Project Execution

You already learned in the beginning of the chapter that a software project is divided into different phases. This division is done on the basis of the activities performed in each phase. Similarly, project management activities are also arranged in phases. As a project manager, you perform the activities that map to each of these phases. The project management phases can be broadly categorized as follows;

– Project initiation – Project closedown

– Project planning, control, and tracking – Product implementation

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The tasks performed for project initiation are mentioned below:

Requirement gathering: The first task is to gather the customer requirements. Customer requirements may be spoken or unspoken. Therefore, the challenge for the project manager is to elicit the requirements in such a way that both the spoken and unspoken customer needs and wants are gathered. After collecting the required information, you need to translate the customer requirements into technical specifications for the software project.

Scope determination: The scope of a software project can be defined as the combination of the software product arid services to be delivered to the customer. You carry out the scope determination exercise to define the scope of the software project. The scope determination exercise enables you to refine and understand the customer requirements. You can refine the scope definition further by breaking down each deliverable into smaller and more manageable activities. The scope determination exercise also helps you identify the technology for creating the software product.

Resource allocation: During project initiation, you identify the resources required and allocate them to the software project. The resources identified may be people, reusable software components, and hardware or software tools. You allocate the resource to the software project on the basis of the activities defined in the scope determination exercise. While allocating appropriate resources for a software project, you also need to calculate the cost of each resource. The cost of a resource is calculated according to the duration of the resource in the software project. Estimating the cost of resources also helps you prepare a budget for the software project.

Note:

Scope determination and resource allocation are discussed in more detail in later chapters.

Initial project plan: Another exercise that you carry out during project initiation is the creation of a rough project plan. This plan is a draft version and carries only the primitive project plan features. This project plan carries the initial risk analysis of the software project, the initial start and end dates, the duration of the activities in the project, and the sequencing of these activities.

• Project Planning, Controlling, and Tracking

This activity of the project manager involves detailed tasks. These tasks are mentioned below:

Detailed project plan: After the scope for the software project is determined and the product design is ready, you prepare a detailed project plan. To create a detailed project plan, you define a detailed list of all the elements that make up the

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project deliverables. Next, the deliverables are further broken up to help In the calculation of durations, start dates and end dates for each activity mentioned in the plan. Roles and responsibilities are assigned to people with the appropriate skills to complete each activity within specified time.

Control mechanism: These are set up to control the impact of changes on the software project. The control mechanism includes a detailed risk management and mitigation plan, a detailed quality plan, and quality assurance activities. You also implement a review and audit system for periodic assessment and measurement of the software project activities. The review and audit system enables you to evaluate the progress of the software project. It ensures that all necessary data is collected, deviation from the planned baselines is checked, and corrective action is taken at all checkpoints. In this way, the review and audit system ensures compliance with the organizational processes for software development.

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LECTURE # 10

2. Software Development Fundamentals

Management Fundamentals

2.9 Project Execution

⇒ Product Implementation

Product implementation activities involve defining processes related to the implementation of the software product at the customer site. Some of the tasks that you perform for product implementation are mentioned below:

• Implementation plan creation: An implementation plan defines the duration of implementation and the hard and software perquisites for implementing the software product.

• Support plan creation: the project manager also needs to create a support plan for the customer. The support plan includes consideration such as the post- implementation support activities provided to the customer. Post-implementation considerations include the number of support staff available to the customer, their names, contact numbers, and the duration of their availability.

• Training plan creation: During product implementation, you create a training plan to train the customer on the software product. The training plan includes considerations such as the duration of training, the prerequisites for training people, and the number of people that can be trained simultaneously.

• User acceptance plan: You also need to prepare a user acceptance plan. The user acceptance plan provides a detailed outline on how and when the user acceptance tests are performed. The primary focus of user acceptance test is to ensure that the final software product offers all the functionality and performance that the customer wanted. Therefore, the customer tests the software product for issues such as aesthetics, user friendless, and scalability.

⇒ Project Closedown

The final activity for a project manager is project closedown. For most software projects, the project closedown activities take place in the post-implementation phase. However, in some software projects, the customer requests support activities for a longer duration. In such cases, the software project is considered

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closed immediately after implementation. The tasks that you perform in project closedown are mentioned below:

• Prepare closedown report: The project closedown report contains the results of the causal analysis that you do for the project. This contains an analysis of what went wrong, what went right, and what you could have done better in the software project.

• Identify learning: You also need to assess the entire software project and the results of the causal analysis to identify the key learning points from the software project. This helps you identify areas of improvement for future projects. The learning points can also be used by the organization as considerations while planning and executing the next software project.

• Identify reusable software components: Reusing software components enables you to lower the cost, time, and effort required to complete the software project successfully. After project closedown, you identify the software components that can be reused in future projects of similar nature. The software components prepared for a software project may be complete, partially complete, or in the design stage. These components or their designs can be assessed for usability in future projects.

• Create reference material: After the project is complete, you can create white papers and reference documents. This can be a significant contribution to the organization and the application area of the software by creating an authoritative knowledge base.