©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.1

Managing IS Projects

• Planning– Decomposing Project into Activities

– Estimating resources

– Developing a schedule

– Setting standards

• Execution– Allocation of resources

– Monitoring the progress

– Plan revisions

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.2

Figure 3-4A Project Manager Juggles Numerous Items during a Project

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.3

Project Planning Tools and Techniques

• Gantt Chart– Shows the final plan

• Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

• Critical Path Method (CPM)

• Project Management Software (MS Project)

• Version Management Software

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.4

Figure 3-10aA Gantt Chart

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.5

Figure 3-10bA PERT Chart

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.6

Figure 3-12PERT Chart Showing Activities and Sequence

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.7

Figure 3-17PERT Chart for the SPTS Project

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.8

Uncertainty in Duration Estimations

• The duration is expressed using– Optimistic– Pessimistic– Most likely times

• Some assumptions about distributions• PERT analysis gives details such as the

probability of completing the project in a given number of periods

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.9

Figure 3-22Gantt Chart showing Progress on Activities versus Planned Durations

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.10

Complexities in IS project Management

Difficult to• decompose the project into separate

activities• identify sequential relationships• estimate cost and time for a given allocation

of resources• estimate the impact of additional resources

on time and cost

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.11

Time Estimation Using a More Complex Approach

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.12

Estimation Trade-offs

• Size– Function points– Lines of code

• Effort– Person-months

• Time– Months

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.13

Time and Cost estimation in Systems Projects 

• COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model)– c = l where c = man-months needed, l is the

number of lines of code– The parameters andwill be estimated

using historical data.– For each new project, l will be estimated.

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.14

Function point model

•  The functional specification document is used.

• The complexity of each functional requirement is determined using the number of inputs, outputs, and files used and the logic complexity.

• Historical data is used to estimate time and cost based on this complexity measure.

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.15

Function Point Estimation-- Step One

Complexity

Description Low Medium High Total

Inputs __x 3 __x 4 __x 6 ____

Outputs __x 4 __x 5 __x 7 ____

Queries __x 3 __x 4 __x 6 ____

Files __x 7 __x 10 __x 15 ____

Program __x 5 __x 7 __x 10 ____Interfaces

TOTAL UNADJUSTED FUNCTION POINTS ____

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.16

Function Points Estimation-- Step Two

Scale of 1 to 5

Data Communications _____Heavy Use Configuration _____Transaction Rate _____End-User efficiency _____Complex Processing _____Installation Ease _____Multiple sites _____Performance _____Distributed functions _____On-line data entry _____On-line update _____Reusability _____Operational Ease _____Extensibility _____

Project Complexity (PC) _____

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.17

Function Point Estimation -- Step 3

Processing Complexity (PC): ________(From Step 2)

Adjusted Processing Complexity (PCA) = 0.65 + (0.001 * ____ )

Total Adjusted Function Points: _____ * ____ = (TUFP -- From Step 1)

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.18

Function Points Estimation-- Step Four

Adjusted Project Complexity

= .065 + (0.01 * Project Complexity)

Total Adjusted Function Points

=

Adjusted Project Complexity * TUFP

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.19

Converting Function Points to Lines of Code

Source: Capers Jones, Software Productivity Research

Language LOC/Function Code Point

CCOBOLJAVAC++Turbo PascalVisual BasicPowerBuilderHTMLPackages (e.g., Access, Excel)

130110 55 50 50 30 15 1510-40

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.20

Estimating Schedule Time

• Rule of thumb for estimation

Schedule Time (months)

=

3.0 * person-months1/3

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.21

Allocation of Human Resources in IS projects

• How many programmers/designers/analysts?– Mythical man-month

• An increase in human resources for an activity doesn’t necessarily reduce the duration; coordination issues

• Project deadline setting– Should you add slack or not?

• Adding slack doesn’t necessarily complete the project on time

• 80-20 Rule: The core of the work is done in 20% of the budgeted time

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.22

Timeboxing

• Fixed deadline

• Reduced functionality, if necessary

• Fewer “finishing touches”

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.23

Timeboxing Steps

• Set delivery date

– Deadline should not be impossible

– Should be set by development group

• Prioritize features by importance

• Build the system core

• Postpone unfinished functionality

• Deliver the system with core functionality

• Repeat steps 3-5 to add refinements and enhancements

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 3.24

Classic Mistakes

• Overly optimistic schedule

• Failing to monitor schedule

• Failing to update schedule

• Adding people to a late project