The purpose of Project Tracking and Oversight is to establish a common, procedural-driven method for tracking the progress of software projects. As problems are discovered, they will be responded to in a timely and standardized manner. This enables the Project Advisor to easily review the tracking efforts of the individual projects. These procedures are to be performed for the life of the project.
After consistent use of these tracking procedures, we will have quantized measurements that show actual progress versus that which was estimated. The lessons learned from these estimates can help us generate more accurate planning estimates for future projects.
The following procedures are meant to be used as a guideline for the project. These guidelines may be modified based on the nature of the project. Although guidelines may be changed, they shouldn't be removed.
To establish a standardized process to monitor project progress and performance on a continuing basis.
To detect project deviations from the plan in a prompt manner and initiate corrective actions as appropriate (for the short-term and the long-term Project Plans).
Organizational Policy
The team is committed to maintaining documents (i.e. Project Plan, Requirements Document) in accordance with the other key process areas. These documents serve as a basis for team members to learn where the project has been, and where it is expected to go. These documents also provide a roadmap of the project and are used for tracking.
At any given point in the life of the project, it is the responsibility of the project tracking to have available data on
A Tracking Manager is responsible for managing the tracking process. Specific duties include:
Individual team members are responsible for recording their progress on individual worksheets. The individual member will keep accurate records regarding time on project by task, and defects generated and repair times.
The customer connected with the project must make a commitment to meet with the team at various points within the semester to ensure product direction. An agenda for these meetings is provided in the Activities Performed section.
Documentation
The main documentation needed to perform this process area (specifically, the project plan and the requirements document) is fulfilled by other process areas. For issues dealing with software size, schedule and effort, the short-term and long-term project plans will be needed. For issues dealing with commitment changes, the requirements document may also need to be examined. Copies of these documents must be readily accessible by all team members. The documents will be held under Configuration Management (see SCM for document changes)
In order to track and manage the weekly progress information, we have provided standardized worksheets that aid in tracking the various progress attributes related to a project and its milestones.
A compilation of all completed worksheets are kept in a project notebook for review. This notebook is to be readily available to the Quality Assurance group as well as the instructor.
ResourcesThe tracking of code size, personnel effort, software cost, employee experience, employee turnover, and defects found in the project will be maintained on spreadsheet. Microsoft Excel will be used as a standard. The individual assigned to SPTO is responsible for ensuring the respective data files are stored for safety. This responsibility can be delegated. All specifics on the worksheets must be included in the spreadsheet version.
Training
The second week of the semester should be used to introduce and familiarize members to Project Tracking and Oversight documents and forms. They are to understand the importance of completing all paperwork accurately so as to assure that all tracking measures are precise. Members must be informed that the information collected on the forms is used for tracking project progress.
The members are shown how to use the Project Tracking worksheets. At a minimum, one person on the team needs to be proficient with Microsoft Excel. Also, a familiarity with the measuring tools as well as the formulas used (see Activities Performed) is needed.
At the first project meeting, all members of a project team are made aware of the project's plan and its requirements. This information is provided by the Project Plan and the Requirements Document. Every member should be familiar with the amount of effort expected of them towards the project. If the actual team composition is inconsistent with the assumptions that were made about the team during the planning phase, then the Project Plan must be revised (see SCM). For example, there are times when team members are expected to return to the project, but do not. This affects the current short-term plan, which can ultimately affect the long-term plan.
Application
The Software Project Tracking and Oversight activities are primarily conducted through the weekly status meetings. The information regarding the projects current status is gathered weekly, in a standardized manner. The data collected (see Commitment to Perform) will be useful to refine the software estimating process for future projects. This data is recorded by team individuals and sub-groups and submitted to the Project Leader according to the schedule in the Project Plan.
Agenda for Weekly Meetings
The project leader will set up a date and time of every week for all members of the project to send their status reports to the project leader (see Project Tracking and Oversight). This time and date will be established, so the project leader has time to review progress, goals for the upcoming week, and problems.
The project leader will assimilate all the individual status reports into a weekly status report.
This weekly document is to be stored in electronic form in the project archives.
The weekly status meetings will follow the following general agenda (which should be added to if needed):
All members of the team need to be familiar with the tracking worksheets used for recording project progress. It is very important that the members record the information accurately. The SPTO Leader will collect these forms weekly according to the Project Plan. The forms will be stored in the project notebook. The person responsible for entering the data into the Spreadsheet should record it on the day the worksheets would be due.
After the statistical data is compiled by the SPTO Leader, there should be an analysis of the following areas:
The SPTO Leader should note the circumstances of these conditions (if they arise), so that these issues can be raised during the weekly status meeting. The instructor and the Project Leader should communicate on the results of the weekly reports, and determine if corrective action is necessary.
ModificationWhen measured progress deviates significantly from the estimates in the Project Plan, the estimates must be reevaluated and necessary actions taken. Suggested courses of action are provided below.
Software Size
The estimated size of the project is to be recorded in the Project Plan. These estimates for the various modules at given milestones serve as the basis to track current progress against that which was scheduled. If at any review, the size of any specific module, or the project as a whole is deviating from the size estimate that was expected for the project size, then the Project Leader must meet with the programmer to handle the situation. Corrective actions may include feature-function trade-offs, re-examine the size of related modules, or re-examine the size constraint for the project. Approval from the instructor may be required.
If, after examining the recorded progress of the project, it is deemed that the original Project Plan estimate needs to be modified, then that change should be recorded. Refer to Section 3: Software Configuration Management for specifics on modifying the document. The impact of this new estimate must be compared against the estimates documented in the long-term project plan as well.
If, on the other hand, this deviation in code size will clash with a requirement constraint, then the project leader must inform the customer. After reviewing the project's recorded progress with the customer, a decision must be made whether to alter the requirements (possible removing some), or whether the customer can relax the size restriction (see SCM for change of requirements)
Personnel Effort
Even though the workers are students, and not paid employees, project effort tracking is an important aspect of any project. In the initial Project Plan development phase, the amount of effort expected is estimated up front. This should be based on the amount of returning experience for the project expected to be on the team. The amount of member that have experience with the domain, architecture and tools/methods used. Also, an understanding is conveyed as to how much time each member is expected to contribute to the project on a weekly basis.
The effort estimate can deviate due to several reasons. In cases when the individual effort of the team members is lower than expected, corrective actions need to be taken. If a student is unable to dedicate their estimated time for a particular week, and expects this to be a continuing issue, then this matter should be handled by the Project Leader. The Project Leader may opt to re-distribute team resources or duties among the other members, or adjust the Project Plan. If the Project Leader cannot resolve the situation, then it should be turned over to the instructor.
Software CostDefects
Defects must be collected throughout the entire Software Life Cycle. Defects will be collected from Requirements Management, Design, Implementation and Testing. This will enable the Project Leader to take corrective actions in each area.
Data collected on a defects should be as follows:
Measurements
The measurement process used to track the project tracking must be reviewed by the instructor. The Project Management should record the amount of time spent each week performing the tracking and oversight duties (recording, compiling, and any time spent doing corrective measures). All changes that were implemented are summarized in the various worksheets and in the change summaries of the Project Plan and Requirements Management document.
The data collected will be submitted to Project Management. They will then review the data and so that an assessment can be made to determine the productivity of the team.
Senior Management
The weekly status meetings with the instructor validates that the procedures for tracking code size, effort, scheduling, and costs are being performed.
At the end of the semester, a notebook of all completed project tracking and oversight worksheets must then be reviewed by the instructor and Project Leader.
All meetings, whether planned or on an as needed basis, should be documented. These meetings can occur between the Project Leader and instructor, or with the team and the customer.
Quality Assurance
This notebook must be made available to the Software Quality Assurance group for review. This notebook will provide an audit trail for the SQA group to use. All tracked variables are recorded in this notebook. The SQA group should verify that the appropriate corrective actions were taken whenever the project deviated from its course. Tracking the changes and how they were actually made to the Project Plan and Requirements document are outlined in those process areas.