SYLLABUS

IT2403 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

LTPC3003

UNIT I INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Definition Contract Management Activities Covered By Software Project management
Overview Of Project Planning Stepwise Project Planning.
UNIT II PROJECT EVALUATION
Strategic Assessment Technical Assessment Cost Benefit Analysis Cash Flow Forecasting
Cost Benefit Evaluation Techniques Risk Evaluation.

UNIT III ACTIVITY PLANNING

Objectives Project Schedule Sequencing and Scheduling Activities Network Planning Models
Forward Pass Backward Pass Activity Float Shortening Project Duration Activity on
Arrow Networks Risk Management Nature Of Risk Types Of Risk Managing Risk Hazard
Identification Hazard Analysis Risk Planning And Control.

UNIT IV MONITORING AND CONTROL

Creating Framework Collecting The Data Visualizing Progress Cost Monitoring Earned
Value Priortizing Monitoring Getting Project Back To Target Change Control Managing
Contracts Introduction Types Of Contract Stages In Contract Placement Typical Terms Of
A Contract Contract Management Acceptance.

UNIT V MANAGING PEOPLE AND ORGANIZING TEAMS

Introduction Understanding Behavior Organizational Behaviour: A Background Selecting The
Right Person For The Job Instruction In The Best Methods Motivation The Oldman
Hackman Job Characteristics Model Working In Groups Becoming A Team Decision Making
Leadership Organizational Structures Stress Health And Safety Case Studies.

TOTAL: 45PERIODS

TEXT BOOK
1. Bob Hughes, Mikecotterell, Software Project Management, Third Edition, Tata
McGraw Hill, 2004.

REFERENCES
1. Ramesh, Gopalaswamy, "Managing Global Projects", Tata McGraw Hill, 2001.
2. Royce, Software Project Management, Pearson Education, 1999.
3. Jalote, Software Project Management in Practice, Pearson Education, 2002.

LESSON PLAN
UNIT I
Session
No

Topics to be covered
Ref (page No)

Introduction ,Project Definition

1(1-3)

Software projects vs. other types of project, Contract Management

1(3-4)

Activities covered By Software Project Management

1(4-6)

Management, Problems with software projects

1(8-10)

Overview of Project Planning, Stepwise Project Planning.

1(18-36)
4(19-32)

5,6,7
8

Conclusion and Review questions

1(36)

UNIT II
Session
No

Topics to be covered

Ref
(Page No)

Strategic Assessment, Technical Assessment

1(38-41)

10

Cost Benefit Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting

1(41-44)

Cost Benefit Evaluation Techniques

1(44-50)

13

Risk Evaluation

1(50-55)

14

Conclusion and Review questions

11,12

1(55)

UNIT III
Session
No

Topics to be covered

Ref
(Page No)

15

Introduction, Objectives

16

Project Schedule, projects and activities

17

Sequencing and Scheduling Activities, Network Planning Models

1(111-118)

18

Forward Pass, Backward Pass, Identifying the critical path

1(118-121)

Activity Float ,Shortening Project Duration, Activity on

Arrow Networks

1(122-132)

19,20

1(103-105)
1(105-111)

21

Risk Management, Nature Of Risk

22

Types of Risk, Managing Risk, Hazard Identification

23

Hazard Analysis

1(142-146)

Risk Planning And Control, evaluating risks to the schedule

1(146-153)
4(97-103)

24,25
26

Conclusion and Review questions

1(134-137)
4(94-97)
1(137-141)

1(153)

UNIT IV
Session
No
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34

Topics to be covered
Introduction, Creating Framework ,Collecting The Data
Visualizing Progress, Cost Monitoring, Earned Value
Prioritizing Monitoring ,Getting Project Back To Target, Change Control
Managing Contracts ,Introduction ,Types Of Contract
Stages In Contract Placement
Typical Terms Of A Contract
Contract Management ,Acceptance
Conclusion and Review questions
Continuous Assessment Test II

Ref(Page No)
1(171-177)
1(177-186)
1(186-191)
4(201-208)
1(192-198)
1(198-203)
1(203-206)
1(206-207)
1(207-208)

UNIT V
Session
No
35
36
37
38
39
40
41,42
43,44
45

Topics to be covered
Introduction, Understanding Behavior, Organizational Behavior: A Background
Selecting The Right Person for The Job,
Instruction In The Best Methods, Motivation

The Oldham-Hackman job Characteristics Model,

Working in Groups, Becoming A Team
Decision Making, Leadership
Organizational Structures
Stress, Health and Safety
Case Study-I
Case Study-II
Conclusion and Review questions

Ref(page no.)
1(209-212)
1(212-216)
1(216-220)
1(220-223)
1(223-226)
1(226-227)
1(258-275)
1(289-295)
1(227-228)

COURSE OBJECTIVE:
The student should be made to:
Understand the phases in a software project and apply stepwise project planning
Understand fundamental concepts of Project Evaluation.
Understand the activity planning of software project.
Learn various methods of project monitoring and controls, team work

COURSE OUTCOME:
At the end of the course, the student should be able to
Identify the key activities in managing stepwise project planning
Learned different project evaluation methods and criteria
Learned different activity planning to solve the critical path of software projects.
Apply different methods of project monitoring and controls mechanism.

Part- A

UNIT I INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

1) What is software project management?
Software project management is the art and science of planning and leading
software projects. It is a sub discipline of project management in which software projects
are planned, monitored and controlled.
2) What is a project?
A project is defined as:
A specific plan or design.
A planned undertaking.
A large undertaking.
3) List the characteristics of the products of software projects?
One way of perceiving software project management is the process of making
visible that which is invisible: Characteristics are Invisibility, Complexity, and Flexibility.
4) What do you mean by the characteristics of invisibility, complexity and complexity of
Software project management?
Invisibility: The outputs are not seen / visible physically during the software
progress.
Complexity: Usually software products contain more complexity than other
engineered artifacts.
Flexibility: Software project has the characteristics of changing its code at any time
and can produce the expected result.
5) What are the three activity of software project management?
Three successive processes are:
The feasibility study
Planning
Project execution.
6) What is feasibility study?
Feasibility study in short is termed as learned lessons. With the help of collected
information, investigation to decide whether a prospective project is worth starting is
called feasibility study.

7) What is planning?
It is an act of formulating a program for a definite course of action the planning
was more fun than the trip itself. Planning in short in defined as deciding what is to be
done.
8) What is project execution?
This is the final stage of project, which meant to put the built system to work or
operate under suitable environment.
9) List different stages of project life cycle?
The Stages in Project Life Cycle are:
Requirements Analysis,
Specification,
Design,
Coding,
Verification and Validation,
Implementation/Installation,
Maintenance and Support.
10) What is strategic planning?
Strategic planning is an organizations process of defining its strategy, or duration,
and making decisions on allocating its resources to pressure this strategy, including its
capital and people. It is the process of identifying an organizations long term goals and
objectives and then determining the best approach for achieving those goals and
objectives.
11) What is Requirements Analysis?
Requirement analysis is defined as finding out in detail what the users require of
the system that the project is to implement.
12) What is requirement specification?
Detailed documentation of what the proposed system is to do is called
requirements specification.
13) What is Design?
Design is the diagrammatic representation of project which we going to do. Design
is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every object or system.

14) What is coding?

Coding is referred as heart of the software development life cycle. Programming
lines are termed as coding, which develops software and the system
15) What is verification and validation?
Verification of process is done during the development stage. It is meant for
correctness. Validation of process is done after the development of system
16) What is the use of change control and configuration management standards?
Change control and configuration management standards should be in place to
ensure that changes to requirements are implemented in a safe and orderly way.
17) What is system and sub system?
The term system is defined as a set of interrelated parts. A system will normally
be part of a larger system and will it compare sub systems.
18) What is Management?
Management is one which performs the following set of activates such as Planning,
Organizing, staffing, directing, monitoring, controlling, innovating and representing
19) Who are stakeholders?
Stakeholder is a person who affects/affected by the system.
20) How software projects different from other projects?
Software projects are similar to other projects, but have some attributes that present
particular difficulties, for example: the relative invisibility of many of their products

UNIT II PROJECT EVALUATION

1) What is project evaluation?
It is carried out in step 0 of stepwise. Deciding whether or not to go ahead with a
project is really a case of comparing a proposed project with the alternatives and deciding
whether to proceed with it, is termed as project evaluation.
2) What are the 3 criteria project evaluations depends?
The project evaluation depends on strategic, technical and economic criteria
3) What do you means by programme in software project strategic assessment?
Individual projects are considered as components. Programme, is a collection of
projects that all contribute to the same overall organization and goals
4) What is Technical assessment?
Technical assessment of a proposed system consists of evaluating the required
functionality against the hardware and software available.
5) What are the two primary steps of cost-benefit analysis?
Identifying and estimating all the costs and benefits of carrying out the project.
Expressing these costs and benefits in common units.
6) How economic assessment of a project information system is made?
The most common way of carrying out an economic assessment of a proposed
information system, or other development, is by comparing the expected costs of
development and operation of the system with the benefits of having it in place.
7) What are Development Costs?
It include the salaries and other employment costs of the staff involved in the
development project and all associated costs
8) What are setup costs?
It includes the costs of putting the system into place. These consist mainly of the
costs of any new hardware and ancillary equipment, but will also include costs of file
conversion, requirement and staff training.
9) What are direct benefits?
These accrue directly from the operation of the proposed system. These could, for
example, include the reduction in salary bills through the introduction of a new,
computerized system.

10) What are assessable indirect benefits?

These are generally secondary benefits, such as increased accuracy through the
introduction of a more user-friendly screen design where we might be able to estimate the
reduction in errors, and hence costs, of the proposed system.
11) What are intangible benefits?
There are generally longer terms or benefits that are considered very difficult to
quantity. Enhanced jobs interest can lead to reduced staff turnover and hence lower
recruitment costs.
12) What is Net Profit?
The Net profit of a project is the difference between the total costs and the total
income over the life of the project.
13) What is payback period?
The payback period is the time taken to break even or payback the initial
investment.
14) What are Return on Investment?
The return on investment (ROl), also known as the accounting rate of return (ARR),
provides a way of comparing the net profitability to the investment required.
ROI = Average Annual Profit
-------------------------------Total Investment

x lOO

15) What is Net Present Value?

The calculation of net present value is a project evaluation technique that takes into
account the profitability of a project and the timing of the cash flows that are produced. It
does so by discounting future cash flows by a percentage known as the discount rate.
16) What is a discounted cash flow (DCE) technique?
Net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) are collectively known as
discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques.
17) What is the benefit of cost-benefit analysis techniques and decision trees?
Cost-benefit analysis techniques and decision trees provide tools for evaluating
expected outcomes and choosing between alternative strategies.
18) How you can collect internal data and external data?

Internal data are collected within the organization, usually by transaction

processing systems, but also through employee and customer surveys. External data is
collected from a wide array of sources outside the organization.
19) What is unstructured data and structured data?
Unstructured data are the data drawn from meeting discussions, private
conversations, textual documents, graphical representations and other non-uniform
sources. Structure data are numbers and facts can be conveniently stored and retrieved in
an orderly manner for operations and decision making

UNIT III ACTIVITY PLANNING

1) What is Risk Management?
Risk management is the procedure that explains the process of managing risk
through analysis. This procedure does not provide solutions to perceived risks.
2) What is Brainstorming?
Brainstorming refers to the process of a group of colleagues meeting and working
collaboratively to generate creative solutions and new ideas.
3) What is knowledge management?
Knowledge management is the combination of activities involved in gathering,
organizing, sharing, analyzing, and disseminating knowledge to improve an
organizations performance.
4) Differentiate product view and project view?
Product view > hierarchies relationship among product element.
Project view > hierarchies relationship among work activities.
5) What is Activity-on-Arrow (AOA)?
One representation of network diagram put the activity information on the arrows
between the nodes is called an activity-on-arrow representation (AOA).
6) What is Activity-On-Node (AON)?
One representation of network diagram puts the activity information on nodes and
is called an activity-on-node representation (AON).
7) Write any three network diagram methods?
PERT Program evaluation and review technique.
CPM Critical path method.
ADM Arrow Diagramming method.
8) What is start-to-start relationship?
It means that one activity can start if and only if another activity starts.
9) Difference between earliest start and earliest finish?
The earliest time period that the activity can start. The earliest finish means that
earliest time period that the activity can finish.

10) What is critical path?

The path with zero flexibility is called the critical path, because it will have zero
float between all of its activities.
11) List the objectives of activity planning?
Feasibility assessment
Resource allocation
Detailed costing
Motivation
Co-ordination.
12) What is Project Schedule?
Once the plan has been refined to detail level, then it is called s project schedule.
13) What do you mean by an ideal activity plan?
A plan of when each activity would ideally be undertaken where resources not a
constraint is termed as an ideal activity plan.
14) What do you mean by precedence requirements?
Some activities might require that others are completed before they can begin.
These are known as precedence requirements.
15) What do you mean by activity-based approach?
The activity based approach consists of creating a list of all the activities that the
project is thought to evolve.
16) What is Work Breakdown structure?
This identifies main tasks required to complete a project and then breaking each of
these down into a set of lower-level tasks.
17) What is product flow diagram? (PFD)
The PFD indicates, for each product, which other products are required as inputs.
The PFD can therefore be easily transformed in to an ordered list of activities by
identifying that turn some products in to others.
18) State forward pass rule?
The earliest date for an event is the earliest finish date for all the activities
terminating at that event - where more than one activity terminates at a common event we
take the latest of the earliest finish dates for those activities.

19) State backward pass rule?

The latest date for an event is the latest start date for all activities that may
commence from that event. Where more than one activity commences at a common event
we take the earliest of the latest start dates for those activities.
20) What do you mean by activity float and its types?
Whenever an event have slack, then activity posses float. Two types of activity
float are i) Free float, ii) Interfering float.

UNIT IV MONITORING AND CONTROL

1) What is the purpose of project monitoring and control?
The purpose of project monitoring and control is to keep the team and
management up to date on the projects progress.
2) What are the different categories of reporting?
Oral formal regular.
Oral formal adhoc.
Written formal regular.
Written formal adhoc.
Oral informal adhoc.
3) What is BCWS?
The budgeted cost of tasks as scheduled in the project plan, based on the costs of
resources assigned to these tasks, plus any fixed costs associated with the tasks, called
The Budgeted cost of work Schedule BCWS. It is the baseline cost up to the status date
you choose.
4) What is ACWP and BCWP?
The actual cost required to complete all or some portion of the tasks, up to the
status date. This is to the actual cost of work performed (ACWP). The value of the work
earned by the work performed and is called the budgeted cost of work performed
(BCWP).
5) What is cost variance (CV) and schedule variance (SV)?
Cost variance is the difference between a tasks estimated cost and its actual cost.
CV= BCWP -ACWP.
Schedule variance (SV) is the difference between the current progress and the schedule
progress of a task in terms of cost.
SV = BCWP - BCWS.
6) What is cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI)?
Cost performance index is the ratio of budgeted costs to actual costs.
CPI= BCWP/ACWP
Schedule performance index is the ratio of work performed to work schedule
SPI= BCWP/BCWS

7) Who is the client and supplies in contract management?

Client is the customer who asks for a contract to work for his project. Client may be
customer or sometimes company, which is the client to supplier (controller). Supplier is
one who supplies goods and services may be contractor/company owner.
8) What is form of agreement in contract management?
Form of agreement in contract management written, and subjected to legal
consideration.
9) What are goods and sources to be supplied in contract?
Goods are equipment and software. Sources to be provided are: training,
documentation, installation, conversion at existing files ,maintenance agreements ,
transitional insurance arrangements.
10) What is the environment of contract?
Environment: For physical equipment: accommodation, electrical supply etc. For
Software: OS platforms, hardware etc.
11) What are customer commitments?
Customer commitment is when work is carried out by external contractors, a
development project still needs the participation of the customer.
12) What is standard in contract?
ISO 12207 standard relating to the software life cycle and its documents.
ISO 12207 standard provides for the customer to have access to quality
documentation.
ISO 9000 series for progress meetings and progress information.
13) What is COTS?
Customized off-the-shelf (COTS) software is a basic core system, which is modified
to meet the needs of a particular customer.
14) What are the different types of contracts?
Fixed price contracts.
Time and materials contracts.
Fixed price per delivered unit contracts.

15) List two methods for visualizing progress?

Gantt Charts (Static).
Time-line Charts (Dynamic).
16) What is cost monitoring?
Cost Monitoring is monitoring expenditure for the project. Project costs may be
monitored by a companys accounting system.
17) What is planned expenditure?
Planned expenditure is one in which the costs incurred by the project is estimated
before project starts.
18) What is Earned Value. List some of the common methods for assigning earned value in
software projects?
Earned values analysis, also known as Budgeted cost of work performed. The
common methods for assigning earned value in software projects are
The 0/100 technique.
The 50/50 technique.
The milestone technique.
19) What is Contract management and Contract?
It is the management of contracts made with customers, vendors, partners or
employees. A contract is a written or oral legally-binding between the parties identified in
the agreement to fulfill the terms and conditions outlined in the agreement.
20) Where to use time and materials contract?
A time and materials contract may be used only when it is not possible at the time
of placing the contract to estimate accurately the extent or duration of the work or to
anticipate costs with any reasonable degree of confidence.

UNIT V MANAGING PEOPLE AND ORGANIZING TEAMS

1). what is milestone?
A milestone is a significant event in a project, usually associated with a major work
product or deliverable. Stages or phases are not milestones but are collections of related
product activities.
2) Differentiate leaders and managers.
Leaders- Set direction, do the right thing Managers- Follow process, do things right.
3). Give some unites for measuring the size of the software.
Lines of code (LOC), Function points, feature points, number of bubbles on the data
flow diagram, number of entities on entity relationship diagram.
4). Write the any two advantages of LOC.
It is widely used and universally accepted.
LOC is easily measured upon project completion.
5). what are dependencies?
Dependencies are one form of constraints for any project. Dependencies are any
relationship connections between activities in a project that may impact their scheduling.
6). Define project portfolio?
Project portfolio is group of project carried out under this sponsorship and/or
management.
7). Write the goal of software project planning?
Software estimates or documented for use in planning and tracking the software
project.
8).What is Legacy code?
Code developed for a previous application that is believed to be of use for a new
application
9).What is brainstorming?
Brainstorming refers to the process of a group of colleagues meeting and working
collaboratively to generate creative solutions and new ideas.

10).What is knowledge management?

Knowledge management is the combination of activities involved in gathering,
organizing, sharing, analyzing, and disseminating knowledge to improve an
organizations performance.
11). How you can collect internal data and external data?
Internal data are collected within the organization, usually by transaction
processing systems, but also through employee and customer surveys. External data is
collected from a wide array of sources outside the organization.
12).What is unstructured data?
Unstructured data are the data drawn from meeting discussions, private
conversations, textual documents, graphical representations and other non-uniform
sources.
13).What is structured data?
Structured data are numbers and facts that can be conveniently stored and
retrieved in an orderly manner for operations and decision-making.
14).What is the phases in systems development life cycle (SDLC)?
Planning
Analysis
Design
Implementation
Support.
15). Write some ways to collect information for system requirements.
Interviews
Questionnaires
Examination of documents
On-the-job observation.
16). Write the goals of project management.
Complete the project on time
Complete the project within budget
Meet requirements
Meet expectations.

17). Write the types of roles.

Database designers, Configuration Management experts, Human interface
Designers, Web Masters, Network Specialists, System architects, Programming language
experts.
18). Define Load Leveling.
Load Leveling is the process of rescheduling tasks that have available slack to
achieve more balances distribution of resource usage.
19). Name the three forms of presenting a project schedule.
Table, Gantt chart, Network diagram.
20).What are the managerial activities?
Project planning, tracking, control, risk analysis.

Part- B
UNIT I
1. Explain stepwise project planning.
2. Draw and explain project development life cycle.
UNIT II
1. Explain why discount cash flow techniques provide better criteria for project selection than net
profit or return on investment?
2. Draw and explain a risk analysis profile?
3. Explain risk analysis using decision free.
4. Explain Cost Benefit Analysis Technique.
UNIT III
1. List the major risks that might affect your programming assignment and identify strategies of
minimizing each of those risks.
2. Explain risk engineering task breakdown.
3. Draw activity table for forward pass and backward pass?
4. Draw activity network using CPM conventions for the development of software project.
5. Explain risks for constructing CPM networks.
6. What is activity planning? List its objectives.
7. Explain different approaches for identifying activities with neat diagram.

UNIT IV
1. Explain types of contracts? On basis of payment made to contracts. Explain different stages in
contract management.
2. Write notes on change control procedures?
3. Explain with diagram for the different ways of visualizing progress.
4. Draw framework for monitoring and control.

UNIT V
1. Explain the requirement process.
2. Explain Maslows hierarchy of needs.
3. Comment on Selecting the right person for the right job. Describe different methods of
improving motivation.
4. Describe five stages of team development.
5. Explain about decision making.
6. Explain different leadership styles.
7. Explain different Organization structure.

IV YEAR / VIII SEMESTER

MINIMUM LEARNING
MATERIAL
IT2403 SOFTWARE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT