Common Activities

1
Common Activities

• Activities and Tasks in the WBS

2
Outline of Today's Lecture

• Common Terms
• IEEE 1074
• Standard Processes for Life Cycles
• Example Problem
• creating a goal statement
• writing a SOW
• planning activities
• etc

3
Jargon Alert!

• Activity A major unit of work to be completed
  in achieving the objectives of a software
  project. An activity has precise starting and
  ending dates, incorporates a set of tasks to be
  completed, consumes resources and results in work
  products. An activity may include other
  activities in a hierarchical manner.

IEEE Std 1058 Standard for Software Project
Management Plans
4
Jargon Alert!

• Task The smallest unit of work subject to
  management accountability. A task is a well
  defined work assignment for one or more project
  members. The specification of work to be
  accomplished in completing a task is documented
  in a work package. Related tasks are usually
  grouped to form activities.

IEEE Std 1058 Standard for Software Project
Management Plans
5
Jargon Alert!

• Project Function An activity that spans the
  entire duration of a software project. Examples
  of project functions include project management,
  configuration management, quality assurance, and
  verification and validation.

IEEE Std 1058 Standard for Software Project
Management Plans
6
Jargon Alert!

• Work Package A specification for the work to be
  accomplished in completing an activity or task.
  A work package defines the work product(s), the
  staffing requirements, the expected duration, the
  resources to be used, the acceptance criteria for
  the work products, the name of the responsible
  individual, and any special considerations for
  the work.

IEEE Std 1058 Standard for Software Project
Management Plans
7
Jargon Summary

• A SPMP contains the WBS.
• The WBS is made up of a list of Activities.
• Activities are made up of Tasks.

8
Activity Planning Objectives

• Feasibility Assessment
• Resource Allocation
• Resource amounts and timing
• Detailed Costing
• Motivation
• Providing targets and monitoring achievement vs
  targets
• Coordination between Teams

Software Project Management by Hughes and
Cotterell
9
IEEE 1074 Activity Groups

• Software Life Cycle Model Planning
• Project Management
• Predevelopment
• Development
• Post-Development
• Integral

10
IEEE 1074

• Software Life Cycle Model Planning
• Project Management
• Predevelopment
• Development
• Post-Development
• Integral

• Software Life Cycle Model Planning
• 1. Map the SLCM to project needs
• Project Management
• 2. Project Initialization
• 3. Project Monitoring and control
• 4. Software Quality Management

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IEEE 1074

• Software Life Cycle Model Planning
• Project Management
• Predevelopment
• Development
• Post-Development
• Integral

• Predevelopment
• 5. Concept Exploration
• 6. System Allocation
• Development
• 7. Requirements
• 8. Design
• 9. Implementation

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IEEE 1074

• Software Life Cycle Model Planning
• Project Management
• Predevelopment
• Development
• Post-Development
• Integral

• Post-Development
• 10. Installation
• 11. Operation and Support
• 12. Maintenance
• 13. Retirement

13
IEEE 1074

• Software Life Cycle Model Planning
• Project Management
• Predevelopment
• Development
• Post-Development
• Integral

• Integral
• 14. Verification and Validation
• 15. Software Configuration Management
• 16. Documentation Development
• 17. Training

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IEEE 1074 Activities

• Development
• 7. Requirements
• 24. Define and Development Software Requirements
• 25. Define Interface Requirements
• 26. Prioritize and Integrate Software
  Requirements
• 9. Implementation
• 32. Create Test Data
• 33. Create Source Code
• 34. Generate Object Code
• 35. Create Operating Documentation
• 36. Plan Integration
• 37. Perform Integration

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Example Problem

• Analysis of various data sets (production
  equipment, sales orders) to automatically
  forecast raw materials needs for purchasing
• Experience and a quick survey of industry revels
  that the needed software to be produced will be
  unique in nature

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Approach

• Build it a piece at a time
• start with easy decision
• feasibility of getting the needed data, determine
  algorithms, etc.
• second version will address overall look and feel
• third version will implement most important
  decision
• create something that concretely shows project's
  value
• repeat until done

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Step One - getting organized

• create a goal statement
• identify the key players
• keepers of data
• champions of the project
• final decision makers
• etc

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Step Two - Write the SOW

• Statement of Work Contents
• Goal
• Scope
• Deliverables
• Criteria for Success
• etc

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Step Three - Process Model Selection

• Spiral Life Cycle
• Gather Requirements
• Design
• Code
• Test
• Repeat

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Step Four - Plan Activities

• How do we decide what all we need to do?
• Based on Past WBSs
• Based on Brainstorming about Tasks
• Based on IEEE 1074

?
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Step Four - Using 1074 to select activities

• 6. Plan Project Management
• 7. Analyze Risks
• 9. Manage the Project
• 10. Retain Records
• 11. Implement Problem Reporting
• 15. Identify Quality Improvement Needs
• 16. Identify ideas and needs
• 17. Formulate Potential Approaches

• 25. Define Interface Requirements
• 28. Define Database
• 29. Design Interfaces
• 30. Develop Algorithms
• 32. Create Test Data
• 33. Create Source Code
• 37. Perform Integration
• 50. Execute VV Tasks
• 54. Execute the Tests

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Step Five - Build the Work Breakdown

• Major Activities in the WBS
• 1. Project Functions
• 2. Feasibility
• 3. Interface Architecture
• 4. Most Important Problem
• 5. Next Problem
• 6. Re-Evaluation of Project
• 7. Development Continuation
• 8. Deployment

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Step Five - Build WBS

• 1. Project Functions
• 1.1 Retain Records (10)
• 1.2 Plan Configuration Management (55)
• 1.3 Perform Configuration Control (57)
• 1.4 Collect and Analyze Metric Data (51)
• 1.5 Produce Internal Documentation (61)

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Step Five - Build WBS

• 2. Feasibility
• 2.1 Analysis
• 2.1.1 Identify Major Needs (16)
• 2.1.2 Formulate Potential Approaches(17)
• 2.1.3 Decide what is easiest to do.
• 2.2 Design
• 2.2.1 Design Database (28)
• 2.2.2 Design Interfaces (29)
• 2.2.3 Develop Algorithm (30)

• 2.3 Code
• 2.3.1 Create Test Data (32)
• 2.3.2 Create Source Code (33)
• 2.4 Test
• 2.4.1 Execute Tests (54)
• 2.4.2 Execute VV (50)
• 2.4.2.1 Is this Worthwhile?
• 2.4.2.2 Determine key problem for next phase
• 2.4.2.3 Decide if to go forward

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• Step Six - Estimate Size and Duration
• Step Seven - Estimate Cost
• Step Eight - Use WBS and size estimates to create
  project plan
• Step Nine - Begin Activities 1 and 2

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Next Time

• Before we can build a work plan, we need to know
  how much time everything will take, how many
  people we need, how much money
• In other words, estimating