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CORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
INSTITIÚID TEICNEOLAÍOCHTA CHORCAÍ
Semester 1 Examinations 2012/
Module Title: Software Project Management
Module Code: SOFT
School: Science & Informatics
Programme Title: Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Software Development Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Software Development & Computer Networking
Programme Code: KSDEV_8_Y KDNET_8_Y
External Examiner(s): Prof. Paul McKevitt Internal Examiner(s): Mr John O’Brien
Instructions: Answer any FOUR questions.
Duration: 2 Hours
Sitting: Winter 2012
Requirements for this examination:
Note to Candidates: Please check the Programme Title and the Module Title to ensure that you have received the correct examination paper. If in doubt please contact an Invigilator.
Q1. (a) (i) What is a project? [2 Marks] (ii) Characterise the projects that are likely to benefit most from conventional project management. [2 Marks] (iii) Project work is differentiated from non-project work, (aka day-work), by a number of characteristics, including: The inclusion of non-routine tasks; The need for planning; The involvement of several areas of specialisation. List three other project-distinguishing characteristics. [3 marks]
(b) Software project management, typically, addresses the issue of project feasibility. Give a detailed explanation of how the feasibility of a software project is typically determined. Use the following headings to structure your presentation: Technical feasibility; [5 Marks] Financial feasibility; [7 Marks] Social feasibility. [3 Marks]
(c) Outline, briefly, the recommended approach to project-planning for a large software project. [3 Marks]
Q2. Project management is a human-intensive activity. Because of this, competent software engineers, who do not possess the correct blend of people- skills , often make poor project managers. Discuss, in detail, the critical “people” aspect of project management for software projects. Use the following headings to structure your presentation: (i) The stakeholders; [5 Marks] (ii) Team leadership; [5 Marks] (iii)The software team; [10 Marks] (iv) Coordination and communication. [5 marks]
Q3. (a) In the context of scheduling a software project, discuss the relationship between the number of personnel allocated to the project, the effort required to complete the project, and the timeframe available. Your presentation should make reference to the Putnam- Norden-Rayleigh (PNR) curve. [10 Marks]
(c) (i) In the context of software project management, what does the term “software configuration management, SCM” refer to? [2 Marks] (ii) An SCM repository is a set of mechanisms and data structures that allow a software team to manage change in an effective manner. Elaborate on each of the following features that require support from an SCM repository toolset: Versioning; [2 Marks] Dependency tracking and change management; [2 Marks] Requirements tracking; [2 Marks] Configuration management; [2 Marks] Audit trails. [2 Marks]
Q5. (a) Consider the following quote, attributed to Aristotle : “It is the mark of an instructed mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision that the nature of the subject admits, and not to seek exactness when only an approximation of the truth is possible.” What, if any, is the relevance of the above-listed Aristotle-quote to the management of modern software development projects? Justify your answer. [5 Marks]
(b) Before an estimate of the effort and cost required to complete a software project can be made, the project planner needs to generate an estimate of the project’s “size”. Elaborate on each of the following approaches, suggested by Putnam & Myers , to the sizing of software projects: i. “Fuzzy-logic” sizing; [2 Marks] ii. Function-point sizing; [2 Marks] iii. Standard component sizing; [2 Marks] iv. Change sizing. [2 Marks]
(c) In the context of software project management: i. What does the term “empirical estimation model” refer to? [2 Marks] ii. Describe, briefly, the empirical estimation model known as “COCOMO II”. [4 Marks]
(d) Suggest an approach to effort estimation for software development projects that employ an agile development approach. [6 Marks]
End of Exam!
