Development & Quality Plans: Objectives, Elements, Risk Management

OHT 6.1
Galin, SQA from theory to implementation © Pearson Education Limited 2004
• Development plan and quality plan objectives
• The elements of the development plan
• Elements of the quality plan
• Development and quality plans for small and
for internal projects
• Software development risks and software risk
management

OHT 6.2
Introduction
• Project managers prepare
– development and
– quality plans.
• Onerous task,
– Senior level management on one end and
– Developers on the other
• Two dance to different drummers.
• These plans are vitally important to meet
contractual commitments
• Thus, we need to look at:

OHT 6.3
• Objectives of development and quality plans
• Elements of development plans
• Elements of quality plans
• Major software risks
• Process of software risk management
• Importance of development and quality plans
for small projects
• Importance of development and quality plans
for internal projects.

OHT 6.4
Planning is meant to prepare adequate foundations for successful and
timely completion of the project. The planning process includes:
1. Scheduling development activities and estimating the
required manpower resources and budget
2. Recruiting team members and allocating development resources
3. Resolving development risks
4. Implementing required SQA activities
5. Providing management with data needed for project control
6.1 Development Plan and Quality Plan Objectives

OHT 6.5
Each of the following 10 components of a development plan are
appropriate to different parts of a project.
1. Project Products, specifying “deliverables”
Critically important.
Must decide on deliverables!
dates and items
installation site – local or physical install
training – customer service
dates, participants, and sites
(much is done on line now…)
6.2 Elements of the Development Plan

OHT 6.6
2. Project Interfaces
• How does the new software interface with existing
software?
– (major consideration in large corporation)
• How does the software affect other parts of a larger
system or similar systems??
• Often requires ‘escalation.’
• Any hardware considerations for interfacing? Special
hardware?

OHT 6.7
3. Project methodology and development tools for
various phases during development, maintenance.
• Heuristic: never use untested tool / methodology on a
new project with high visibility!!
• Methodology must be decided upon.
– Usually organizations have ‘established’ ways of proceeding…
4. Software Development Standards and Procedures
Must be conventions!! Standards and Integration!!
a MUST!

OHT 6.8
5. Laying out the Development Process
Define the project’s phases
Planning: inputs/outputs/activities/activity
duration/sequence and dependencies/resources needed for
each activity/ design reviews/ testing/ training for
customer support/ more…
GANTTT Charts / CPM , PERT all include sequence
dependencies and duration.
Microsoft Project and Rational Conductor
6. Project Milestones
completion dates, products clearly define.
Must synchronize with Overall Plan.
More detailed than Overall Plan
More detailed than iteration plans

OHT 6.9
7. Project Staff Organization
Organizational structure – teams, tasks, sub
contractors, temporary workers. Pecking order…
much risk!
Professional requirements of teams / leadership
risk!!
Numbers for periods of time
team size varies from beginning to fully staffed, to...
Designate team leaders and members
team composition will change throughout a long
development effort.
staff evaporation; reassignments; illness, …..

OHT 6.10
8. Development Facilities
Hardware, software, tools, development
environments, training on these, space
Very important.
Many very nice facilities nowadays – break rooms,
ping pong; nice coffee / beverage facilities; day care.
10. Control Methods
How to control the monitoring process / reporting process
with respect to plans, test reports, reviews, howgoesit, and
more

OHT 6.11
11. Project Cost Estimation
An art in itself based on many models and experience.
COCOMO and COCOM II Models (Barry Boehm)
human resource estimates,
contracts with suppliers,
internal development and unavailability,
budget changes,
risk considerations.
travel first go go
training second to go…

OHT 6.12
9. Development Risks - Inherent in any project
Risk: “a state or property of a development task or
environment, which, if ignored, will
increased the likelihood of project failure.”
Technology risks – experience of team members
Personnel shortages – can arise during project
Environmental risks
Budget risks
Interdependence on others (hardware;
subcontractors, etc.)

OHT 6.13
More on Risks
Risk Management: identification,
evaluation, planning actions,
implementation, monitoring…
Calculation of Risk
Monitoring of risk throughout development
cycle!!
The Spiral Model – specifically
incorporating risk to every cycle (next
chapter)

OHT 6.14
1. Developing wrong software functions *
2. Unrealistic schedules and budgets *
3. Developing wrong user interface
4. Gold plating *
5. Continuing stream of requirement changes *
6. Shortfalls in externally furnished components
7. Shortfalls in externally performed tasks
8. Personnel shortfalls *
9. Real-time performance shortfalls *
10. Straining computer science capabilities

OHT 6.15
Pre-
project
Risk identification
and assessment
Planning risk
management activities
New
project
Planning and updating risk
Implementing
risk management actions
(risk resolution)
Monitoring software risk
Identifying and
assessing new software
risks
Ongoing
projects
Evaluate
monitoring
results
Required results
achieved Unsatisfactory results

OHT 6.16
1. List of quality goals
These refer to the quality requirements in the developed
software system.
Quantitative measures usually preferred to qualitative
measures when choosing goals because they are usually
easier to assess objectively during testing.
Quality goals should reflect the major acceptance criteria
found in the requirement’s document (an RFP)
correctness, reliability, robustness, maintainability….
RFP is often used to measure successful achievement of the
customer’s quality requirements.
6.3 The Elements of a the Quality Plan

OHT 6.17
2. Planned Review Activities
The planned reviews should include a listing of all reviews.
design reviews
technical reviews
managerial reviews
code inspections
Pros and Cons……………………
All reviews need to include:
Scope – what does it cover
Type – emphasis – managerial, technical, super detailed…
Schedule – often based on previous reviews and outcomes
Procedures – action lists; present and discuss; …
Who is to attend? Collateral interest?? *****
Responsibilities for review; documents needed, by when…

OHT 6.18
3. Planned Software Tests
Must include a complete list of planned tests
Each test must include the following:
coverage of test: unit, integration, system, subsystem….
type of test: may include computer-generated tests and
their application via test suites, and more
Planned test schedule – prioritized and follow up
Exact procedures (for different types of tests…)
Who is responsible for carrying out tests
notification, time, date, materials, facilities, etc…
Different people responsible at different times!! **

OHT 6.19
4. Planned Acceptance Tests for Externally
Developed Software
A complete set of acceptance tests to be run for externally
developed software must be provided within the quality
plan!
(Complete set must be run for our own developed software!)
Especially critical for purchased software, contracted
software, customer-supplied software.
These tests can be run in parallel with internally-developed
software tests (tests that internally are developed to
supplement other tests)

OHT 6.20
5. Configuration Management
The quality plan MUST include configuration
management tools and procedures for managing the
software configurations, versions, etc.
Must be an intrinsic part of the entire project!
The Quality Plan may be included within the Development Plan
or as an independent document.
The document, however compiled, must be reviewed and
approved by the organization’s standard approval process.

OHT 6.21
Natural for many to try to avoid hassle of preparing all these plans.
In fact, heavy-weight methodologies are often called plan-centric;
Agile methods try to avoid much planning and documentation
The question is simply does a short, small project (likw 30-60 days;
two or three individuals) deserve the time spent on planning a
development and quality plan?
Answer: No, not exactly.
Development / Quality Plans for
Small and Internal Projects

OHT 6.22
Lots of issues here…
Sometimes not done due to short duration / manpower
Sometimes planning is left up to the project leader’s
discretion.
Perhaps a critically-important and high risk but short
duration effort with high-penalty shouts for a plan…
Sometimes, via contract, both development and
quality plans are simply required.
Development / Quality Plans for Small
Projects

OHT 6.23
Several advantages to planned over unplanned projects:
1. A more comprehensive / thorough understanding of
the task is likely (gained when developing the plan)
2. Greater responsibility for meeting obligations can be
assigned, as they can be ‘seen’ more clearly since
articulated (who does what)
3. Easier to share control of the project and identify
unexpected delays (any plan better than no plan at
all!)
4. Better understanding of requirements and timetable
can be reached between customer and developer.
Development / Quality Plans for Small Projects

OHT 6.24
Lots of projects done for the internal use of organization.
Here, normally no external body is a customer
Can be medium or large scale.
Tendency to avoid adequate development / quality plans
avoiding plans is fraught with errors.
cost overruns, finger pointing, missed dates,
internal friction among cooperating shops, …
Often put on back burner!!
Development / Quality Plans for Internal
Projects

OHT 6.25
Internal Customers ‘can’ enjoy advantages.
smaller deviations from planned completion dates
smaller budget overruns
better control over development process – problems can
be addressed locally,
Organizationally,
reduced risk of market loss (done for internal use)
reduced risk of litigation (late arrival; non-compliance)
reduced risk of impairing a firm’s reputation
reduced risk of requesting a budget supplement.
Preparing Plans provides Advantages

Development & Quality Plans: Objectives, Elements, Risk Management

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