UNIT-V

Software Project
A Software Project is the complete procedure of software development from requirement gathering to testing and maintenance, carried out
according to the execution methodologies, in a specified period of time to achieve intended software product.
A project is well-defined task, which is a collection of several operations done in order to achieve a goal (for example, software development
and delivery).
Software Project Management is the collection of techniques used to develop and deliver various types of software products.
The Management Spectrum : The management spectrum describes the management of a software project or how to make a project
successful. It focuses on the four P’s; people, product, process and project. Here, the manager of the project has to control all these P’s to
have a smooth flow in the project progress and to reach the goal.
The four P’s of management spectrum has been described briefly in below.
The People: People of a project includes from manager to developer, from customer to end user. But mainly people of a project highlight
the developers. It is so important to have highly skilled and motivated developers that the Software Engineering Institute has developed a
People Management Capability Maturity Model (PM-CMM), “to enhance the readiness of software organizations to undertake increasingly
complex applications by helping to attract, grow, motivate, deploy, and retain the talent needed to improve their software development
capability”. Organizations that achieve high levels of maturity in the people management area have a higher likelihood of implementing
effective software engineering practices.
The Product: Product is any software that has to be developed. To develop successfully, product objectives and scope should be established,
alternative solutions should be considered, and technical and management constraints should be identified. Without this information, it is
impossible to define reasonable and accurate estimates of the cost, an effective assessment of risk, a realistic breakdown of project tasks or
a manageable project schedule that provides a meaningful indication of progress.
The Process: A software process provides the framework from which a comprehensive plan for software development can be established. A
number of different tasks sets— tasks, milestones, work products, and quality assurance points—enable the framework activities to be
adapted to the characteristics of the software project and the requirements of the project team. Finally, umbrella activities overlay the
process model. Umbrella activities are independent of any one framework activity and occur throughout the process.
The Project: Here, the manager has to do some job. The project includes all and everything of the total development process and to avoid
project failure the manager has to take some steps, has to be concerned about some common warnings etc.
Project Estimation
For an effective management accurate estimation of various measures is a must. With correct estimation managers can manage and control
the project more efficiently and effectively. Project estimation may involve the following:
Software size estimation:-Software size may be estimated either in terms of KLOC (Kilo Line of Code) or by calculating number of function
points in the software. Lines of code depend upon coding practices and Function points vary according to the user or software requirement.
Effort estimation:-The managers estimate efforts in terms of personnel requirement and man-hour required to produce the software. For
effort estimation software size should be known. This can either be derived by managers’ experience, organization’s historical data or
software size can be converted into efforts by using some standard formulae.
Time estimation:-Once size and efforts are estimated, the time required to produce the software can be estimated. Efforts required is
segregated into sub categories as per the requirement specifications and interdependency of various components of software. Software
tasks are divided into smaller tasks, activities or events by Work Breakthrough Structure (WBS). The tasks are scheduled on day-to-day basis
or in calendar months.
The sum of time required to complete all tasks in hours or days is the total time invested to complete the project.
Cost estimation:-This might be considered as the most difficult of all because it depends on more elements than any of the previous ones.
For estimating project cost, it is required to consider -
o Size of software
o Software quality
o Hardware
o Additional software or tools, licenses etc.
o Skilled personnel with task-specific skills
o Travel involved
o Communication
o Training and support
Project Scheduling
Project Scheduling in a project refers to roadmap of all activities to be done with specified order and within time slot allotted to each
activity. Project managers tend to define various tasks, and project milestones and them arrange them keeping various factors in mind. They
look for tasks lie in critical path in the schedule, which are necessary to complete in specific manner (because of task interdependency) and
strictly within the time allocated. Arrangement of tasks which lies out of critical path are less likely to impact over all schedule of the project.
For scheduling a project, it is necessary to -
 Break down the project tasks into smaller, manageable form
 Find out various tasks and correlate them
 Estimate time frame required for each task
 Divide time into work-units
 Assign adequate number of work-units for each task
 Calculate total time required for the project from start to finish.
Staffing Plan
The staffing plan describes the number of individuals required for a project. It includes selecting and assigning tasks to the project
management team members. It provides information about appropriate skills required to perform the tasks to produce the project
deliverables and manage the project. In addition, it provides information of resources such as tools, equipment, and processes used by the
project management team.
Staff planning is performed by a staff planner, who is responsible for determining the individuals available for the project.
The staffing plan comprises the following sections.
General information: Provides information such as name of the project and project manager who is responsible for the project. In addition,
it specifies the start and end dates of the project.
Skills assessment: Provides information, which is required for assessment of skills. This information includes the knowledge, skill, and ability
of team members who are required to achieve the objectives of the project. In addition, it specifies the number of team members required
for the project.
Staffing profile: Describes the profile of the staff required for the project. The profile includes calendar time, individuals involved, and level
of commitment. Calendar time specifies the period of time such as month or quarter for which individuals are required to complete the
project. Individuals who are involved in the project have specific designations such as project manager and the developer. Level of
commitment is the utilization rate of individuals such as work performed on full-time and part-time basis.
Organization chart: Describes the organization of project management team members. In addition, it includes information such as name,
designation, and role of each team member.
Software Configuration Management
Configuration management is a process of tracking and controlling the changes in software in terms of the requirements, design, functions
and development of the product. IEEE defines it as “the process of identifying and defining the items in the system, controlling the change of
these items throughout their life cycle, recording and reporting the status of items and change requests, and verifying the completeness and
correctness of items”. Generally, once the SRS is finalized there is less chance of requirement of changes from user. If they occur, the
changes are addressed only with prior approval of higher management, as there is a possibility of cost and time overrun.
Structured vs unstructured maintenance
 Unstructured maintenance wades straight into the source code and makes changes based on that alone
 Structured maintenance examines and modifies the original design, and then reworks the code to match it

 Clearly structured maintenance is a more reliable and (usually) a more efficient process

 Unfortunately, it's not always possible