CS3377 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Course Description

In addition to the problems of accurate estimation and costing, IT professionals are increasingly being called upon to deliver quality software; solutions that work according to specifications, that are error-free and satisfy the user. In addition, we must also guarantee product quality or then suffer legal redress.

Project management, as a discipline, has been well established in many engineering fields over the years. However, the accumulated wisdom is not fully applied to software or IT for several reasons. There is the impression in IT that programming has more to do with art than science. Further, we have not had the appropriate tools for accurate estimation in size, cost and productivity, owing to the intangible nature of software. Finally, it is fair to say that we still need to promote a sound Project Management culture within the field of IT and Software Projects.

Over the last decade, there has been significant research in areas such as software measurement, especially about functional metrics. We now have the ability to measure software and thus make accurate predictions in the planning of software projects. The course uses metrics (particularly Function Points) as a foundation to develop plans based on actual measurements. It stresses the need to use metrics both in the planning of projects and in the managing against those plans, the use of risk management techniques and the role of quality in the development of software.

Course Prerequisite

• Computer Science CS2212 a/b/y or the former Computer Science 201.

Course Schedule

• CS3377 Course Schedule

Course Outline

• CS3377 Introduction and Summary
• CS3377 The Project Life Cycle
• CS3377 Software Development Life Cycle Models
• CS3377 Life Cycles and Metrics
• CS3377 Process Maturity: SEI CMM
• CS3377 Estimation Techniques of IT
• CS3377 Project Scoping
• CS3377 Project Planning
• CS3377 Project Control
• CS3377 Project Phase-Out
• CS3377 Risk Management
• CS3377 Configuration Management
• CS3377 People Management
• CS3377 Team Dynamics
• CS3377 Net Present Value
• CS3377 Project Portfolio Management
• CS3377 Software Quality Assurance
• CS3377 Project Leadership

General Case Studies

• The Standish Report
• IT Project Business Cases

Government Case Studies

• SLIM Project Plan
• Foreign Affairs State of IT

Supplements

• Function Point Manual
• A Guide to Function Points
• Function Points: 14 Adjustment Factors
• The Delphi Estimation Method
• SEI CMM Published Appraisal Results per Company
• Sample Exam Questions
• Answers to Sample Exam Questions
• Final Exam Guide

Student Evaluation (dates are tentative)

• CS3377 Assignment 1 10% due September 28th
• CS3377 Assignment 2 15% due October 19th
• CS3377 Assignment 3 15% due November 9th
• CS3377 Assignment 4 15% due December 7th
• CS3377 Final examination 45%, Tuesday Dec. 13 at 9:00am in UCC 54B

Optional Readings

• The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management, 3rd Edition,E. Verzuh, © John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2008, ISBN 978-0470-24789-1.

• Project Management Handbook K. Pinto Editor, © Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998, ISBN 0-7879-4013-5.

• The Logic of Failure by D. Dorner, © Addison Wesley, Inc. 1996, ISBN 0-201-47948-6.

• Practical Software Metrics For Project Management and Process Improvement, by R. B. Grady, © Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 1992. ISBN 0-13-720384-5.

• Effective Project Management, by Wisocki, Beck and Crane. © John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1995. ISBN 0-471-11521-5.

• Project Management, Strategic Design and Implementation, 3rd edition, by David I. Cleland, © McGraw-Hill, 1999, ISBN 0-07-012020-X.

• Controlling Software Projects by Tom DeMarco, © Prentice Hall, 1982, ISBN 0-13-171711-1.

Course Protocol

• All assignments will be made available on the course web site. The availability of assignments will be announced in class. Students are responsible for checking their UWO e-mail on a regular basis.

• Assignments must be submitted in a covering envelope, of appropriate size, with the student's name clearly written in the upper right corner.

• The late penalty for assignments is 20% per day late, for a maximum of 4 days, after which assignments will not be marked. Weekends count as one day of lateness.

• Unless stated otherwise, assignments are to be completed by individuals, not groups. Students may discuss approaches to problems among themselves; however, the actual work must be an individual effort. Collaboration that results in assignments that are more than coincidentally alike is unacceptable.

• Assignments that are judged to be the result of academic dishonesty (such as unacceptable collaboration, copying another student's assignment, allowing another student to copy, or altering of assignment results) will be handled in accordance with the following Plagiarism Policy:

  The maximum penalty for the first offence is -100% for the assignment in question. (For example, if you cheat on an assignment worth 12%, you will receive a grade of 0 on the assignment, and will be penalized another 12%; your final mark in the course could not exceed 76%.) Offences are kept on file. See also the Departmental policy on Scholastic Offences.

Accessibility

Policy on Accomodation for Medical Illness

• Academic accommodation for work representing 10% or more of the student's overall grade in the course shall be granted only in those cases where there is documentation indicating that the student was seriously affected by illness and could not reasonably be expected to meet his/her academic responsibilities. Documentation shall be submitted, as soon as possible, to the Office of the Dean of the student¿s home Faculty, together with a request for relief specifying the nature of the accommodation being requested.

• Once the petition and supporting documents have been received and assessed, appropriate academic accommodation shall be determined by the Dean's office in consultation with the student's instructor(s). (See the full policy for the forms that the student must submit to the Dean's office, and for examples of academic accommodation.)

• A student seeking academic accommodation for any work worth less than 10% of the overall grade in a course must contact the course instructor.

• You are encouraged to read the UWO policy on Student Absences due to Illness.

Course Website

• www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/beau/CS3377/index.html

Course Lectures

• Classes are held on Wednesdays, from 7:00pm to 10:00pm, in MC105B

Course Assignment Locker

• Course locker #85, located in the basement of Middlesex College

Office Hours

• By appointment

Professor

• Dr. Steven S. Beauchemin
  Associate Professor
  Department of Computer Science
  The University of Western Ontario
  London ON N6A 5B7
  CANADA
  Phone: (519) 661-2073
  Fax: (519) 661-3515
  E-Mail: beau@csd.uwo.ca
  URL: www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/beau/

© Dr S. S. Beauchemin, All Rights Reserved
Last Update 08/09/2011