System and method to provide continuous calibration estimation and improvement options across a software integration life cycle

• US 8,566,805 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2009
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bassin, Kathryn A., Kagan, Steven, Li, Shao C., Li, Zhong J., Liu, He H., Skrabanek, Susan E., Tan, Hua F., Zhu, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Ted T
• Application Number:
  US12/557,816
• Publication Number:
  US 20110066887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,502 Days
• Field of Search: 717124-135
• US Class Current: 717/135
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3672 Test management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method and system of calibrating estimates for software projects is provided. More particularly, a method and system is provided to continuously provide calibration estimation and improvement options across a software integration life cycle. The method is implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions operable to: compare actual data associated with a phase of a project to expected results used to develop a strategic development plan for the project; and calibrate efforts in the strategic development plan for future activities of the project based on the actual data.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage memory having programming instructions operable to:

compare actual data associated with each activity of a phase of a project to expected results used to develop a strategic development plan for the project; and

calibrate efforts in the strategic development plan for future activities of the project based on the actual data,

wherein the calibrating includes;

determining a relationship between discovered defects and devoted effort, wherein the relationship is linear when a number of the discovered defects is lower than an upper limit of the discovered defects for each trigger in the each activity, and the relationship is nonlinear when the number of the discovered defects is higher than the upper limit of the discovered defects for each trigger in the each activity;

utilizing the determined relationship to calibrate the efforts in the strategic development plan for the future activities by maintaining the devoted effort below the upper limit of the discovered defects in order to maximize a defect discovery efficiency; and

adjusting the efforts by a determined percentage for future activities associated with the project.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the calibrating is an ongoing, dynamic calibration of the strategic development plan which is performed prior to completion of an entire software integration project.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the actual data is test data obtained from a test of a completed phase of the project.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the actual data is obtained from at least one of a high level development phase, detail review phase, code inspection phase, unit test phase, system test phase, SIT (System Integration Test) phase, performance testing phase a UA (User Acceptance) phase.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected results is obtained by performing an initial estimation of the project based on information provided by a user or expert system, wherein the information includes at least one of complexity of the project, personnel decisions, resource allocations and maturity of an organization.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected results are estimates of a test effect according to a plan, test organization and the system under testing.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the calibrating is performed when the actual data does not match the expected results, and

the calibrating updates the strategic development plan, in real time, to adjust an overall strategy to match with the actual data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the calibrating is based on a rule set stored in a database.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising optimizing the strategic development plan based on the calibrating when a defect pattern develops.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising simulating an estimate of future efforts associated with the strategic development plan after the calibrating is performed such that when the estimate does not meet expectations, the calibrating is performed again.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computer infrastructure.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising a user interface which shows current activity, expected defects, found defects and type of defects.

13. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage memory having programming instructions operable to:

compare actual data associated with a phase of a project to expected results used to develop a strategic development plan for the project;

calibrate efforts in the strategic development plan for future activities of the project based on the actual data, wherein the calibrating includes adjusting the efforts by a determined percentage for future activities associated with the project; and

determine a relationship between discovered defects and devoted effort to discover the defects by;

14. A system comprising:

a calibration tool implemented as a hardware device that is operable to;

calibrate a strategic development plan originally based on expected results obtained from a user or expert system;

wherein the calibration tool calibrates efforts noted in the strategic development plan for future activities in a project using actual data obtained from each activity of a current phase of the project;

determine a relationship between discovered defects and devoted effort, wherein the relationship is linear when a number of the discovered defects is lower than an upper limit of the discovered defects for each trigger in the each activity, and the relationship is nonlinear when the number of the discovered defects is higher than the upper limit of the discovered defects for each trigger in the each activity;

utilize the determined relationship to calibrate the efforts in the strategic development plan for the future activities by maintaining the devoted effort below the upper limit of the discovered defects in order to maximize a defect discovery efficiency; and

adjust the actual data to adjust future phases of the project based on the actual data; and

an optimization tool that is operable to adjust the strategic development plan to achieve a desired goal based on the calibration and to adjust an original strategic development plan to achieve the desired goal.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising an estimation tool for developing the strategic development plan based on the expected results input from the user or the expert system.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the estimation tool develops a simulation of the strategic development plan based on the results of the calibration tool prior to updating the strategic development plan.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the actual data is obtained from any of life cycle phases of a software development project including at least one of a high level development phase, a detail review phase, a code inspection phase, a unit test phase, a system test phase, SIT (System Integration Test) phase, a performance testing phase and a UA (User Acceptance) phase.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the calibration tool provides a percentage change to an estimated effort needed for a particular phase in the project to show the user how to adjust resources for future activities in the project.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage memory having readable program code embodied in the storage medium, the computer program product includes at least one component operable to:

receive expected results to develop a strategic development plan for a software integration project;

compare actual test data associated with a phase of the software integration project to the expected results;

dynamically calibrate efforts for future activities based on the actual data when the actual data does not match the expected test results;

leverage the actual data as a project is progressing, and translate the actual data into adjustments to an original strategic development plan, in real time; and

determine a relationship between discovered defects and devoted effort to discover the defects by;

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the actual test data is obtained from any of life cycle phases of a software development project including at least one of a high level development phase, a detail review phase, a code inspection phase, a unit test phase, a system test phase, SIT (System Integration Test) phase, a performance testing phase and a UA (User Acceptance) phase.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the calibrating is an ongoing, dynamic process performed prior to completion of an entire software integration project.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising optimizing the strategic development plan based on the calibrating.

23. A computer system for providing a projection analysis based on a maturity level for an organization, the system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to receive expected results to develop a strategic development plan for a software integration project;

second program instructions to compare actual test data associated with each activity of a phase of the software integration project to the expected results;

third program instructions to dynamically calibrate efforts for future activities based on the actual data when the actual data does not match the expected test results; and

fourth program instructions to leverage the actual data as a project is progressing, and translate the actual data into adjustments to an original strategic development plan, in real time,

wherein the dynamically calibrate the efforts includes;

determining a relationship between discovered defects and devoted effort, wherein the relationship is linear when a number of the discovered defects is lower than an upper limit of the discovered defects for each trigger in the each activity, and the relationship is nonlinear when the number of the discovered defects is higher than the upper limit of the discovered defects for each trigger in the each activity; and

utilizing the determined relationship to calibrate the efforts in the strategic development plan for the future activities by maintaining the devoted effort below the upper limit of the discovered defects in order to maximize a defect discovery efficiency; and

the first, second, third, and fourth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.