:g:
I have questions:g: regarding scheduling tasks to be completed within so many days of a project completion date.
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:g:
I have questions:g: regarding scheduling tasks to be completed within so many days of a project completion date.
PROJECT SCHEDULING AND TRACKING
We have selected an appropriate process model, we have identified the software engineering tasks that have to be performed, we eliminated the amount of work and the number of people, we know the deadline, we have even considered the risks. Now it’s time to connect the dots. That is, we have to create a network of software engineering tasks that will enable we to get the job done on time. Once the network is created, you have to assign responsibility for each task, make sure it gets done, and adapt the network as risks becomes reality. In a nutshell, that’s software project scheduling and tracking.
Importance:
In order to build a complex system, many software engineering tasks occur in parallel, and the result of work performed during one task may have a profound effect on work to be conducted in another task. These interdependencies are difficult to understand without a schedule. “It’s also virtually impossible to asses progress on a moderate or large software project without a detailed schedule.”
Basic Principles
Software project scheduling is an activity that distributes estimated effort across the planned project duration by allocating the effort to specific software engineering tasks. It is important to note, however, that the schedule evolves over times. During early stages of project planning, a macroscopic schedule is developed. This type of schedule identifies all major software engineering activities and the product functions which they are applied. As the project gets underway, each entry on the macroscopic schedule is refined into a detailed schedule. Here, specific software tasks(required to accomplish an activity) are identified and scheduled.
Scheduling for software engineering projects can be viewed from two rather different perspectives. In the first, an end-date for release of a computer-based system has already (and irrevocably) been established. The software organization is constrained to distribute effort within the prescribed time frame. The second view of software scheduling assumes that rough chronological bounds have been discussed but that the end-date is set by the software engineering organization. Effort is distributed to make best of resources and an end-date is defined after careful analysis of the software.
Unfortunately, the first situation is encountered, the first situation is encountered far more frequently than the second.
Like all the other areas of software engineering, a number of basic principles guide software project scheduling.
Compartmentalization. The project must be compartmentalized into a number of manageable activities and tasks. To accomplish compartmentalization, both the product and the process are decomposed.
Interdependency. The interdependency of each compartmentalized activity or task must be determined. Some tasks must occur in sequence in while others can occur in parallel. Some activities cannot commence until the work product produced by another available. Other activities can occur independently.
Time allocation. Each task should be scheduled must be allocated some number of work units(e.g., person-days effort). In addition, each task must be assigned a start date and completion date are a function of the interdependencies and whether the work will be conducted on a full-time or part-time basis.
Effort validation. Every project has defined number of defined members. As time allocation occurs, the project manager must ensure that no more than the allocated number of people has been scheduled at any given time. For example, consider a project that has three assigned staff members (e.g., 3 person-days available per day of assigned effort). On a given day, seven concurrent tasks must be accomplished. Each task requires 0.50 person days of effort. More effort has been allocated then there are people to do the work.
Defined responsibilities. Every task that is scheduled should be assigned to a specific team member.
Defined outcomes. Every task is scheduled should have defined outcome. For software projects, the outcome is normally a work product (e.g., the design of a module) or a part of work product. Work products are often combined in deliverables.
I would suggest you to use Project Management Scheduling Software whenever you start the project or else you can import your file into Microsoft Project and update the data. This Project Planning Software will surely help you in maintaining your data according to your project and updating as per the need