Software Development Life Cycle Decisions Project Management Disciplines Stacey Shearn September 8, 2005

Introduction Incorporating Project Management Disciplines A Repeatable IS Process Having and Communicating a Project Plan Risk Analysis & Mitigation Change Control Introduction

TREND Process Goals/Scope Requirements Technical Level of Effort (LOE) Requirements Approval Screen Mockups Development and QA Testing Change Request TREND Process

Goals /Scope What problem are we trying to solve? What is OUT of scope? Keep it General Requirements Need Requirements before you can have a good schedule Consistency – Need General Documents for Errors, etc. Requirements tell us when we have achieved success Wording TREND Process

Level of Effort Developers Evaluate Requirements on a technical level. Avoiding technical mistakes by asking the right questions. –“Why is the requirement stated this way?” Communicate a meaningful Technical Level of Effort (LOE) –Give enough information for the business to make informed decisions about the final requirements. –Revise Requirements based on LOE (Listing database efforts) TREND Process

Screen Mockups What should the screens look like? What design accomplishes the goals of usability? Shorten the Development cycle with an approved interface design prior to the start of development. Moved Screen Design to later in process so there wasn’t as much rework. TREND Process

Development Open line of communication between the business and the development staff. Someone that can answer questions. Small detailed achievable goals Small adjustments throughout – stay on course Approaching higher risk components first Small, collaborative subteams working to provide maximum results TREND Process

Quality Assurance Scheduling QA into our development plan QA and Developers work together to define testable sections QA kept up to date on Developer progress Bug Tracking Process – Prioritizing Bugs Automated tools - Certify TREND Process

Managing Change The answer isn’t “No” Get Level of Effort Understanding Impact: Time; Cost; Scope; Quality Negotiation – what phase does a change go in? What’s the priority? Change Control

Status Daily time reporting (minimal effort) Weekly developer progress/planning meeting Monthly Stakeholder meeting Communication Delivered via a website or other just-in- time method Something that everyone understands COMMUNICATE! Progress Tracking

Risk must be addressed whether real or perceived Continually manage Risk. Thinking about conversion now and identifying Risk will allow us to better plan our strategy. Staffing – Long time to hire someone and get them trained Working to lower risk increases your chances of accurate and on-time execution – understandable project plan Risk

Embracing Project Management Techniques Need a published visible plan that everyone works against Need a repeatable process for each section Evaluate and Reevaluate Risk throughout the project Levels of Effort evaluated throughout Constantly manage Change Control Factor in Non Development Time (Levels of Effort, Interviewing, Training, Vacation, Time spent on other projects, etc.) Conclusion

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Questions? Questions