Milestone Trend Analysis (MTA)

The milestone trend analysis enables you to monitor the contents of the project progression. You define the milestones and can schedule appointments and display any deviations. The Y axis is defined as the target time axis with the scheduled milestones; the X axis represents the actual time axis. The appointments for project meetings (reporting times) are recorded on this X axis. In these project meetings, for each milestone, each of the owners is asked about the upcoming fulfillment date. The fulfillment dates named are entered into the diagram using the meeting time. A forecast curve is produced for each milestone:
If target and actual times coincide, the milestone for the scheduled time has been reached and the

forecast curve runs horizontally.

If the milestone is moved during the project meetings to a later time, the forecast curve rises. If the milestone is moved during the project meetings to an earlier time, the forecast curve drops.

Data Provider You build the underlying table for a milestone trend analysis as follows:
The table must contain at least two data columns. The first column determines the reporting time;

the second column determines the milestone.

You can add further pairs of data columns to the table. The table can consist of 2, 4, 6, and so on,

data columns.

Chart

Special Features The milestone trend analysis can also be created without categories, which means it only contains data series.

SPM: MEASUREMENT AND METRICS

INTRODUCTION Every software project manager is keen to ensure the success of a project. For this, it is necessary to establish achievable targets for project cost, schedule, and quality, and ensure that the project is monitored and controlled to achieve these targets. Measurement is essential for planning and executing projects successfully. It is the foundation of project planning. Measurement helps to establish targets towards which the project team works. Measurement is also required to determine whether the progress of the project is satisfactory and whether corrective action is required. In this section, you will learn about the critical role of measurement in software project management. IMPORTANCE OF MEASUREMENT Let us now look at an example to understand how measurement is a key component of any technical insight. Consider a pilot who has been asked to fly a plane to a particular destination. He should fly the plane only after checking the distance to be covered and whether there is sufficient fuel for the journey. The pilot is expected to perform calculations very carefully and check all the facts before the plane takes off. You would definitely not want to be on a flight where the pilot ignores the facts and flies the plane based on some 'feelings'.
Measurement provides a mechanism for objective evaluation.

Given below is another example of using measurement. Consider a situation where a doctor has to prescribe medicine for high blood pressure. Before prescribing the medication, the doctor must be sure that the patient indeed has a problem. Therefore, the doctor needs to take multiple measurements of the patient's blood pressure to confirm that there is a problem that needs to be treated. The two examples discussed so far show that if you want your actions to be correct and successful, you should base them on data that assists in decision-making. MEASUREMENT IS INTEGRAL IN ENGINEERING

Measurement is an integral part of all engineering disciplines. It provides a mechanism for evaluating objectively. This helps in taking corrective actions. Software engineering is beginning to mature as an engineering discipline; and, therefore, practitioners often forget about the benefits of measurement. It is important to note that measurement has to be an integral part of the software process and project so that software engineering evolves into a discipline that gives confidence to practitioners and customers.
Transcript If software development is ever to evolve into an engineering discipline, it's critically important that we measure. And yet, I hear the following lament that companies, large and small, measurement is too hard, it's too time-consuming, it's too political, it's just simply too difficult to accomplish effectively. I think those complaints are erroneous, and I also think they are misdirected. If, in fact, we are going to do successful project management and, on a broader scale, if we are going to implement a successful software process, we need to measure.
RELUCTANCE IN MEASUREMENT Software engineering is still an evolving discipline. Practitioners are not yet accustomed to measurement and are reluctant to measure. In the software engineering field, you often hear statements that show how much people rely on some feeling or on hope to decide on commitments. For example, you may hear a project manager say, "Well, this system is not all that complex. After all, how complex can an off-line payroll package be? I guess four months should be good enough to complete it, if I am given a team of reasonable size. We'll give it our best shot, and I am sure we can manage." However, we cannot afford to be lax in the field of software engineering. We need to be as careful about measurements here, as we are in other engineering disciplines.

SOFTWARE PROJECT SUCCESS

A software project is considered successful if it:

Is executed within the budgeted cost Is completed within the scheduled time Produces a good-quality product

How can measurement contribute to project success?

Clue To understand how measurement can contribute to project success, think about how the project manager and the stakeholders can set targets and monitor project performance.
MEASUREMENT IN A SOFTWARE PROJECT For successful execution of a project, the targets should be

achievable and there should be a plan to achieve these targets. Measurement data from past projects is used to estimate and set achievable targets for the project cost, schedule, and quality.

Measurement helps a project manager to monitor and control the project by tracking the actual performance. It provides data on the status of activities, resource utilization, and the technical quality of the work done. The actual performance is checked against the plans on an ongoing basis so that corrective action can be taken where necessary. The data gathered across projects can be used for analysis to decide on how to refine software processes. Let us now discuss how to establish project targets. Lord Kelvin's note ON IMPORTANCE OF MEASUREMENT When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of a science. ESTABLISHING PROJECT TARGETS
The expected performance of a project depends on the capability of the software process that is used for executing the project. Measurement can be used to understand the characteristics of the process. For example, you can use measurement to understand the productivity and defect rate that can be expected if the process is followed. The data obtained by measuring past projects gives a basis for predicting what can be expected in future projects and thereby helps in more accurate estimation. However, you should take into account the differences between the characteristics of past projects and the one being estimated. Achievable targets for the project cost, schedule, and quality can be established by using the available historica

l data.

DATA FOR ESTIMATION

At times, data about the software process is not available. This may happen because the organization is new or it has not

undertaken projects of a particular type before. In the absence of data from old projects, other data should be used for estimation, such as industry data for similar projects. We can also use available estimation models that have been calibrated using relevant industry data. Essentially, estimation, the first step of project planning, is based on an analysis of the available historic data or models that have been based on analysis or industry data.

EVALUATING PROJECT PROGRESS It is not sufficient to establish achievable targets for a project; it is also necessary to monitor the progress against these targets. By knowing the status of the work, corrective actions can be identified. To understand the need for monitoring progress, let us return to the example of a doctor who has prescribed medication for a patient with high blood pressure. The patient starts taking the medicine and, as a result, the patient's blood pressure is affected. After a pre-determined period, the patient visits the doctor for another checkup; the doctor checks the blood pressure again, and based on the new reading, decides to continue the same medication or modify it. What would happen if the patient's blood pressure were not checked again after the specified time period?

Our Comments If the patient's blood pressure were not checked after the specified time period, the patient would continue with the medication prescribed initially. As a result, the patient could have: Low blood pressure if the prescribed medication was too strong High blood pressure if the prescribed medication was not strong enough Blood pressure within the acceptable range if the prescribed medication was the exact amount required

You can see that the first and second situations could be alarming for the patient. Therefore, measuring the blood pressure again is essential so that the doctor can take corrective action if required.
MEASUREMENT FOR PROJECT MONITORING AND CONTROL In the situation discussed on the previous page, you saw that measurement was used to evaluate the status and identify whether corrective action was needed. Now, consider a software project. The success of a project is seen in terms of working within the budget, meeting the schedule, and producing good quality. Achievable targets are set, and a plan is made to meet them. Projects are then executed according to the plan. Which aspects of measurement, in the context of project monitoring and control, are of concern to the project manager during the execution stage?.

Identify for which the project manager needs to measure:

Situations

Yes

No

Comparing the actual effort against the planned effort

yes <br>The actual ef

Checking if the project is on schedule

yes <br>The completi

Identifying which modules to focus on for reviews, given that reviews cannot be conducted for all modules, due to shortage of time

yes <br>If time does n

Checking whether the productivity being achieved in a new environment is the same as what was estimated at planning time

yes <br>The actual pr

Checking whether the quality assurance targets are likely to be met

Measurement should be useful and practical

You have seen that measurement helps project managers in estimating, planning, monitoring, and controlling a project. It also enables the project managers to take tactical decisions about a project. However, it is important to remember that measurement consumes time and effort. Trying to measure too many things can be counterproductive. For organizations that are initiating the practice of taking measurement, the following steps are recommended for taking measurement.

Identify a few simple measures that assist the work of project management. Collect the identified measures in a disciplined way. Compute metrics that provide insight into the product, the project, and the process, and use these metrics for effective project management. An example of such a metric is defect density.(= Defects/ KLOC) Store all the measures and metrics in a historical database.

Steps for taking measurement

MEASUREMENT FOR SOFTWARE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Software products are produced as a result of a software process. The data related to processes can be collected across projects, to give an idea of the capability of the software process. This data is useful for estimation. Root cause analysis of data helps to answer questions such as:

Which types of errors occur more often and why? Why is the quality of the product low? Why are projects always late?

Such analysis helps to decide the priorities for software process improvement at the organization level and check the effectiveness of improvement efforts. Software project managers benefit from improved software processes in their subsequent projects.
In the software process improvement cycle, measurement helps evaluate the effectiveness of improvement actions.

SUMMARY
In this section, you learned that measurement is essential in every engineering discipline. It provides a mechanism for objective evaluation, which is necessary to take suitable action. Software project managers use measurement to establish achievable project targets. For this, they may use the available historical or industry data or models based on such data. Measurement is also required

to know the status of activities, resource utilization, and the technical quality of the work done. This actual status is checked against the plans on an ongoing basis to identify deviations and take corrective actions. The data gathered across projects can be used for analysis to decide on process improvement priorities. It is important to note that only simple and relevant measures should be taken and a disciplined approach should be employed to collect, analyze, and use data.