1130 Application of ALM to a Multi-Faceted Project Miroslav Novak Systems Engineer Borland Canada

Introduction Critical Mass

Introducing Critical Mass Calgary, Alberta, Canada based company Builds Web sites and relationship marketing programs Enable organizations to develop deeper, more personalized relationships with their customers

Engagement Model Complete development & delivery, or Research and requirements and subcontracting out development, or Something in between Central/distributed teams/individuals in technical and non-technical roles. Time & Materials -> Fixed bid

Projects Each have a component of system development Typically involve market research and graphic design Assets of activities are more than just source Assets assets needed to be managed in a similar way.

Goal of Implementing ALM Facilitate distributed multi-disciplinary teams.

Implementation

Planning Establish success criteria Establish candidate project criteria Establish migration success criteria Migration proof of concept Timeliness of training “Day in the Life” familiarization Traceability vs. reportability calibration Source control vs. activity and asset management

Project Criteria Probability of sponsorship Meaningful project Greenfield status Small project team Low criticality targets J2EE architecture Short duration project length Low technical risk

Define CaliberRM

Define - Actions Identified a project just ramping up Included a distributed team of business/functional analysts Requirements exposed remotely Integration to MI’s Test Director activated for QA technicians and release engineers

Define - Results Quick dissemination of information: –Pull information at requirement granularity. Effective organization of requirements: –Normalized, consistent reuse and reference Quick, proactive feedback: –QA involved early and often with traceability and visibility Unintentional rapid external adoption

Define – Next A larger project, in requirements capture mode Record enhancements requests for Caliber

Manage StarTeam

Manage (1) – Actions A project small feature addition and maintenance mode Created structure that matches the diverse assets of the projects. Applied consistently across teams but unique across responsibilities. Created ANT build scripts over the existing SCM system then repositories were migrated

Manage (1) – Custom Change Requests Developed a custom change request form for defects Added properties specific to issue management process Used view of links that were in context of CR form

Manage (1) – Custom Workflow Evolved workflow to control of defect Supported development, QA and Release Engineering

Manage (1) – Results Adaptable teams: Consistent structure supports liquid teams Find bearings faster & contribute sooner Asset protection: Consistent structure enables robust enterprise storage Crashes leads to cost time, but not data Rapid build process: Script automation took advantage of ANT technology Reduced the build time in QA or Release by a factor of 10 Improve the reliability of build Script reusable for next projects

Manage (1) – Results Capturing pertinent information: Collect and disseminate meta-information specific and relevant to that project and the solution space Persistent, repeatable mechanism for issue tracking: Automating workflow reduce wait times between activities Served to identify areas of constraints

Manage (1) – Next A larger project Greenfield, without a code base Expand roles using StarTeam from start

Manage (2) ST/TD Synchronizer

Manage (2) – Actions Implemented the ST TD synchronizer Created the corresponding properties in StarTeam Mapped the information that needs to be propagated to TestDirector for QA and RE needs

Manage (2) – Results Bidirectional sharing of information: Information logged from either side Shared and propagated Reduced information switching. Faster feedback to develop: Development receives CR’s driven by QA CR’s arrive within existing interface.

Manage (2) – Next Larger project Small project no TD Adapt additional properties for synchronization Rationalize workflow with StarTeam Implement solution upgrade

Future Direction

Tactical Direction Enterpise spread CaliberRM and StarTeam Leverage investment Together, JBuilder, Optimizeit Suite Management focus Task management updating project plans Tracking effort expended against development task. Current information not a detailed or dynamic enough for strategic advantage in fixed price bids.

Strategic Direction Relationship with Borland Create business opportunity Revitalize existing opportunities Managing Information Identify those business opportunities where particular pieces create benefit & add customer value. The remaining pieces of system solution leverage and manage other internal or external resources to deliver

Questions?

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