CA305 COURSE MATERIALS (2008-2009)

 

N.B.: These notes will be completed as delivery of the module progresses.

 

General Notes:

1. While much of course material is/will be on the web, some notes will be distributed in hard copy at lectures.

2. Also, additions and adjustments of the on-line material may be made during lectures.

 

Course notes:

Some reference & Supporting material:

                        Slides based on “Successful IT Projects”, Dalcher & Brodie, Chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

 

A. Introduction TO SW PROCESSES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

Indicative list of topics

                        An overview of software processes

                        A sample software development plan template (MS Word version)

                        (As illustrated in class, there are some sample diagrams relevant to Chapter 5 of the development plan template at Yeates & Cadle (8), notably

Figures 8.12, 8.13, 10.3, 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8; later lectures will present these ideas more systematically).

NEW in 2008-2009: Sample SW development plan (MS Word) for a library system.

B. PROJECT PLANNING AND SCHEDULING:

                        Commentary & Explanations

                        Commentary & Explanations (A)

                        Commentary & Explanations (B)

            Yeates & Cadle

C. AN ASIDE ON USE OF MS PROJECT (here)

D. SIZE & COST ESTIMATION (here)

            Note: The above are essentially introductory notes on size & cost estimation. Time permitting, this material will be extended later in the

course.

E. RISK MANAGEMENT (here, Case Study – Summary of Controller and Auditor General Report on PPARS)

F. Performance, Tracking & Reporting (here, baseline example, simple tracking example)

            [Added 3/12/2008 Various references to earned value analysis on internet, including this. Note again the definitions of SV = BCWP-BCWS and CV =

BCWP–ACWP, and that if SV < 0 project is behind schedule, and if CV < 0 project is over budget. Note also the definitions of schedule performance

index (SPI = BCWP/BCWS) and cost performance index (CPI = BCWP/ACWP), and that the more SPI*CPI is less than one, the more unlikely the project can be brought back to be within cost and schedule.]

G. TEAM MANAGEMENT (here)

H.        1. BRIEF ORIENTATION ON QUALITY (here)

2. OVERVIEW OF CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL (CMM) (here)

Continuous Assessment:

NOTE FOR REPEATS (dated June 25th, 2009): Any repeat continuous assessment work should be submitted by August 21st, 2009, at the latest. The submission should be in a clearly labelled (Lecturer name, Module identifier, Student name & number, etc) large envelope and should be handed in to the School Office. After handing in the submission, the student should send an email to W.G. Tuohey informing him of the fact. The repeat continuous assessment work is the same as that originally specified.

 

a) General

In this module there are 75 marks for the final examination and 25 marks for the continuous assessment.

Most students will pass both parts individually and so will automatically pass the complete module (i.e. achieve 40% or more). (Of course, usually, a lot of students achieve honours!).

However, for whatever reason, a student may fail one part and so the question arises whether that student can still pass overall. The rules for this situation in CA314 are

(1) At least 30% must be obtained in the failed part (i.e. at least 7.5/25 in continuous assessment; at least 22.5/75 in exam).

And

(2) Enough marks must be obtained in the passed part to ensure that the total marks add up to at least 40%.

(For example, an exam mark of 30% could be “brought up” by a continuous assessment mark of 70% as 30x0.75 + 70x0.25 = 22.5 + 17.5 = 40).

b) Details of the continuous assessment assignments:

There are two continuous assessment assignments as follows:

Assignment 1 (12%)

Assignment 2 (13%) as follows:

Summary: Essentially, this assignment is to develop a very detailed project development plan, starting from the “SW Development Plan” template given in the lecture notes, for your third year project (module CA326). The plan should be as realistic as possible showing, of course, all mandatory deadlines (such as for the functional specification, for other documentation, for demonstration, etc) but also, for example, constraints and deliverables internal to your project. As a specific point, days, weeks and months should be used for the most detailed, second level, and least detailed time units, respectively. You should decide on some arbitrary rate of pay for yourself (and partner if there is one) so that you can calculate and display budgetary information.

Objectives: In general, the objectives of the assignment are to re-enforce students’ learning about project planning and how to document it. It is required that MicroSoft Project be used for the assignment, especially in chapter 5 of the project plan (“Work packages, schedule and budget”).

Expectations & Assumptions:

1) If your third year project is being done as a joint project then the project plan should, naturally, indicate, the (planned) responsibilities of each team member.

2) Unlike assignment 1, in this assignment it is up to you to identify the activities making up your project, to find out about or work out deadlines and deliverables, and so on.

Deadline and deliverable: (project box in L1.14):

Submit completed project plan by 17.00 on December 12th, 2008

c) Provisional continuous assessment marks (January 22, 2009)