Software Engineering

Module-4

4.1 Introduction to software project management

Project Management is the discipline of defining and achieving targets while optimizing the
use of resources (time, money, people, materials, energy, space, etc) over the course of a project
(a set of activities of finite duration).

4.2 Why is project management important?

1. Effective Planning and Organization:

Project management ensures proper planning, defining objectives, allocating
resources, and organizing tasks to achieve desired outcomes efficiently.
2. Resource Allocation and Optimization:
It involves managing resources such as time, budget, manpower, and materials
effectively, ensuring efficient utilization to avoid wastage and delays.
3. Risk Mitigation and Contingency Planning:
Identifying potential risks, creating contingency plans, and managing uncertainties to
minimize negative impacts on project timelines and deliverables.
4. Goal Alignment and Clarity:
Project management establishes clear objectives, milestones, and deliverables,
aligning them with the organization's goals and vision.
5. Stakeholder Management and Communication:
It involves engaging stakeholders, communicating progress, managing expectations,
and ensuring their involvement and satisfaction throughout the project lifecycle.
6. Quality Control and Assurance:
Monitoring and maintaining quality standards throughout the project to deliver a high-
quality end product or service.
7. Adaptability and Flexibility:
The ability to adapt to changing requirements, scope adjustments, and unforeseen
circumstances while keeping the project on track.
8. Project Control and Monitoring:
Regularly tracking progress, evaluating performance against set benchmarks, and
making necessary adjustments to achieve project goals.

The 5 Variables of Project Control

1. Time - amount of time required to complete the project.

2. Cost - calculated from the time variable

3. Quality - The amount of time put into individual tasks determines the overall quality of the
project.

4. Scope - Requirements specified for the end result.

5. Risk - Potential points of failure.

Trade – off triangle:

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The triangle illustrates the relationship between three primary forces in a project. Time is the
available time to deliver the project, cost represents the amount of money or resources available
and quality represents the fit-to-purpose that the project must achieve to be a success.

The normal situation is that one of these factors is fixed and the other two will vary in inverse
proportion to each other. For example time is often fixed and the quality of the end product
will depend on the cost or resources available. Similarly if you are working to a fixed level of
quality then the cost of the project will largely be dependent upon the time available (if you
have longer you can do it with fewer people).

Project definition What is a project?

Some dictionary definitions: By Longmans dictionary

“A specific plan or design” “A planned undertaking”

“A large undertaking e.g. a public works scheme”

Key points above are planning and size of task

Projects

• Projects seem to come somewhere between these two extremes. There are usually
well- defined hoped-for outcomes but there are risks and uncertainties about
achieving those outcomes.
• A software project can be defined as a planned activity that describes how we are
going to carry out a task before we start.
• It is a planned activity about developing a software before u actually design and
implement it.

The following characteristics distinguish projects :

• Non-routine tasks are involved;
• Planning is required;
• Specific objectives are to be met or a specified product is to be created; r the project
has a predetermined time span;

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• Work is carried out for someone other than yourself;

• Work involves several specialisms;
• People are formed into a temporary work group to carry out the task;
• Work is carried out in several phases;
• The resources that are available for use on the project are constrained;
• the project is large or complex.

4.3 Contract management

Contract management versus technical project management

Projects can be:

• In-house: clients and developers are employed by the same organization

• Out-sourced: clients and developers employed by different organizations
• ̳Project manager‘ could be:
• – a ̳contract manager‘ in the client organization
• – a technical project manager in the supplier/services organization

4.4 Activities Covered by Software Project Management

software project is not only concerned with the actual writing of software. Usually there are
three successive processes that bring a new system into being - see Figure 1 .2.

1. The feasibility study assesses whether a project is worth starting that it has a valid business
case. information is gathered about requirements of the proposed application. Requirements
elicitation can, at least initially, be complex and difficult. The stakeholders may know the aims
they wish to pursue, but not be sure about the means of achievement. The developmental and
operational costs, and the value of the benefits of the new system, will also have to be estimated.
with a large system, the feasibility study could be a project in its own right with its own plan.
The study could be part of a strategic planning exercise examining a range of potential software
developments. Sometimes an organization assesses a programme of development made up of
a number of projects.

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2. Planning: if the feasibility study indicates that the prospective project appears viable, then
project planning can start. For larger projects, we would not do all our detailed planning at the
beginning. We create an outline plan for the whole project and a detailed one for the first stage.
Because we will have more detailed and accurate project information after the earlier stages of
the project have been completed, planning of the later stages is left to nearer their start.

3.Execution : Implement plan, but plan may be changed as we go along

The software development life-cycle (ISO 12207)

The software development life cycle is a technical model. It identifies the technical
constraints on the order activities are done. This does NOT imply that a ̳waterfall‘ approach is
the only way to organize projects. The technical model could be implemented as increments
or in an evolutionary manner.

ISO 12207 life-cycles are:

1. Requirements analysis
2. Architecture Design
3. Code and test
4. Installation \ Acceptance support

Requirements analysis

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– Requirements eli-ci-tation(kindle): what does the client need?

– Analysis: converting ̳customer-facing‘ requirements into equivalents that developers can

understand

– Requirements will cover • Functions

• Quality
• Resource constraints i.e. costs

Requirement analysis has to face in (at least) two different directions. It needs to
communicate and elicit the requirements of the users, speaking in their language. It needs to
organize and translate those requirements into a form that developers can understand and
relate to.
Architecture Design

Software Requirements Components

– Based on system requirements

– Defines components of system: hardware, software, organizational – Software requirements
will come out of this

Code and test

– Of individual components (separately coded and tested)

• Integration

– Putting the components together

• Qualification testing(the whole system)

– Testing the system (not just the software)

• Installation(meaning most like implementation) Install –Complete System

– The process of making the system operational

– Includes setting up standing data, setting system parameters, installing on

operational hardware platforms, user training etc

• Acceptance support
– Including maintenance and enhancement

4.5 Plans, methods and methodologies

A plan for an activity must be based on some idea of a method of work. For example, if
you were asked to test some software, you may know nothing about the software to be
tested, but you could assume that you would need to:

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• Analyse the requirements for the software.

• devise and write test cases that will check that each requirement has been satisfied.
• Create test scripts and expected results for each test case.
• compare the actual results and the expected results and identify discrepancies.

While a method relates to a type of activity in general, a plan takes one or more methods and
converts them into real activities by identifying:

Start and end dates

Who will carry it out
What tools and materials would be needed.

• A methodology is a set of related methods. Strictly speaking ̳methodology‘ ought to mean

the study of methods!

4.6 Some ways of categorizing projects

Distinguishing different types of project is important as different types of task need different
project approaches e.g.

• Voluntary systems (such as computer games –what game will do?) versus compulsory
systems e.g. the order processing system in an organization(recording a sale)
• Information systems(Enable staff to carry out office processes) versus embedded
systems(process control-which controls machine)
• Objective-based versus product-based-With objective-based projects, a general
objective or problem is defined, and there are several different ways in which that
objective could be reached. The project team have freedom to select what appears to be
the most appropriate approach.

With product-based projects, the product is already very strictly defined and the
development team’s job is to implement the specification with which they have been
presented.

4.7 Stakeholders

Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by the project actives.

Stakeholders include
The project sponsor and project team
Support staff
Customers
Users
Suppliers
Opponents to the project

These are people who have a stake or interest in the project In general, they could be
users/clients or developers/implementers

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Stakeholders can be categorized as

• Internal to the project team: This means that they will be under the direct managerial
control of the project leader.
• External to the project team but within the same organization: This means that they
will be under the direct managerial control of the project leader.
• External to both the project team and the organization : External stakeholders may be
customers (or users) who will benefit from the system that the project implements.

Different stakeholders may have different objectives – need to define common project
objectives .Project Leader is to recognize these different interests (good
Communicator/Negotiator)

4.8 Setting objectives

• ̳What do we have to do to have a success?’

• Need for a project authority
– Sets the project scope
– Allocates/approves costs
• Could be one person - or a group (Project Authority-most important-control- finance-
monitor-modify objectives)
– Project Board
– Project Management Board
– Steering committee

Objectives

Informally, the objective of a project can be defined by completing the statement: The
project will be regarded as a success if..........
Rather like post-conditions for the project, Focus on what will be put in place, rather
than how activities will be carried out

objectives should be SMART

S – specific, that is, concrete and well-defined
M – measurable, that is, satisfaction of the objective can be objectively judged

A – achievable, that is, it is within the power of the individual or group concerned to
meet the target

R – relevant/Resource Constrained, the objective must relevant to the true purpose of

the project

T – time constrained: there is defined point in time by which the objective should

be achieved

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Goals/sub-objectives:

These are steps along the way to achieve the objective. Informally, these can be defined
by completing the sentence.

1. Objective X will be achieved If the following goals are all achieved

A............... B............... C............... etc.

Often a goal can be allocated to an individual.

Individual may have the capability of achieving goal, but not the objective on their own

e.g. Objective–user satisfaction with software product

Analyst goal–accurate requirements

Developer goal–software that is reliable

Measures of effectiveness

-means How do we know that the goal or objective has been achieved?

– By a practical test, that can be objectively assessed. e.g. for user satisfaction with software
product:

• – Repeat business –they buy further products from us

• – Number of complaints –if low etc etc

Measures of effectiveness provide practical methods of checking that an objective has been
met. 'Mean time between failures' (mtbf ) might, for example, be used to measure reliability.
This is a performance measurement and, as such, can only be taken once the system is
operational. Project managers want to get some idea of the performance of the completed
system as it is being constructed. They will therefore seek predictive measures. For example, a
large number of errors found during code inspections might indicate potential problems with
reliability later.

4.9 BUSINESS CASE

A business case is a way to prove to your client, customer, or stakeholder that the product
you are developing is worth the investment. The need for a business case is that it collects the
proposal, outline, strategy and marketing plan in one document and offers a full look at how
the project will benefit the organization. A decent business case should contain the following:

1. Detail project report along with possible impacts, costs and benefits
2. Include all the necessary information’s related to the project
3. Should be clear and logical in comparing the cost benefits impact on alternative
project

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4. Systematically summarizing all the findings

Any project plan must ensure that the business case is kept intact. For example:

• that development costs are not allowed to rise to a level which threatens to exceed the
value of benefits;
• that the features of the system are not reduced to a level where the expected benefits
cannot be realized;
• that the delivery date is not delayed so

4.10 Project Success & Project Failure

Project Success

1. Clear Objectives:
o Well-defined and understood project objectives provide a clear direction for
the team. Stakeholders should have a shared understanding of what success
looks like.
2. Effective Communication:
o Open and transparent communication among team members, stakeholders, and
project managers is crucial. Effective communication helps prevent
misunderstandings and keeps everyone informed.
3. Stakeholder Involvement:
o Engaging key stakeholders throughout the project ensures that their needs and
expectations are considered. Regular feedback and collaboration help align the
project with stakeholders' goals.
4. Skilled Project Team:
o A competent and motivated project team with the right skills is essential.
Team members should be capable of executing their tasks and adapting to
changes.
5. Realistic Planning:
o A well-thought-out project plan with realistic timelines, milestones, and
resource allocation sets the foundation for successful execution. It helps
manage expectations and avoid unnecessary risks.
6. Adaptability:
o Projects often face changes in requirements, scope, or external factors.
Successful projects demonstrate adaptability to unforeseen circumstances and
the ability to adjust course when needed.
7. Quality Deliverables:
o Meeting or exceeding the quality standards defined for deliverables is crucial.
Successful projects produce outputs that meet customer expectations and
project requirements.
8. Effective Risk Management:
o Identifying, analyzing, and mitigating risks contribute to project success.
Proactive risk management helps minimize the impact of potential issues.
9. On-Time and On-Budget Delivery:
o Successful projects are completed within the agreed-upon timeframe and
budget. Timely delivery and financial adherence contribute to stakeholder
satisfaction.
10. Client Satisfaction:

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o Ultimately, the satisfaction of the project's end-users or clients is a key

measure of success. Meeting their expectations and delivering value is critical.

Project Failure:

1. Unclear Objectives:
o Projects with vague or constantly changing objectives may struggle to achieve
success. Lack of clarity can lead to misalignment and confusion.
2. Poor Communication:
o Inadequate communication can result in misunderstandings, missed deadlines,
and a lack of stakeholder engagement. Poor communication contributes to
project failure.
3. Inadequate Stakeholder Involvement:
o Neglecting the needs and expectations of key stakeholders can lead to a
project that does not align with the organization's goals or customer
requirements.
4. Lack of Skilled Resources:
o Insufficiently skilled or unmotivated team members can hinder project
progress. A lack of expertise may lead to errors, delays, and quality issues.
5. Unrealistic Planning:
o Unrealistic project plans, timelines, or resource estimates can set the project
up for failure. Poor planning leads to missed deadlines and budget overruns.
6. Inflexibility:
o Projects that are resistant to change or unable to adapt to evolving
circumstances may face insurmountable challenges. Flexibility is crucial,
especially in dynamic environments.
7. Poor Quality Deliverables:
o Deliverables that do not meet quality standards or user expectations can lead
to dissatisfaction and project failure.
8. Ineffective Risk Management:
o Neglecting risk management may result in unanticipated issues that derail the
project. Failure to identify and address risks can lead to project failure.
9. Budget and Schedule Overruns:
o Projects that exceed their budget or timeline without justification often face
scrutiny. Failure to manage resources effectively can lead to financial and
scheduling issues.
10. Client Dissatisfaction:
o If the end-users or clients are not satisfied with the project outcome, it is likely
considered a failure. Client dissatisfaction can harm relationships and future
opportunities.

4.10 What is management?

Management is a process of planning, decision making, organizing, leading, motivation

and controlling the human resources, financial, physical, and information resources of
an organization to reach its goals efficiently and effectively.

This involves the following activities:

1. Planning:
o Setting objectives and deciding in advance the best course of action to achieve

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them. Planning involves defining goals, identifying tasks, allocating resources, and
creating timelines.
2. Organizing:
o Arranging and structuring the organization's resources to carry out the planned
activities. This includes organizing tasks, teams, and resources in a way that
facilitates goal attainment.
3. Leading/Directing:
o Guiding and motivating individuals and teams to achieve organizational goals.
Leading involves communicating, inspiring, and influencing others to contribute their
best efforts.
4. Controlling:
o Monitoring and evaluating the progress of the organization toward its goals.
Controlling involves comparing actual performance against planned performance,
identifying deviations, and taking corrective actions.
5. Decision Making:
o Making choices from available alternatives to move the organization toward its
goals. Decision making is a critical aspect of management, and it involves analyzing
information, considering options, and selecting the best course of action.
6. Problem Solving:
o Addressing challenges and obstacles that arise during the course of operations.
Effective management requires the ability to identify and solve problems to keep
the organization on track.
7. Communication:
o Transmitting information within the organization and ensuring that there is clarity
and understanding among all stakeholders. Effective communication is vital for
coordination and teamwork.
8. Team Building:
o Developing and maintaining a cohesive and effective team. Managers need to foster
a positive team culture, encourage collaboration, and ensure that team members
are motivated and engaged.

Management control

1. Setting Standards:
o Establishing performance benchmarks or standards against which actual
performance can be compared. Standards can relate to various aspects, such as
quality, quantity, time, and cost.
2. Performance Measurement:
o Monitoring and measuring actual performance against the established
standards. This involves collecting data and information to assess how well the
organization is progressing toward its goals.
3. Variance Analysis:
o Analyzing the differences (variances) between planned or expected
performance and actual performance. Variances help identify areas where
corrective actions may be needed.

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4. Feedback and Reporting:

o Providing feedback on performance to relevant individuals or teams. Reports
and feedback mechanisms help communicate results, highlight achievements,
and address areas for improvement.
5. Corrective Action:
o Taking corrective actions when there are significant deviations from planned
performance. Management control involves implementing changes to address
problems and improve future performance.
6. Strategic Control:
o Ensuring that the organization is moving in the right direction in terms of its
long-term goals. Strategic control involves assessing the overall strategy and
making adjustments as needed.
7. Budgetary Control:
o Monitoring and controlling financial performance against budgeted figures.
Budgetary control helps manage costs and ensures that financial resources are
used efficiently.
8. Cultural Control:
o Shaping and influencing organizational culture to align with the values and
goals of the organization. Cultural control is about fostering a positive and
productive work environment.

4.11 PROJECT MANAGEMENT LIFE CYCLES

A project management life cycle is a framework encompassing of a set of different high-level

stages essential to transform an idea of concept into reality in an orderly and efficient manner.

There are 6 Phases of Project Management Life Cycle, and they are

1. Project Initiation

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Project initiation is the first stage in Project Management life cycle, where the project starts
rolling. It offers a summary of the project, along with the tactics which are essential to achieve
the desired results. In this stage, the feasibility and business value of the project are determined.

The project manager starts with a meeting in order to understand the client and stakeholders’
requirements, goals, and objectives. It is important to study minute specifications and
requirements in order to have a better understanding of the project. once a decision is made to
proceed, the project can move on to the next step which is creation of a project team. The
Project Charter is measured to be the most significant document of any project.

i. Undertake a Feasibility Study - In the initial stage, it is vital to recognize the feasibility of
the project. It is also important to understand the viability from the economic, legal,
operational, and technical aspects.

ii. Identify the Project Scope – here the project scope is identified, and it comprises of
defining the length, breadth, and depth of the project. On the other hand, it’s equally
important to plan functions, deadlines, tasks, features, and services.
iii. Identify the Project Deliverable–after identifying the project scope, the next phase is
to plan the project deliverables. They include defining the product or services required.
iv. Identification of Project Stakeholders - identification of project stakeholders is
important. Meetings among team members and experts helps to identify project
stakeholders. Documentation of related information on stakeholders is important for
successful completion of the project.
v. Develop a Business Case - Before developing a business case, one should check whether
the vital pillars of the project such as feasibility, scope, and identification of stakeholders are
in place. The next phase is to come up with a complete business case. After the formation of a
statement of work (SoW) and the formation of a team, the project initiation phase comes to an
end.
2. Project Planning –
A lot of planning is associated with the project in this phase. On identifying the project
objectives, it is time to develop a project plan which could be followed by all. The planning
phase decides a set of plans which will guide the team in implementing the phase and thereafter
closing it. The program assembled here will surely help you to manage cost, quality, risk,
changes, and time. The project plan established should comprise all the important facts
associated with the project goals and objectives. It is the most composite phase in which project
managers take care of operational requirements, design limitations, and functional
requirements.
The project planning stage comprises the following mechanisms:
i. Generating a Project Plan - A project plan is a design of the whole
project. An elegant project plan controls the activities, the time frame, dependencies,
restrictions involved, and probable risks. It helps the project manager to rationalize the
operations.
ii. Generating a Resource Plan - The resource plan delivers information about numerous
resource stages essential to achieve a project. Resources used should have applicable Project
Management expertise.
iii. Budget Estimation - financial plan benefits one to make the budget and bring project
deliverables without surpassing it. The final budget plan states the expenses on material, labour,
and equipment. Making a budget plan will aid the team and the project managers to monitor
and control the finances throughout the Project life cycle.

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iv. Collecting Resources - collecting resources is an important part of project planning

and assists to monitor the quality stage of the project. Resources like equipment, money,
software solutions, and the workplace should be given to complete the work.
v. Forestalling Risks and Potential Quality Barriers - The risk plan will assist in
identifying risks and lessen them. It comprises all the probable risks, the level of
severity, and preventive actions to curb it.
3. Project Execution
Project execution is the stage where the execution processes are applied, works and resources
are allocated. The technique includes constructing deliverables and satisfying customer needs.
Project managers or team
leaders achieve the job through resource sharing and by keeping the team members focused.
The team starts generating project deliverables and pursue to attain project goals and
objectives. The final deliverable of the project takes form during the project execution phase.
i. Writing Growth of a Project - During the project execution phase, it is important
to get steady project information as it delivers the essential information and even
recognizes the problems.
ii. Conduct Regular Meetings - Before starting a project meeting, the agenda should
be clear to all the team members. Proper communication should be done on time.
iii. Accomplish Problems - Problems inside the project are certain to occur. Problems
like time management, quality management, weakening in team spirit can hamper
the success of a project. So, make sure all problematics issues are solved in the
beginning itself.
4. Project Monitoring and Control
The Project Monitoring and Control is all about measuring the performance of the project
and chasing the development. It is applied during the execution phase and the main goal of this
phase is to align with the plan especially related to financial constraints and timelines. It is the
accountability of the project manager to make essential modifications connected to resource
allocation and guarantee that all the things are on track. Monitoring project after the project
execution phase will allow the project manager to take remedial measures.
5. Project Closure
The final phase of the Project Management life cycle phases is similarly significant as all other
phases. This phase signifies the final phase of the Project Management life cycle, which is also
recognized as the “follow- up” phase. During this time, the ultimate product is completely
ready for delivery. Here the project manager and his team focus on product release and product
delivery. During this phase, all the happenings associated with the project are wrapped up. The
closure phase is not necessarily after a successful completion phase alone but also after the
project meets with failures. After the project is completed, it is timely delivery to clients and it
highlights the strengths, identifies the ambiguities and recommends how they could be
corrected for future projects.
6. Project Evaluation
It is not possible to immediately evaluate the real value of the software project after its
completion as the goals might be long time. By simply appraising the success accomplished in
implementing the hardware and the software peripherals of the projects does not amount to
having succeeded in the project. The documents produced in the project evaluation stage are
very useful for use in the future projects that the organizations might undertake later on.
Evaluation of the project team along with the project manager is also carried out in this stage.

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