THE UNIVERSITY OF LAHORE

Course Outline
Spring Semester February 2014
Session 2014

CS-5310 Software Project Management

Effective Date: 11February, 2014
SCU
Co-requisite (s)
Pre-requisite(s)
Weekly tuition pattern
Teaching Team

3 Credit(s)
None
Introduction to Software Engineering (CS4347)
2 sessions (90 min session)
Madeeha Fatima

Syllabus Designed By: Dr. Ali Afzal Malik

1-

Course Description
To develop ability to plan and manage software development projects successfully,
maximizing the return from each stage of the software development life cycle.

2- Objectives
The course mainly aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. Equips the students with the tools and techniques required for the effective end-to-end
management of software projects.
2. Offers practical advice from real examples to facilitate the selection of the right
technique for a particular project. Instead of focusing solely on the technical
problems.
3. Addresses the social and the organizational concerns that are frequently responsible
for project failure.
4. Defines the topics relevant to the local software development industry (e.g.
management of outsourced projects, software process improvement, etc.)

3-

Student Learning Outcomes

By the completion of this course, the students should able to:
1. Know the tools and techniques to practice the effective end-to-end management of
software projects.
2. Able to select the right technique for a particular project, instead of focusing solely on
the technical problems.
3. Know the social and the organizational concerns that can cause a project failure.
4. Have awareness about local software development industry concepts like how to
efficiently manage the outsourced projects etc.

4- Course Structure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

5-

Presentation by lecturer
Group discussion
Assignments
Presentations
Quizzes

Course Duration
This course will be held twice a week of 3 hours (each 90 min session) class duration.

6-

Course style
The course will be delivered in a classroom environment.

7- Additional Course Requirement

In addition to the objectives of this course, students are expected to gain skills which
would be needed in the professional work environment. These skills include but not
limited to: Writing, Presentation, Decision Making and Teamwork.

8-

Text and Other Resources

8.1

Text

1. Professional Issues in Software Engineering, M.F. Bott et al.

8.2 Other Resources

1. Bob Hughes and Mike Cotterell , Software Project Management, 2005, McGraw Hill
Higher Education
2. Dwayne Phillips. The Software Project Manager's Handbook - Principles that work at
work. 2nd Edition, IEEE Computer Society Press and Wiley Interscience, 2004. ISBN
0-471-67420-6

9-

Course Outline

The lecturers are supposed to complete the following topics/sub-topics before the
mid/final term examination as prescribed in the course outline below:

Week

Lecture

Lecture
No.1
Lecture
No.2

Topics/Sub-Topics

Chapter 1 : Introduction
Why do software projects fail?
How can we make sure that our projects succeed?

Chapter 2 : Project Planning

Lecture
No.1
Lecture

Project Management, identifying needs, vision and scope documents, Project Plan
Project Planning Problems: Lack of leadership, The Mid-course correction, The

No.2

detached Engineering team, Fixing Planning Problems

Chapter 3: Estimation

Lecture
No.1

What is estimation, Assumptions make estimate more accurate, Wideband Delphi

Process, other estimations techniques (PROBE, COCOMO II, The Planning
Game

Lecture
No.2

Project Estimation Problems: Padded estimations generate distrust, SelfFulfilling Prophecy, Fixing Estimation Problems+

Chapter 4: Project Schedules

Lecture
No.1

What is a project schedule? Scheduling concepts, Building the project

schedule: identifying dependencies, critical path analysis, Dont abuse
buffers, Project metrics

Lecture
No.2

Working Backwards From a Deadline, Misunderstood Predecessors, Fixing

Scheduling Problems

Chapter 5 : Reviews
Lecture
No.1

Types of reviews: Inspections, Desk checks, Walkthroughs, Code review,

Pair programming

Lecture
No.2

Problems Are Found Too Late, Big, Useless Meetings, The Indispensable Hero,
Fixing Review Problems

Chapter 6: Software Requirements

Lecture
No.1

Software requirements, Use cases, Functional Requirements, Nonfunctional

Requirements, Software Requirements Specification, Requirement vs
design, Change Control

Lecture
No.2

Iteration Abuse, Scope Creep, Fixing Requirements Problems,

Chapter 7: Design and Programming

Lecture
No.1

Review the design, Version Control, Refactoring, Unit Testing, Everyone is

responsible for quality, Project Automation

Lecture
No.2

Haunted by Ghosts of old Problems, Broken Builds, Spaghetti Code, Fixing

Programming Problems

Chapter 8: Software Testing

Lecture
No.1
Lecture
No.2

Quality, Test Plans, Test Cases, Test Execution, Defect Tracking, Smoke Tests, Test
Automation, Postmortem Reports
Requirements Havent Been Implemented, Obvious Bugs Slipped Through, But It
Worked For Us, Fixing Testing Problems

MID-TERM EXAMINATION

10

Chapter 9: Understanding Change

Lecture

Why Change Fails, Change is Uncomfortable, Common Excuses

No.1
Lecture
No.2

11

How to Make Change Succeed, Prepare Your Organization, Plan for

Change, Push for Consensus

Chapter 10: Management and Leadership

Lecture
No.1
Lecture
No.2

Responsibility, Authority, and Accountability, Delegation, Transparency

Manage the Organization, Manage Your Team

Chapter 11 : Managing Outsourced Projects

12

Lecture
No.1
Lecture
No.2

Prevent Project Failure, Estimate the Work, Actively Manage the Project, The
Vendors Management, The Project Team
Collaborate With the Vendor, Maintain Tracking and Oversight, Design and
Programming, Software Quality, Dont blindly Trust the Vendor

Chapter 12: Process Improvement

13

Lecture
No.1
Lecture
No.2

Life Without a Formal Process, Software Process improvement, Frameworks and

Methodologies, Capability Maturity Model
ISO 9000, Six Sigma, Extreme Programming, Rational Unified Process

Research Paper Presentations

14

Lecture
No.1
Lecture
No.2

Presentations

Research Paper Presentations

15

Lecture
No.1
Lecture
No.2

Presentations

16

10-

FINAL EXAMINATION

Assessment Criteria
No.
1.
2.

Assessment
Mid Exam
Final Exam

Percentage
25%
35%

3.
4.
5.
6.

11-

Assignments
Quizzes
Project
Research
Presentation

Paper

15%
10%
5%
10%

Total

100%

Attendance Requirements
You are expected to attend all lectures, seminars, tutorials, and lab sessions or any other
classroom activity. Where you fail to attend classes, you cannot expect the lecturer to
brief you on what you have missed. You are responsible for your attendance, not the
academic staff. Attendance at tutorials and lab sessions will be strictly monitored, and
failure to attend will be taken into account.

12-

Submission and Collection of Assignment

All assignments should be handed in at the beginning of the class sessions when they are
due. All assignments may be handed back during scheduled classes.

13-

General Information
Students are required to be familiar with the university code Conduct, and to abide by its
terms and conditions.
13.1 Copying of Copyright Material By Student
A condition of acceptance as a student is the obligation to abide by the Universitys
policy on the copying of copyright material. This obligation covers photocopying of any
material using the Universitys photocopying machines, and the recording off air, and
making subsequent copies, of radio or television broadcasts, and photocopying textbooks.
Students who flagrantly disregard University policy and copyright requirements will be
liable to disciplinary action under the Code of Conduct.
13.2 Academic Misconduct
Please refer to the Code of Conduct for definitions and penalties for Academic
Misconduct, plagiarism, collusion, and other specific acts of academic dishonesty.
Academic honesty is crucial to a student's credibility and self-esteem, and ultimately
reflects the values and morals of the University as a whole. A student may work together
with one or a group of students discussing assignment content, identifying relevant
references, and debating issues relevant to the subject. Academic investigation is not
limited to the views and opinions of one individual, but is built by forming opinion based
on past and present work in the field. It is legitimate and appropriate to synthesize the
work of others, provided that such work is clearly and accurately referenced. Plagiarism
occurs when the work (including such things as text, figures, ideas, or conceptual
structure, whether verbatim or not) created by another person or persons is used and
presented as ones own creation, unless the source of each quotation or piece of borrowed
material is acknowledged with an appropriate citation. Encouraging or assisting another
person to commit plagiarism is a form of improper collusion and may attract the same
penalties. To prevent Academic Misconduct occurring, students are expected to

familiarize themselves with the University policy, the Subject Outline statements, and
specific assignment guidelines.
13.3 Guidelines to Avoid Plagiarism
Whenever you copy more than a few words from any source, you must acknowledge that
source by putting the quote in quotation marks and providing the name of the author. Full
details must be provided in your bibliography. If you copy a diagram, statistical table,
map, etc., you must acknowledge the source. The recommended way is to show this
under the diagram. If you quote any statistics in your text, the source should be
acknowledged. Again full details must be provided in your bibliography. Whenever you
use the ideas of any other author you should acknowledge those, using the APA
(American Psychological Association) style of referencing.
Students are encouraged to co-operate, but collusion is a form of cheating. Students may
use any sources (acknowledged of course) other than the assignments of fellow students.
Unless your Subject Leader informs you otherwise, the following guideline should be
used: Students may work together in obtaining references, discussing the content of the
references and discussing the assignment, but when they write, they must write alone.
13.4 Referencing For Written Work
Referencing is necessary to acknowledge others' ideas, avoid plagiarism, and allow
readers to access those others ideas. Referencing should:
1. Acknowledge others' ideas
2. Allow readers to find the source
3. Be consistent in format and
4. Acknowledge the source of the referencing format
To attain these qualities, the school recommends use of either the Harvard or American
Psychological Association style of referencing, both of which use the author/date.
13.5
Referencing Standards
APA style referencing

Approval

Prepared By :
Madeeha Fatima

Approved by,

Lecturer(University Of Lahore)

Dr. Aftab Ahmad Malik

Dean/Head of Department
Dept. Computer Science & IT