Project Monitoring ( 监测 ) And Control Presented by Basker George

Project Monitoring & Control How will a Project Manager know whether the project is following the desired path as per the Project Plan? To know that, one must have visibility ( 可见度 ) about the true status of the project. As software itself is invisible ( 看不见的 ), Visibility in a software project is obtained by observing ( 注意的 ) effects ( 动产 ). Providing proper visibility is the main purpose of Project Monitoring.

Cont… Qualitatively Monitoring & Controlling a Project is a requirement of : Quantitative Process Management KPA at CMM Level 4. Software Quality Management KPA at CMM Level 2. Software Project Tracking & Oversight KPA at CMM Level 2.

Project Monitoring When project is executed, it is important that it be properly monitored. This ensures that the project follows the desired path. Project monitoring has two aspect 1. elicit 2. apply control mechanism. 1. Elicit: Collect data about current ( 现在 ) state of project Interpret ( 解释 ) to make judgment ( 判断 ) about the current state

Cont… If the current state is a “Desired ( 渴望的 ) State”, then monitoring provides assurance ( 确信 ) that the project is moving along the planned path. If monitoring reveals ( 显示 ) that project state is not healthy, Some action has to be taken to rectify( 矫正 ). 2. Control: That is, CONTROL action has to be performed to bring back the project “Back on Track”.

Cont… Apply management control Analyze & Predict ( 预知 ) Execute Project Gather Measurements

Data Collection The foundation for monitoring & control is that, timely information should be obtained about the project at different times, during the period of execution of the project. We can have rules & models to analyze and interpret data But, the question is, Which data should be collected? The important data to be collected for project monitoring & Control are: Effort Schedule Defects and Size

Cont… Collecting these data is a challenging ( 有挑战 性的 ) activity. People resist ( 抵抗 ) providing these data about their work, fearing that the data may be used against them. These and other people-related issues must be resolved to have success on data collection. We shall study how metrics are collected & what tools are used to help in collecting data.

Effort Data Effort is an important data which can determine the COST of a project. Hence tracking ( 跟踪 ) of effort should be a key activity during monitoring. By monitoring efforts, We can evaluate whether the project is executing within budget. These effort data will be used to compute various component of PCB (Process Capability Baseline)

Cont… Eg: The Weekly Activity Report is used to capture Efforts. A WAR entry by a employee consists of sequence of record, one for each week. Each record consists of Program Code Module Code Activity Code Activity Description Hours for Monday through Sunday

Defect Data Defect Data is more important than Effort Data, because it has direct relationship with Software Quality. Defect can be something that is found in some work product of the project The presence of defect can have adverse ( 不利的 ) effect in achieving the goal of the project.

Cont… Defect data are used for Managing the Project. At Infosys, the Defect Control System (DCS), a commercially available tool is used in project for logging & Tracking defects.

Life Cycle Of Defect Life cycle of defect has three state Submitted, Fixed & Closed. A defect that is not closed is called open. SubmittedFixed Closed Entered by Submitter Fixed by Author Closed by Submitter

Cont… Defect entered into DCS has the following fields: Project Code Description of defect Module code, Program Name Review type Status (open, closed or Fixed) Submitter, Owner, Date of submission Stage Detected, Stage Injected ( Why ?) Severity of defect. (Critical, Major, Minor, Cosmetic)

Size Measurement Size is an important measurement It has direct effect on productivity Quality metrics are expressed with respect to Size. Size measurement are used to predict & control of project.

Cont… LOC & Number of program of different complexity metrics can be used for estimation. But it cannot be used to measure productivity, because it depends on programming language. Therefore for creating a baseline & comparing performance, function point are used to measure size.

Project Tracking Project tracking helps Project Leader & Senior management to have visibility into the project. The mechanism involved in project tracking are: Activity Tracking Defect Tracking Issues Tracking Status Report

Activity Tracking Activities of a project are scheduled by Microsoft Project (MSP). Hence MSP is used to track activities. Every day, the project leader checks the status of the project & updates the MSP A weekly project meeting is usually held to discuss project schedule & other issues MSP features is used to determine which activities are lagging, percentage of task done & effect on the overall project.

Defect Tracking Defect at Infosys is usually tracked using a commercial tool DCS. The defect tracking has been discussed previously…………..

Issues Tracking Many small jobs or clarification inevitably come up during the course of the project. It is an important task for the project manager to Manage these issues, because there can be many & could delay the project. Hence they should be Managed & Tracked For Issue log, Spreadsheet or Document or Defect Tracking System can be used.

Cont… The status of issue must be regularly tracked For unresolved issues & issues open for too long, escalation mechanism need to be used as per Project Management Plan.

Status Report Status reporting is a main mechanism for providing visibility to senior management. It is used to ensure that project continues to progress according to plan. To resolve any pending issues. It is given by Project Leader to his or her superior & also to the customer. It can be on a weekly basis.

Cont… The status report contain: Customer complaint Milestone achieved this week Milestone missed this week & reason Milestone planned for next week Issues requiring clarification or attention Escalation, if any.. Estimated work versus available time by milestone Number of requirement change Major changes from the plan