B.Sc.

(Information Technology)
(Semester V Regular)
25th November 2019

Software Project Management

(USIT 501 Core)
University Paper Solution

By
Ms. Pushpa Mahapatro

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 Question 1

Q1a. Define the term Project and give importance of Software Project Management.

Ans: Project:
Some dictionary definitions:
“A specific plan or design”
“A planned undertaking”
“A large undertaking e.g. a public works scheme”
A project is an activity to meet the creation of a unique product or service and thus activities
that are undertaken to accomplish routine activities cannot be considered projects.

Importance of Software Project Management:

1. Strategic Alignment: Project management is important because it ensures what is being
delivered, is right, and will deliver real value against the business opportunity.
2. Leadership: Project management is important because it brings leadership and direction to
projects.
3. Clear Focus & Objectives: Project management is important because it ensures there’s a
proper plan for executing on strategic goals.
4. Realistic Project Planning: Project management is important because it ensures proper
expectations are set around what can be delivered, by when, and for how much.
5. Quality Control: Projects management is important because it ensures the quality of
whatever is being delivered, consistently hits the mark.
6. Risk Management: Project management is important because it ensures risks are properly
managed and mitigated against to avoid becoming issues.
7. Orderly Process: Project management is important because it ensures the right people do
the right things, at the right time – it ensures proper project process is followed throughout
the project lifecycle.
8. Continuous Oversight: Project management is important because it ensures a project’s
progress is tracked and reported properly.
9. Subject Matter Expertise: Project management is important because someone needs to be
able to understand if everyone’s doing what they should.
10. Managing and Learning from Success and Failure: Project management is important
because it learns from the successes and failures of the past.

Q1b. Explain the stages involved in Project Management life cycle in detail.

Ans: Stages in Project Management Life cycle:

Project Initiation:
• During the project initiation phase it is crucial for the champions of the project to
develop a thorough understanding of the important characteristics of the project.
• In his W5HH principle, Barry Boehm summarized the questions that need to be asked
and answered in order to have an understanding of these project characteristics.
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Project Planning:
Various plans are made:
– Project plan: Assign project resources and time frames to the tasks.
– Resource plan: List the resources, manpower and equipment that required to
execute the project.
– Financial plan: plan for manpower, equipment and other costs.
– Quality plan: Plan of quality targets and control.
– Risk plan: Identification of the potential risks, their prioritization and a plan
for the actions that would be taken to contain the different risks.

Project Execution:
• Tasks are executed as per the project plan
• Monitoring and control processes are executed to ensure that the tasks are executed
as per plan
• Corrective actions are initiated whenever any deviations from the plan are noticed.
Project Closure:
• Involves completing the release of all the required deliverables to the customer along
with the
• Necessary documentation.
• Subsequently, all the project resources are released and supply agreements with the
vendors are terminated and all the pending payments are completed.
• Finally, a post-implementation review is undertaken to analyze the project
performance and to list the lessons learnt for use in future projects.

Q 1c. Write a note on Project Portfolio Management.

Ans: Project portfolio management:
The concerns of project portfolio management include:
• Evaluating proposals for projects
• Assessing the risk involved with projects
• Deciding how to share resources between projects
• Taking account of dependencies between projects
• Removing duplication between projects
• Checking for gaps
There are three elements to PPM:
1. Project portfolio definition
– Create a central record of all projects within an organization
– Must decide whether to have ALL projects in the repository or, say, only ICT
projects
– Note difference between new product development (NPD) projects and
renewal projects e.g. for process improvement
2. Project portfolio management
Actual costing and performance of projects can be recorded and assessed.
Actual performance of project on performance indicators can be tracked.
3. Project portfolio optimization
Information gathered above can be used achieve better balance of projects e.g. some
that are risky but potentially very valuable balanced by less risky but less valuable projects. You
may want to allow some work to be done outside the portfolio e.g. quick fixes.

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Q1d. What is the importance of identifying the scope and objectives of a project?

Ans: Importance of identifying project scope and objective:

Objectives help to:
• Define what the project team must achieve for project success
• Outcome of project rather than tasks
• Predetermined results to which effort is directed
Scope:
• Defines the boundaries of its application
• Output+outcome+benefit+work required to produce them Steps involved in
identifying project scope and objective are
• Identify objectives and practical measures of the effectiveness in meeting those
objectives
• Establish Project Authority
• Stakeholder analysis-Identify all stakeholders in the project and their interests
Modify objectives in the light of stakeholder analysis
• Establish methods of communication channels amongst stake holders
• Answering the question ‘What do we have to do to have a success?’
• Need for a project authority
– Sets the project scope
– Allocates/approves costs
• Different people who are involved in a project (Stakeholders) will have different
interests in the project and are likely to see different outcomes as being important.

• It is important therefore that a set of clearly defined objectives are identified and
published for the project. Some individual or group needs to be pinpointed who acts
as the main client for the project.

Q1e. How resource allocation managed in an activity of Programme Management?

Ans: Resource allocation managed in Programme Management:

Resource allocation helps us to choose the best available resources for our projects
and manage them throughout the work, so we can avoid under or over utilization of
our employees. Resources shared between concurrent projects
Steps:
1. Know the project and the team: Only knowing the scope and resources available at your
company, you can properly assign team members to your project. Start by creating a high
level plan of the project, consisting of its requirements and deliverables. Then, as you know
exactly whom you will need to complete the project, you can use a skills matrix to discover
which employees at your company to involve. Check the of resource availability to see if they
are actually free to join your project.
2. Uncover risks early on: As a project manager you are well aware of risks like client reviews,
delays, personal emergencies, competing projects, etc. They interfere with allocation of
resources, too.
3. Keep track of the project: Resource allocation is about improving the effectiveness of your
team’s utility. You can do it by measuring resource utilization. Start with tracking the time
and workload.
4. Analyze the project: Using the data gathered during past projects will give a huge
advantage. Based on that data, a better plan can be prepared to manage future projects.

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Having a tool with custom reports helps a lot, as it can organize the data to calculate
different metrics, like employee payroll or sales KPIs.

Q1f. Write a note on risk evaluation and management.

Ans: Risk Evaluation and management:

Risk evaluation is a Determination of risk management priorities through establishment
of qualitative and/or quantitative relationships between benefits and associated risks.
Risk Analysis is defined as the sequence of processes of risk management planning,
analysis of risks, identification and controlling risk on a project. Proper risk management
is control of possible future events that may have a negative effect on the overall project.
It is more of pro-active then reactive process.

Risk Management Process primarily involves following activities:

1. Plan risk management: It is the procedure of defining how to perform risk management
activities for a project.
2. Risk Identification: It is the procedure of determining which risk may affect the project
most. This process involves documentation of existing risks.
3. Perform qualitative risk analysis: It is the process of prioritizing risks for further analysis or
action by combining and assessing their probability of occurrence and impact. It helps
managers to lessen the uncertainty level and concentrate on high priority risks.
Plan risk management should take place early in the project, it can impact on various aspects
for example: cost, time, scope, quality and procurement.
4. Quantitative risk analysis: It is the procedure of numerically analyzing the effect of
identified risks on overall project objectives. In order to minimize the project uncertainty, this
kind of analysis is quite helpful for decision making.
5. Plan risk responses: To enhance opportunities and to minimize threats to project
objectives plan risk response is helpful. It addresses the risks by their priority, activities into
the budget, schedule, and project management plan.
6. Control Risks: Control risk is the procedure of tracking identified risks, identifying new
risks, monitoring residual risks and evaluating risk.

Question 2

Q2a. Explain different approaches used for fast delivery of a project.

Ans: Different approaches used for fast delivery of a project:

a. Agile:
• Agile model emphasizes face-to-face communication over written documents.
• An agile project usually includes a customer representative in the team.
• Agile development projects usually deploy pair programming.
Basic principles of Agile method
1. Incremental delivery after each time box
2. Face to face communication
3. Customer interactions
4. Minimal documentation
5. Pair programming

b. Scrum:
It is one of the “agile processes” Self-organizing teams
- Product progresses in a series of month-long “sprints”
- Requirements are captured as items in a list of “product backlog”
Sprints:

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Scrum projects make progress in a series of “sprints”
Analogous to XP iterations
Target duration is one month
+/- a week or two
During a sprint, a product increment is designed, coded, and tested
Key Roles in Scrum Process:
❖ Product Owner: Acts on behalf of customers to represent their interests.
❖ Development Team: Team of five-nine people with cross-functional skill sets.
❖ Scrum Master: Facilitates scrum process and resolves impediments at the team and
organization level by acting as a buffer between the team and outside interference.

c. eXtreme Programming (XP)

It Associated with Kent Beck - Extreme programming developed in 1999 originally on
Chrysler C3 payroll (Smalltalk) project. Agile methods include Jim Highsmith’s Adaptive
Software Development and Alistair Cocburn’s Chrystal Lite methods.
Four core values presented as foundation of XP:
1. Communication and feedback
2. Simplicity
3. Responsibility
4. Courage
Core practices of XP: Taking Good Practices to Extreme, The planning exercise, Small releases,
Metaphor, Simple design, Testing - If testing is good: Continually write and execute test cases,
Refactoring, Pair programming - If code review is good: Always review --- pair programming,
Collective ownership, Continuous integration, Forty-hour weeks, on site customer, Coding
standard.

Q2b. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Spiral model?

Ans: Sprial Model: Spiral model is the combination of both sequential model and prototype
model. The spiral model is specifically designed for projects which are huge in size and
requires regular enhancements. The spiral model is somewhat similar to the incremental
model but more emphasis on risk analysis, engineering, and evaluation.
Advantages
Risk management is easy in this type of model. When you are handling expensive and
complex projects, risk management is a must. Moreover, Spiral model has the ability to make
any software testing project transparent.
Customer can see and review the test and different stages
Projects can be separated into various parts to ease the management difficulty
Documentation control is strong in this type of methodology
Project estimate will tend to be more realistic as it progresses.
Disadvantages
Cannot be used for small projects as it can be expensive
A vast amount of documentation owing to several intermediate stages
The end date of the project cannot be calculated at the early stages of the project
Complex process
High expertise is required to run the model

Q2c. Discuss the common problem faced during effort estimation.

Ans: Problems generally faced during effort estimation:

• Subjective nature of much of estimating
– It may be difficult to produce evidence to support your precise target
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 • Political pressures
– Managers may wish to reduce estimated costs in order to win support for
acceptance of a project proposal
• Changing technologies
– these bring uncertainties, especially in the early days when there is a ‘learning
curve’
• Projects differ
– Experience on one project may not be applicable to another
The answer to the problem of over-optimistic estimates might seem to be to pad out all
estimates, but that can lead to problems. You might miss out to the competition that someone
could underbid you, if you were tendering for work. Generous estimates also tend to lead to
reductions in productivity. On the other hand, having aggressive targets in order to increase
productivity could lead to poorer product quality.

Q2d. State and explain Capers Jones estimating rules.

Ans: Capers Jones estimating rule of thumb:

Rule 1: SLOC-function point equivalence:
One function point = 125 SLOC for C programs.
Rule 2: Project duration estimation:
Function points raised to the power 0.4 predicts the approximate development time
in calendar months.
E.g. 150 FP = 150X125 = 18750 SLOC, Development time = (150)0.4=7.42==8
months
Rule 3: Rate of requirements creep:
User requirements creep in at an average rate of 2% per month from the design
through coding phases.
Rule 4: Defect removal efficiency:
Each software review, inspection, or test step will find and remove 30% of the bugs
that are present.
Rule 5: Project manpower estimation:
The size of the software (in function points) divided by 150 predicts the
approximate number of personnel required for developing the application.
E.g. 500 FP/150 = 4 personals (approx.)
Rule 6: Software development effort estimation:
The approximate number of staff months of effort required to develop a software
is given by the software development time multiplied with the number of
personnel required.
Eg. 8 months X (150 FP/ 150) = 8 person-month
Rule 7: Number of personnel for maintenance
Function points divided by 500 predicts the approximate number of personnel
required for regular maintenance activities.
E.g. 500/500 = 1 person

Q2e. Explain the top down approach associated with Parametric Models.

Ans: Top down approach associated with Parametric Models:

The top-down approach is normally associated with parametric (or algorithmic) models. These
may be explained using the analogy of estimating the cost of rebuilding a house.
Analogy/Example: Unless the house-owner is in the building trade he or she is unlikely to be
able to calculate the numbers of bricklayer-hours, carpenter-hours, electrician-hours, and so
on, required. Insurance companies, however, produce convenient tables where the house-

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owner can find estimates of rebuilding costs based on such parameters as the number of floors
and the floor space of a house. This is a simple parametric model.
Project effort relates mainly to variables associated with characteristics of the final system. A
parametric model will normally have one or more formulae in the form:
effort = (system size) X (productivity rate)

For example, system size might be in the form ‘thousands of lines of code’ (KLOC) and have
the specific value of 3 KLOC while the productivity rate was 40 days per KLOC. These values
will often be matters of judgment. A model to forecast software development effort therefore
has two key components. The first is a method of assessing the amount of the work needed.
The second assesses the rate of work at which the task can be done.
productivity = effort/size
A more sophisticated way of doing this would be by using the statistical technique least
squares regression to derive an equation in the form:
effort = constant, + (size X constant)
Some parametric models, such as that implied by function points, are focused on system or
task size, while others, such are COCOMO, are more concerned with productivity factors.
Top-down estimates steps
• Produce overall estimate using effort driver(s)
• distribute proportions of overall estimate to components

Q2 f. Write a note on COCOMO II Model.

Ans: COCOMO II model:
COCOMO-II is the revised version of the original COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model) and is
developed at University of Southern California. It is the model that allows one to estimate the
cost, effort and schedule when planning a new software development activity.
Stages of COCOMO II are:
Stage-I:
It supports estimation of prototyping. For this it uses Application Composition Estimation
Model. This model is used for the prototyping stage of application generator and system
integration.
Stage-II:
It supports estimation in the early design stage of the project, when we less know about it. For
this it uses Early Design Estimation Model. This model is used in early design stage of
application generators, infrastructure, system integration.
Stage-III:
It supports estimation in the post architecture stage of a project. For this it uses Post
Architecture Estimation Model. This model is used after the completion of the detailed
architecture of application generator, infrastructure, system integration.
effort = c x sizek
• c and k depend on the type of system: organic, semi-detached, embedded
• Size is measured in ‘KLOC’ ie. Thousands of lines of code
C K
Organic (broadly, information systems) 2.4 1.05
Semi-detached 3.0 1.12
Embedded (broadly, real-time) 3.6 1.20

Effort multipliers in COCOMO II Model:

The scale factor effort multipliers are also assessed:
RCPX Product reliability and complexity
RUSE Reuse required

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PDIF Platform difficulty
PERS Personnel capability
FCIL Facilities available
SCED Schedule pressure
Extra low Very low Low Nom-inal High Very Extra
high high
RCPX 0.49 0.60 0.83 1.00 1.33 1.91 2.72
RUSE 0.95 1.00 1.07 1.15 1.24
PDIF 0.87 1.00 1.29 1.81 2.61
PERS 2.12 1.62 1.26 1.00 0.83 0.63 0.50
PREX 1.59 1.33 1.12 1.00 0.87 0.74 0.62
FCIL 1.43 1.30 1.10 1.00 0.87 0.73 0.62
SCED 1.43 1.14 1.00 1.00 1.00

Question 3

Q3a: What is the necessity of activity planning?

Ans: Necessity of activity planning:

1. Increases efficiency: Planning makes optimum utilization of all available resources. It helps
to reduce the wastage of valuable resources and avoids their duplication. It aims to give the
highest returns at the lowest possible cost. It thus increases the overall efficiency.
2. Reduces business-related risks: There are many risks involved in any modern business.
Planning helps to forecast these business-related risks.
3. Facilitates proper coordination: Often, the plans of all departments of an organization are
well coordinated with each other.
4. Aids in Organizing: Organizing means to bring together all available resources. Planning
tells the number of resources required and when are they needed.
5. Gives right direction: Direction means to give proper information, accurate instructions and
useful guidance to the subordinates. It is impossible without planning. It is because planning
tells us what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
6. Keeps good control: With control, the actual performance of an employee is compared
with the plans, and deviations are found out and corrected.
7. Helps to achieve objectives: Every organization has certain objectives or targets. It keeps
working hard to fulfill these goals. Planning helps an organization to achieve these aims, but
with some ease and promptness.
8. Motivates personnel: A good plan provides various financial and non-financial incentives
to both managers and employees. These incentives motivate them to work hard and achieve
the objectives of the organization.
9. Encourages creativity and innovation: Planning helps managers to express their creativity
and innovation. It brings satisfaction to the managers and eventually a success to the
organization.
10. Helps in decision-making: A manager makes many different plans. Then the manager
selects or chooses the best of all available strategies. Making a selection or choosing
something means to take a decision

Q3b. Explain network planning model and the concept of backward pass.

Ans: Network Planning Model:

It is a project scheduling technique that models the project activities and their relationships
as a network. In a network, time flows from left to right.

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PERT was devised to support the development of the Polaris missile in the late 1950’s. CPM
was developed by Du Pont Chemical Company who published the method in 1958.
PERT is an activity-on-node notation – the ‘nodes’ are the boxes which represent activities.
CPM uses an activity-on-arrow notation where the arrows are the activities.

Formulating a Network Model:

Figure: Project Activity Network Framework with a check-point activity added

Figure: Project Activity Network Fragment represented as a CPM Network

There are two ways Viz: forward pass and backward pass to estimate and schedule the time.
Backward pass represents moving backward to the end result to calculate late start or to find
if there is any slack in the activity.
Backward pass:
• Start from the last activity
• Latest finish (LF) for last activity = earliest finish (EF)
• work backwards
• Latest finish for current activity = Latest start for the following
• More than one following activity - take the earliest LS
• Latest start (LS) = LF for activity - duration
Example of Backward pass all activities

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Q3c. Define the term Risk and discuss the ways to deal with them.

Ans: Risk:
Risk is defined as an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs has a positive or negative
effect on a project objectives. The key elements of a risk are: It relates to the future and It
involves the cause and effect.
Following are the steps to deal with a risk:
1. Risk identification: Recognize and describe risks that might affect the project or its
outcomes. There are a number of techniques that can be used to find project risks. During
this step start to prepare Project Risk Register.
Approaches to identifying risks include:
• Use of checklists – usually based on the experience of past projects
• Brainstorming – getting knowledgeable stakeholders together to pool concerns
• Causal mapping – identifying possible chains of cause and effect

2 Risk Analysis and Prioritization: Once risks are identified determine the likelihood and
consequence of each risk. Develop an understanding of the nature of the risk and its
potential to affect project goals and objectives. Evaluate or rank the risk by determining the
risk magnitude, which is the combination of likelihood and consequence. Make decisions
about whether the risk is acceptable or whether it is serious enough to warrant treatment.
These risk rankings are also added to your Project Risk Register.

3. Risk planning: This is also referred to as Risk Response Planning. During this step assess
the highest ranked risks and set out a plan to treat or modify these risks to achieve
acceptable risk levels. Create risk mitigation strategies, preventive plans and contingency
plans in this step. And add the risk treatment measures for the highest ranking or most
serious risks to your Project Risk Register.

4. Risk Monitoring: This is the step where you take your Project Risk Register and use it to
monitor, track and review risks.

Q3d. Describe Monte Carlo Simulation.

Ans: Monte Carlo simulations:

Monte Carlo Simulation is a mathematical technique that generates random variables for
modeling risk or uncertainty of a certain system. The random variables or inputs are modeled
on the basis of probability distributions such as normal, log normal, etc. Different iterations
or simulations are run for generating paths and the outcome is arrived at by using suitable
numerical computations. Monte Carlo Simulation is the most tenable method used when a
model has uncertain parameters or a dynamic complex system needs to be analyzed. It is a
probabilistic method for modeling risk in a system.

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• An alternative to PERT.
• A class of general analysis techniques:
– Valuable to solve any problem that is complex, nonlinear, or involves more than just a
couple of uncertain parameters.
• Monte Carlo simulations involve repeated random sampling to compute the results.
• Gives more realistic results as compared to manual approaches.

Steps of a Monte Carlo Analysis:

1. Assess the range for the variables being considered.
2. Determine the probability distribution of each variable.
3. For each variable, select a random value based on the probability distribution.
4. Run a deterministic analysis or one pass through the model.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 many times to obtain the probability distribution of the model’s
results.
Monte Carlo simulations are used to model the probability of different outcomes in a
process that cannot easily be predicted due to the intervention of random variables. It is a
technique used to understand the impact of risk and uncertainty in prediction and
forecasting models.

Q3e. Explain the nature of resources and their scheduling.

Ans: Nature of resources:

In project management, resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be
people, equipment, facilities, funding, or anything else required for the completion of a
project activity. The lack of a resource will therefore be a constraint on the completion of the
project activity. Resources may be storable or non-storable. Storable resources remain
available unless depleted by usage, and may be replenished by project tasks which produce
them. Non-storable resources must be renewed for each time period, even if not used in
previous time periods. Resource scheduling, availability and optimization are considered key
to successful project management. Allocation of limited resources is based on the priority
given to each of the project activities. Their priority is calculated using the Critical path
method. For a case with a constraint on the number of resources, the objective is to create
the most efficient schedule possible - minimising project duration and maximising the use of
the resources available.

Resource scheduling:
Resource allocation:
• Identify the resources needed for each activity and create a resource requirement list
• Identify resource types - individuals are interchangeable within the group (e.g. ‘VB
programmers’ as opposed to ‘software developers’)
• Allocate resource types to activities and examine the resource histogram.
Resource histogram: systems analysts
The resource histogram helps us identify where the demand for a resource exceeds the
supply. If we use a tool such as MS Project, the tool will generate the resource histograms for
us.

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Resource smoothing:
• It is usually difficult to get specialist staff who will work odd days to fill in gaps – need
for staff to learn about application etc
• Staff often have to be employed for a continuous block of time
• Therefore desirable to employ a constant number of staff on a project – who as far as
possible are fully employed
• Hence need for resource smoothing

This shows an attempt to smooth the previous resource histogram. Note that in order to do
this, we have had to. Add another week to the schedule.

Q3f. What are the factors considered while allocating task to the individuals?

Ans: Factors considered while Allocating individuals to task:

• Availability – who is free? Note that this will change during the course of the project
as some tasks are completed earlier or later than planned
• Criticality – You would want to put your more experienced, ‘safer’, staff on the critical
activities
• Risk – this is similar to the point above, but some activities could be off the critical
path but still have risks e.g. to the quality of subsequent products
• Training – despite concerns about minimizing risk, it is healthy to take some risks in
order to develop staff capabilities by allocating challenging tasks to relatively
inexperienced staff
• Team-building – identifying people who work well together can pay dividends;
chopping and changing plans all the time may in theory optimize project
performance, but can in practice be demotivating for staff

Question 4

Q4a. Give the benefits of review in the process of project monitoring and control.

Ans: Review Process Model of project monitoring and control:

• Review of work products is an important mechanism for monitoring the progress of a
project and ensuring the quality of the work products.
• Testing is an effective defect removal mechanism.
– However, testing is applicable to only executable code.
– Review is applicable to all work products.

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Benefits of Review Process:
• A cost-effective defect removal mechanism.
• Review usually helps to identify any deviation from standards.
• Reviewers suggest ways to improve the work product
• A review meeting often provides learning opportunities to not only the author of a
work product, but also the other participants of the review meeting.
• The review participants gain a good understanding of the work product under review,
making it easier for them to interface or use the work product in their work.
Review Roles:
• Moderator: Schedules and convenes meetings, distributes review materials, leads and
moderates review sessions.
• Recorder: Records the defects found and the time and effort data.
• Reviewers: The persons who performs the review.
Review Process:

Q4b. Write note on change control.

Ans: Change control process:

1. One or more users might notice the need for a change
2. User management decide that the change is valid and worthwhile and pass it to
development management
3. A developer is assigned to assess the practicality and cost of making the change
4. Development management report back to user management on the cost of the
change; user management decide whether to go ahead
5. One or more developers are authorized to make copies of components to be
modified
6. Copies modified. After initial testing, a test version might be released to users for
acceptance testing
7. When users are satisfied then operational release authorized – master configuration
items updated
8. When development of new product is completed the user management will be
notified and copies of s/w will be released for user acceptance.
9. If user is satisfied, the product will be authorized for operational release.

Q4 c. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of fixed price contracts.

Ans: Contract:
Contract is a voluntary, deliberate, and legally binding agreement between two or more
competent parties. Contracts are usually written but may be spoken or implied, and generally
have to do with employment, sale or lease, or tenancy.

A contractual relationship is evidenced by (1) an offer, (2) acceptance of the offer, and a (3)
valid (legal and valuable) consideration. Each party to a contract acquires rights and duties
relative to the rights and duties of the other parties.

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Contracts on the basis of payment to suppliers:
• fixed price contracts
• time and materials contracts
• fixed price per delivered unit
Note difference between goods and services. Often licence to use software is bought rather
than the software itself

Fixed price contracts

Advantages to customer
• known expenditure
• supplier motivated to be cost-effective
Even though the supplier will have to add a margin to the price to deal with contingencies, the
cost could still be less than doing the work in-house as the supplier may be able to exploit
economies of scale and the expertise that the have from having done similar projects in the
past.
When competing for work, there will be pressure on the suppliers to reduce prices. Once a
contract has been won and signed, the contractor is in a stronger negotiating position when
it comes to negotiating the price of additional work as the customer is now locked in.
Disadvantages:
•supplier will increase price to meet contingencies
•Supplier absorbs the risk in the estimates
•Supplier will add a margin to price quoted
•Difficult to modify requirements
•Cost of changes likely to be higher
•Threat to system quality

Q4d. Explain the stages in Contract Placement

Ans: Stages in Contract Placement:

Step 1 - Requirements Analysis:

Requirements document: sections
• introduction
• description of existing system and current environment
• future strategy or plans
• system requirements -
– mandatory/desirable features
• deadlines
• additional information required from bidders
• Requirements should include
– functions in software, with necessary inputs and outputs
– standards to be adhered to
– other applications with which software is to be compatible
– quality requirements e.g. response times
Step 2 - Evaluation plan:
• Need to assess value for money (VFM) for each desirable feature

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 • VFM approach an improvement on previous emphasis on accepting lowest bid
• Example:
– feeder file saves data input
Step 3 - Invitation to tender (ITT):
• Note that bidder is making an offer in response to ITT
• acceptance of offer creates a contract
• Customer may need further information
• Problem of different technical solutions to the same problem
Step 4 – Evaluation of Proposals:
The purpose of evaluation includes:
• Scrutiny of the proposal document
• Interviewing supplier’s representatives
• Demonstration
• Site visit
• Practical test

Q4 e. Write a note on ethical and professional concerns as a member of any organization.

Ans: Ethical and professional concerns as a member of any organization:

Ethics relates to the moral obligation to respect the rights and interests of others – goes
beyond strictly legal responsibilities
Three groups of responsibilities:
• Responsibilities that everyone has
• Responsibilities that people in organizations have
• Responsibilities relating to your profession or calling
• Organizational ethics
There are some who argue that ethical organizational ethics are limited:
Stockholder theory: An employee’s duty is to the owners of the business (which often means
the stakeholders) above all others – although legal requirements must be met.
Competitive relationships between businesses: Competition may cause you to do things that
could have a negative impact on the owners or employees of competitive businesses
• Exercise: Identify some of the possible objections and criticisms that can be made of the
stockholder business ethics model described above.
• Professional ethics: Professionals have knowledge about the technical domain that the
general public does not
• Ethical duty of the expert to warn lay people of the risks involved in a particular course of
action

Q4f. Explain Taylor’s model of motivation.

Ans: Taylor’s model of motivation:

Much of the work of Taylor was in factories and mines, working with manual workers. The
‘instruction in best methods’ involved breaking down a manual task into its component
activities, identifying the best way of carrying out those activities and then teaching the
workers to copy the approved method. This can be seen as treating the workers as little
better than automatons – but it is also the way the sporting coaches often work!
The individual workers were encouraged to maximize output by paying them piece-rates e.g.
by the units processed.
One difficulty with this is that workers learn that increasing output can in fact lead to the
piece-rate being adjusted in a downward direction. Maximizing output can also be physically
and mentally exhausting. Groups of workers therefore tend to converge on an agreed output
rate which does not require a constant 100% effort.

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 Taylor put forward the idea that workers are motivated mainly by pay.
His Theory of Scientific Management argued the following:
1. Workers do not naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control
2. Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks
3. Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools so they can work as
efficiently as possible on one set task.
4. Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of
time- piece-rate pay.
5. As a result workers are encouraged to work hard and maximize their productivity.
6. Workers given one repetitive task so they can learn to master it
7. Managers should give orders and closely control workers
8. Workers should be paid per item they produced

Question 5

Q5 a. Describe a virtual team and the advantages of forming a virtual team.

Ans: Virtual team and the advantages of forming a virtual team:

A virtual team refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographic
locations and rely on communication technology such as email, FAX, and video or voice
conferencing services in order to collaborate. The term can also refer to groups or teams that
work together asynchronously or across organizational levels. It is also defined as "groups of
geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed workers brought together by
information and telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more organizational
tasks."
The advantages are:
• Can use staff from developing countries – lower costs
• Can use short term contracts:
– Reduction in overheads related to use of premises
– Reduction in staff costs, training, holidays, pensions etc.
• Can use specialist staff for specific jobs

Q5 b. Write a role of different types of people needed to form a balanced team.

Ans: Different types of people needed to form a balanced team:

• The co-ordinator – good at chairing meetings
• The ‘plant’ – an idea generator
• The monitor-evaluator – good at evaluating ideas
• The shaper – helps direct team’s efforts
• The team worker – skilled at creating a good working environment
Belbin management roles - A person can have elements of more than one of the types, but
usually one or two predominate. According to Belbin about 30% cannot be classified under
any heading at all.
Problems can occur if, for example, you have two or more shapers and no effective co-
ordinator – there are likely to be clashes that are difficult to resolve.
• The resource investigator – adept at finding resources, including information
• The completer-finisher – concerned with getting tasks completed
• The implementer – a good team player who is willing to undertake less attractive
tasks if they are needed for team success
• The specialist – the ‘techie’ who likes to acquire knowledge for its own sake

Q5c. Define the term quality. Explain McCall’s quality model.

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Ans: Quality: It is defined as being suitable for its intended purpose (fitness for purpose)
while satisfying customer expectations. Quality is a perceptual, conditional, and somewhat
subjective attribute and may be understood differently by different people. Consumers may
focus on the specification quality of a product/service, or how it compares to competitors in
the marketplace. Producers might measure the conformance quality, or degree to which the
product/service was produced correctly. Support personnel may measure quality in the
degree that a product is reliable, maintainable, or sustainable.

McCall’s quality Model:

The overall goal of any software management is "Quality built-in with cost and performance
as prime consideration". This means that the software should be built with certain quality
aspects that fulfill the needs of the user. Its performance is kept on the top priority. The
performance is also based on the demands of the user and the developer's perspective. The
good performing software is highly in demand these days due to rising competition in the
market. Jim McCall produced the McCall software quality model for the US Air Force in 1977.
This is used to maintain harmony between the users and the developers. Successful software
is developed that fulfills the user needs in consideration with the developer's point of view.
Different software quality models are developed and in that only two of the models are
considered in the present time for a remarkable quality attributes of the software. Three Main
Perspectives of the Quality Attributes of the Software are:
1. Product Revision.
2. Product Transition.
3. Product Operations.

Q5d. State and explain different levels of Capability Maturity Model (CMM) .

Ans: Four popular process capability models are ISO 9001:2000, Capability maturity model
(CMM), Capability maturity model (CMM2), Capability Evaluation.
CMM (Capability maturity model) :
• Describes an evolutionary improvement path for software organizations from an ad
hoc immature process :
– To a mature, disciplined one.
• Provides guidance on:
– How to control the process
– How to evolve the process
• Five maturity levels:
– Stages are ordered so that improvements at one stage provide foundations
for the next.
• Based on the pioneering work of Philip Crosby.

Level 1 (Initial):
• Organization operates Without any formalized process or project plans
• An organization at this level is characterized by Ad hoc and chaotic activities.
• Software development processes are not defined
Level 2 (Repeatable):
• Basic project management practices are followed

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 – Size and cost estimation techniques:
– Function point analysis, COCOMO, etc.
– Tracking cost, schedule, and functionality.
Level 3 (Defined):
• All management and development activities:
– Defined and documented.
– Common organization-wide understanding of activities, roles, and
responsibilities.
• The process though defined:
– Process and product qualities are not measured.
Level 4 (Managed):
• Quantitative quality goals for products are set.
• Software process and product quality are measured:
– The measured values are used to control the product quality.
• Results of measurement used to evaluate project performance:
– Rather than improve process.
Level 5 (Optimizing):
• Statistics collected from process and product measurements are analyzed:
– Continuous process improvement based on the measurements.
• Known types of defects are prevented from recurring by tuning the process
Lessons learned from specific projects incorporated into the process.

Q5e. Explain the metrics correlated with Software reliability.

Ans: Metrics correlated with Software reliability:
The metrics correlated with the software reliability are:
1. Mean Time to Failure (MTTF): MTTF is described as the time interval between the two
successive failures. An MTTF of 200 mean that one failure can be expected each 200-time
units. The time units are entirely dependent on the system & it can even be stated in the
number of transactions. MTTF is consistent for systems with large transactions.
2. Mean Time to Repair (MTTR): Once failure occurs, some-time is required to fix the error.
MTTR measures the average time it takes to track the errors causing the failure and to fix
them.
3. Mean Time Between Failure (MTBR): We can merge MTTF & MTTR metrics to get the MTBF
metric. MTBF = MTTF + MTTR
Thus, an MTBF of 300 denoted that once the failure appears, the next failure is expected to
appear only after 300 hours. In this method, the time measurements are real-time & not the
execution time as in MTTF.
4. Rate of occurrence of failure (ROCOF): It is the number of failures appearing in a unit time
interval. The number of unexpected events over a specific time of operation. ROCOF is the
frequency of occurrence with which unexpected role is likely to appear. A ROCOF of 0.02
mean that two failures are likely to occur in each 100 operational time unit steps. It is also
called the failure intensity metric.
5. Probability of Failure on Demand (POFOD): POFOD is described as the probability that the
system will fail when a service is requested. It is the number of system deficiency given
several systems inputs. POFOD is the possibility that the system will fail when a service
request is made.
6. Availability (AVAIL): Availability is the probability that the system is applicable for use at a
given time. It takes into account the repair time & the restart time for the system. An
availability of 0.995 means that in every 1000 time units, the system is feasible to be available
for 995 of these. The percentage of time that a system is applicable for use, taking into

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account planned and unplanned downtime. If a system is down an average of four hours out
of 100 hours of operation, its AVAIL is 96%.

Q5f. Discuss reasons for project closure.

Ans: Reasons for project closure:

• There are many reasons as to why a project may have to be prematurely terminated:
– Lack of resources Eg. Change in top management
– Changed business need of the customer
– perceived benefits accruing from the project no longer remain valid Eg.
Competing
– products
– Changes to the regulatory policies
– Key technologies used in the project becoming obsolete during project
execution
– Risks have become unacceptably high Eg. Unsettling company’s financial
– soundness, inviting negative publicity.

• Reasons may be two fold:

– Emotional
– Intellectual
• Team members may pay more attention to issues such as getting reassigned to a
project of their choice and the project work can take a back seat
• Terms of contract and the list of deliverables need to be renegotiated
• Closure decision has to be effectively communicated to all stakeholders.

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