embedded systems
d iw of this euertie. dhe bigger the uling
p
obtain an arrurate
esümare of the height of the buikins Atraditional disincticn has been berween infmatin snstems which enabe staff to Emedde systems
wuri out how voe woud intead!) Plan how van
grup of four.
can estimate the îioor area
a
ae a s alkd nak
e ina singie-storey buiiding. vou carry out ottice pravess and emhedied smstems which contrl machines A stx
you happen w U mnutes on this-you must remain e ndusha
obcain youresümate. Speni control
woud can out any aton neaded to
One planning is oompiete. implement jur plan, timing how
system wouki be an infvrmaton sy stem. An embeddd. pres ontrol.
or
system might ontrol the air conditioning equipment in a buiking. Some svstems may
n the same r v m for this planning phae.
it taks o produr your final igure have elenents of brh where. for example. the stock oantrol system also cvntrls an automated warehouse
iong
this exeris. arter completon ot t e tak ou can oomper
there s mr han group cam1ng out
one
answer.
answes and aso e PrUAch VOu used when coming up with vour
Exercise 1.5
1.8 Some Ways of Categorizing Software Projects Would an
operaing system on a computer he an infomation system o an embedded system?
Projects may difer because of the different technical products to be created. Thus we need to identiy te
charactenistics of a project which could affect the way in which it should be planned and nmanaged. Other Software products versus services
factors are discussed below
All ypes of sotware projacts can broadly be classitiad into sotware
produact developuent ponjarts and
Changes to the charocleristics of software projects sottware services projects. These two broad classes of sottware prjacts can be further classitied into

Over the last few decades, the charactenistics of software subclasses, shownin
as Figure
14A sotware poxduct project ooncems developing the sotware
development
general custoners in mind and the developed sotware is usually sold
example, in the initial
projects have undergone drastic
years of software development, almost
changes. x
y keping the requirements the of
off-the-shelf o a large number of custoners. A sottware product developnment project can further be classitied
from scratch. A possible reason for this every software was being entirely Wnu
could be that in those early days of software depending on whether it concems developing a generic product or a domain-speciie prduct. A generic
programs wereavailable from which code could be reused development, not many software prxduct is sold to a bonad spectrum of customers and is said to have a horizontal market. Examples
in a new softwane
resuit, the entire code for
every project had to be written from scratch. development project. Asa of generic sottware products are Micrusot's Windows operating system and Oracle Coporation's Oracle 8
the fact that the Further inhibiting code euse
programming paradigms that existed in those days database managenent sottware. On the other hand, ckomain-speciñe sotware proaducts are sold to specini
reuse. In contrast, at
present, almost every hardly provided any support tor
code, including elegant ways of programming language supports several ways Categories of customers and are said to have a vertical market. Domain-spoitie sotware priucts targo
of reusing exss
customizing and
library routünes and support for frameworks. extending existing code, eficiently and
pecific segments of customers (called verticals, sach as, bunking, televoummunication, inanee and acvoun
dynamically
nnse
and meical. Examples of dtuuain spevitie sotware prnducts are BANCS tnom TeS and FINACLE tY
Infosys in the banking ckomain and AspenPlus frum Aspen corporation in the chemical pncess simmulatim.
 P r n t Alanqyement
Sotwwre Introduction to Software Project Management 11
10

Sofware projects The type of

developnent work being handled by a
company can have an impact on its profitability. For
example, a company that has developed a
generic moftware product usually gets an
However, outsourced projects fetch only one time revenueuninterrupted
stream
revenue over several years.
to any company.
o
Sofware services

projects
Objective-driven development
Sotware product
development projects Projects may be distinguished by whether their aim
certain objectives.
is to
produce aproduct or to meet Service level agree-
ments are becoming
A project might be to create a increasingly important
product, the details of which have been specified by as organizatlons
the client. The client has the
responsibility for justifying the product. On the other Contract out functions
hand, the project requirement might be to meet certain to external service
objectives which could be met
Customization Maintenance|Outsourced

Vertical projects projects in a number of ways. An

organization might have a problem and ask a specialist to suppliers.
Genenc projects
software
software recommend a solution.
product
product
development Many software projects have two stages. First is an
This might identify the need for a new software objective-driven
development
projects projects project resulting in recommendations.
system. The next stage is a project actually to create the
software product. This is useful where the technical work is
software projects being done by an external group and the user
FGURE 1.4 A classification of needs are unclear at the outset. The external
groupcan produce
a
preliminary design at a fixed fee. If the
design is acceptable the developers can then quote a price for the second,
software projects such as customization agreed requirement. implementation, stage based on an
the other hand, cover a large gamut of
Software scernices on
in the number af
At present, there is a rapid growth of
maintenance, testing and consultancy.
outsourcing.
undertaken world-wide and sottware services are poised to become
software serices projects that are being
situation is the steep growth in the
the dominant type of software projects.
One of the reasons behind this
availabie code base. Over the past few decades, large
a number of programs have already been developed Exercise 1.6
fulfil the specifhc requirements of any customer. AL Would the project, to implement
Available programs can therefore be modified to quickly an
independent payroll system at the
which the program code is written from scratch, and software
in Exercise 1.2, above, be an Brightmouth College described
present, there is hardly any
software project in objective-driven project or a product-driven project?
some existing software. For example, to develop a software to
is being mostly developed by customizing
automate the payroll generation activities of an educational institute, the vendor may customize an existing
software that might have been developed earlier for a different client's educational institute. Due to heavy 1.9 Project Charter
reuse of code. it has now become possible to develop even large software systems in rather short period of
Project charter is an important high-level document that authorizes the
required resources. Besides, it outlines the project objectives, deliverablesstarting
ime. Therefore. typical project durations are at present only a couple of months and multi-year projects have of a project and use of the
become very rare. and the resources required. It also
documents the aspects that are out of
scope, and identifies the main stakeholders, their roles and
bilities. A project charter document is responsi-
Outsourced projects is an in-house
usually developed for all types of projects, irrespective of whether it
project or a project undertaken on behalf of some customers. The project charter is
While developing a large project, sometimes, it makes good commercial sense for a company to issued by a member of the top management of the signed and
outsouree company who also takes up the role of the sponsor of the
some
parts of its work to other companies. There can be several reasons behind such a decision. For
exampie project. The project sponsor champions the project, monitors the progress of the
a
company may consider Outsourcing as a good option, if feels that it does not feedback to the project manager, and helps in removing project and provides regular
it have sufficient expertise any obstacles that the project manager may find
develop some speciDc parts of the product or if it determines that some difficult to overcome.
uvely by another company. Since an outsourced pats can be developed cost-eie
size and needs to be project is a small part of some
project, it is usually smau The project manager for a project is usually appointed before the project charter is issued and
completed within a few months. Considering these to write the undertakes
project and a conventional project, managing an differences between an outsou project charter in consultation with the project sponsor. The project charter serves as a
outsourced project entails document for all activities concerning the project. This is a document that is not guiding
Indian software special challenges. the project life cycle, unlike other expected to change throughout
companies excel in executing outsourced software project management documents such as project plan, risk management plan
in this field all over the
world. Of late, the Indian projects and have earned a fine repu utation
and work breakdown structure (WBS). The latter documents are
opment as well. companies have slowly begun to focus on devel dynamic in nature and change several times
product during the project duration. The project manager refers to the project charter while planning the project.
 Introductionm to Software Project Management 13

Man gement of pauges

10ng
and
typically contains th
typically

Project a couple
12 Softear
a short
document
that is only
pe of the projectaand 1,11 Setting Objectives
charter is usually are
within
the scope
those
he
project

and the
broad
itenms that Among all these stakcholders are those who actually own the project. They control the financing of the
following:
the
project date
of theproiect project. They also set the objectives of the project. The objectives should define what the project team must
.Overall objectiv of
completion
achieve for project success. Although different stakeholders have different motivations, the project objectives
the expected
that are out
of scope. start dateand the project. identify the shared intentions for the project.
in t e m s ofthe
towards
budget.
The
time
schedule

and their
responsibilities

project
and the
overall
1Ombnor Objectives focus on the desired outcomes of the project rather than the tasks within it - they are the 'post
for the those
stakeholders

important needed tor overcoming

The

ofthe
resources
that will be
that can
be adopted
conditions" of the project. Informally the objectives could be written as a set of statements following the
opening words "the project will be a success if... .' Thus one statement in a set of objectives might be
broad strategies
Overview

and the
the project
Major nisks
to
cCustomer's can orderourproducts online' rather than 'to build an e-commerce website'. There is often more
than one way to meet an objective and the more possible routes to success the better.
is important as un
1 . 1 0 Stakeholders 1dentitication

you need There may be several stakeholders, including users in different business areas, who might have some claim
interest in the
project. Theirearly can be categorized as:
toproject ownership. In such a case, a project authority needs to be explicitly identified with overall authority
stake or Stakeholders
who have a
These are people communication
channels with them.
will be under the direct managerial control
ofne the over the project.
to set up adequate This means
that they
team This authority
is often a project
steering committee (or project board or project This committee is likely
Intemal to the project project leader to contain user, devel-
project leader. organization
For example, the
might
c o m m i t m e n t of the ne
management board) with overall responsibility for s ting, monitoring and modifying
opment and manage-
team but within the
same
Here n e 6bjectives. The project manager runs the project on a day-to-day basis, but regularly ment representatives.
Extenal 1o the project to carry out systems testing. Tépörts to the steering committee.
assistance of the users
need the
stakeholders may be
customeri2
involved has to be negotiated.
and the organization
External
be contractors who wilt Sub-objectives and goals
Extemal to both the
project team
the project implements.
Ihey may wi
benefit from the system that based on a contract. iliw
An effective objective for an individual must be something that is within the control
users) who will here is usually
The relationship Defining sub-objectives
work for the project. and one of the jobs of of that individual. An objective might be that the software
carry out different objectives application produced must requires assumptions
stakeholders may have pay for itself by reducing staff costs. As an overall business objective this might be about how the main
Different types of interests and to be able to reconcile
these different
B.W. Boehm and reasonable. For software developers it would be unreasonable as any reduction in objective is to be
the project leader is to recognize the ease of use of the new appl:
R. Ross, Theory W
end-users may be concerned with operational staff costs depends not just on them but on the operational management of achieved.
software project man- them. For example, staff savings. The project leader
be more focused on
agement pnnciples Cation, while ther managers may the delivered system. A more appropriate goal or sub-objective for the software developers would be to keep
examples, B. W. therefore needs to be a good communicator and negotiator. Boehm and Ross proposed development costs within a certain budget.
Boehm (ed.) (1989) where the manager concentrates on
software project management
Sofhware Risk Manage- a "Theory W' of from a project and therefore have an We can say that in order to achieve the objective we must achieve certain
ment, EEE Computer situations where all parties
creating
benefit
are steps on the way to
goals or sub-objectives first. These
Society Press.
interest in its success. (The 'W" stands for 'win-win'.) achieving an objective, just as goals scored in a football match are steps towards the
objective of winning the match. Informally this can be expressed as a set of statements following the words
sometimes miss an important stakeholder group, especially To reach objective...,
The role and format Projectmanagers can
important
the following must be in place...'.
of communication in unfamiliar business contexts. These could be departments supplying
The mnemonic SMART is sometimes used to describe well-defined
plans will be explained services that are taken for granted. objectives:
in greater detail in
Specific Effective objectives are concrete and well defined. Vague aspirations
Chapler 11 on manag Given the importance of coordinating the efforts of stakeholders, the recommended such as 'to improve customer relations' are This still leaves a prob
ing people in software
practice is for a communication plan to be created at the start of a project. unsatistactory. Objectives should be lem about the level at
environments. defined so that it is obvious to all whether the
project has been successful. which the target should
Measurable Ideally there should be measures of effectiveness which tell us how be set, e.g. why, say, a
50% reduction in com
successful the project has been. For example, 'to reduce customer
would be more satisfactory as an objective than 'to complaints' plaints and not 40% or
Exercise 1.7 The measure can, in some cases, be an answer to
improve customer relations'. 60%?

simple yes/no question, e.g.

ldentify the stakeholders in the Brightmouth College payroll project. Did we install the new software by 1 June?"
Achievable It must be within the power of the individual or group to achieve the objective.
 15
ntroduction to Softrware Project Management
of t h e
project.

should
t
14 Softrware
Project
Managemet

relevant
to
the true
purpose

by
whicn
the
objective
have been Any project plan must ensure that the business case is kept intact. For example:
be in time
that development costs are not allowed to rise to a level which threatens to exceed the value of benefits;
objective
must
defined
point
The a
be
expected benefits cannot be realized;
Kelevant

should
t h a t the features reduced to level where the
Time
constrained
There of the system are not a

that the delivery date is not delayed so that there is an unacceptable loss of benefits.
achieved.

Exercise 1.8
off the wor
ateness o
aPpropriateness
wording of 1.13 Project Success and Failure
on the
comment

discussion of objectives, The project plan should be designed to ensure project success by preserving the Agood introduction to
the issues discussed
mind the
above
software developers business case for the project. However, every non-trivial project will have problems, in
Bearing in objectives'
for
within budget that mi nere can be found
each of the
following
application
on time
and
fewest
possible
software errors
lead and at what stage do we say that a project is actually a failure? Because
stakeholders have different interests, some stakeholders in a project might see it as a
different A. J.
Shenhar andO.
implement
the new
with the Levy (1997)"Mapping
() To software
application
success while others do not. the dimensions of proj-
implement
the n e w ect success' Project
(ii) To to operational failures Management J o u m a l

is user-friendy Broadly speaking, we can distinguish between project objectives and business 28(2) 9-12.
system that
(1ii) To design a
for the new system objectives. The project objectives are the targets that the project team is expected to
achieve. In the case of software projects, they can usually be summarized as delivering
documentation

full
(iv) To produce
The agreed functionality
Measures of eftectiveness
methods of checking that a n objective The required level of quality
provide practical might, for example, be
1c
These concepts are
Measures of effectiveness
'Mean time
between failures (mtbt)
as such, can onlv On time
met. measurement and,
has been
explained more fully
soft- reliability. This is a performance
w a n t to get idea off the some Within budget
13
ProjJect managers
on measure
in Chapter
ware quality. taken the system is operational.
once
constructed. They will therefore A project could meet these targets but the application, once delivered could fail to meet the business case. A
performance of
the completed system
as it
is being c o d e inspections might indicate computer game could be delivered on time and within budget, but might then not sell. A commercial website
found during
number of errors
a large for be
seek predictive
measures. For example,
later.
used online sales could created successfully, but customers might not use it to buy products, because
they could buy the goods more cheaply elsewhere.
with reliability
potential problems
We have seen that in business terms it can
generally be said that a project is a succesS irThe assessment of
the value of benefits exceeds the costs. We have also seen that while project managers
Exercise 1.9 the value of project

have considerable control over development costs, the value of the benefits of the Deneits lIs explored
project. What measures
project deliverables is dependent on external factors such as the number of customers. in greater depth in
of the Brightmouth College payroll Chapter 2.
Identify the objectives and sub-objectives success in of the project? Project objectives still have some bearing on eventual business success. As we will
effectiveness could be used to check the
achieving the objectives see in Chapter 2, increasing
of development costs reduce the chances of the delivered
product being profitable. A delay in completion reduces the amount of time during which benefits can be
1.12 The Business Case generated and diminishes the value of the project.
A project can be a success on
The business case
Most projects need to have a justification or business case: the effort and expense 0 delivery but then be a business failure, On the other hand, a project could be
late and over budget, but its deliverables could still, over time,
pushing the project through must be seen to be worthwhile in terms of
the benent generate benefits that outweigh the initial
should be established
are e that will eventually be felt. A cost-benefit analysis will often be part of the proj expenditure.
ect's feasiDIiIty study.
Chapter 2 explains feasibility study. This will itemize and quantify the project's costs and benefits,l Some argue that the possible gap between project and business concerns can be reduced by having a broader
the idea of a business benefits will be affected by the completion date: the sooner the project is compice
case in more detail.
view of projects that includes business issues. For example, the project management
For a
the
sooner the benefits can be experienced. The quantification of benefits will o of an e-commerce website implementation could plan activities such as market wider discussion
of the relationships be-
require the formulation of a business model which explains how the new app Surveys, competitor analysis, focus groups, prototyping, and evaluation by typical tween successive proj-
can generate the claimed benefits. potential users all designed to reduce business risks. ects, see M.
Engwall
A
(2003) 'No project iS an
simple example of a business model is that a new web-based application might allow customers i
om a
Because the focus of project management is, not unnaturally, on the immediate island: linking projects
over the world to order firm's
a
products via the internet, increasing sales and thus increasing project, it may not be seen that the project is actually one ofa sequence. Later projects to history and context
profits. ToV benefit from the technical skills learnt on earlier
Research Policy 32
projects. Technical learning will 789-808.
 the
iearnt
tcchnologies
can be deployed
Cas
Introduction to Software Project Management 17
softw
16
Sotwr Prajet Man vement

but later
prvjects
benetit
as
accompanied
by
additional
oftwareeassets,
e
e a s e
vONEN On the earlier

and
projnts,

arurately.
This
expertise
is often
is outsoureu,
tnere

aagers
ny
de

may
immediate

assess savings,
which reasbuof
mon qucky,
cheaply sotware
development
be lost.
Atute
Initilating Planning process
Where will
neusable
cvade.
increased
expertise process
example, trust in
these longer-tem benents beneticial to develop. a
client has a

would be proyects.I particularie

tevhnical expertise
it nmber otf again, Executing Controlling Project
also be up
built
overa

to use
that
company

t o acquire new el
e process process closing
rlationships
can more likely expeSIve
are
CHstomer work in the past,
they It is much
more

delivend.
satisfactory
has done already
builds on
tunctionality +Project initiation- - Project execution
Project closing-
requirement
ones.
retaun existing
it is to

Management? FiGURE 1.5 Principal project management processes

1.14 What is look at the
'managemer
we noW
of software. the following a c P
of the special
charactenistics
that management
involves
vities.
We have explored some

It has been
suggested irrespective of the methodology used. In the project initiation stage, an initial plan is made. As the project
project management.
starts, the project is monitored and controlled to proceed as planned. However, the initial
of softw are
what is to be
done plan is revised
periodically to accommodate additional details and constraints about the project as they become available.
Planning- deciding
arrangements Finally, the project is closed. In the project closing stage, all activities are logically completed and all contracts
Organizing making
-

etc. are formally closed.

Statfing- selecting the right people for thejob
Initial project planning is undertaken immediately after the feasibility study
Directing -giving
instructions
phase and before starting the
on progress
requirements analysis and specification process. Figure 1.5 shows this project initiation period. Initial project
Monitoring- checking planning involves estimating several characteristics of a project. Based on these estimates, all subsequent
-
taking action to remedy hold-ups project activities are planned. The initial project plans are revised periodically as the project progresses and
Controlling
solutions more project data becomes available. Once the
-coming up with
new
Innovating and other stakeholders project execution starts, monitoring and control activities are
with clients, users, developer, supplierS taken up to ensure that the project execution proceeds as planned. The
Representing- liaising monitoring activity involves monitoring
the progress of the project. Control activities are initiated to minimize
any significant variation in the plan.
Project planning is an important
responsibility of the project manager. During project planning, the project
Exercise 1.10 manager needs to perform a few well-defined activities that have been outlined below. Note that we have
given a very brief description of these activities in this chapter. We will discuss these activities in more detail
section. On Tuesday at 10.00 a.m. he and his
Paul the manager of a software development
Duggan is
in subsequent chapters. Several best practices have been
proposed for software project planning activities.
the staffing requirements for
with their group manager about In Chapter 3, we will discuss Step Wise, which is based on the
fellow section heads have a meeting popular PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled
drafted a document "bidding' for staff. This is based on the work
the coming year. Paul has already Environments) method. While PRINCE2 is used extensively in the UK and Europe, similar software project
his section for the next year. The document is discussed at the meeting. At 2.00 p.m. Paul management best practices have been put forward in the USA by the Project Management Institute's
planned for
section is undertaking. One of the PMBOK' which refers
has a meeting with his senior staff about an important project his to their publication 'A Guide to the
Project Management Body of Knowledge
programming staff has just had a road accidentand will be in hospital for some time. It is decided that Estimation The following project attributes are estimated.
work to tis
the project can be kept on schedule by transferring another team member from less urgent Cost How much is it going to cost to complete the project?
project. A temporary replacement is to be brought in to do the less urgent work but this may takea week
Duration How long is it going to take to complete the project?
or so to arrange. Paul has to phone both the human resources manager about getting a
replacement Efort How much effiort would be necessary for completing the project?
the user for whom the less urgent work is being done, explaining why it is likely to be delayed.
ldentify which of the eight management responsibilities listed above Paul was responding to at diftere The effectiveness of all activities such as scheduling and
staffing, which are planned at a later stage, depends
points during his day. on the accuracy with which the above three
project parameters have been estimated.
Scheduling Based on estimations of effort and duration, the schedules for manpower and other resources
Much of the project manager's time is spent Ojea are developed.
on
only three of the eight identified activities, vIZ. P
planning, monitoring, and control. The time period during which these activities are carried out i9 indicalet
Stafing Staff organization and staffing plans are made.
in Figure 1.5. It shows that project management is carried out over three
well-defined stages or
rocesses

p
 and
aDalenment p l n .
analysis,
Manawment
Softure P'royvt Introductiom to Software Project Management 19
nce plan, Contg
udentfialon,

18 isk is quanty
ässurance
ncdes
plans suen
severalother
anity

Managemen:
This
ludes
making
1his m
I N e l a n e v u s
Plans
of
developmcn
ent cti
plan, e afler
the
milaton

developme,n
e The Actions

procecd feal world

manarement undertaken
raton sOTware

are the
that

to ensure
atnities

and
ontrol
activitiesis a projcct manager
may e
Projo honitonng activitiCs,

t vontnol
ace
pryr
monitoring
and

out p r y e c t
monitonng
and
contnl

situations
and
naake
tne plan more
curate as
carying with specitie
pannet
While change
the plan to cope
Data
to
d t neessary
Knowiedge
about the s
collection
projet
data benes
available

does not
have
conmpiete
infor of
the manager's
the project
manager
development
phases,
of tho
b Data
anticipalo,
start of a project.
dittierent clear, sonme
At the through activilics
become

progresses

projet
As the propat
of difterent project re-estimated periodically inc Define
compleitics are Da ta
improves.
The
The project
parameters into account ti objectives
gradually
processing
ns get
resolved, and new isks appear.

project
parameters. By laking
these
developiments

levels
projsu1s
ence. Figure
of confidence
in imereaSing
and change with
new understanding
activities more accurately revision activities Information
subsequent and the plan
manager
can plan monitonng
and control,

iterations hetween
this aspect as
shows
Making
decisions/plans
1.15 Management Control
and then monitoring the perform
rmance o Modelling Decisions
for a system
Management. in general. involves setting objectives rather formless. Especially in the caseofi.large
the 'real world' is
shown as being
1.6.
the system. In Figure should be aware.

there will be a lot going on about which management Implementation

undertakings.

Exercise 1.11 FiGURE 1.6 The project control cycle

held paper-based records with a centrally
organized database. Staff is always the danger that while the completion date for the one branch is
An ICT project is to replace locally and will then have to use pulled back to before the overall
need training target date, the date for the branch from which staff are being moved is
in a large number of
offices that are geographically dispersed pushed forward beyond that date. The
records on the new database. The system cannot be project manager would need to calculate carefully what the impact would be in
the new ICT system to set up the backlog of manual branches. This is modelling the consequences of a moving staff from particular
until the last record has been transferred.
The new system will only be successful potential solution. Several different proposals could be
properly operational modelled in this way before one was chosen for
if new transactions can be processed within certain time cycles. implementation.
ldentify the data that you would collect to ensure that during execution of the project things were going Having implemented the decision, the situation needs to be kept under review by collecting and
further progress details. For instance, the next time that processing
plan progress is reported, a branch to which staff have been
transferred could still be behind in transferring details. This
might be because the reason why the branch has
got behind in transferring details is because the manual records are
This will involve the local managers in data collection. Bare details, such as 'location X has incomplete and another department, for
procesed whom the project has a low priority, has to be involved in
providing the missing information. In this case,
documents', will not be very useful to higher management: data processing will be needed to
raw data into useful information. This
transtorm transferring extra staff to do data inputting will not have accelerated data transfer.
might be in such forms as percentage of records processed', aver
documents processed per day per person' and "estimated completion date . It be seen that a project plan is dynamic and will need constant
can
adjustment during the execution of the
project. Courses and books on project management (such as this one) often focus considerable
In our example. the project attention
management might examine the 'estimated completion date' for cou eling on project
planning. While this is to be expected, with nearly all projects much more time is spent actually
data transfer for cach branch. These can be checked
against the overall target date for complen doing the project rather than planning it. A good plan provides a foundation for a good project, but is
nothing
phase of the project.
In effect they are comparing actual propa without intelligent execution. The original plan will not be set in stone but will be
performance with one aspect of the overau modified to take account
objectives. They might find that one or two branches will fail to of changing circumstances.
They would then need to consider what to do (this is
the transfer of
ecisivs
complete deta
plans). One possibility would be to move represented in Figure 1.6 by the box
Making
staff temporarily
from one branch to another. If this 15 the
 Softuwre Project Mangement lite cycles
20 Introduction to Softrware Project Management 21
management
and project developed. In Ei.
Sottware development
through
which a software lS
activities that undertak
are
igure 1.1, 1.16 Project Management Life Cycle
the stages set of
ofthe
uencing. DuDng
denotes
life cycle in terms and their s e q u e n c i n r
Sofware
development is shown
phases The different phases of the project management life
life cycle
(SDLC)
into
different
out several
carry out several cycle are shown in Figure 1.8. In the following, we
grouping developers carry discuss the main activities that are carried out in each
project. their client proces
development
the
Sorware
software development
from its
conception,
and deployed
at the
site. fe
phase.
pical life cycle. starting developed
the software
development
the software is fully team
include
requirementeA
Project Initiation
and testina 5nerin
till development
methodologies) the
(0r development undertaken by detailed design,
coding
processes
design, As shown in Figure 1.8, the software
etamples
of the development
specification,
architectural
life cycle typi
project management life cycle starts with project initiation. The project
and analysis,
requirements
(SDLC), the project
management
ypically s
ofthe S n r n
initiation phase usually starts with project concept
development. During concept development the different
software development
life cycle for the
e n t i r e duration characteristics of the software to be developed are thoroughly understood. The different aspects of the project
In contrast to the activities start
and continues s o r t w a r e development lif that are investigated and understood include: the
well before the
software development shown, during
the
e scope of the project, project constraints, the cost that would
1.7. As On the other hand. d be incurred and the
benefits that would accrue. Based on this understanding, a feasibility study is undertaken
schematically been shown in Figure procesSes.
aspect has of development
manank to determine whether the project would be
the software developers
carry out
several types
manager
carTes out
several
project financially and technically feasible. This is true for all types
life cycle, the software project s o r t w a r e project mana
of projects, including the in-house
product development projects as well as the outsourced projects. For
software project management
methodologies) to pertorm
the required nagemen example, an organization might feel a need for a software to automate some of its activities,
camied out by a project manager possibly for more
processes (or project
management
management processes
include efficient operation. Based on the feasibility study, the business case is
project As shown in Figure 1.7. developed. Once the top management
activities. A few examples of the
controlling., and closing. agrees to the business case, the project manager is appointed, the
project initiation. planning.
execution. monitoring.
both software development ne
life cycle andd projec. project charter is written, and finally the
term and is
often used to denote project team is formed. This sets the ground for the manager to start the project planning
life cycle' is a more generic phase.
management life cycle. As has already been pointed out, during the project initiation phase it is crucial for the
project to develop a thorough understanding of the important characteristics of the champions of the
Software development life cycle - project. In his W5HH
principle, Barry Boehm summarized the questions that need to be asked and answered in order to have an
Developers Software development process understanding of these project characteristics.
camry out
Manager Project management processeS W5HH Principle: Boehm suggested that during project initiation, the
cames out comprehensive answers to a set of key questions pertaining to the project. project champions should have
The answers to these
Project management lfe cycle
would lead to the definition of key questions
project
characteristics. The name of this principle (W5HH) is an acronym
constructed from the first letter of each
Project life cycle question. This set of seven
questions is the following:
.Why is the software being built?
.What will be done?
FiGuRE 1.7 Project management life cycle versus sofware development life cycle
.When will it be done?
The activities carried out by the developers during software development life cycle as well as the proja .Who is responsible for a function?
management ife cycle are grouped into a number of phases. Typical sets of phases and their sequencing inte .Where are they organizationally located?
sofrware development life cycle a the project managementlife have been shown in Figure 1.8.Asc
How will
be seen from Figure 1.8, the phases of thesoftware development life cycle are requirements analysis, desigt the job be done technically and managerially?
development ESst and delivery. The different phases of the project management life cycle are initiaie How much of each resource is needed?
planning. execution and closing. Further observe from Figure 1.8 that by the time the software developme
Project bidding: Once an organization's top management is convinced by the business case, the
processes star. the initiation phase of the software project management life is almost cycle complete. charter is developed. For some project
categories of projects, it may be necessary to have a formal bidding process
to select a suitable vendor based on some
activities of an organization, the
cost-períormance criteria. If the project involves automating some
Project management ife cycle organization may either decide to develop it in-house or may get various
software vendors to bid for the project. We briefiy mention the different
Initetirng phase Panning phaseExecusing types of bidding techniques and their
phasej Closing phase implications and applicability.
Requiremets .Request for quotation (RFQ) An organization advertises an
Design Develo Test Deliver RFQ if it has good understanding of the
analysis project and the possible solutions. While publishing the RFQ. the organization would have to mention
Software development life the scope of the work in a statement of work (SOW) document. Based on
cycle the RFQ different vendors can
submit their quotations. The RFQ issuing organization can selet a vendor
based on the price quoted as
FiE 1.8 Different phases of project management life cycle and
sofhware development le
 ternm request for ten.
Introduction to Software Project Management 23
Software Project Managemen
thne

to R
to deposita
organi7alio1s,

22 KFT
he
bidder needs
govemment 1n

competency
ot the
vendor. In
sinnilar to
RFQ:
however,
Project closure
as the RFT is
C used in place of RFQ. bidding
prveSS.
organization
has reasonak
reasonable und
tion a der Project clonure involves completing the relcase
orgamzaton

s
usUally in the that an of all the required deliverables to the customer along with the
to participate oI the solutios
tee in onder it happens
good grasp
tender

(REP) Many
times so

it does not
have a
features that
pects necessirydocumentation. Subscquently, all the project released and supply agreements with the
resources are

vendors are terminated completed. Finally, postimplementation review is

diferent

KequesT for
prpsal

of the problem
to be solved.
however

knowledge
about
the
envir and all the
pending payments are a
undertaken to analyse the project performance and to list the lessons learnt for use in future
nizatiornment,
npienientation
Standing
may
not
have
sufticicnt
choices
or
the the organiz.
projects.
is, the organization
with the possible In thiS c a s e ,
hat and may lack
familiarity deployment,
etc.
solutiono ay
solutions and the 1.17 Traditional Modern Project Management Practices
client-server alternative
mplemented.

operating
systems. subinit a tew
versus
databases. vendors may the requestir
Such as.
s o l u t i o n proposals
trom vendors.
The
a better
understanding,
or
order to develop to be u n d e r s t o o d . n Over the last two decades, the basic approach taken by the software industry to develop software has undergone
solution. In
solicit
It needs
each solutions.
c o s t s for their
approximate or
demonstrate
that c a n be deplotahe A radical change. Hardly any software is being developed from scratch any more. Software development
vendors to explain solutions possible
ask the
Zation may
an understanding of the
alternative
organization
can form a clearid. projects are inereasingly being based on either tailoring some existing product or reusing certain pre-built
purpose of RFP is to get
the RFP process.
the requesting
work (SOW) for requestin
of ibraries. In either case, two important goals of recent life cycle models are maximization of code reuse and
selection. Based on statement
not vendor it can form a
which
the project
solutions required. based on
oompression ofproject durations. Other goals include facilitating and accommodating client feedbacks and
customer partucipation in project development work, and incremental delivery of the product with evolving
from the vendors. publish a n RFI. Based the
soliciting bids may
vendor response
Requestfor
to the RFI.
Information the
(RF1) organization can assess
An organization the competencies of the vendors and shorti
done
vendor selection is seldom do
functionalities.
other hand, are
Change requests from customers encouraged, rather than circumvented.
are

demanding further reductions in product delivery times and

Clients the
These recent developments
costs.
on

noted that
However, it must be
bid for the work. with RFP and REO practices in many significant ways. In the following section,
the vendors who can

RFI. but the RFI response

from the vendors may
be used in conjunction
have changedimportant
discuss some
project management
ditfferences between modern project management and traditional
will we

based on practices practices.

responses for
vendor selection. Planning Incremental Delivery Few decades ago, projects were much simpler and therefore more
predictable than the present day projects. In those days, projects were planned with sufficient detail,
Project planning the project planning phase,
much before the actual
project execution started. After the project initiation, monitoring and controO
activities were carried out to ensure that the
An important outcome of the project initiation phase
is the project charter. During project execution proceeded as per plan. Now, projects
documents: are required to be
carries out several processes and creates the following completed over a much shorter duration, and rapid application development and
the project manager
and a schedule for the project tasks that deployment are considered key strategies. The traditional long-term planning has given way to adaptive
This document identifies the project tasks,
Project plan short-term planning. Instead of making a long-term
project completion plan, the project manager now
resources and time frames to the
tasks.
assigns project plans all incremental deliveries with evolving functionalities. This type of project management is
equipment that would be required to execute the
Resource plan It lists the resources, manpower and 3t often called extreme project
management. Extreme project management is a highly flexible approach
to project management that concentrates on the human
project. side of project management (e.g., managing
Financial plan It documents the plan for manpower, equipment and other costs. project stakeholders), rather than formal and complex planning and monitoring techniques.
.Qualiry plan Plan of quality targets and control plans are included in this document. Quality Management Of late, customer awareness about product quality has increased significantly.
Tasks associated with quality management have become an
.Risk plan This document lists the identification of the potential risks, their prioritization and a plan important responsibility of the project
for the actions that would be taken to contain the different risks. manager. The key responsibilities of a project manager now include assessment of project progress
and tracking the quality of all intermediate artifacts. We will discuss
quality management issues in
Project execution Chapter 13.
Change Management Earlier, when the requirements were signed ofi by the customer, any changes
In this phase the tasks are executed as per the project plan developed during the to the requirements were
of management processes are undertaken to ensure that
planning phase. A series rarely entertained. Customer suggestions are now actively being solicited
the taskS are executed as and incorporated throughout the development
control processes are executed to ensure that the tasks are per plan. Monitoring a d process. To facilitate customer feedback, incremental
initiated whenever any deviations from the
executed as per plan and corrective
actions a delivery models are popularly being used. Product development is being carried out through a series of
plan are noticed. However, the project plan product versions implementing increasingly greater functionalities. Also customer feedback is solicited
periodically to accommodate may have to be rev
any changes to the project plan that may arise on account of on each version for
incorporation. This has made it necessary for an organization to keep track of the
risks and various events that occur
during the project execution. Quality of the deliverables is change reyu various versions and revisions through which the product develops. Another reason for the increased
execution of proper processes. Once all the ensured throu
deliverables are produced and he importance of keeping track of the versions and revisions is the following. Application development
project execution phase completes and the project closure accepted by the custOmel
phase starts. through customization has become a popular business model. Therefore, existence of a large number of
versions of a product and the need to support these by a
development organization has become common.
 Project Management lining and
version control, T
Softuwre base his Introduction to Software Project Management 25
gement is has
24 oduet Dil
Change manaVen
plays a key role
project
m prvxuct
manager. also intricately related.
of the Chapter 9, If the scope is allowed to
manager
the pnoject im
nis context, cnucial
nesponsibility management

and cost, then the

change extensively, while
strictly maintaining the schedule
a discuss change quality of the work would be the
made chang
ange
management
We will 18 a conscions major casualty. Therefore, for every scope
configuration
management.
development pricuces,
nere
of thecusto
tfort to requcst, the project managers examine whether the change request is really change
AON n
as
In modem
software
the actukal
requireients
the budget and time schedule would necessary and whether
A permit it. Often, the scope
s t a t ot a project the o
meet
example, n overenthusiastic project team member may suggest tochange
Managemen:
quirements to a lange
extent.
at n e
requests are superfiuous. For
software such
that it would. methodologics
is
tha d e t e r m i n e their actun
en add features that are not required by
evelop dcvelopment able to the customer. Such
these moderm
and are only scope change requests originated by the overenthusiastic team members are called
premise of
developmentYuire.
exact needs
ASIC
visualize their modem
sottware
ora goldplating and should be discouraged if the project is to succeed. The customer
fully this view point, i m e r e m e n t s thCes may also initiate scope
r e orten
unable to
start using the
software.
and
From
when the
are
completed
completed by
by the devel. change requests that are more ornamental or at best nonessential. These serve
only to jeopardize the
ments
after they software in
increments as
c u s t o n m e r as they
use the incre
crements success of the
project, while not adding any perceptible value to the delivered software. Such
delivery of from the of avoidable
are i n c l u d e d in the devel
advocate
soliciting change requests Scope change requests originated by the customer are termed as To ensure the success of
team, and actively customer
representatives
fanen the project, the project scope creep.
fact. a few Contrast this with the
opment
delivered to them. In
practice
manager needs to guard against both gold plating and scope creep.
the software interactions with
the c u s t o m e r s .
identified upfront and
thWed
close every day had to be
team to foster
methodologies,
where the requirements
could start. Change reauleet
Te
sts ro
in older development before the development
the customer after thethestart ofmthe
custo project were discouraged. Consequentiy, at present in most Droi
e r and
'frozen'
essary
then 'signed off" by Exercise 1.12
the requirements change frequently during the development cycle. it nas, therefore, become necese
elatest
in requirements, the la Assume that the development of the pay roll
as and when
there is any change package of Brightmouth College has been entrusted to an
requirements. so that organization who would develop it by customizing one of its products. Discuss the main stages through
to properly manage the Requirements management has therefore becc ecome
become available to all. which the organization could carry out
and up-to-date requirements analysing, tracing, prioritizing requirement project development?
a systematic process of controlling
changes, documenting. tne term controlling chanpes
stakeholders. By
to the relevant
and then communicating
the changes such as accidental overwriting of a

we mean that

newer document
change request is well managed,
every
with an older
and problems

document are avoided.

and controlling the
Conclusion
This chapter has laida foundation for the remainder
Release Management Release managenment
concens planning, prioritizing of the book by defining what is meant by various terms
made during its life such as 'software project' and
software, multiple releases are 'management'. Among some of the more important points that have been made
different releases of a software. For almost every There are several are the following:
releases are made each time the code changes.
cycle. Startuing with an initial release, Projects are by definition non-routine and therefore more
reasons as to why the code needs to change.
These reasons include functionality enhancements, bug uncertain than normal undertakings.
such as the agile devel- Software projects are similar to other projects but have some attributes that
fixes and improved execution speed. Further, modern development processes present particular difi-
releases of the software to be made to the customer culties, e.g., the relative invisibility of many of their products.
opment processes advocate frequent and regular
the software development. Startingwith the release of the basic or core functionalities of the A
key factor in project success is having clear objectives. Different stakeholders in a project, however,
during
software, more complete functionalities are made available to the customers every couple of weeks. In likely to have different objectives. This points to the need for a recognized overall project authority.
are

this context effective release management has become important. For objectives to be effective there must be
practical ways of testing that the objectives have been met.
Risk Management In modern software project management practices, effective risk managements .Where projects involve many different people, effective channels
of information have to be established.
considered very important to the success of a project. A risk is any negative situation that may arise
Having objective measures of success helps unambiguous communication between the various parties
as the project progresses and may threaten the success of the project. Every project is susceptible to to a project.
host of risks that could usually be attributed to factors such as
a
technology, personnel and customer
Unless proper risk management is practised, the progress of the
project may get adversely anree
Risk management involves identification of risks, assessment of the impacts of various risks, priorit ANNEX 1 CONTENTS LIST FOR A PROJECT PLAN
zation of the risks and
preparation of risk-containment plans. We discuss various aspects of project
management in Chapter 7.
Introduction The detail that
goes
Scope Management Once a
project gets underway, many arise .Background: including reference to the business case
into these sections will
Some of these can be attributed to the customers and requirement change requests usSuaiuy have be explained in later
the others to the chapters. For example
already mentioned, modern development practices development team. AS Whange Project objectives Chapter 7 relates to
encourage the customer to come up
requests. While all essential changes must be carried wIu Constraints these could be included with project objectives risk while Chapter 13
out, the superfluous and ornamental anges explains aspects of the
must be scrupulously avoided. However, while accepting change Cat
bered t
Methods management of quality
the three critical project requests, it must be
parameters: Scope, schedule and project cost are remein er
ver
and
interdependent
 eceive
and iintermediate produc Introduction to Software Project Management 27
Management will
26 Softare Project client
that the
t
cts
pnoducts lake 12 months using
bothdeliverable permanent staff. A small budget is available to hire temporary staff in the case of
Project products: staff absences through
camied out
holidays,
sickness or temporary transfer to other, more urgent, jobs. Discuss the
Activities to he control system that will need to be in place to control that sub-project.
Resources to be used 6. The idea behind a project is that students should be able to access details of available
an intranet. When there is a
placements via
Risks to the project placement opportunity for which they wish to be considered, they would
including be able to apply for it
Management of the project, electronically. This would cause a copy of their CV, which would also be held
oryanizational responsibilities
online, to be sent to the potential employer.
Details of interviews and placement offers would all be sent e-mail. While some human intervention
management of quality by
would be needed, the process would be automated as far as
Contiguration management possible.
You required to produce a business case report for such an application, which justifies the potential
are

development by showing that the value of its potential benefits outweighs its development and opera-
Further Exercises tional costs.
Create lists of the main benefits and costs for the
1Cl-related asSsignment. Ty project. You do not have to specify actual figures, just
a recent Pt the headings under which they would appear.
when you
carried out
c o n s i d e r whether
there was sor
List the problems you
experienced
each problem way 7. Distinguish between software product development and outsourced projects. Explain the key ways in
.
order of magnitude. For and planning by yourself
into some organization which
these problems reduced by better managing an outsourcing project differs from a product development project
could have been For each
in which the problem systems department. stage 8. Identify the important characteristics of software development projects which make these harder to
employed in an infornmation be involved.
personnel to
2. ldentify the main types of of personnel who are likely manage compared to other types of projects. Say for example, a building construction project.
project, list the types
of a typical IS development
a computer-based
system to help administer hoobook 9 What is the difference between a method and a methodology? What are the essential items that must be
the implementation of be the objectives of uch a Such
3. A public library is considering What might planned before carrying out a method or methodology?
such a project.
the stakeholders in
loans at libraries. Identify
terms?
success of the project be measured in practical 10. Identify the main differences between managing the development of a conventional project and an
how might the
project and for a client. You are an emplovee outsourced project.
a customized
order processing system
4. A software house has developed course for the end-users
of the system 11. Identify the key aspects in which moderm software project management practices differ from those of
has been asked to organize training
a
of the software house that material. A plan is now needed
bsb traditional software project management.
training
At present, a user handbook
has been produced, but no specific
courses. The project
can be assumed to have
the delivery of the training 12. Explain the major activities carried out by a software project manager and the order in which these are
for the project which will set up
the things that will need to be considered
the first course starts. Among carried out.
been completed when training
are the following: 13.
Identify theoffactors thatsuch
make software projects much diffcult to manage, compared to many
more

Training materials will need to be designed and created other types projects as a project
to lay
out 100 km concrete road
a on an existing nonconcrete
road.
A timetable will need to be drafted and agreed
Date(s) for the course will need to be arranged
14.
What do youunderstand by the terms software development
suitable schematic
life cycle and software project management

will need to be identified and notified

life eycle? Using a diagram explain
the temporal relationship
between the software
The people attending the course development life cycle and the project management life cycle.
Rooms and computer facilities for the course will need to be provided 15. What are the different phases of the software deveBlopment life cycle and software project management
(a) Identify the main stakeholders for this project. life cycle? Explain the sequencing of the phases in these two life cycles using a schematic diagram.

(b) Draw up objectives for this project. 16. What do you understand by WSHH principle? Explain the significance of this principle.
(c) For the objectives, identify the measures of effectiveness. 17. What is a project charter? What purpose does it serve? Who usually writes this document and at which
point in the project management life cycle is this document produced?
d) For each objective, write down sub-objectives or goals and the stakeholders who will be respon
sible for their achievement. 18. Differentiate between software product development projects and software services projects. What are
5. A manager is in Tog the important differences between their characteristics? Why are software services projects becoming
charge of a sub-project of a larger project. The sub-project requires the transfer o
documents into a computer-based document retrieval pap Yo much more common?
system and their subsequent indexing so tnat 19. Identify the important differences in the characteristics of the software development projects that are
can be accessed via key-words.
Optical character readers are to be used for the initial transfer but
text then needs to be clerically checked and corrected by staff. The project is currently scheduuled to being undertaken now with those that were undertaken several decades back. What can be the possible
reasons for the drastic shrinkage of the project durations from multi-year to a couple of months now?
 phase of a
softwa
28 Softruare Project Management initiation

that are
caried
out during
the
devel. Introduction to Softrware Project Management 29
activities

20. Explain the important. tor proposal ( (c) Cost, duration and
processes: request Explain teque scope
opment project.
differences
between
different
bidding
and request
for
tender (RFT).
Kplain their appli. (d) Cost, quality and
product size
21. Brieflyexplain the for
information (RFI),
(vi) Which one of the
Torquotation
(RFQ). request
situations using
suitable
exampies.
the
dierence
een these
between
these two and following
is true of a project charter?
to specific project creep? Explain (a) It is only used for in-house
Cabilhty
plating and scope development projects
by the terms gold
tnese.
is needs to guard
against b) It is also called the business case of
What
meant
crucial to the the project
the project manager 1s this activity of a (c) It is a statement of the
oriefily mention why management? Why
scope of the project
u n d e s t a n d by project
scope
What do you (d) t focuses on the project
3.
acuvity considered imn requirements and does not address the stakeholder's responsibilities
project?
release management?
Why is tnis mportant? (vii) Which one of the following is
usually not recognized as a phase of the software project
24. What do you understand by the term
manager during
the project planning staoge. ment life cycle? manage
different types of plans
prepared by a project (a) Execution
. Name the case be prepared?
should the business
26. At what point in the project lifecycle is correct.
Seliect tne appropriate option (b) Initiation
one option
questions, exactly c) On-going maintenance
27. For each of the following of a software project?
characteristic
of the following is
not a
() Which one (d) Closing
tasks that involve
challenge
nonroutine
(3) A project can
have (vii) Which one of the following is false of a
several routine tasks
project charter?
(6) A project can have (a) It identifies the high-level time schedule for the
for the project are usually
constrained project
(C) The resources
available (b) It
provides an overview of the resource and budget for the project
a predetermined starting
point but may continue indefinitelv
(d) Every software project has (c)
It authorizes the start of the
project work
statements concerning
the business case for a project is false?
(i) Which one of the following (d)
It lists the
responsibilities of the project sponsor
the project.
would be incurred to complete (ix) Which one of the following documents contains the statement of work?
a) It provides the cost that
to accrue from undertaking
the project.
(b) It provides the benefits that are expected (a) Request for quotation (RFQ)
(c) I presents the cost-benefit analysis. (b) Business case
(d) Once the business case is completed and approved by the proJect sponsor, the feasibility ()Request for information (RFI)
study is undertaken. (d) Request for proposal (RFP)
definition of a project?
ii) Which one of the following is the most acceptable (x) An e-commerce company wishes to
deploy customer relationship management (CRM) software.
(a) A series of activities designed to accomplish some objective. It makes a formal invitation from vendors to describe their
solution and methodology along with
the price for the same. The invitation from the
6) An attempt to perform somehing that has well-deined and
objectives, requires both human organization is called which one of the following?
and other types of resources and usually has to abide by several constraints. a) Invitation to bid.
(c) A coordinated effort to accomplish a well-defined goal, but, in general, can be without any (b) Request for information.
end points. (c)Request for proposal.
(d) Any activity to which human and other resources must be allocated for it to proceed. (d) Request for bid.
iv) Which one of the following is the most accurate definition of a (xi) Which one of the following is not included in a project scope document?
project?
(a) A planned sequence of activities. (a) The deliverables for the project.
(b) An activity that requires b) The features and functions that are to be included in the software.
planning, execution, controlling, and monitoring and is constra
by limited resources. (c) The time schedule.
(c) A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a d) The project plan
unique product or service.
planned effort with clear objectives.
(d) A (xii) One of your project team members insists on including a feature in the software being developed
()Which one of the following constraints on a project is known as
'triple constraints"?
that he believes would be liked by the customer, though it is not part of the project scope. This
feature can be an example of which one of the following?
(a) Quality, duration and effort
(b) Cost, resources and duration
 Project Management
30 Softuar
(a) Scope ereep
undocumented change
(b) An
(c) Gold plating
(d)

(Nii) Which one

Scope enhancememt

ofthe following
gmost
closely
describes the sequence of
phases of a project
phasc
management
2 Project Evaluation and
life cycle?
(a) Initiation, planning,.

(6) Concept,
definition,
execution

development
and closing.
and closure
Programme Management
(c)Initiation, definition, planning and monitoring maintenance.
and
implementation
(d) Concept, definition, during the duration of the nre
documents usually
does not change project?
(XIV) Which one of the following

(a) Project plan

(b) Risk management plan
(c) Project charter

(d) Work breakdown structure (WBS)

cycle, most of the proJect funding is likely to
to be
of the project management life
(xv) In which phase
spent Learning Objectives
(a) Initiating
.Describe the contents
(b) Executing of a typical business plan
Explain project portfolio management
c) Planning Carry out an evaluation and selection of
projects against strategic, technical and economic criteria
(d) Closeout Use a variety of cost-benefit
evaluation techniques for
the project initiation phase? Evaluate the business risk involved in a choosing among competing project proposals
(xvi) Which one of the following documents is not developed during project
Explain how individual projects can be grouped into
(a) Project charter programmes
Explain how the implementation of programmes and
benefits are achieved projects can be managed so that the planned
(b) Project feasibility report
(c) Business case
(d) Project plan

S 2.1 Introduction
The first that many
developers hear of an ICT project is when they are allocated to the project team. However,
new projects do not
appear out of thin air. There will be some process varying in
organizations that decides that the project is worth doing.
-
sophistication between
As we saw in Chapter 1, sometimes managers justify a commitment to a single project as the benefits will
exceed the costs of the implementation and operation of the new application. In other cases, managers would
not approve a project on its own, but can see that it enables the fulfilment of strategic objectives when
iden combined with other projects.
Thus a project to establish an ICT infrastructure within an organization
benefit, but could provide a platform for subsequent projects to do so.
might not deliver a direct financial

It might not be
possible to measure the benefits of a project in financial terms. If you create a system which
allows the more accurate recording of data concerning the medical condition of
to the alleviation of pain and the
patients, it might contribute
preservation of life, but it would be difficult to put a money value on these.
 In
32 Soteare Project Management
project
needed a
business
case.

l0r several potential

chapter, we Project Evaluation and Programme Management 33

decirojedctinsg,
sottware
ICT or presenied
that an may be
chapter emphasized case somne
way of
ne last
Such a
document might
contain. A business

of the projects.
Managers
need

iscuss some ways Organizational and operational infrastructure

be money or statf
some
time for onlv management. I nis Ctdc finishes by
n which This describes how the structure of the
but a y portfolio I h e cnapler

to select. This is part of in a project

porttolio.
O D j e c i v e can be man
g This is of most relevance where the
organization will be affected by the implementation of the project.
wncn projJects evaluated and compared for inclusion common
business
project is implementing or modifying an information system as part of a
can be a
eets contribute to broader business change project. It would also be
which together relevant if a tailored production or distribution system has
WdygToups of projects to be set up when a new
product is designed.
programmes of projects.
Benefits
2.2 Business Case Study' or a project
titles such as jeasiolin
ejusn
a
have different
Where possible, a financial value
should be put on the benefits of the
Organizations may is to provide a rationale implemented project. For commereial
The section on the
business case craws cation for w hat we
call the business
case. Its objective
o u t c o m e s will exceed the co
organizations this could be related to increased
profits caused either by increasing income or by making
the project savings on costs. For not-for-profit organizations we would try to
that the benefits of quantify the benefits even if we cannot
on 8. Hughes(2008
project by showing (or production).
piotngT tor Dus implementation
and operation quote a precise financial value. In an example we used earlier relating to an IT system that the
development. improved
ness bene. Brtsh
contain: diagnosis of a particular disease, an increase in the rate of diagnosis might be quoted.
Computer Socety
Iypically a business case document might

1. Introduction and background to the proposa Outline implementation plan

2. The proposed project In addition to the ICT aspects of the
project, activities such as marketing, promotion and operational and
3. The markei maintenance infrastructures need to be considered. One consideration will be which
infrastructure project activities can be
Organizaional and operational outsourced, and which are best kept in-house.
5. The benefits
This will also detail the management of the
6. Outline implementation plan implementation. The responsibilities are allocated for the tasks
identified in the outline implementation plan. Key decision
7. Costs
points or milestones, where a health-check on the
state of the implementation is taken, should be identified. As we will see. for a
large implementation a number
S. The financial case of projects may be needed which can be
managed as a programme.
9. Risks
10. Management plan Costs
These sections will now be described in more detail. Having outlined the steps needed to set up the operations needed by the proposal, a scheduie of expected costs
associated with the planned approach can now be presented.
Introduction and background
There will clearly be some uncertainties about some of the costs,
This is a description of the current environment of the proposed project. A problem to be solved or an oppor
especially as the details of the requirements
have not yet been worked out.
tunity to be exploited is identified.
The financial case
The proposed project
There are a number of ways in which the information on
A brief outline of the
proposed project is provided. income and costs can be analysed and these will be
the subject of the section on evaluation techniques later in this
chapter
In Section 2.3, wewill The market
explore further the dif. Risks
ference between new This is needed when the
product development project is to
create new product or a new service
and renewal projeciS This would contain information like
the estimated demand for the
capaD Once again a more detailed discussion of risks will follow in a later section. We note here that
many estimates
and any likely competitors. product or serv ofcosts and, more particularly, benefits of the project will be speculative at this stage and the section on risk
should take account of this. In the last chapter we distinguished between project and business objectives.
We can similarly distinguish project risk-relating to threats to successful project execution from business
risk-relating to factors threatening the benefits of the delivered project. In the business case the main focus
IS on business risk.
 Progect Ezaiatisn zrd Prograe Maago 35

itr
Prmect M a g m
4
Manogement
mie of all the projects that an orga
aew
Project portfolio optimizahion
Portfolio
resources
over

allocation
idis an
2.3 Project manapemet
prow
pr f
pmorituzes
the

hich existing one

and whiche The performancebeof the portfolo can be tracked by high-ievel managers on a reguler basás. A beser balance
acvepted
may achueved. Some projects cuid potentially be very profitzble but coukd also be nsk. n
of proects
consikerng

Portfolo proget ors shouid

be
reodc the case ot an e-commerCE site. for erample. sales may not be zs gret as boped becanse established compes-
ate a gococ
n Ttakng
projts
s
»hch aew

and decndes
u r 2 0 0 e

be tors reduce prices. Other projects could have modest benefits. such as those cutting costs by automating
oolics can
urc
progets
inciuue

processes. have fewer risks. The portíolio ought to have a czefully thoughn-out balznce berween the two
sboud e dappe
a
rE De Reayo
The mcadd portfobo
mnagemet

impiementation but
types of projec
agemert concerms
ofp r o j e t 2e
orti
Te propszs project has.
aior
tectro hch propet thar
2potential

bura
k e n e g

of riskof
t2lure staft tume
and finance be Some problems with project portfolio managemet
acna
he
amoum
ncuding "
Startedgiven
Asessg
desurts. the
Pjea Marapeme are
hou to share projects An important role of project pofolko management is sharing resources beteenreresting insigts into
23 524-37 Deiding be that
i0
planned
completio
probiemca can be
oets-ce
some projets
* l TISS

nepd projets. There problems because while apparenly ful-time staff are allocated e pacira probiems
to a project they may effectively be part-time because they still have routine work to be
zvalabie so
evitaby
anere
Eraprojacts
be of porioins can
speay Dund n B. S. Bicid
berme proje do. This is particulardy so with users, and with developers who may on occasion be
depeninies
and P. Eskerod (2008)
Beng re
of he called away from project work to deal with support tasks. Project porsoio man

wort The officizal project portfolio may not accurately refect organizational acuvity if gemet-ees
dupicae mmSsei more to tshan man
propects do
aot beeD
Ensung h beza matvTenty
some projects are exchuded. A formal decision agemert enacs i
iveiopents
hzve act
may be made that only projects over a
Eurng
a necessa
dEyiIOT Por~jolio
managemen
certain level of cost will be recorded in the portfolio. nafora koumad
a porTolo Projet Megemet
of praject pordioão managed
denntion beTorE adopting Dotf.
o 25: 357-65.
ould mirzie portolko The below the line' projects could in fact consume substantial staff effort and bleed
Tte tore k ges
orgznizzice
away efforn from the official projects. It can be argued that all
poioiao opmczin

2nd hen praceeding to ogunzz projects should be

gem included in the official portfolio.

Project portfolio definition However. there are advantages in allowing these tasks. It allows small ad hoc tasks to be done, such as
d i l s of all current projects. A
An orgnizzioe should
reord in 2 singe repository quick fixes to systems to deal with externally imposed changes. They reduce work for higher management
of al types are to be included. Shoulk by saving them from having to process a large number of small work requests. Developers
decisice w be neeied zbor steherprojecis may find these
should other projects such as the small tasks rewarding dealing with these small
inciuded in he rgository. or requests is an easy way to keep users happy. Thus, when
just ICT projects be problem for many organiza
KZtHUe aso be nciudea? OE allocating resources to projects, a margin sbould be set to allow first-line managers some
B.sres Reves 595 ing up of z E where the accepting non-planned work judgement în
Te be dvided im rEn product developments (NPD)
tios is tha projects can
42-5rwo that is sold to customers
such s 2 tmputer gane.
r r
proyect deirverabie is a producz
2d renenal progecas wsch improve the hay an organization operates
informatior -

24 Evaluation of Individual Projects

oen like this. The distinction is not always clear-cut. For
sysiems projecs r e

information sysiem culd be used o proide a customer serTvice such as recording the detzik
We will now look more closely at how the
1mpie. à new
feasibility of an individual project can be evaluated.
popie buying a DEs Insurance producz

NPD projects are often more frequent in organizztions which havea continuous development ofnew goos
Technical assessment
and seices Reeval projects Tray be lessfrequent and thnus inherently more risky as there is less experienc: Technical assessment of a
proposed system consists of evaluating whether the
of these types of prject. NPD prjects find anracting funding easier with their clear relationship betwen the
achieved with current affordable technologies. Organizational policy, aimedrequired functionality can
at providing a consistent
proyect and income. Where bth types oí project call upon the same hardware/software infrastructure, is likely to limit the technical solutions considered. The costs of the
rgument fora ComDOn portfoio is strng
pools including finance, of resources,
technology adopted must be taken into account in the cos-benefit analysis.
Project portfolio management Cos-benefit analysis Any projedt aiming at
Once the ponfoho has been estabished, mKe a reum on mvestent
detziled ostings of Even where the estimated benefits will exceed the estimated
managers bope will be generated by each projects can be recorded. The value to decide if the
costs, it is often necessary must, as a minimur

these periomance indicatns can then be projeca can also be

recorded. Actual performance of proposed project is the best of several options. Not all projects can provide a greater ben
tracked. This information proj be undertaken at
any one time and, in any case, the most valuable
eft than puting hat
STeeing o new proyets. can be the basis for
the more projects should get investmertin, say, a
ng most resources. bank
 Propect Evaluation and Prngramme Management 37

w ss ewhts expecte
vmnes
Co-enehit analyxts an the
retlecttheo
sd

ant
th oerating
tN*
S i n a e s
sdNIkÍ
chang
example, c
the
drvelynmaen
plarm. Nem. tor nld os
wng s
inak
cuno Tee
*mnd
astem
is a
aks
nir p x tN *w
system. Time
uT
A new tN us
Sm the a sem
sals shr - and the
dnend dae a in

by the
inreav

and
to e tan
vqranizat

aim

the u v
-
in mYRI as:
heween caregonzei

r n
whit s thr d f e r e n e &ems
ani c a n e
in mnetany FauE 2.1 Typical product life cycle cash fow
dirar
aD T ca o
quanth
devekymnt staft s t s The dinculy and
aST,
Inlading nto place, mainlvo Accurate cash fiow forecasting is difficult. as it is done early in the project's life importance of cash
e k n m the suatem
N purhng fow forecasting is
consisang ot the
astS

a S of
nle
comversion. racruitment and staff cycle (at least before any significant expenditure is committed) and many items to
evidenced by the
Senp carsts the

assg new
h a r t u a r ut
also including
be estimated particulariy the benefits of using software) might be some years in the number of companies
that sufer bankruptcy
rauning after installation. future because, although
the system

Operanional o a s s
elsting o operating When estimating furure cash ffows, it is usual to ignore the effects of infation. they are developing
profitable products or
Forecasts of inflation rates tend to be uncertain. Moreover, if expenditure is increased services, they cannot
due to inflation it is likely that income will increase
proportionately. sustain an unplanned
Exercise 2.1 negative cash fiow.

existing payroll
service, operated by a third 2.5 Cost-benefit Evaluation Techniques
Bnghtmouth Coliege
is considering the repiacement of the some ot the costs it might consider
off-the-shelf computer-hased
system. List We now take a look at some methods for comparing projects on the basis of their cash flow forecasts.
taikored.
urTy. wth a
under the headings of Table 2.1 illustrates cash flow forecasts for four projects. In each case,. it is assumed that the cash flows
Deveiopment costs take place at the end of each year. For short-term projects or where there are significant seasonal cash flow
patterns, quarterly, or even monthly, cash flow forecasts could be appropriate.
Setup cots
Operabional costs TABLE 2.1 Four project cash flow projections - figures are end of year totals ()
List some of the beneñts under the headings:
Year Project1
Quantifñed and valued benefits Project 2 Project 3 Project 4
Quantihed but not valued -100,000 -1,000,000 -100,000 -120,000
ldentified but not easily valued 10,000 200,000 30,000 30,000
terms.
For each cost or benefñt explain how, in principle, it might be measured in monetary 10,000 200,000 0.0 30,000
10,000 200,000 30,000 a30,000
Cash flow forecasting 20,000 200,000 30,000 30,000
5 100,000 300,000 30,000 75,000
Typicaly products gen- As important as estimating the overall costs and beneits of a project is producing
erate a negatve cash a cash flow forecast which indicates when expenditure and income will take place Net profit 50,000 100,000 50,000 75,000
fiow dunng
their deve
opment foliowed by a (Figure
2.1).
positve cash flow over
We need to Spend money, such as staff wages, during a project's development
heir operating ife
There might be decom- uch
expenditure wait until income is received
cannot
(either from using softwar Exercise 2.2
missioning costs at the developed in-house use or from selling it). We need to
know that we can
development expenditure either from the company's own resources or by fund nng
end of a
product s ine.
Consider the project cash flow estimates for four projects at JOE shown in Table 2.1. Negative values
A forecast is needed of when bOTO represent expenditure and positive values income.
expenditure, such as the payment of salaries, and
income are to be
expected. Rank the four projects in order of financial desirability and make a note of your reasons for ranking
them in that way before reading further.
 38 Sotware Projet Management Project Evaluation and Programme Management 39
come over the life
tolal incor
Net profit total
costs
and the
large inva
of a
the
between
the the e x p e n se
ditterence but this is at evenent,
is the
The net protit of a project
shows the greatest
net prolit three projects
a n d obtain an
Exercise 2.4
project. Project 2 in Table 2.1 all ofthe
other
be prepared to rist
might
undertake
and we migt
nor
m. Calculating the ROI for project 1, the net profit is £50,000 and the total investment is £l00,000. The
Indeed. if we had tlIm to invest, we
element of risk
contain an return on investment is therefore calculated as
that all projects later in this
chapIer.
net profit. Note.also
timing of the cash dov
investment
the effects of risk and or tne erage annual profit
shall kook at account
ROI=
e
takes no
therefore, accordine
s x 100
the simple
profit
net and g to this total investment
Moreover. of £s0,000
a net profit the income
occurs
Cash flows take place
I and 3 each have The buik or
late
Projects equally preferable.
at the end of each
selection criterion,
would be
3 returns a steaay
i n c o m e throughout i
ts life 50,000/5 X 100 = 10%
n year0 repre n the life of project 1, whereas project
sents the inital invest that the
investment must he f 100,000
in thded
the disadvantage
return has
being equal, estimates
the start
ment made at Having to wait for a that. other things
Calculate the ROI for each of the other projects shown in Table 2.1 and decide which, on the basis of
of the project that the fact not ean
are this criterion, is the most worthwhile.
for longer. Add
to

short-term estimates and

we can see
that the two projects
equally
distant future are
less reliable than

preferable The return on investment provides a simple, easy-to-calculate measure of return on capital. Unfortunately,
it suffers from two severe disadvantages. Like the net profitability, it takes no account of the timing of the
Payback period the initial investment. Normally, the proie
project
cash flows. More importantly, this rate of return bears no
relationship to the interest rates offered or charged
or pay back by banks (or any other normal interest rate) since it takes no account of the timing of the cast flows or of the
taken to break even to minimize the
The payback period is the time basis that an organization
will wish
compounding of interest. It is therefore, potentially, very misleading.
will be chosen on the
with the shortest payback period
time that a project is 'in debt'.
Net present value
The calculation of net present value is a project evaluation
technique that takes intoNet present value
Exercise 2.3 account the profitability of a project and the timing of the cash flows that are produced. (NPV) and internal
This is based on the view that receiving £100 today is better than having to wait until rate of return (IRR) are
Table 2.1 and calculate the payback period for each of collectively known as
Consider the four project cash flows given in next year to receive it. We could, for example, invest the £l00 in a bank today and discounted cash flow
them. have tl00 plus the interest in a year's time. If we say that the present value of £100 (DCF) techniques.
in a year's time is £91, we mean that £100 in a year's time is the equivalent of £91
to calculate and is not particularly
sensitive to small now.
The advantage of the payback period is that it is simple
is that it ignores the overall profitability of the The equivalence of £91 now and £100 in a year's time means we are discouning tneNote that this
forecasting errors. Its disadvantage as a selection technique Thus the fact example
the project has broken even.
project in fact, it totally ignores any income (or expenditure) future income by approximately 10%. If we received £91 now and invested it for a
once uses approximate
that projects 2 and 4 are, overall, more profitable than project 3 is ignored. year at an annual interest rate of 10%, it would be worth £i00 in a year's time. The figures.
annual rate by which we discount future earnings is known as the discount rate - 10%

Return on investment in the above example.

of Similarly, £l00 received in two years' time would have a present value of approxi-Arateof10%may
The reurn investment (ROI), also known as the accounting rate of return (ARR), provides a
on
way
to mately £83 - in other words, £83 invested at an interest rate of 10% would yield be unrealistic but is
comparing the net profitability to the investment required. There are some variations on the formula used
approximately £100 in two years' time. used here for ease of
calculate the return on investment but a straightforward common version is: calculation.
The present value of any future cash flow may be obtained by applying the following
average annual profit
ROI= X 100 formula
total investment
value in year t
Present value = -

(1+r
where r is the discount rate, expressed as a decimal value, and t is the number of years into the future that the
cash flow occurs.
 cash flow
40 Softewre Project Management present
value of a nay be calcs.
the factor. AA small Project Evaluation and Programme Management 41
rather
more
casily,
appropriate
discount factor. table nt
and the
Altematively, flow by
More extensive or the cash TABLE 2.3
lated by
multiplying
in Table 2.2. Applying the discount factors to project 1
constrted y be discount
factors is given
each
cash flow (both
assumeda
constructed using the discounting
obtained by normally Year Project 1 cash flow ()
project is
fomuls discount fac
NPV for a discounled
values. It 1s
dioany Discount factor 10% Discounted cash fow (|
as year 0) and is not
for various The the
to and positive)
and summing
immediately
(indicaled
end of each
each
vanUnted -100,000 1.0000 -100,000
discount takes place take place
at the year and are
values of rthe number
initial investment assumed to
10,000
te and t(the
of years from now). Later cash
flows are normally
amount.
0.9091 9,091
by the appropriate
discounted 10,000 0.8264 8,264
factors
TABLE 2.2
NPV discount
10,000 0.7513 7,513
Discount rate (%)
20,000 0.6830 13,660
0
12 15
100,000 0.6209 62,090
Year 0.9091 0.8929 0.8696
0.9434 0.9259 Net Profit
0.9524 £50,000 NPV: £618
0.8264 0.7972 0.7561
0.8900 0.8573
0.9070
0.7513 0.7118 0.6575
0.8396 0.7938
0.8638 It is
0.6355 0.5718 interesting to note that the net present values for projects 1 and 3 are
0.7921
0.7350 0.6830 they both yield the same net profit and both have the same significantly different -even though
0.8227 return on investment. The difference in NPV
0.6209 0.5674 0.4972 reflects the fact that, with project 1, we must wait longer for the bulk of the income.
0.7835 0.7473 0.6806
The main difficulty with NPV for deciding between projects is selecting an
0.5645 0.5066 04323
organizations have a standard rate but, where this is not the case, then the appropriate
0.7050 0.6302 discount rate. Some
0.7462
discount rate should be chosen
0.7107 0.6651 0.5835 0.5132 0.4523 0.3759 to reflect available interest rates
(borrowing costs where the project must be funded from loans) plus some
premium to reflect the fact that software
0.4665 0.4039 0.3269 projects are normally more risky than lending money to a bank.
0.6274 0.5403 The exact discount rate is normally less
0.6768 important than ensuring that the same discount rate is used for all
0.4241 0.3606 0.2843 projects being compared. However, it is important to check that the ranking of projects is not sensitive to
0.6446 0.5919 0.5002 small changes in the discount rate have a look at the
following exercise.
-

10 0.6139 0.5584 0.4632 0.3855 0.3220 0.2472

15 0.4810 0.4173 0.3152 0.2394 0.1827 0.1229

20 0.3769 0.3118 0.2145 0.1486 0.1037 0.0611

Exercise 2.6
Calculate the net present value for each of the projects A, B and C shown in Table 2.4
25 0.0304
using each of the
0.2953 0.2330 0.1460 0.0923 0.0588 discount rates 8%, 10% and 12%.
For each of the discount rates, decide which is the best
project. What can you conclude from these
results?

TABLE 2.4 Three estimated project cash lows

Exercise 2.5
Assuming a 10% discount rate, the NPV for project 1 (Table 2.1) would be calculated as in Table 2.3. Year Project A( Project B ) Project C (E
The net present value for project 1, using a 10% discount
rate, is therefore £618. Using a 10% discount -8,000 -8,000 -10,000
rate, calculate the net present values for
most beneficial to
projects 2,3 and 4 and decide which, on the basis of this, 1s tne
pursue. 4,000 1,000 2,000
2 4,000 2,000 2,000
(Contd)
 42 Sotaare Project Management 6,000
4,000 Project Evaluation and Programme Management 43
2,000 2,000
3,000

1,000 2,000
9,000
500 2,000
Exercise 2.7
Check if the projects A, B, and C shown in
-6,000 Table 2.4 are worth taking up when the rate of interest on
borrowed capital is 15%.
S00 6,000
5,000
4,000
Net Profit
2.6 Risk Evaluation
we set a tare
of return. Ir,
rate
1or exampie,
target rate Every project involves risk. We have already noted that project risks, which the from
net present value using a
completed successfully, different from the business risk that the delivered products project
prevent being
a target
rate can be thought of as a posiive are
the discount display
Aematively, project that did not
tor selection-perhaps s hu%
by using Project risks will be discussed in Chapter 7. Here we focus on business risk.
are not profitable.
15% we would reject any
considered
would be
O
reum
of that displayed a positive
NPV
resources.
ror
rate. Any project were competing
coUunt
an a d d i i o n a l set of criteria where candidate projects Risk identification and ranking
In any project evaluation we should identify the risks and quantify their effects. One
Internal rate of return
One disadvantage of NPV as a measure of profitability is that, although it may be used to compare proien
tal a project risk matrix utilizing a checklist of possible risks and classifying risks
approach is to construct
jects, according to their relative
or the costs of borrowing cani importance and likelihood. Importance and likelihood need to be separately assessed we might be less
other investments
with earnings from rerurn (IRR) attemnto concerned with something that, although serious, is very
be directly comparable internal rate of unlikely to occur than with something less serious
interest rate. The
not
1t might are percentage with interest rates. Thne
that is almost certain. Table 2.5 illustrates a basic
project risk matrix listing some of the business risks for
Such costs usually quoted as a
return that is directly
comparable
a project, with their
provide a profitability
measure as a percentage could be borrowed for lee importance and likelihood classified as high (H), medium (M), low (L) or exceedingly
worthwhile if the capital ess
showed estimated IRR of 10% would be than 10%.
unlikely (.So that projects may be compared, the list of risks must be the same for each project assessed.
project that an
elsewhere for a return greater It is likely, in reality, that it would be longer than shown and more
not be invested precise.
than 10% or if the capital could
an NPV of zero. It is most easilv
calculated that percentage discount rate that would produce
IRR
The project risk matrix may be used as a way ofevaluating projects (those with high risks being less favoured)
that provides functions for calculating the
The IRR is as
or a means of
other computer program
as
identifying and ranking the risks for a specifie project.
calculated using a spreadsheet or with an initial guess or seed value
Microsoft Excel, for example, provides
IRR functions which, provided
TABLE 2.5 A fragment of basic
(which may be zero), will search for and
return an RR.
a
project/business risk matrix for an e-commerce application
return. A project with an NPV
indicate the absolute size of the
One deficiency of the IRR is that it does not Risk Importance Likelihood
with an NPV of £l0,000 and an IRR of 18%
and an IRR of 15% can be more attractive than
one
of £100,000 Cient rejects proposed look and feel of site H
- the return on capital is lower but the net benefits greater.

certain conditions, it is possible to find more than Competitors undercut prices H M

Another objection to the internal rate of return is that, under
one rate that will produce a zero NPV. However,
if there are multiple solutions, it is always appropriate to take Warehouse unable to deal with increased demand M L
the lowest value and ignore the others.
Online payment has security problems M M
NPV and IRR are not, however, a complete answer to economic project evaluation.
Maintenance costs higher than estimated L L
will we, for
A total evaluation must also take into account the problems funding the cash flows
of
example, be able to repay the interest on any borrowed money the appropriate time?
at Response times deter purchasers M M

.While a project's IRR might indicate a profitable project, future earnings from a relatively risky projec
might be far less reliable than earnings from, say, investing with a bank. We might undertake a more
detailed risk analysis as described below. Risk and net present value
We must also consider any one project within the financial and economic framework of the organ Where a project is relatively risky, it is a common practice to use a higher discount rate to calculate net
zation as a whole if we fund this one, will we also be able to fund other present value. This risk premium might, for example, be an additional 2% for a reasonably safe project or 5%
worthy projects?
-

for a fairly risky one. Projects may be categorized as high, medium, or low risk using a scoring method and
risk premiums designated for each category. The premiums, even if arbitrary, provide a consistent method of
taking risk into account.
 44 Softoare Project Management
Project Evaluation and Programme Management 45
Cost-benefit analysis consider each possible

A rather more sophisticated appro

to the
evaluation of risk is to
value of the
outcome. Rather
Ra utcome ana
t an a sing. of this, it is more appropriate for the evaluation of a portfolio of projects where overall proftability is the
primary concern, more successful projects can offset the impact of less successtul ones.
and the corresponding now rorecasts, each with an
of its occumring as
umare ofprobability
the
of cash by summing the cost this
a setobtained
enefitforCieach
ale
prodability occurring. The valueweofwill
the then
project is then
have or beneeocia
may be don Risk profile analysis
cash flow forecas for a project,
ExercISe 2.8 illustrates how this

weighted by its
corresponding probability. An approach which attempts to overcome some of the objections to cost-benefit averaging is the construction
pOSIDIe Outcome NE of risk profiles using sensitivity analysis.
This involves varying each of the parameters that affect the project's cost or benefits to ascertain how sensitive
Exercise 2.8 the project's profitability is to each factor. We might, for example, vary one of our original estimates by plus
or minus 5% and recalculate the expected costs and benefits for the project. By repeating this exercise for
for use in academi each of our estimates in turn we can evaluate the sensitivity of the project to each factor
developing a payroll application insti
BuyRight, a software house, is considering of the market has shown that
cost-benefit analysis. Study By studying the results of a sensitivity analysis we can identify those factorsthat are most important to the
tutions and is currently engaged in a it will obtain aa high
become available,
no competing products success of the project. We then need to decide whether we can exercise greater control over them or otherwise
BuyRight can target it efficiently and that there is a 1 in 10 chanc
It estimates mitigate their effects. If neither is the case, then we must live with the risk or abandon the project.
level of sales generating an annual income of £800,000.
nces of
this happening. However, a competitor might launch a competing application before its own ch

date and then sales might generate only £100,000 per year.
It estimates that there is a 30% chance of Using decision trees
in between these two extremes-it
this happening. The most likely outcome, it believes, is somewhere The approaches to risk analysis discussed previously rather assume that we are passive bystanders allowing
will gain a market lead by launching before any competing product becomes available and achieve
nature to take its own course -the best we can do is to reject over-risky projects or choose those with the best
an annual income of £650.000. BuyRight has therefore calculated its expected sales income as in
risk profile.There are many situations, however, where we can evaluate whether a risk is important and, if it
Table 2.6. is, decide a suitable course of action.
TABLE 2.6 BuyRight's income forecasts Such decisions will limit or affect future options and, at any point, it is important to be able to assess how a

decision will affect the future profitability of the project.

Sales Annual sales income (£) Probability Expected value () As an example, say a successful company is considering when to replace its sales order processing system.
The decision largely rests upon the rate at which its business expands - if its market share significantly
P ixp increases (which it believes will happen if rumours of competitor's
a
imminent bankruptcy are fulflled) the
High 800,000 0.1 80,000 existing system mightit could lead replaced
need to be
tolost
within two
if it
years. Not
replacing the system time could be
in
cope with increased sales. Replacing the system
cannot
an

Medium 650,000 0.6 expensive option as revenue

390,000 immediately will, however, be expensive as it will mean deferring other projects already scheduled.
Low 100,000 if the market
0.3 30,000 It is calculated that extending the existing system will have an NPV of £75,000, although
NPV of -£1 00,000 due to lost revenue. If the
Expected Income
500,000 expands significantly, this will be turned into a loss with an
able
has NPV of £250,000 due to the benefits of being to
market does expand, replacing the system now an
information. If sales do not increase,
Development costs are estimated at £750,000. Sales levels are handle increased sales and other benefits such as improved management
will suffer a loss with an NPV of-£50,000.
years. Annual costs of marketing and product maintenance expected however, the benefits will be severely reduced and the project
to be constant for at least
are estimated at
1ou
the market share. Would £200,000, irespective o at 20% and, hence, the
you advise going ahead with the project? The company estimate the likelihood of the market increasing significantly
be represented as a tree structure as shown in
probability that it will not increase at 80%. This scenario
can

This approach frequently

is used to evaluate Figure 2.2.
such as traffic volumes, and large projects such as the building of motorways, where vana benefit of taking each path from a decision
expected
the
hence the total benefit of
shorter journey
times, are he analysis of a decision tree consists of evaluating each possible
course, relies on being able to
assign uncertain. The techniqu Figure 2.2). The expected value of each path is the sum of the value of
research. probabilities
of occurrence to
each pOint (denoted by D in
occurrence. The expected value of extending the system
is therefore
scenario, which requires ext outcome multiplied by its probability of
and the expected value of replacing the system £10,000 (250,000
When used to evaluate a single major
project, the cost-benefit E40,000 (75,000 x 0.8- 100,000 x 0.2) therefore choose the option of extending the existing system.
positive outcomes of the different
scenarios, does not approach, by 'averaging out' the negau e and X0.2 50,000 x 0.8). The company should
take full account of Because
'worst-case scenarios. D
 Project Evaluation and Program1me Management 47
AManyement NPV(£)
46 Sotarr Proit
-100,000
Infrastructure programmes
Expansion
Organizations can have various departments which carry out distinct, relatively self-contained. activities. In
0.2 a local authority, one department might have responsibilities for the maintenance of highways, another for
refuse collection, and another for education. These distinct activities will probably require distinct databases
0.8
and information systems. In such a situation, the central ICT function would have responsibility for setingup
No expansion

75,000 and maintaining the ICT infrastructure. including the networks, workstations and servers upon which these
Extend distinct applications run. In these circumstances. an infrastructure programme could refer to the activites of
identifying a common ICT infrastructure and its implementation and maintenance.

250,000
Research and development programmes
Expansion
Truly innovative companies, especially those that are urying to develop new products AlanWebb(2001)
0.2
Replace for the market, are well aware that projects will vary in terms of their risk of failure When project manage
ment doesnt work
0.8 and the potential returns that they might eventually reap. Some development projects
Project Management
will be relatively safe, and result in the final planned product, but that product might Today May.
No expansion -50,000 not be radically diferent from existing ones on the market. Other projects might be
extremely risky, but the end result, if successful, could be a revolutionary technological breakthrough that
meets some pressing but previously unsatisfied need.

FsURE 2.2 A decision tree A successtul portfolio would need to be a mixture of 'safe projects with relatively low returns and some
riskier projects that might fail, but if successful would generate handsome profits which will offset the losses
on the failures.
2.7 Programme Management
will be an element of risk with
have been made
clear that there Innovative partnerships
It should now
real hnancial benefits, the precisee ssiz:
Fems pape appearec where projects produce
ate ntemetons single project. Even the start of the project. This makes Companies sometimes come together to work collaboratively on new technologies in a 'pre-competitive
be uncetain at
Jums of Proed of those benefts will often all ts projects to ensure that phase. Separate projects in different organizations need to be coordinated and this might be done as a
Meregemet Augus take a broad view of
1991
important for organizations to developments overall will genere: programme.
some projects may disappoint,
organizational
substantial benefits.

now examine how careful management of programms

2.8 Managing the Allocation of Resources within Programmes
We introduced project portfolios in Section 2.3. We will
that are managedia
of projects can provide benefits. D. C. Fems defined a programme as 'a group of projects We are now going to examine in more detail. programmes. where resources have to be shared between
were the projects to be managed independenth
a coordinaed way gain benefus
to that would not be possible concurent projects.
database
Typically, and1CTnetwork
an department has pools of particular types of expertise, such as software
Programmes can exist in different forms, as can be seen below. developers. designers
number of concurrent projects.
staff, and these
support be
might called upon to participate in a

In
Business cycle programmes these circumstances. programme managers will have
staff. These concerns
about the optimal The comparisons
concems

The collection of projects that an organization undertakes within a particular planning cycle has already ofspecialist
use be contrasted with those of
can based on G. Ress
project managers
(1996) Programme
be see Table 2.7.
Management
discussed under the topic of project portfolios. We have seen that many organizations have a fixed budget fr
ICT development. Decisions have to be made about which The project managers anre said to have an 'impersonal relationship' with resource Demystifed. Chapman
projects to implement within that budget w types because, essentially. they require, for example. a competent systems analyst
&Hal.
the accounting period, which often coincides with the financial
year. and who fills that role does not matter. The programme manager has a mumber of individual systems analysts
under his or her control whose deployment has to be planned.
Strategic programmes
Several projects together can implement a planned, at the stage of allocating resources. programme management will be involved.
When a project inis the
single strategy. For example, the merging of two
computer systems could require several projects each organizau Some activities Where project might have to be delayed until the requisite technical staf freed from work
are

could be treated as a distinct project but would be dealing

with a particular
application area. Eacn activi
coordinated as a programme.
on other projects. expensive technical staff areemployed full-time. then you would want to avoid them
 project
managers

Project Evaluation and Programme Management 49

Management
Softrware Pmject
versus
48 managers

At this point, athe

Project manager
ABLE 2.7
Programme

programne director ought to be appointed to provide initial leadership for the programme. To
needs champion who is in prominent position within the organization. This
be successful,
will
programme
the seriousness with which
a a

Programme manager
One pnoject
al a
time
signal the organization takes the programme.
WIith resource type
type
Many simultaneous pnojects mpersonal
relationshup
Programme brief
demand for resources
resoures
with skilled minimize
A programme brief is now produced which outlines the business case for the programme. It will have sections
Personal relationship Need to

utilization of resources
tend to be
dissimilar
setting out
maximize
Need to Projects

Projects tend to be
similar
which
Apreliminary vision statlement which describes the
described as 'preliminary' because this will later be elaborated
new capacity that the organization seeks -
it is
oI idleness, during they a
with long periods month"Si

short peniods of
intense activity
interspersed
work Is
eveniy Spread
i r o m m o n t h to
The benefts that the programme should create
they might be measured
-

including when they are likely to be generated and how

dVng economic when
the demand for aclivities can taba
lt is most iS e x e c u t e d ,
Cng paid.
control, when
a project fromg .Risks andissues
and s t a r t are prevented
9 on monitoring that specialist
AS will be seen in Chapter can mean .Estimated costs, timescales and effort
Delays n e e d s continually to moni ually
(Or sometimes
even less time)
than planned.
programme
management
the monitor
seen that
Hence, it can be
on to their
next project. Vision statement
and the use of resources.
progress of projects
The programme brief should give theThis
sponsors enough information to decide whether to request a more

2.9 Strategic Programme Management detailed

definition of the programme. stage would the
justify setting up of
manager with day-to-day responsibility for the programme would be appointed.
a small team. A programme
all contribute to a con
is where a portfolio of projects common
objective.
A differentTake,
form for example, a management
of programme business which carries out maintenance work for clients. A customd.
who
ers
The emplovee inconsistent. This group takes the vision
statement from the project brief and refines and expands it. It should describe in
detail the new capability that the programme will give the organization. If estimates for costs, performance
be found to be very variable
and
experience of the organization might who actually carry out the work and differem
enl and service levels cannot be provided, then there should at least be an indication of how they might be
different from the people
records the customer's requirements is to one emploves
Often a customer has to explain company measured; for example, one might be able to say that repeat business will be increased, even if the precise
the accounts.
again from the clerk who deals with other employee. A business objective might size of the increase cannot be provided.
a problem that has already been
discussed at length with some

to present a consistent and uniform

front to the client. This objective might require changes to a number od
different systems which until now have been largely self-contained. The work to reorganize each individual Blueprint
area could be treated as a separate project,
coordinated at a higher level as a programme. The achievement of the improved capability described in the vision statement can
only through changes
come

Recall that OGC is the

Ihese types of programme are most often needed by large organizations which to the structure and operations of the organization, These are detailed in the
blueprint. This should contain:
have a large and complicated organizational structure. Government departments Business models outlining the
Office of Govermment new processes required
Commercewhichwas are typical examples and it is not surprising that the OGC, the United Kingdom
formerly the Central Organizational structure -

including the numbers of staff required in the new systems and the skills they
Computing and government agency which was responsible (as the CCTA) for the introduction d will need
PRINCE2 project management standards, has directed its attention to guidelines lu
Telecommunications
Agency or CCTA.
The information systems, equipment and other, non-staff, resources that will be needed
effective programme management. The approach now described is based on the OGC
Data and information requirements
guidelines.
Costs, performance and service level requirements
2.10 Creating a Programme To return to the example of the organization which wants to present a consistent interface to its customers:
while this aspiration might be stated in the vision statement, the
way that it is to be achieved would have to
Programme mandate be stated in the blueprint. This might, for
example, suggest:
The OGC envisages that the
planning of a programme will be triggered by the creation of an The appointment of 'account managers' who could act as a point of contact for the client throughout
mandate. Ideally this should be a formal document agreed prograu their business transactions with the company.
The
describing: A
new services or
capabilities the programme should deliver common computer interface allowing the account manager to have access to all the information
How the organization will be relating to a particular client or job, regardless of the computer system from which it originates.
imprOved by use of the new services or
.How the programme fits
with corporate goals and any other initiativescapability
 51
when
the
expectedted benefits will be expei Project Evaluation and Programme Management
Pnoject Management
program
that a
akShOul.
estimate

is
50 Softvare

by
beneft
pfiles
which

capability.
One
principle

t h a t it
will be u s e d to delve
obtain the beneji Figure 2.3 shows a dependency diagram for a programme to merge two organizations,
the constituent parts

The blueprint is
Pported

of the
enhanced

does
guarantee
not
markefing
depart might be provig, of which are explained below.
in the
Systems study/design A project is carried out which examines the various existing IT applications
implementation

the

enced n
capability
above, customers m A
ccuratey
CC
g with a potential
provided
th are to
Being P to target two old organizations, analyses their functionality, and makes recommendations about how they
programme

benefits. Being of the them Just because is

tangible

and
example,
ordemographic
as a part
information
which

to
allows

advertising
costs.
fiowever,

make
efective use of it. Hen formtheatinestug
c o n e the
be combined.
Corporate image design Independently of Project A, this project is designinghe
revenue

vith sales necessarily

of sales to be carefully B
This should improve the
improve
ratio
marketing
staffwill benents
needs
the corporate image for the new organization. This would include design of the
There will be interde
that the of the organize and pendencies betweennc

able
does

for evidence of
actual
not
business
mean
benetits.

customers
The timing
might
take

months
to
i m e to plan
Decome
and

apparent. beneits new logo to be put on company documents. and D that will need to
be managed.
that target
particular
could take
some

to be. C Build commonsystems Once Project A has been completed, work can be
marketing cam

Increased
ampaigns
sales and/or
lower
advertising
costs

programme
torward
would
also need
planned ; triggered on the construction of the new common ICT applications.
this
needed to drive
structure
ne management
objectives
will ated with estimatet
be created with

organized. the programme

needed to
achieve
to the
programme
sponsors.
B Corporate GImplement
list of the projects Corporate
A preliminary will be presented image design
will be affected by
portfolio the interface
timescales. This whose work
programme

some of those s t a k e h o l d e r map idens:

A major risk
is that effectively.
A

Communication plans drawn into

the programme outcomes and their
not be and its
will interest in the
project
communicationsst
in m o r e
are considered of people with an
write a C Build
used to A System F Data
This can be
detail in Chapter 12. groups
could be drawn up. can be set up and maintaino ned.
Common
migration
interests
between
stakeholders study/design system
information flows
how the appropriate
plan showing not usually possible to plan all all athe
planning, it is
1 that with conventional project the detailed plans will notk
We noted back in Chapter the information
neded to produce
the outset, as much of initial programme planning stage,
a preliminan D Relocate E Training
phases of a project at However, at the offices
available. This is more so
with programmes.

plan can be produced containing:

The project portfolio FiGURE 2.3 An example of a dependency diagram
.Cost estimates for each project
the appropriate benefits profile) D Relocate offices This is the project that plans and carries out the physical co-location of the staff in the
The benefits expected (including
two former organizations. In this scenario, this has to wait until the completion of Project A
because that
.Risks identified project has examined how the two sets of applications for the previous organizations could be brought
The needed to manage, support and monitor the programme the departmental structure of the merged organization.
resources
together, and this has repercussions on new
tik
enables higher management to put in place E Training Once staff have been brought together, perhaps with some staff being made redundant, training
This information allows a financial plan to be created. This
in time. These will be tied to points in t
budget arrangements to meet the expected costs
at identified points in the use of the new systems can begin.
further expenditure.
programme when higher management review progress and authorize F Data migration When the new, joint, applications have been developed and staff have been trained
in

their use, data can be migrated from existing databases to the new consolidated database.

2.11 Aids toProgramme Management G Implement corporate interface Before the new applications can 'go ive', the interfaces, including
the
documentation generated for external customers, must be modified to conform to the new company
Dependency diagrams image.
There will often be physical and technical dependencies between elocat
projects. For example, a project o Delivery planning
staff from one building to another cannot start until the project to construct the new building na ber
completed. Dependency diagrams, which are very similar to activity networks at sho The creation of a delivery dependency diagram would typically lead to the definition of tranches of projects.
these dependencies. However, where projects run
level, project can in a
A tranche is a group of projects that will deliver their products as one step in the programme. The projects
ge, IR
concurrently in a programme and products
dependency diagrams could become quite complicated. intercnaug the client. A consideration
tranche should combine to provide a coherent new capability or set of benefits for
a tranche will be the need to avoid
contention for scarce resources.
inscheduling
 52 m Proect Maugmn whuek
r
bemetine to
eirvers se tanpibie Tarcre
arce aerent aormss cd prramme
manapemeat ma e prprae sor e r pes d TJe
2.13 Benefits Managemen
Prye&

capaci » E iei w denae

piamed teeits Businesses hze eme Z
LssunesE Z i t

OS TES

To do 1OU DE
Beet DeEe te eagecei
Beefi beneits iom emzE
Aayse te bunce bezween cOSTS zmd beneis
.Pan bon he beaefslechieved ad ezsei
deiecoes
rorcre i rijec Ascae resgousibs ir se saccessinl
Foe 24 Dervering vey afe benefs
Iai E 2ed by he wrir o o r he raizzicn of e benes
At t s pat. pianeing af ndevdai prrjeczs
the
unsiE
can e

proyect brifi deining he w e nd cojetivei of each r i e Benes c a be of many diferen ypes. acinng
Mzrdaorg complice Govememla Eropean egisianioe
2.12 Some Reservations about Programme Manogement gucliry sernice n msarance company. for eapeig w
Dake a n hnes m i r
Dsedias by casamS D e
Se wTs n proje managemen enressei e e a i s i
have
TE
w he see he ideas i qicikcy
ta e te o e we heve descibed aie Prouctivi The same. or evaore sork can be doee t les cOt i e
prrgrme maragmen being preaned
t is argei praies
iocas on struture -ir eungje. »to rprs o wtom-a e apense i prcess -`or exzanpe. te ba More sÉvAd nork force Tis i i be becanse of
wtich deisins ae maie ergemEt or job eerichme
govai errds syen r
u job
The main cme is tha he prgrme may te sen a sne kindoi wupa-ge. This conld kad Fnserral maazemerz benefis (far mscance. bener decisioe
u a c e enampie
mzkng To ike
proiierns hiru tha prrggnme matageea may eert an unecesar E i v r te subordinete proyerr 2
again bener analysis of msarnce ciaims coud pinpaim
those catagories of business i h a DOSt
arCeT
kang to b a c a s t r U t i n . The esnd is han rrgmet iod be seen as the mens by w isky ni loa a r n
the hectves d the b E s a oaE Ain t e kene i prriea Te usiness ewronmE. Compesy to adjust premms to cower tis
chanzng and a:
1

unsanly a uneenKz prrgmes eei u esive nd te mäiei during the ooursE .Risk reduction The imsarance esampie migt also be
applicabie hee bu easres o proaT a g
thet Hte uagra
ciean. 1te i e peimate t e a c piansing & the beginning plus areie zation's networks and databases fm inrusion ni eueal miios a k ocid be
evea o r e
nce
to chng te wspd lead proame na
iateiilry n pertineat
As we have v in the r i he u a Economy The reduction of costs, oder than those related to saff-
prE
very dsfferes fron nE E I Also, s E FVEae
e. te projezs hin a programme in place which encourage the consoidarion of procarenen poläcis mihep
ir erarpie wieze agineering In=g purchasing in orier to tzke aivancage of buk-buyng a
ngrast- may ed o E guite tigrty discoun
vsrdina wteras s e
prgames Uuid afford a more
.Revenue enhancemeu/accelerazion The soocer bills reach castomers, the sooner
thEy can pay them
.Stratezic fir A change might not directly beneit a particular goup within the organizice bet has to be
made in order to obrzi some surategic advantage for the
organization s a rhole.
 and Programme Management 55
Project Evaluation
henetits ae olten inter-linke
haare PrNt AMarmRS*7
claims An
54
setUlng or damage Beonomic ussessment involves the identification of all costs and income over the lifetime of the system,
of these tN* Oi i "taciimV NeTeOWnen

Cmedial ork. This improved quality or

ot its development and operation and checking that the total value of benefits exceeds total
k heve more
than one

which
ntrnluvda

reduced cost
incuding
R

tN an
insiranr
company contractor,
he expenditure.
a m p k of thix ntractoN
o epuable
and i
d i r e t l i amanged f of serVices,
.Money received in the future is worth less than the same amount of money in hand now, which may be
r y T N they rouhic o hase r
them l k purh the
and the cnc
as saved te
stat invested to earn interest.
R
t vustomen thev could takeadNantage cOmpanysi
becaune
the insuranee The uncertainty surrounding estimates of future returns lowers their real value measured now.
mpany generated betueen
of the gooxduill
U N

Discounted cash flow techniques may be used to evaluate the present value of future cash flows taking
account of interest rates and
Quantihying benefits uncertainty.
e have alreadi sen that henehts can e

tinancial
bencfit is
eNpeneneeu Cost-benefit analysis techniques and decision trees provide tools for evaluating expected outcomes and
choosing between alternative strategies.
direci
- that
customer Complaints
is, a
aantithed and valued number
ol

deerease in the
a t i h e d
hut neN valued
- for exampic. a aPproval O
n e o r g a n i z a t i o n in the
locality
quantihed tor crample. publie
cicetahed at not eas1ly
wherr it is b a s e
incteAscd
sales m e a n that more money
might mean
s a l e s mignt
Further Exercisees
For eiampie.
might also have disbenefits.
has to b
aaTNi
ka
nent on expenstVe OVertime working
1. Identify the major risks that could affect the success of the Brightmouth College payroll project and try
to rank them in order of
w ill lead to he particular b e n e i t s claimed for i , for importance.
uhether a business change
tests have been suggested in order to Explain why discounted cash flow techniques provide better criteria for project selection than net profit
over
The an e controversy to 2.
stafi morale. Some key
Canipk thal logo will improve
a neu company or return on investment.
und ou whether a putative henent is likely to be genuine
this business change? 3. An insurance company has examined the
vou in precise termms uhy this benefit should result
Irom
way that it settles house insurance claims. It decides to
an expiain introduce a new computer-based claims settlement
which will be able to see the consequences of this benefit? system which will reduce the time taken to settle
Can identty the ways in we
claims. This reduction in effort is
partly achieved by enabling the claims clerk to obtain the infor-
. vou

be attr1buted directly to tne change, or could other factors

t the do can they mation needed directly, rather than
required outcomes occur.
having to go through other departments. Also, as part of the new
expiain hem process, new repair work will be allocated by the insurance
company to authorized builders, decorators,
h e r e anv w ay in which the beneits can de neasurea, plumbers etc., rather than the claimant having to make arrangementsto get estimates, and so on.
(a) Explain the possible benefits and disbenefits that might be
we mentioned
Specatic staf have
carlier the need for benefit
benefits will be experienced.
profiles that estumate when and how
to be allocaied responsibility for ensuring that the planned benefits actually materialize. that the benefits could come under the generated by this application. Note
following headings:
hesc wll ofter. he business change managers. Mandatory compliance
Quality of service
Benethts cannot normally be monitored in a purely project environment because the project will almost

ceraunly have been officially closed before the benefits start to filter through. Productivity
More motivated work force
in our
viru, henefits management brings to the fore the powerful idea that developers and users are jontly Internal management benefits
responsibic for ensuring the delivery of the benents of projects. Risk reduction
Economy
Revenue enhancement/acceleration
Conclusion Strategic fit
How could the actual benefit be assessed in each
Sme ol Lhe key poiis in this chapler are:
case?
(b) When the application is implemented, some of the claims staff at the insurance
.Projects must bc evalualed on straicgic, technical and economic company
.Many projects grounds. complain about the additional stress of dealing with irate customers
are not
justifiable on their own. but are as people being slow to do repair work or about poor quality grumbling about trades-
mpiement organizaion strategy
an part of a broader programme of at workmanship. Also, in some places
s
projecs ue there are shortages of qualified
repair people leading to delays in getting work done.
. Not all benefits can be
precisely quantiied in financial Which projected benefits are being affected
values. by these developments?
How would you deal with these
problems?
How would you assess your success in
dealing with these problems?
56 Sure Project Manggemen MOll
sorrware
shelf at £50,000
off-thes
Project E r a t i a i Frogramme Managem 57
buying
ofeither of£S000 to develop
re. Perfo.000
sOrtware.
tne Perform cost.
Colege
College
has op has thea opion
egarding ny factor that
any
(u)Suppose a software development company has undertaken project thai is expead
a o cos
Suppose Brightmouth
ha 60.000 to execute.and the expected infow is £25,000 per quarter for the irst year. £30.000 per
aSUmpaons

mons
tor SIx make
suitable
o r employing a progTammer
can
for the tuo opions. You quarter thereafter. What is the payback period for the project?
beneht analysis

been mentioned in
this problem statene Is o m l .
dElcet
option.
ne appropriate .

(a) 18 months
x
etactly one option
pottfolio
O n o manager
)19 months
the following
questions, a pujere (c) 24 months
O not a
ncem
or
(d 25 months
following is npically (vii) What would be the impact of an increase
which one
of the of the discount rate on the IRR ofa projat?
(a) Dependency among projecs (a) IRR would increase b) IRR would deess
pryeTs
(b) Duplication of work among ()IRR would be unaffected
control projecs
(d)IRR may increass o deeas
(c) Monitoring and of (ix) When the IRR is equal to the discount rate. what can be ssid about the NP\?
(d) Prioritization of projects for allocano
resoure
alio of
defines aproject portolho
of a sottware development o r g a r
software development organization? (a)It would be positive
() Which one of the following hest b) It would be equal to zero
organization.
carmied out within an
(a) All projects that are being
out by the organization
for a speciñe customer. (c)It would be negative
(o) All projects being
camied
year (d) It cannot be detemined without
(C) All that have been started in the
projects
same financial
knowing the exat disunt rate
Answer the following two
range of products and
offered by the organization.
services questions (x) and (xi) using the following infomation. A
(d) A
(i) Consider that the cost for a project has been estimated to be £l00,000. This amount needs to be conducting the feasibility study of a project. The software has to be mpany is
has to be
deployed at the customer site fre of charge. HOwever, ther given tre to the atomer and also
invested upfront. The project duration is expected to be I year and the contracted sale value a 5 years and the cash flow ia a aintenane N r N tOr
that will acenae in this
the project outcome is £1 20.0o. The bank interest rate is 10 percent. What is the internal rate of development is shovn regand has been shown in the
following. I e ost o
return (IRR) of the project"
as a
negative cash aceual.
Year
(a) 17.3 percent (b) 18.2 percent
Cash Flow
(C) 19.1 percent (d) 20.8 percent t100.000
(Iv) Suppose the feasibility study of a software project shows that the project would cost £150,000 to 0000
complete and the expected profit per year atter project completion is £15,000, What t0000
annual return on investment (ROT) 1f the would be the
project is undertake? 40,0000
(a) percent
(b) 10 pereent SO000
) 15 percent
(d) 20 perent
(v)Which one of the following linancial () What is the paytaek
ofwhich the total costs incurred parameters for a project indieates the tinne perioi ot the pmNNad pmjot
wonld exactly
cqual the acernued benetits? period at the
e (a) 3yeas
(a) Return on investment
(RO)
(c) Internal rate of
th) Payback period (4. yeas
return (IRR) td) Net (Ni) What is the net
prosent value
(vi) Which one of the present value (NPV) vt the
pmpsnd pmnjt
following in tnue
reyarding
NPV (Net Present (a) 82,823
it the diauant rate ts 10 vnrnt
(a) NPV
assumes
comnputalion of the Value)?
(b) NPV assunen present value t the cosl
of ti7,8N7
conputaton of tlhe present vulue
investnent optum
cupitul (ii) Which one nt ihe
ue
using the vate
ing rute of return
retlurn from the best avallkane tullw ing is nu true mgandinne Rol (Retum Nn
(c) NPV Hsumes
coniputathon o the
ves a) lt cnunputes tdhe disounted net
inmme thn an
lmestnent
(d) NP'V assues present value (h) lt cmnputes the net ineme anvestwnt at a ginen
using he paunt n tinw
from year to coputaton of the prevallng rate l inteie or unit of imestnem.
prenent value
year
wning
uNng the rnte
ute of nteret that
lntereat tut may
wlquantities the tmal utit auvruine tmm an umestuonn
y prev ) ltcnputes the time p*iund at the emd af
whi h
the diNnad nue
onquals the unvestent
 An Overview of Project Planning 59

An Overview of In contrast, the traditional project planning approach discussed in many other text books, and practised in
many industries allows considerable flexibility in the steps to be carried out, and the manner in which they
A are carried Out. Howeve, it should be clearly understood that all our discussions in the subsequent chapters

3 Project Planning
can be used in a traditional project management situation without any loss of generality.

In order to illustrate the Step Wise approach and how it might have to be adapted to deal with different circum-
stances, two parallel examples are used. Let us assume that there are two former Computing and Information
Systems students who now have several years of software development experience under their belts.

Case
Example A: A Brightmouth College Payroll
Study
Brigette has been working for the Management Services department of a local authority when she
sees an advertisement for the position of Information Systems Development Officer at Brightmouth
College. She is attracted to the idea of being her own boss, working in a relatively small organization
and helping them to set up appropriate information systems from scratch. She applies for the job and
gets it. One of the first tasks that confronts her is the implementation of independent payroll processing.
(This scenario has already been used as the basis of some examples in Chapter 1)
Learning Objectives
manner
Approach project planning organized step-by-step
in an
fit into an overall planning approach
S e e where the techniques described in other chapters
Repeat the planning process in more detail for sets of activities within a project the time comes
as Case Example B: Internationol Office Equipment Annual
to execute them
Study Maintenance Contrachs

Amanda works for International Office Equipment (1OE), which assembles, supplies, installs and
3.1 Introduction to Step Wise Project Planning services various items of high-technology office equipment. An expanding area of their work is the
maintenance of ICT equipment. They have now started to undertake maintenance of equipment of
This chapter describes a framework of basic steps in project planning upon which the following chapters which they were not the original suppliers. An existing application built by the in-house ICT department
build. Many different techniques can be used in project
planning and this chapter gives an overview of the allows sales
staffto input and generate invoices for completed work. A large organization might have
points at which these techniques can be applied during project planning. Chapter 4 will illustrate how different to call out 1OE several times during a month to deal with problems with equipment. Each month
projects may need different technical approaches, but the overall framework should always a batch run of the system generates monthly statements for customers so that only one payment a
planning process.
apply to the
month needs to be made. The management of IOE would like to provide a service where for a single
The OGC was The framework described is called the
Step Wise method to help to distinguish it from annual payment customers would get free servicing and problem resolution for a pre-specified set of
previously the other methods such as PRINCE2. PRINCE2 is equipment. Amanda has been given her first project management role, the task of implementing this
a set of
project management
sponsored by what is now the Office of Government standards
CCTA (Central that were originally extension to the 1OE maintenance jobs billing system.
Computing and (OGC) for use on British government ICT and business Commere
Telecommunications The enhanced application will need a means of recording the details of the items of equipment to be
Agency). are now also
widely used on non-government change projects. The standaru covered by a customer's annual maintenance contract. The annual fee will depend on the numbers of
Wise should be projects in the United Kingdom. sey
compatible with PRINCE2. It should be noted, however, that oi?
each type of equipment item that is to be covered. Even though the jobs done under this contract will
Wise covers only the
planning stages of a project and not not be charged for, the work will be recorded to allow for an analysis of costs and the profitability of
monitoring and contro each customer and each type of equipment. This wil provide information which will allow 1OE to set
It should be clearly
Appendix A adds understood that the
some further details aims to introduce the Step Wise method discussed in apter future contract prices at an optimally profitable level. At the moment, job details are only recorded
about the PRINCE2 standardization of the project this Cna
approach. by PRINCE. PRINCE stands for planning method brought a afterjob completion so that invoices can be generated. The new system will allow a central coordinator
- is in the
public domain, and offersPRojects IN Controlled Environments. CE2 to allocate jobs to engineers and the system to notify engineers of urgent jobs automatically via their

management. It is a de non-proprietary
jacto standard used best practice guidance o Pt oject mobile phones.
extensively in UK and also internano
 60 Sotawre Projet Manayement
might
be
lAKCn
to
planning

"Tdentity
these
project s
Scope
projects.
nd Figureobjectiv An Overview of Project Planning 61
that

ll needecitoves
2
Sleps 5 and
appnach and
I
general Steps cases.

In Table 3.1 we outline the ativ

ities.
m
sonme
TABLE 3.1 An outline of Step Wise planning activities
an outline of the
main planning

be
tackled in
parallel
e
provides infrastructure' could
and "ldentify project Aetivities within step
in the proyect.
repeated tor each activity Select project
0.Select project Tdentify project scope and objectives
1.1Identify objectives and measures of effectiveness in meeting them
1.2 Establish a project authority
1.3 ldentify stakeholders
2. Identify project
14 Modify objectives in the light of stakeholder analysis
ldentity project infrastructure
SCope and 1.5 Establish methods of communication with all parties
objectives 2 Identify project infrastructure
2.1 Establish
relationship between project and strategic planning
3. Analyse project 2.2 Identify installation standards and
characteristics
procedures
2.3 Identify project team
organization
Analyse project characteristics
3.1 Distinguish the
4. Identify the project as either objective- or product-driven
products and 3.2 Analyse other project characteristics
activities 3.3 Identify high-level project risks
Review
3.4 Take into account user requirements concerning implementation
3.5 Select general life-cycle approach
5. Estimate effort 3.6 Review overall resource estimates
for each activity
Lower or Identify project products and activities
each 4.1 Identify and describe
level
project products (including quality criteria)
detail activity 4.2 Document generic product filows
6. Identify activity
risks
4.3 Recognize product instances
4.4 Produce ideal activity network
4.5 Modify ideal to take into account need for stages and checkpoints
10. Lower-level 7.Allocate Estimate effort for each activity
planning resources 5.1 Carry out bottom-up estimates
5.2 Revise plan to create controllable activities

9. Execute plan 8. Review/ Identify activity risks

6.1 Identfy and quantify activity-based risks
publicize plan
6.2 Plan risk reduction and contingency measures where
*************** *****
appropriate
6.3 Adjust plans and estimates to take account of risks

FiGURE 3.1 An overview of Allocate resources

A
Step Wise 7.1 Identify and allocate resources
major principle of project planning is to plan in outline first
and then in more detail as the time to 7.2 Revise plans and estimates to take account of resource constraints
an activity approaches. Hence the lists of products and cay
when the tasks connected with a activities that are the result of 4 will be revic Review/publicize plan
paricular phase of Step
followed by a more detailed iteration of a
project are considered in more detail. This vill be 8.1 Review quality aspects of project plan
Sieps 5 to 8 for the phase under w 8.2 Document plans and obtain agreement
consideration.
3.2 Step 0: Select Project 9/10 Execute plan/lower levels of planning

This is called Step 0 because in a This may require thereiteration ofthe planning process at alowerlevel
way 1t 1smust decide tomain
not appear out of thin air - some prOCess Oulside the initiate this project rather than some
project posed
otnprojec do
planning process. Propos
pro Whilea
 it wo
ther projects. This

A i s i n
i i h i 1 h isiigssi et pnttolio niRigement. evuhu An Ooerview of Project Planning 63

s e eti
d Objective
ProjectScope and
Exercise 3.1
re Whal imporlant slakeholders outside the
O ea
1OE organization might be umsidered in the
3.3 Step 1: Identify correct m ofo
definition of objectives annual 1ainlenancc contracts
systei
case oi the lOE
Otmce ofthe
snsurr
that all th Nitts
he a t i e s in this step
hae.airaiis iit
e suiemof the
projr
fectiveness in meeting Case
o

objectives and
practical
measures

Study Exomples: Project Authorifies

Step 1.1: dentihy
those objectives Amanda finds that her
manager and the main user
set up a Project Board which will have overall management have already
ProjectObjecives direction of the project. She is a Throughout the text we
Case little concerned as the equipment maintenance staff are UsE capltelized inital

sections dealing with different types of equipment. Thisorganized with different

that a customer
letters to indicate a

Study could have work done by several different sections. Not allmeans term that has a pre-
CIse meaning in
already been discueo
sed in sented the
the sections are
repre- the
project
nave on Project Board and Amanda is aware that there are some PRINCE2 standards
College payroll of opinion between some sections. It is left to the differences e.g. Project Board.
for the Brightmouth
ne projeet objectives
board to resolve those differences and to
user
representatives on the
Exercise 1.8. mmendations of
recomnendatons of aa business case present an agreed policy to the systems developers.
in the
laid down for her are to allow: Brigette finds that effectively she has two different clients for the
has the objectives clearly The main objectives
Amanda at JOE

by JOE management. human resources departments. To help resolve payroll system: the finance ana
report which
have been accepted conflicts, it is agreed that the managers of both depart-
to berecordea, ments should attend a monthly
maintenance contracts meeting with the vice-principal which Brigette has
d e t a i l s of annual
contracts to be
recorded; steer the project. arranged in order to
d e t a i l s of maintenance
work covered by these
m a i n t e n a n c e contract fees may he
be
level ot
out so that the optimal
be carried
analysis otf costs to

Identified:
via mobile phones.
recording of job requests
and notification of jobs to engineers Step 1.4: Modify objectives in the light of stakeholder analysis
timescales and the resources that might be used. In order
Other objectives are laid down that refer to expected to gain the full cooperation of all concerned, it might be
necessary to modify Compare this
the project objectives. This could mean adding new features to the with the
a benefit to some stakeholders as a means of system which give Theory W of
Boehm
assuring their
commitment to the and Ros mentioned in
This is potentially dangerous as the system size may be increased and the project. Chapter 1.
Step 1.2: Establish a project authority objectives obscured. Because of these dangers, it is suggested that this original
be
done process
be established so that there consCiously and in a controlled manner.
We have already noted in Chapter that a single overall
I project authority needs to

is unity of purpose among all those concerned.

Case
Step 1.3: Stakeholder analysis identify all stakeholders
-

in the project and ther Examples: Modified Project Obiectives

interests Study
Recall that this the basis of a discussion in
was
Chapter 1. Essentially all the parties who have an interest The IOE maintenance staff are be
the project need to be identified. In that chapter we listed as an
to given the extra ask of entering data about completed jobs. As no
example the stakeholders in the Brignun Customer charges are generated by visits under annual maintenance contracts,
College payroll project. engineers may feel that
Completing cost details is unnecessary bureaucracy, and start to do this in a careless and inaccurate
manner. To give some benefit to the engineers, the system is to be extended to reorder
spare parts
automatically when required. It will also automatically capture timesheet details which previously had
to be
completed by hand.
 65
work peatung pay
preVar.
An Orerview of Project Planning
oftoNere
Prowvt Manaymw has a
hu
o
Wok

n o m a t o n
ep
pts detailh
lor human
64
deyartmm
nt managenent
needs.
PNInYs
ewunYs dku wme
Just one nendule in an ERP «ystem which would cover all the college's financial processing
human
no machine set
Although the college has quite a lot of ICT equipment for teaching purposes, there is
the pmxfinY
Bnghtmouth
Colkege,
agr
At t a t f u l to will be acquired
t woukd
hehd m
the i e
aside lor payroll prewesung and the intention is that the hardware to run the payroll
Tor fhnance ktals

the pMTll at the sanne time as the software

t r v n
rties
communicahon
leader inpleniennginstae
a
payroll sv
1.5: Estoblish
methods of pt
i e e

for
stance.
yN
This ste
Shep straighttorwari.
ut a
C einng
>enenme ),. Step 2.2: ldentify installation standards and procedures
Automatod see Chapter112.
u t these.
te fartv
shNud abou
staff this
(Bankern

with
BACS rad
r *

Any organi/aliun that develops software should define their development procedures. See discussion of the
intemal point to
plaM ISO/NEC 12207 stan
Asa minimum, the nornal stages in the software life cycle to be carried out should be
vwntat

neet to find a aThons

wukd
(OmmunK dard in Chapter 1
tirvt draft of
a
ONkd kad to the documented along with the products created at cach stage
Infrastructure
Project intraästructue

into Change control and configuration management standards should be in place to ensure
Step 2: ldentihy
exiStng
3.4 usually
some kind ot hnd out the
pren:Wi
that changes to requirements are implemented in a safe and orderly way
is nmust
There they
vacuum.
outside oro
organizathon.
out in a the
P rr
a
ever
camed

Where project
man gers
are new
to

the projat
manaer
workS or an
organizatio The procedural standards may lay down the quality checks that need to be done a t S e e Chapter 9 on
the pro
jet
must
h could be the case
where
each point of the project life cvcle or these may be documented in a separate quality monitoring and control.
intrastrature.
This
ths
standards and procedures manual.
work for ch1ent.
and strategic planning
a
camyang Nt the

between the project The organization, as part of its monitoring and control policy. may have a measurement prog ramme in place
Step 2.1: ldentily relationship management
supported the selees which dictates that certain statistics have to be collected at various stages of a project.
porfolho
how project manaoe
Chapter 2 programme will relate
how emen Finally the project manager should be aware of any project planning and control standards. These
AISo,
We saw in
organization.
8 y e r anc R Gottie
be camied out by an
organizational strata on individual
2004 he Faur the projects to contnbute to a common
strategy to how the project is controlled: for example, the way that the hours spent by team members
Oomain Aohitectue can ensure
that a group of projects the proposed new svsten
tramework
within which tasks are recorded on timesheets.
that vario
an approach k Suppor technical
There is also a are needed so
enterprse
architecture
standards, for example,
to fit. Hardware and
sofware
oesign SM Systems technical strategic decisions should
each other. Ihese
o u m a 433 S87 9 7 communicate with
systems can architecture process. Compliance with the
provides a JOOC intro
be documented as part of an enierprise Case
successive ICT projects create software and
duction to enterprse
should ensure hat Examples: Identifying Standards
enterprise architecture
architecture concepis
other components compatible
those created by previous projects
with
and also i
Study
the exist1ng hardware and software platforms.

Amanda at 10E finds that there is a very weighty volume of development standards which, among other
things. specifies that a specific structured systems analysis and design method be used. She finds that
Case a separate document has been prepared which lays down quality procedures. This specifies when the
Examples: Role of Exishing Strategic Plans reviews of work will be caried out and describes detailed procedures governing how the reviews are to
Study be done. Amanda also finds a set of project management guidelines modelled on PRINCE2.

Enterprise Resourae
Plenning (ERP) sys
tems are integrat
software applica
USually acquired as of
the-shelf packagesi
require considerable Bngette at Brighumouth College finds that there is an overall College straeg
customization. They mplan
tegrate all the standard
financialand trading in passing
applications common
to most bUsinesses.
Brigette finds no documents of the nature that Amanda found at 1OE except for some handouts for
Amanda finds at 1OE that there is a well-defined rolling strategic plan whichhas
students that have been produced by different lecturers at different times and which seem to contradict
dentihed her annual maintenance contracts subsystem as an important requireo
each other.
developmeni Because it is an extension of an existing system, the hardwareand
sorware platt orms upon which the application are to run are dictated. As a stop-gap measure, Brigette writes a brief document which states what the main stages of a 'project'
(perhaps job for the user would be a better term in this context) should be. This happens to be very
similar to the list given in Chapter 1. She stresses that
which describes new courses to be developed, and so on, and
be need for "appropriate administrative procedures' to be menue
no job of work to change a system or implement a new one is to be done without there being a
There isaecommendation in in pl detailed specification first;
of financial
a consultant's report
concerning implica the the users must record agreement to each specification in writing before the work is carried out.
autonomy that independent payroll processing be implemen as
 66 Sotare Project Mamagemett TqUinments.

hanges
T
An Overview of Project Planning 67
that ea
all
perso in t 3.1:
Step
dictales

for
rarding
bit
sthe

their work
when
finish a major
they Distinguish the project as either objective- or
product-driven
CprNWure

She draws up a praiuns,

gualtn
someone othe This has
Bngette. of course.
has no onganizational

get
clse to'i
soneone
orer
to t h e
users,

found in sy stem
than the already been discussed in the first
chapter. As development of a system advances it tends to become
product-driven, although
harnded
has toameniisottuare more
TOup (inctuding
herel)

neu endead st
is

temi testin
ms with Ooperational systems.
the
underlying objectives always remain and must be respected.
task and that. before any a simyo

developer should
test it. She
sets up

her collar
Step 3.2: Analyse other project characteristics
onginal
and
their resolution. She also
a log
nle ot ry
sreates
intommal
meeting with
meeing
with her colleagues
each For example, is an information
(indluding quality-based ones
an
to ssee
hut arangesalso amanges to e e ithe vIce-principal, who i
system to be developed or a process control
abut
timesheets

and e a c h month o
i s of both? Will the system be system. or will there be elements
Om going
are
Sccuons

review safety critical. where human life could be threatened

discuss hou thing by a malfunction?
resOurecs

to human
Monday morning finance and

her ofticial boss. and the heads the

of Step 3.3: Identify high-level project risks
progress in general terms
Consideration must be givento the risks that
threaten the successful outcome of the
speaking, most risks can be attributed to the project. Generally
the project or the type of product operational or
development environment. he technical nature of
team organizahon being created.
Step 2.3: Identify project some C
have some
cts. might have
projècts. might
control ov
case of large

Project leaders. especially in the anized. Often.

Often. though.
though, the organizatio
oro

ome of these ssues

team is to
be organized. Case
wil be disUssed
in the way that their projet à nign-evel managerial dee
to them. For
example.
r wONng Structure will be dictated
develpers
and business analysts
be i Study Examples: High-Level Risks
have been taken that softw are
teams
mught web applice
different groups. or that the
development
or
business-to-COnsumer

plications
database applications.
responsible for
'"traditional
that We have already noted that
4ll be done within a separate group
from Amanda has raised concerns about the
team organization then this would hestL.b motivation to complete with due care and attention possibility that engineers lack the
the cost details for jobs done under annual
control over the project
the projet leader does have some
Another risk relates to the software contracts.
considered at a later stage (see Step 7: Allocate resources). functionality which will produce cost analysis reports used for the
future pricing of annual contracts. If the
analysis is incorrect 1OE could suffer
analysis functionality will be produced using an iterativefinancially. where an
decides therefore that the Amanda
IOE marketing analyst will look at
versions of the reports approach
Case methods of calculation and produced and suggest improvements to the
presentation before the system is fînally made operational.
Study Brigette at Brightmouth College considers the application area to be
however, that there may be no package on the market very well defined. There is a risk.
that caters for the way that
moment. Brigette, therefore, decides that an things are done at the
At lOE. there early task in the project is to obtain information about the
ments. Hence the
are groups of business analy sts set up as teams which deal with individual user depar features of the main
payroll packages that are available.
know whom they should contact within the information systems
users always
department if they have a problem. Software developers, however. work in a 'pool' and are allocated to
specific projects on an ad hoc basis
Step 3.4: Take into account user requirements concerning
At Brightmouth
College. a software developer has been seconded to implementation
supporting the computing courses in the college. She is also allowedBrigette
from the technicians The clients may have their
to recruit a trainee analysu use of a
procedural requirements.
own For example. an
organization might mandate the
programmer. She is not unduly Wormied about the organizational structure particular development method.
needed.
Step 3.5: Select development methodology and life-cycle approach
3.5 Step 3: Analyse Project Characteistics The development methodology project and
cycle life be used
for the project will be influenced
to
by the
issues raised above. The idea of a
methodology. that is, the group of methods to be used in a project, was
Chapter 4 elaborates The general purpose of this part of the discussed in Chapter1. For many software developers, the choice of methods
will seem obvious: they will
on the proCess of
priate methods are used for the planning operation is to ensure that the ap use the that they have always used in the past. In
ones
Chapter 4 we recommend caution in assuming that the
analysing project
charactenstics
project. current project is really similar to
previous ones.
 or s t r u c t u r i n g

rojects, suc
n

68 Softvare Project Management generie

wilys

there
are
+, that
need to be considere
te An Overview of Project Planning 69
used. Chapter
methods to be m
be.
problems to
solved, this
outlined
as the
Chapter 4 discusses
AS Well
waterfall
ife cycle ne
1denlityng
lite cycles in more the use
ofthe
sWhile the setting of objectives
ivolves

tnese
probiems
are to

detail out the ways

in
wnich

used in the
probleved,
Project
products
working typrcally
is methods
part of planning into the has to be conductedi
research
stionnaire survey L
the planner.
some
project that is novel to
or a prd
se move would be to look at one or tw
part System Module
worthwhile. For example. sometimes.
in
as

such surveys
lnd*
products products
Management
the techniques used products
re lots ot books on

them at the planning stage.

estimates
Module Module
3.6: Review
overall resource

design
Progress*
Chapter5 goes into Step the broad project code report
more detail on this top identified and
been discountS
risks have been to r e - e s t i m a t e the effort
ic. Function points are Once the major at which and other
would be a good point
Where enough information
this is Overall
an
attempt to measure decided upon. available Tested
e

implement the
project. Integration
System size without

using lines of code.

resources required to
be appropriate.
specification test cases integrated
an estimate based on function points might Software

Products and Activihes FicURE 3.2 A

fragment of a Product Breakdown Structure for a
J.6 Step 4: ldentify Project indicates thatfurther progress system
reports can be added during the course development task
of the
now takes place. The longer-term planning is htooad project.)
of the individual activities
The more detailed planning
and in outline. while the more immediate tasks are planned in some detail.
might be a modified version of
something that already exists, such as an amended piece of code. A product
ould even be a person, such as a "trained
user', a product of the process of training.
deliverables) Always remember that a
Step 4.1: Identihy and describe projectproducts (or product is the result of an activity. A common error is to
such as 'training', 'design' and identify products things that are really activities,
as

them. Wherever possible, 'testing'. Specifying 'documentation' as a product should also be avoided-by
general, there can be no project products
In that do not have activities that create we itself this term is just too vague.
do not produce a tangible product. Identifyino
ought also to ensure the reverse: that there are no activities that This part of the planning process draws
all the things the project is to create helps us to ensure that all the activities we need to carry out are accounted heavily on the standards laid down in PRINCE2. These specify that
for. Some of these products will be handed over to the client at the end of the project - these are deliverables products at the bottom of the PBS should be documented by Product Descriptions which contain:
Other products might not be in the final configuration, but are needed as intermediate products used in the Namelidentity of the product
process of creating the deliverables. Purpose of the product
Derivation of the product (that is, the other
These products will include a large number of technical products, such as training material and operating products from which it is derived)
instructions. There will also be products to do with the management and the quality of the
project. Planning Composition of the product
documents would, for example, be management products. Form of the product
The products will form a hierarchy. The main
products will have sets of component products which in tum Relevant standards
may have sub-component products, and so on. These Quality criteria that define whether the product
relationships can be documented in a Product Breakdown is acceptable
Structure (PBS) see Figure 3.2. In this example the
-

have been products grouped into those relating to tn

system as a whole, and those related individual modules. A third
to
'group', which happens to have only on
product. is called 'management products and consists of
progress reports. The asterisk in the
indicates that there will be new instances of the entity progress repo
project. "progress report' created repeatedly throughout Exercise 3.2
At Brightmouth College, Brigette has decided that the finance department at the college should carry
PRINCE2 suggests Note that in Figure 3.2 the
the bottom
only boxes that represent tangible products are
out acceptance testing of the new payroll system. This type of testing ensures that the application has
that the PBS be pre
of the hierarchy that are not
further subdivided. Thus there are ouy SIX
thos been set up in a way that allows the users to carry out their
sented as a hierarchy individual product types shown in jobs accurately using the new system. As
diagram. In practice the diagram. The or the finance department staff are not sure what test case documents should look
example 'module products are boxes that are like, Brigette draws up
simply the names of groups of items.higher
it may be more con- up
a product
-

venient to produce a description of a test case. Write the content for this product description.
structured list.
Some products are created from
scratch, for example new A
product could quite eas1ly be a document, software compo ents.

such as a software ent

design docu
 70 Software Projert Manaeme7
Brealkdowm Struchures
Case mples: Produd
An Overrir of Projet
Study Planning 71
a checklist for her
she can use as own
standand PBS that User
Amanda tinds that there is a
J
she can, of con requirements
has no
installation
standard PB>. athough fer to
refer
P B S should contain th
Brigette at Bnghtmouth College decides that
one part
of the
he
various books standard
checklists. She
tion
for the Paroll aPplication (Figure
(Fig1i duc
3.3). Overall system
for software
hardware and
ucd to
help select the appropriate speciication

Module
design integration
lection system test cases
proauci
Module code
List of

Volume Office User potential Invitation

to tender
requirements
figures layouts suppliers integrated
tested software

FiGURE 3.4 A
Existing Users Test fragment of Product Flow Diagram
a
Systemn modified examples PFDs should not have links (PFD) for a software development task
description requirements between products which
iterations are not loop
recognized. On the contrary, the PFD allows forback iteratively. This is
the PFD shown in emphatically nor because
Figure 3.4. say that during looping back at any point. For example. in
missed in the overall system integration testing it was found that a user
FrGURE 3.3 A (PBS) for the products needed to produce an invittion specification. If we go back to overall system requirement had been
Product Breakdown Structure
to tender (TT)
see from the PED that
to be designed and
all the specification and change it we can
products that follow it might need to be reworked.
coded, test cases would need
A new module
might need
to be added
successfully incorporated, and the check that the new
to
integration testing would need to be repeated. requirements had been
The form that a PFD takes will
out. These decisions depend on assumptions and decisions about how the
may not be obvious from the PFD and so a project is to be carred
the structure can be textual descripüon
helpful. explaining the reasons for
Exercise 3.3 ?
What would be the product breakdown structure of
the deliverables of the vendor who would Case
the Brightmouth College
payroll software by customizing one of his existing products?
develop
Study Examples: IOE Has Standard PFD
Step 4.2: Document generic
product flows
The PFD effectively At 1OE, Amanda has an installation
Some products will need one or standard PFD for software
documents, in out- more other
products to exist first before they can e development projects. This is because a
recognized software development method is used which lays down
created.
line, the method (see For example,a
program design must be created before the to be produced. This
a
sequence of documents that havee
sequence of products can be straightforwardly documented as a PFD.
Chapter 1) for the Written and the
program specihcation must exist before the program can
project. These relationships
can be
design can be
commen
portrayed in a Product Flow Diagram Figure (PFD).
gives an example. Note that the "flow' in
bottom and left to right. In the the diagram
is assumed to be
example Figure 3.4, 'user
in o from
used by the project but is not created by it. lt is
often convenient to
requirements'
is in an oval which means
ut
of the diagram, in this case
'integrated/tested software', into which allidentify
an overall at tne product Exercise 3.4
the other bo
products feed. Draw up a possible Product Flow Diagram (PFD) based on the Product Breakdown Structure
(PBS)
shown in Figure 3.3. This identifies some
of the
products of the Brightmouth payroll project. particularly
 of the
72 Softur Poject Management to polcinII)
Suppliers

hardwate Ait Osieu sf Pue Panring 7

when
gatheing
infomation

volume
to he
ligures
presenled

are
tch
Things
#s
I e nunber
of,
employees fn
C lo
tender'. The
nilation Dssi
will have to be maintanc. teain
Whom reconds

instances instance
Step 4.3: Recognize product
rC
hn cONC
relates to
PlD Iragmcnt identity cach o thOse
inslances
Where thesame
generic
should be
made de lo
to identily
two comD peshy Test
This may be delayed attempt lhNcre
arcJust component sofs 9YOrall Design msgrate
of product,
an
in fact module A
could be thal
mOdule A
to later in the project system
moe infomation
Cxample in Figure
3.2, il Sstiware
when software to
be built.
IS known modules in the
Design Code
network module B module B
Step 4.4: Produce ideal activity be oneor
more
activities that carry out tho.
e trans
another there must
shows the tasks thoelo
product from
Wnicn
rder to generate one
these activities we can
create an activity
network
havet, FiGURE 3.5 An example of an
acfivity network
maton. By identifying in which they
have to be
execurcd.
Strictly, a milestone is
De camied out and the order The people to whom the
project manager reports could decide to leave the routine a dummy activity with
monitoring of activities to the project manager. However, there could be some key no duration that indi-
cates the start
activities, or milestones, which represent the or en0
completion of important stages of the
Nerwork for 1oF Maintenance Accoun
of a group of activities.
Case unts project of which they would want to take particular note. Checkpoint activities are
Examples: Activity often useful milestones.
The milestone would
therefore be after the
Study checkpoint activity.

from the PFD in Figure

5.4 Tor the software development
Part of the initial activity network developed
task might look like Figure 3.5. Exercise 3.6
In the example in Figure 3.5, it has been decided that the
for consistency by
designs for modules A and B are to be checked
'dry-running' them
against the
integration test cases before committing staff to
software coding. Redraw the activity network to reflect this.
Exercise 3.5 ?
Draw up an activity network for the Product Flow Diagram that you created in Exercise 3.4 (or the PED 3.7
given in the solution if you prefer!).
Step 5: Estimate Efort for Each Activity
Step 5.1: Carry out botom-up estimates
The activity networks are 'ideal"' in the sense that no account has been taken of resource constraints. Fu Some overall estimates of effort, cost and duration will
example, in Figure 3.5. it is assumed that resources are available for both software modules to be developul already have been done (see Step 3.6).
in parallel. A good rule is that activity networks are never amended to take account At this point, estimates of the staff effort
of resource constrainls required, the probable elapsed time and the Chapter 5 on software
non-staff resources needed for each activity will need to be
produced. The method of effort estimation deals
Step 4.5: Modify the ideal to take into account need for stages and checkpoints arriving at each of these estimates will vary depending on the type of activity. with this topic in more
detail.
The The difference between elapsed time and effort should be noted. Effort is the amount
approach sequencing activities described above
to
the formulation of a plan which win
minimize the overall duration, or "elapsed time', for the encourages of work that needs to be done. If a task requires three members of staff to work for two full
days each, the
as the
project. It assumes that an
activity will start as su effort expended is six days. Elapsed time is the time between the start and end of a task. In our
preceding
ones which it
upon depends have been completed. if the three members of staff start and finish at the same time then the
example above,
There elapsed time for the activity
would be
might, however, be a need to modify this by two days.
activities. These are activities which draw dividing the project into stages and introducing checpu
together the
compatible. This could potentially delay work on someproducts
elements
of preceding activities to check
of
a
that uade-of The individual activity estimates of effort should be summed to get an overall
be reconciled with the previous top-down estimate.
bottom-up estimate which can
between efficiency and quality. the project there has to be a ura -
 times so that the.
that

74 Software Project Management with

their
elapsed
limes so
Nerall duralinn An Overview of Project Planning 75
annotaled

can
be
network
activities on the activity would be needed. The possibility that
ne an
assumption upon which a plan is based is incorrect, constitutes a
can be calculated. activities risk. In this example, one way of
of the project quite a long time. range of values.
expressing the uncertainty would be to express the estimate of effort as a
controllable
to t a k e qui
Step 5.2: Revise plan
create some aregoing i s to take 12
WeelOnp
ong ac As will be
that
system testngIs c o m p l e t e d , I
wO scen in
Chapter 7, a simple way of dealing with
ould beOulbetd lebr
reveal
activities
Could

where
uncertainty is to have a "most likely' estimate for
Thee estimates for individual
Ifan
activty
involving

cent or
he
work
everything works with no problems (such as users changing their requirements) and a second estimate
to
control.
whether 50 per
that includes a safety margin so that it has estimated 95 per cent chance of being
ities make a projectt ditficult
o
accurately
an met.
weeksto judge subtaskS: A project plan will be based on a
huge number of assumptions, and so some way of picking out the
series of smaler
to break this down intoa that are most important is needed. The
damage that each risk could cause and the likelihood of it ccurring
risks
Contracis have to be gauged. This assessment can draw attention to the most

Examples: IOE
Annual
Mainfenance
Bottom-Up Eshmates
Ou materializes is to make the task longer or more
serious risks. The usual effect if a problem
costly.
Case

Study Step 6.2: Plan risk reduction and contingency measures where appropriate
s o t t w a r e modules. She

code for
each ot the looks It may be possible to avoid or at least reduce some of the identified risks. On the other hand, contingency
the lines of in tne past to get somee idea of
1OE, Amanda has
to estimate
application
at 1OE plans specify action that is to be taken if a risk materializes. For example, a contingency plan could be to use
A for similar types of information contract staff if a member of the
programs that
have been coded
refers to some
conversion
tabies nat tne
ofns systems project team is unavailable at a key time because of serious illness.
modules. She then lines of code into estimates
the
size of the new

1OE have produced

which convert
the
of the project.
effort. Step 6.3: Adjust overall plans and estimates to take account of risks
development department
at various stages
effort to the
Other tables allow her to
allocate the estimated
might have to
be written to deal with 1
local
We may change our plans, perhaps by adding new activities which reduce risks. For example, a new
that some additional programs programming language might mean we schedule training courses and time for the programmers to practise
Although Bnigette is aware the and so estimating based on linese
requirements, the main software
is to be obtained 'off shelr their new programming skills on some non-essential work.
task and allocates a time . She
Instead, she looks each individual
at
code would clearly be inappropriate. at the moment how long these
she is uncertain
realizes that in many cases these represent 'targets'as
tasks will really take (see Step 6 below). Case
Examples: Identifying Risks
There might be a number of activities thatimportant, are but individually take up very little time. For a Study
training course, there might be a need to book rooms and equipment, notify
those attending, register student
on the training system, order refreshments, copy training materials, and so on. In a situation like this, it would As wellas the new software modules that will
have to be written, Amanda has identified several
be easier to bundle the activities into a single merged activity make training course arrangements' which modules that will need to be amended. The ease with which the modules can be amended will existing
depend
could be supplemented with a checklist. upon the way that they were originally written. There is therefore a risk that
they may take longer than
expected to modify.
In general, try to make activities about the length of the reporting period used for monitoring and controlling
Amanda takes no risk reduction measures as such but notes a
pessimistic elapsed time for the amendment
the project. If you have a progress meting every two weeks, then it would convenient to have activities of
two weeks' duration on
activity.
average, so that progress meetings would normally be made aware of completed tasks
each time they are held. Brigette identifies as a risk the possible absence of key staff when investigating the user requirements,
as this
activity will take place over the holiday period. To reduce this risk, she adds a new activity,
3.8 arrange user interviews', at the beginning of the project. This will give her advance notice of any likely
Step 6: ldentify Activity Risks problems of this nature.

Step 6.1: ldentify and quantity activity-based risks

Chapter 7 on risk Risks inherent in the overall
nature of the
3.9 Step 7: Allocate Resources
idered
touches on this topic in
more detail
in Step 3. We now want to look at each project have already been cons to is
successful outcome. Any activity in turn and assess the
riskdesign Step 7.1: ldentify and allocate resources
plan is
component is planned to takealways
of a based on certain
five assumptions. Say u the The type of staff needed for each activity is recorded. The staff available for the
Chapter 8 on resource

unambiguous. If it is not thendays.

client's requirement is clear and This is based on the allocation covers this
additional effort to clarify the assumpuomn project are identified and are provisionally allocated to tasks. topic in more detail.
requ
 76 Softuare Project Management urce
resourc constraints An Overview of Project Planning 77
into account
to take case, an order

Step 7.2: Revise planse

and
estimates

same
t1me
and,
1n
this
Overal duration or the pr0Ject when
of riority programmers so as to minimize the risk of staff waiting between tasks and thus reduce staff costs. It is
task at
the
for more
than one
SOme accepted that this decision, while reducing the cost of the
project, will delay its end.
e
on
Some
staff may be needed made here may have an
eftect

The decisions
eceding activities have been Brigettefinds that she herself will have to
shed.
a s k s are delayed while waiting
for staff to
become irec as the prec
workload on herself by
carry out many important activities. She can reduce the

on an
activity
as
soon

waiung job to start and

for the job to
to devote more time to
delegatingsome work to her two colleagues, but she realizes that she will
have
work while

Cnsuring
someone is available to start
mean
that they are
idle
are specifying
adjusts her plan accordingly.
exactly what they will have to do and to checking their work. She
completed might
Gantt charts are therefore used ineficiently. Gantt chart s e e
named after Henry
would typicaly be a tavere36
Gantt and Gantt 7.1 and 7.2 will actually
product of Steps
activities
when
netwoce and
should therefore not
be written in capital
The

The Gantt chart gives a clear picture

executed at
of
the same time. Activity orks can be 3.10 Step 8: Review/Publicize Plan
letters as if it stood for ones will be
highlights which
something misleading in this respect. Step 8.1: Review quality aspects of the project plan
March April May Adanger when controling any project is that an activity can reveal that an earlier activity was not properly
January February
completed and needs to be reworked. This, at a stroke, can transform a
project that appears to be progressing
Jane
satisfactorily into one that is badly out of control. It is important to know that when a task is reported as
Specify overall
system
completed, it really is hence the importance of quality reviews. Each task should have quality
-

criteria.
These are quality checks that have to be passed before the activity can be 'signed off'"
Device integration
Jane as completed.
test cases

Design module A
ed Case
Examples: IOE Existing Quality Standards
Code module A
Fred Study
Avril Amanda finds that at IOE, the Quality Standards and Procedures Manual
Design module B
each type of task. For example, all module
lays down quality criteria for
design documentation for any group of modules that interact
with one another has to be reviewed by a
Code module B
Avril group of colleagues before the coding can commence. This
is to reduce the likelihood of
integration problems when the components are finally executed together.
Amanda adds an activity to her plan to deal with this.
Test integrated Mo
software

FiGURE 3.6 Gantt chart showing when staff will be carrying out tasks
Exercise 3.7
Brigette has no installation standards to help her apart from the minimal ones she has written herself.
Case What quality checks might Brigette introduce to ensure that she has understood the users'
requirements
Study Examples: Jaking Resource Constraints into Account properly?

Amanda has now identified three new qsi Step 8.2: Document plans and obtain agreement
major software modules plus an
will need extensive amendment. At IOE the existing software module na
specification of modules is carried out by the lead
analyst for the project (who in this case is Amanda)
It is impotant that the plans be carefully documented and that all the parties to the project understand and
assisted by junior systeu agree to the commitments required of them in the plan. This may sound obvious, but it is amazing how often
programmers available to camy Out the design,
are
After careful consideration and discussion coding unit testing of the individual
and
Four anay analyst/designers. this is not done. Chapter 12 describes the use of a communications plan to ensure appropriate communica-
with her module
manager, Amanda decides to use tions between stakeholders at the right points in the project.
only three anauy
 An Orerrizs f Project Planning 79
Managew
78 Stwwre Prowt
Exercise 3.8 Project planning is an iterative process. As the time approaches fon particular activities to be caried out the
should be replanned in more detail.
doxunment Were
w
isted. Draw up a table
documeni

poject
plan
ons of the project plar
w*TOns
of a

At the emd of Chapter

|
the Further Exercises
Levels lanning
ofPlar 1. List the products created by the Step Wise planning process.
Plan/Lower

Execute er detail lor each activits

for cach activity as it beeo 2. What products must exist before the activity "test program' can take place? What products does this
and 10:
delail

will activity create?

3.11 Steps9 nced to
be
drawn up
in grealer
because
more
iniormation

plans for
for the m
the more dis
e available
plans will be delayed
o
3. An employee of a training organization has the task of creating case study exercises and solutions for a
underwa.

will need to provIsiOnal

plans
ant tasks,
One i N of the later but sight should no
due.Detaik
planning
Of
stages

course,
it is
necessary
lo
make

uncarth
potenial
ms, but
probiems,
training course which teaches a new systems analysis and design method. The person's work plan has
a three-week task"learn new method'. A coleague suggests that this is unsatisfactory as a task as there
the sagc can help
neat Oabout what necds to
be done are no concrete deliverables or products from the activity. What can be done about this?
thinking
e the fat that thcse plans are
provision.al.
4. In order to caryout usability tests for a new word processing package. the software has to be writen
s t of

and debugged. Userinstructions have to be available describing how the package is to be used. These
Examples: Lower-LevelPlanning
have to be scrutinized in order to plan and design the tests. Subjects whbo will the package in the
use
tests will need to be selected. As part of this selection process. they will have to complete a question-
Case naire giving details of their past experience of. and training in, typing and using word processng

Study packages. Theandsubjects will camrytheout the required tasks using the word processing package. The tasks

modules,
Amanda has some timeto
ta start will be timed any problems subjects encounter with the package will be noted. After the test. the

the specification of the

with
that one of
individual

the m o d u l e s
the one that dealos with
-
subjects
tests
wil complete
be
another questionnaire about what they felt about the package. All the data from
Whiie work is
going

planning the integration

on

tests in some
detail. She finds
communicate directly
with the other neW modules d can
and. the will analysed and a report containing recommendations
drawn up. Draw up Product Breakdown Structure. Product Flow
for changes to the package will be

does not actually e a r i i e r review of this module

a a Diagram anda preliminary activity
recordingjob requests
-

others. She
schedules an network for the above.
therefore be reviewed
independently of the
module to be started
earlier. 5. Question 4 in the further exercises for Chapter 1 refers to a scenario relating to a raining exercise.
this allows coding of the
to tender
,
she has to familiarize herself
invitation
Using that scenario, draw up a Product Breakdown Structure, a Product Flow Diagram and a prelim-
activity 'draft
consider the
this process. She finds that in orderto
When Bngette comes to inary activity network.
that govern
institutional rules and procedures
with the detailed information from the users. 6. Brightmouth College intends to automate the routine activities of its library including issuing books
additional pieces of
draft this document shewill need to obtain some to users, return of books, handling fine collection. and
querying availability of books. The library has
around 10,000 books. At present, the activities of the library are being carried out
manually by the
four member library staff. The college intends to allot the
development of the software to a endor.
Conclusion The software would have to be transferred to the library in a fully
operational mode. To speed up the
delivery of software, the vendor would have to create the operational daabase during the development
of the boo of the software. This would involve entering details of the existing books into a CSV (comma
This chapter has presented a framework into which the techniques
described in the parts other separated
elements: values) file. After the development of the software, the CSV data will have to be imported into the
should slot. It is suggested that any planning approach should have the following
software. After alpha testing, the software would have to be tested in the operaional environment For
Establishment of project objectives this, the software would have to be run along side the manual system at the library for a week. During
Analysis of the characteristics ofthe project this time, user training would also have to be conducted.
Establishment of an infrastructure consisting of an appropriate organization and set of standarus (a)Identify and represent the deliverables using a product breakdown structure (PBS)
methods and tools (b) Develop the product flow diagram
ldentification of the products of the project and the activities needed to generate those products (c) Develop an activity network
Allocation of resources to activities
.Establishment of quality controls
 the aappropriate
l . Select the
cleci
pDr
option
80 Sotuare Proint Manqgemont
c o c t .

Is
opton
one
exactly

Selection of an
qUestons,

or each of the following is

usualy
nol
u achvilics

the
Which one ofthe following helps
dentity dehnerables

structure
the
reakdown
ndentity
(a) Produt helps to

Appropriate Project
nems
structure
work
breakdown are

ma not be deliverable to tha

stnucture

t breakdown structure

level of product
breakdown

L o w e s t

product
documented the
in
(d) Some items
customer

(1n)Which one of the following

breakdown
is an
appropriate

structure,
sequence
of

develop actnvagy'
steps in project planning?
nerworx,
stimate effort.
effort and
estimate

allocate
Approach
(a) Develop product
surucure, estumate effort and
nate effort
reSOurce.

network. develop
product
breakdown
allocate
(6} Develop activity
resource. effort. develop
devel0p acuvity network and allon.
activity network:
breakdown
structure,
stimate effort,
estimale locate
(C)Developproduct
resource.
breakdown
structure, develop activity
develop activity network
ner
and
(d) Allocate resource, develop product
estimate efort.

Léarning Objectives
Evaluate situations where software
built specially applications could be acquired off-the-shelf rather than
being
.Take account of the characteristics of
the system to be
Select an appropriate developed when planning a project
process model
.Make best use of
the waterfall process model where appropriate
Reduce some risks by the creation of
Reduce other risks by appropriate prototypes
implementing the project in increments
Identify where unnecessary organizational obstacles
methods can be removed by using agile
development

4.1 Introduction
The development of software in-house
usually means that:
Thedevelopers and the users belong to the same organization.
The application will slot into
portfolio of existing computer-based systems.
a

The methodologies and technologies are

largely dictated by organizational
including the existing enterprise architecture. standards and policies,
However, a software supplier could carry out successive
customers. They would need to review the development projects for a variety of external
project. This methodologies and technologies to be used for
each individual
decision-making process has been called technical planning by some,
term project
analysis. Other terms for this process are methods although here we use the
where development is in-house, engineering and methods tailoring. Even
any characteristics of the new project
previous projects need to be considered. A wide requiring a different approach from
range of system development methods
exists, butmany
 Where
method

ods are used, 'means

intermediaSed

82 Software Project Management recognized

approaches.

and Selection of an Appropriate Project Approach 83

requirasProO

the proceauesa c t u a l
ofthe
outcomes ofofathe
-

using any means the

project. We will then
without

focus on
the "end, a look at some of the most
ofthe models, namely
common
prototyping and incremental delivery. Some of the ideas of process
developers expense
the
waterfall approach,
nappen: at the chaprer.
of this
prototyping and incremental delivery have been
-

method
prescribed

the subject
3: Analyse project chara.
Analyse p r o i e further developed and made part of
B. Fitzgerald.
Russo and T.
(2003). 'Software
O'Kane
work.

The
These

relevant
issues are

part ofthe Step

Wise

process
h
approach

activity
model
network,
Step 3:
is Step
is
could
a d d n e w prod cts to
theracteristic
Pro
This will generat
have been designed to remove
heavyweight methods.
agile methods. We will have a look at how these lightweight processes
what have been seen as the bureaucratic
obstacles created by more formal,
development method particular to the
selection of
a
tailoring at Motorola" The
activities
or the | activities of the project
projec (see Figur
4.2 Build or
new activiues
Structure or are 4.1).
Communications of
the ACM 46(4) 65-70
Breakdown

inputs for Step

4: Identify
and
the products
how the
characteristics
charad of
Buy?
the shape of theproje
look at a
will
into good insight we
the shane
Software development can be seen from two
of this chapter
infiuence
into how methodtailor
the remainder be
delivered

planmo differing
opers and that of the clients or users. With in-house viewpoints: that of the devel- The
ing works in prachce.
In
environment
and the application
to

development, the developers and

communication
challenges of geo-
the users are in the same
organization. Where the development is outsourced, they are graphically dispersed
in different organizations. In these projects are discussed
days of global system development, the different
0. Select project organizations could be on different continents. These factors will
affect the way that
in Chapter 12 on work-
ing in teams.
a project is organized.

The development of a IT
new
technical staff who, once the project has been
application within
organization would often require the recruitment of
an
2. Identify project
1. Identify project infrastructure a unique new completed, will no
development for the client organization there may belonger
be required. Because this
project is
a lack of executives
Scope and objectives effort. Contracting the project out to an
external IT development company qualified to lead the
stances. The contracting may be attractive in these circum-
company will have technical and project
However, there would still be considerable expertise not readily available to the client.
3. Analyse project the contract and this is the management effort needed by the client to establish and
characteristics
subject of Chapter 10 on managing contracts. manage
Whether in-house or outsourced, software
taken as in the case of the
- development is still involved. An option which is increasingly
Brightmouth
software. The advantages of such an College payroll scenario is to obtain a licence to run off-the-shelf
-

4. Identify the products approach include:

The supplier of the
Review
and activities
application
and thus the cost per customer
can spread the cost of
development over alarge number of customers
should be reduced.
The software already exists and so
5. Estimate effort I t can be examined and
for each activity
perhaps eventrialed before acquisition
Lower-level There is no delay while the
software is being built
detail For each
activity Where lots of people have already used the software, most of the
and removed, leading to more reliable software. bugs are likely to have been reported
6. Identify activity
risks However, there are disadvantages, which include the
As
following.
you have the same application as everyone else, there is no
Modem off-the-shelf software tends to be competitive advantage.
10. Lower-level be changed very customizable: the characteristics of the
planning 7. Allocate resources by means of various parameter tables. application can
However, this flexibility has limits and
up having to change your office you may end
procedures in order to fit in with the computer
.You will not own the
software code. This may rule out system.
response to
changes in the organization or its making modifications to the application in
9.Execute plan 8. Review .Once you have acquired environment
publicize plan your off-the-shelf system, your
JL it. This may create a
considerable barrier to moving to a organization
different
may come to be very reliant
application.
upon
The supplier may be in a
position to charge inflated licence fees
because you are effectively a captive customer.
FiGURE 4.1 Project analysis is the
subject of Step 3
 the
remainde

nder of t
chapte
n

conCs. outson
84 Software Project Management managing
in-nouse
or
Selection of an Appropriate Project Approach 85
10on whetner

We will explore th ISSues

further in
Chapter

is being
developed,

Analyse other project characteristics

softwuc
software

where new
new

Tocus on situations
Where
M e t h o d o l o g i e sa n d T e c h n o l o g i e s

The following questions can be usefully asked.

ene:.

software
I s a data-oriented
or process-oriented system to be implemented? Data-oriented
cerino

method' ir the t
and

4.3 Choosing
development

We
introduced

systems generally We first introduced the

mean information systems
Charyer that will have
system
substantial
methods.

ICT a difference between in-

context
of collection
of
task that could
be applicable tdatabase. Process-oriented systems refer to embedded control systems. It is not
In the a specific formation systems and
out a
imes distinguishea rgaruncommon
describes

are Son to have

Strictly speaking. methodology
of
carrying and
methods

systems with elements of both. Some writers suggest that Chapter 1.

embedded systems in
methodology should mathem the O0
as a
general
way
that task.
Tèchnuques

ScIentific, approach is more suitable for process-oriented where control1s

refer to thee 'study or
to do application
or
o f particnl
or
le important than for systems
methods. project
needing
involve
the ne pracuce systems dominated by a relational database.
good examniasi
tend to reqire
Techniques
Techniques
often
is a .Will the sofiware that is to be produced be a
roblem. They
Tn tware design general tool or application specific? An example or a
abstracts certain Mehota
$oftwaoem which abst
problem.
kind of
a particular skilful) which general tool would be a spreadsheet or a word
so/ve from the
Greek
T0 of a system feah. could be, for example, an airline seat processing package. An application-specific package
uhe word technique' is
derived
model is a
representation
(ERD)
1s a model
of the ructure of the reservation system.
models. A
type of ala
diagram
ne
creation of
entity
relationship
development
iire self
cycle itself is aa r
Are there specific tools available
for implementing the particular type of application? For example:
\ater ystinen,this
an
For example,
Others. software
models'
o d e l s ' asas we
we will see
that a m
Does it involve concurrent
confusing is
-

CS as
a system. What can be and represented processing? -
the use of techniques appro-
Ed Dy therefore be
abstracted
like methods. priate to the analysis and design of such systems would be considered; Note that here we are
cycles can look a bit
eaures of life models can thus
start to
for aproject. Met Will the system to be created be talking about writing
Cnapter Some
of these and t e c h n o l o g i e s
methodologies rules which result in some knowledge-based?- expert systems have the software tool, not
mostappropriate Structured Svstemlogi 'expert advice' when applied to a its use.
should select the Process (USDP),
Analyss problem, and
Project analysis Unified Software Development might include specific methods and tools exist for developing such systems, or
like the while tecnnologies
ap
nclude approaches
Method (SSADM) and
Human-Centred Design,
analysis
iaentines the methodoloo a Will the system to be
produced make heavy use of computer graphics?
The
and Design and automated testing
environments. ISO
I s the system to be created safety critical? For
application-building that are to be deployed. instance, could a malfunction in the system endanger
selects the methods within
the methodology human life? If so, among other things,
and technologies
will affect: testing would become very important.
activities, the chosen methods I s the system designed primarily to
AS well as the products and carry out predefined services or to be engaging and entertaining?
staff With software designed for entertainment,
The training requirements for development design and evaluation will need to be carried out differently
from more conventional software
The types of staff to be recruited products.
What is the nature of
The development environment-both
hardware and software the hardware/sofnware environment in which the system will operate?
environment in which the final software will
operate could be different from that in which it is to be
System maintenancearrangements developed. Embedded software might be developed on a large development
machine which has lots of
We are now going to describe some of the steps of project analysis. Supporting software tools such as
compilers, debuggers and static analysers, but then be downloaded
to a small processor in the
target configuration. A standalone desktop application needs a different
ldentify project as either objective-driven or product-driven approach to one for a mainframe or a client-server environment.

In Chapter 1 we distinguished between objective-driven and product-driven projats

The softsystemsap
proach is described in A product-driven project creates products defined before the start of the project. A
P. Checkland and J.
Scholes (1999) Soft objective-driven project will often have come first which will have defined the gened Exercise 4.1
Systems Methodology software solution that is to be implemented. How would you categorize each of the
in Action, John Wiley following systems according to the classification above?
and Sons. The
project manager's dream is to have well-defined objectives but as much freeann (a) A payroll system
as possible about how those (b) A
objectives are to be satisfied. An objective mignt 0r system to control a bottling plant
pay staff in a start-up company reliably, accurately and with low (c) A
have to specify the use of a particular
administrative costs. The company dOe system which holds details of the plans of plant used by a water company to supply water to
packaged software solution at the outset but as we will see, Consumers
be exceptions to this. tne -

(d) A software package to support project managers

Sometimes the objectives of the project are uncertain or e) A system used by lawyers to access case law relating to company taxation
experiencing problems but no one knows exactly how to solve the
are
subject of disagreement. Pop might k
help with some problems but assistance from other these problems. ICT specialists m8d provig
situation a soft systems approach might be specialists might be needed with others. In nes
considered.
 86 Softrware Project Management ela Selection of an Appropriate Project Approach 87
isks
ignt
expect
oorate plans
anages the proje For save time and
ldentity high-level project money. Obtaining IT services for the whole organization from a single supplier can mean that
some altecting

examplsffone
tactors

pnoject,
ot a important
n detail
detail we cannot estima large discounts can be negotiated.
nts iin
2 has already
At the
beginning

ignorant ofmany requirements

The
Ine greater the the A client organization often
apter

certaintiey lays down standards that have to be adopted by any contractor providing software
requirements.
are
users'
touched on some as- hough
we
the
tne those requirements.will be uns.
pecis whichin
ofnskfurther
are ntilwe
until
have analysed
we have
analysed

system
to
meet
those

that
tne
project unsuccessful Once we for them. Sometimes organizations
specify that suppliers of software have BS EN ISO 9001: 2000 or TickIT
developed
to
build a
the risk its
uncertainty,
accreditation. This will affect the way projects are conducted.
the greater
needed
reduce

Chapter to
the beginning, take steps
at
wecan.
however.

with the
poducis,
processes,

resources of projeca Select general life-cycle approach

themselves cou
uncertanty

ecognize an area
associated derstood? The users
be
understood?

can

uc suggestion is that uncertainty

the
requirements
Ine
government, , say,
say, might intro .Control systems A real-time system will need to be
to do.
priate methodology. Real-time systems that employimplemented using an appro
ar
well is
Product uncertaint
How
information
system
not be
known
until case la
case law has been|built concurrent processing may
SSADM as a named
about what a proposed
operation
might a n d valid ement of requiremen
statement have to use techniques such as Petri nets. methodology is now
certaun detailed preCIse rarely used, but many
but its seemingly
new
Om
of taxation
quickly
that a Information systems Similarly, an information system will need a method- of methods within it
change so
environments

might be the eirs ology, such as SSADM or Information are still in wide use
c Engineering, that matches that type sometimes under
out of date.
where
here an
consideration

becomes under of environment. SSADM would

rapidly The project or be especially
employs a large number of development staff appropriate
uncertaint programming (XP) where the project the general name
Pmcess
an approach
like extreme ew appi whose work will need to be of business system
Extreme programmin9 that the systems are
organization is using in the way coordinated: the method lays down in detail the development (BSD)
will be discUSsed in

Section 4. 15. caion-building

tool. Any change developej at each step. Team members
activities and products needed
would therefore know exactly what is
techniques.
introduces uncertainty.
here is likely to hbe th expected.
The main
area or uncertainty
avai. Availability of users Where the software is for the general market rather than
Resource uncertainty
and experience.
The larger the n er specific, then a methodology which assumes that identifiable users exist who canapplication and user
Of course, some nsk* of the right ability of be quizzed about
factors can increase ability of staff the duration
of the project, the more inherently their needs would have to be
both uncertainty and resources needed
or the longer thought about with caution. Some business systems development methods
assume an existing clerical
system which can be analysed to yield
logical the features of
complexity.
risky it will be. computer-based, system. In these cases marketing specialist may act surogate new, a

uncertainty, while others for: a

instance, as a
-

user.
requirements-increase
Some factors such as continually changing distinct tyDes of Specialized techniques For example, expert system shells and
to deal with the two of risks
software size increase complexiry.
-
Different strategies are needed have been invented to expedite the logic-based programming languages
development of knowledge-based systems. Similarly, number of a
specialized techniques
and standard components are available to assist in the
based systems. development of graphics-
Exercise 4.2 Hardware environment The environment in which the
system is to operate could put constraints on the
way it is to be implemented. The need for a fast time or restricted computer memory might
At 1OE, Amanda has identified possible user resistance as a risk to the annual maintenance contracts
mean that only low-level
response
project. Would you classify this as a product, process or resource risk? lt may be that it does not fit into programming languages can be used.
any of these categories and some other is needed. Safety-critical systems Where safety and reliability are essential, this
expense of a formal specification using a notation such as OCL. might justify the additional
Brigette at Brightmouth College has identified as a risk the possibility that no suitable payroll package Extremely critical systems could
would be available on the market. What other risks
justify the cost of having independent teams develop parallel systems with the
might be inherent in the Brightmouth College same functionality. The CL stands for Object
payroll project? operational systems can then run concurrently with Constraint Language.
continuous cross-checking. This is known
asn-version programming.
Imprecise requirements Uncertainties or a novel hardware/software platform
Take into account user requirements
concerning implementation mean that a
prototyping approach should be considered. If the environment in
which the system is to be implemented is a
The implications of
prototyping and the
Chapter 13 on soft We
suggested earlier that staff planning a project should try to ensure that rapidly changing one, then serious incremental approach
unit consideration would need to be given to incremental
ware
quality discusses essary constraints
are not
imposed on the way that a project's objectives are to delivery. If the users have are explored later in
BS EN ISO
9001 uncertain objectives in connection with the project, then a the chapter.
met. The
example given was the specification of the soft systems approach
might be desirable.
deployed. Sometimes, such constraints are unavoidable.exact payroll package o
applications and technologies throughout allInternational
have found that imposing uniform congio
their component pau
 88 Softeare Proiet Mamavment Selection of an Appropriate Project Approach 89

Exercise 4.3 a less error

prone and more maintainable final system. This balance of costs and benefits is more likely to be
justified on a large project involving many developers and users. Because of the additional effort needed and
of the following? their greater applicability to large and
appach
for each
to a patien complex projects, these are often called heavyweight methods.
most
suitable
de
lminstered

ho has It might be thought that users would

be the
What. in broa utline,
would

ofa drug
that
should
erally welcome the more professional approach that structured
methods imply. However, customers for software are concerned with
calculates
h c h calcu
the
amount
getting working applications delivered
a) A systemwwhich quickly and at less cost and often see structured methods as unnecessarily bureaucratic and slow. One response
a particular complaint to this has been rapid application
a student loans sencu development (RAD) which puts the emphasis on quickly producing proto-
types of the software for users to evaluate.
(6) A system to administer

trains in the Channel lunne

Asystem tocontnol The RAD approach does not preclude the use of some elements of
structured methods
such as the drafting of logical data structure Joint Application
diagrams
but also adopts
tactics such Development by Jane
and Process Models as joint application development (JAD) workshops. In these workshops, developers
Wood and Denise
4.4 Software Processes for the producttis received f and users work together intensively for, say, three to five
days and identify and agree
Silver, Wiley and sons,
when a request m the 1995, is a useful intro-
usually
pravess
starts

of the company
is usually considere
as
fully documented system requirements. Often these workshops are conducted away duction to JAD.
A software praduct developmer department the inceptionee from the normal business and development environments in clean rooms, special
the marketing incepuon. From
custo kor a genenc prduct, pvdtict
Oer. is called conference rooms free from outside interruption and suitably furnished with whiteboards and other aids to
until it is fully develo
of need for the product
cUstomer. This expression transformations through a few
identifhable stages
communication. Advocates of JAD believe that these hot-house conditions can speed up communication and
of and during this time the
product undergoes
a series
the product is
used by the
customer
product negotiation that might otherwise take several weeks or months.
e l e a s e d to the customer. After release,
is called the mainten
functionalities. IniIs stage
and enhancing
needs to be maintained for fixing bugs
it is retured. This set
of identifiable stages thre Use of JAD does not mean that the project is not structured. The definition of the
scope of the project, the
to the customer.
When the product is no longer useful The initial research involving the interviewing of key
stage. to retirement
form the lhfe cycle of
the product. software life personnel and the creation of preliminary data and process
which a product transits from inception
(SDLC) and software process
models would need to planned and executed before the JAD sessions were
Software Development
Life Cycle
sessions could be implemented using
organized. The results of JAD
cycle is also commonly referred to as quite
conventional methods.
a software product
is a graphical or textual representation
A life cycle model (also called a process model) of Another way of speeding up delivery is simply to deliver less. This can be done by
describe the details or various types of activities caried breaking a large devel
of its life cycle. Additionally. a process model may opment into a series of small increments, each of which delivers a small amount of useful functionality
Out during the different phases and the documents produced. quickly.
Two competing pressures can be seen. One is to
get the job done as quickly and cheaply as possible, and the
4.5 Choice of Process Models other is to make sure that the final product has a robust structure which will be able to meet
evolving needs.
Later in this chapter and in Chapter 12 we will discuss the
The word 'process emphasizes the idea of a system in action. In order to achieve an outcome, the system increasingly important topic
of agile
methods
which focuses on lightweight processes. There is, however, a
will have to execute one or more activities: this is its proces. This applies to the development of computer contrasting approach which is the attempt to
create model-driven architectures (MDA).
based applications. A number of interelated activities have to be undertaken to create a final product. These System development using MDA involves creating a platform-
acivities can be organized in different ways and we can call these process models independent model (PIM) which specifies system functionality using UML diagrams supplemented by
additional information recorded in the Object Constraint Language (OCL). A PIM is the
logical structure that
plannerselects
TheUSDP methods and specifies how theystudent
SSADM will be
are to be applied. Not all parts of a methodology such should apply regardless of the software and hardware environment in which the system is to be implemented.
This can be transformed into a platform-specific model (PSM) that takes account of a particular development
as or
compulsory. Many projects have the rather basic failing that at
the
planning stage they claim that, say, SSADM is to be used: in the event all that is produced are a few and implementation environment. A PSM can then be transformed into executable code to
implement a
SSADM
fragments such as a top-level data flow diagram and a preliminary logical data structure diagram. If this is al
the particular project requires, it should be explicitly stated.
Working system. The goal that once
is a PIM had been created the creation of PSMs and executable code will
be automated. At present, the automation of these transformation processes is still
being developed.
4.6 Structure versus Speed of Delivery 4.7 The Waterfall Model
The principle behind Although some object-oriented' 00 This is the 'classical' model of system development that is also known as the one-shot or once-through model.
structured methods is specialists might object(!), we include the
approach as a structured method after be sen from the example
'get it right first time'.
methods consist of sets of all, we hope it is not unstructured.
-

As can shows some arrows in Figure 4.2, there isbackwards.

a sequence of activities working from top to bottom.

steps and rules Suu The diagram pointing upwards and This indicates that a later stage may reveal
products such as use case which, when applied, generate the need for some extra work at an earlier stage, but this should definitely be the exception rather than the
methods are more time consuming and diagrams. Each of these products is Sudh
expensive than more intuitive carefully den
approaches. The pay-off, 1t is ooped, s
 90 Softruure Projet Manageme
Selection of an Appropriate Project Approach 91

The watertall model can expanded into the V-process model which is further explored in Section 13.11 on
Feasibility testing.
This expansion is done by expanding the testing process into different types of
stuay the executable code against the testing which check
products of each of the activities in the project life cycle
coding. For example, the code may seem to execute leading up to the
design. This is correctly,
but be at variance with the
may Expectea
User
requirements
explained further in Chapter 13.

4.8 The Spiral Model

Analysis
It could be argued that this is another
way of looking at the waterfall model. In the The original
System
waterfall model, it ispossible to escape at the end of any activity in the sequence. A ideas be-
hind the spiral model
design feasibility study might decide that the implementation
of a proposed system would can be found in B. W.
be beneficial. The management therefore authorize work Boehm's 1988 paper
on the detailed analysis Aspiral model of soft-
Program of user requirements.
Some analysis, for instance the
interviewing of users, might ware development
and
design already have taken place at the feasibility stage, but a more thorough investigation is enhancement in IEEE
now launched. This could reveal that the costs of Computer, 21(5).
implementing the system would be
Coding higher than projected benefits and lead to a decision to abandon the project.
A greater level of detail is considered at each
stage of the project and a greater degree of confidence about
the probability of success for the project should be
Testing justified. This can be portrayed as a loop or a spiral where
the system to be implemented is considered in more detail in each
sweep. Each sweep terminates with an
evaluation before the next iteration is embarked
upon. Figure 4.3 illustrates how SSADM can be interpreted
in such a way.
Operation

FiGURE 4.2 Waterfall model Logical

design
The first descnp- rule. After all, the flow of a waterfall should be downwards, with the possibility ofjus
tion of this approach a litle splashing back. The limited scope for iteration is in fact one of the strengths d
IS said to be that of
H. D. Bennington in
this process model. With a large project you want to avoid reworking tasks previoush
Production of Large thought to be completed. Having to reopen completed activities plays havoc wih
Review and -Requirements
Computer Programs promised completion dates. analysis
in 1956. This was Commit
reprinted in 1983 in The waterfall approach may be favoured
Annals of the istoy of by some managements because it creaes
natural milestones at the end of each
Computing 5(4). phase. At these points, managers can revic Feasibility
project progress to see whether the business case for the study
is sometimes referred to as project is still valid. 1ns
the stage-gate model. As we will
see, stage-gates ae
Define business
compatible with process models other than the options
activities may have to be grouped in different waterfall, but higher management may have to accept
ways with these alternative Requirements
Even though writers often advocate
altemative
approaches. specification
approach in the right place. It is the ideal for models, there is nothing
which the intrinsically wrong with the waaterfal Technical system
are well defined and the project
development manager strives. Where the remens
Options
completion times to be forecast with some methods
confidence,well
are
allowing the understood,effective requi projet
control of the project.
where there is
uncertainty about hoW a system is to be
the waterfall
approach alowis,
However
Physical
design
more flexible, iterative, approach is implemented, and unfortunately there very often1
required.
FiGURE 4.3 Application of the spiral model to SSADM version 4
 110 Software Project Manageme

4.18 Managing Iterative

Processes

confusing
as it
seems
to turn many
or our
previous plannins There are cases

technical
wnere the macro process
itself
Selection of an
Appropriate Project Approach 111
This
discussion of agile methods might be system is Proauced in two or three can be iterative. It might be that a
valuate. In these successive versions, each prototype for a
concepts on their head. communicaln0n
and o r removing

rtificial barrie
Ar
va
circumstances, each iteration
should taking severalmontns
complex
to creae and

APproaches like XP correctly emphasize

the
importance

seem to
be simply
as
of
icence hack a

pair progtanning and

to
However, amot The packaging
nossible
or micro
for agile processes
projects using XP
within larger macro
be treated as a project in its own
rignt.
might
many mg hat many (such a n d to e n s u r e that poo nsta processes means that it
to
develop productivity.
VIy.
XP to many
of XP
shows that ma
of hacking
0od maintainaha stage-gate Section
D. Karlstrõm and
project environment (see practices to exist within a more traditionalis P. Runeson (2005).
detailed examination of the chniques the
excesses
the business case for the 4.7) which has formal milestones where Combining agile meth
to
counter
project is reviewed.
standards) are conscious techniques
process and the micro process. The
helpfully to this
process as their Agile projects might even contribute ods with stage-gate
code is written. progress is more visible. project management'
EEE Sofware, May!
of activities carri
Booch suggests that there are two levels of developt At this level, a range OutA 4.19 Selecting the Most June.
when we kno
process is closely related to the waterfall process moue.
has to be
coordinated. we need to
have s o m e dates

need to bring
inStart to work on
s u h s e ta
Construction or an application can be
Appropriate Process Model
varey of specialist groups when we will involve iterati ach distinguished from its installation. It is
acvities will finished so
Sungbehas
that
always beenthere
we know
one. will
Figure 4.7 illustrates
activities
whicn might

process how a sequential macro processxes can ishOkn

needed th approaches ror nese two stages. For example, possible to use
difterent
ities. Within this
m a c r o process
be micro one-shot strategy but then be
released to its
an
application
could be constructed using a watertall
n e use or ime-boxes is Pose
installation strategies that are not feasible areusers in increments. The
only combination of construction or
With iterative
micro processes,
other than evolutionary. the evolutionary and
installation with any construction approach
on a number of lterative sub-processes.
control at the macro level. Whenever uncertainty is high, an
evolutionary approach needs to be favoured. An example of this situation
would be where the users' requirements are not
but there are many complexities, as with a clearly defined. Where the requirements are relatively certain
large embedded needing a large amount of code, then an
Macro process
Stop/checkpoint incremental approach is favoured. Where deadlines are system
approach 1s favoured over a tight, then either an evolutionary or an incremental
one-shot strategy, as both tactics should
Micro process at the deadline, even if it is not all that
allow at least something to be delivered
was originally
would do well to note this. promised. Students about to plan final-year proects
terate as
required Selection of an appropriate process model for a
project can
istics of the software to be developed, the characteristics of thedepend several issues such as the character-
on

For development of simple and well-understood development team, and those of the customer.
applications, the waterfall model should be sufficient. In
fact, the waterfall model should be preferred in this case as it is an efficient
Macro process
Stop/checkpoint model for well-understood
projects undertaken by experienced programmers. Furthermore, the waterfall model results in
Micro process good documents. production of
If the development team is entirely novice, then even the
Iterate asS
development of a simple application may require
an incremental or prototyping model to be adopted. An incremental
required delivery model is usually suitable for
object-oriented development projects. The spiral model would be appropriate, if the project is large and
it is
not possible to anticipate the
project risks at the start of the project. The user interface part is usually
Macro process developed using anthe prototyping ormodel. If the customer is unsure about some features of the software to be
Stop/checkpoint developed, then evolutionary an agile model would possibly be the best choice. Where deadlines
tight, an evolutionary, incremental, or agile approach should be favoured over a one-shot strategy, as at least
are

Micro process
something would get delivered by the deadline. Students about to plan their final-year projects should make
Iterate as a note of this.
required

Exercise 4.6
FiGURE 4.7 A A travel agency needs software for automating its book-keeping activities. The set of activities
macro process containing three iterative micro processes travel agency has
be automated are rather simple and are at present being carried out manually. The