Chapter 23 – Project planning. The objective of this chapter is to introduce project planning, scheduling, and cost estimation. When you have read the chapter, you will: understand the fundamentals of software costing and reasons why the price of the software may not be directly related to its development cost; know what sections should be included in a project plan that is created within a plan-driven development process; understand what is involved in project scheduling and the use of bar charts to present a project schedule. | Chapter 23 – Project planning Lecture 1 Topics covered Software pricing Plan-driven development Project scheduling Agile planning Estimation techniques Project planning Project planning involves breaking down the work into parts and assign these to project team members, anticipate problems that might arise and prepare tentative solutions to those problems. The project plan, which is created at the start of a project, is used to communicate how the work will be done to the project team and customers, and to help assess progress on the project. Planning stages At the proposal stage, when you are bidding for a contract to develop or provide a software system. During the project startup phase, when you have to plan who will work on the project, how the project will be broken down into increments, how resources will be allocated across your company, etc. Periodically throughout the project, when you modify your plan in the light of experience gained and information from monitoring the . | Chapter 23 – Project planning Lecture 1 Topics covered Software pricing Plan-driven development Project scheduling Agile planning Estimation techniques Project planning Project planning involves breaking down the work into parts and assign these to project team members, anticipate problems that might arise and prepare tentative solutions to those problems. The project plan, which is created at the start of a project, is used to communicate how the work will be done to the project team and customers, and to help assess progress on the project. Planning stages At the proposal stage, when you are bidding for a contract to develop or provide a software system. During the project startup phase, when you have to plan who will work on the project, how the project will be broken down into increments, how resources will be allocated across your company, etc. Periodically throughout the project, when you modify your plan in the light of experience gained and information from monitoring the progress of the work. Proposal planning Planning may be necessary with only outline software requirements. The aim of planning at this stage is to provide information that will be used in setting a price for the system to customers. Software pricing Estimates are made to discover the cost, to the developer, of producing a software system. You take into account, hardware, software, travel, training and effort costs. There is not a simple relationship between the development cost and the price charged to the customer. Broader organisational, economic, political and business considerations influence the price charged. Factors affecting software pricing Factor Description Market opportunity A development organization may quote a low price because it wishes to move into a new segment of the software market. Accepting a low profit on one project may give the organization the opportunity to make a greater profit later. The experience gained may also help it develop new products. Cost estimate .
