(Note: we're going to hit the two meanings of "resource" in this discussion: a) A person who works on a project and b) A data structure represented by an XML file transmitted by a REST call...be careful not to get confused...I'm pretty sure )
Last time, one of the accomplishments was we pretty much finalized in principle (I think!!! maybe we just didn't talk about all the issues) a way to represent an estimate of "likely schedule": a quantile representation with as many "quantiles" as desired of a number of units (e.g. months, years, quarters)...Do we have a proposed XML format for this? I think it's captured somewhere in the samples, right? I think the "rollup" of schedule without looking at the detail breakdown of the schedule (into phases, iterations, tasks, etc.) is a useful construct. >From what I know about the use cases, this is useful to the portfolio manager to help decide if a proposal should be a project. (We haven't talked about how this translates into an initial WBS for the project management tool, but that can be put off a bit). We haven't talked, though, about effort metrics. This is more complicated, because the rollup into "total project effort" is useful, but not enough. To be useful for project inititiation, we also have to talk about how effort is broken down into "resources required for the project with roles" and the contour of how those resources are applied (roll onto the project, roll off the project, full time, part time). This is a much more complex structure that must be communicated from the estimation tool to the portfolio or project management tool, and there is also a two way exchange of data (at least dimension data about roles and costs). To add to that complexity, we need to discuss how to represent this as a probability distribution also. We'll need this representation for all the use cases we are interested in, I suspect. It's not clear to me also if the structure is different at different points in the project (e.g. is the same structure needed for initiation and for project control). Can this be the topic of the next meeting? To start off the discussion: Estimation vendors--can you start describing what's typical for estimation tools to provide about estimated effort? Also related: what does "team size" mean, given that a project team is often not static throughout the project. Andy Berner Lead Architect, ISV Technical Enablement and Strategy IBM Rational Business Development 972 561-6599 [email protected] Ready for IBM Rational software partner program - http://www.ibm.com/isv/rational/readyfor.html
