Project Planning and Management

Consider the following scenario:

You are part of a software team which has three to four developers. This team has a contract with a larger software company, which has asked your team to design a complex software component that will work within a larger software application the firm is creating.

One of the key challenges in this project is its volatility. As software requirements tend to change, developers may leave your team or the company's group, and new programmers may be added during the software development. In addition, the company will need to integrate your component within their own very complex system.

Write a paper in Microsoft Word document covering the following points:

There are multiple SDLC methodologies for any software project. List and explain at least three of these approaches along with their respective advantages and disadvantages.
Which SDLC methodology will you use to develop this project? Why? Justify why you would use this approach versus any other approach.
Which are the key risk areas for the project? Illustrate.
How will you plan to manage, mitigate, and remove identified risk areas as part of your project plan?
There are multiple approaches to estimate the cost of any software project. List and explain at least two of these approaches? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
Which approach will you use to estimate the overall cost of the project? Why? Justify your choice. Why do you think that other approaches will be less appropriate?

In addition to the above, create a complete Microsoft Project file for this project including tasks, sub tasks, resources, and dependency.

Support your responses with examples.

Cite any sources in APA format.

This material may consist of step-by-step explanations on how to solve a problem or examples of proper writing, including the use of citations, references, bibliographies, and formatting. This material is made available for the sole purpose of studying and learning - misuse is strictly forbidden.

Solutions:
1. There are multiple SDLC methodologies for any software project. List and explain at least three of these approaches along with their respective advantages and disadvantages.

* Waterfall Model

• Advantages
o Easy to understand, easy to use
o Provides structure to inexperienced staff
o Milestones are well understood
o Sets requirements stability
o Good for management control (plan, staff, track)
o Works well when quality is more important than cost or schedule

• Disadvantages
o All requirements must be known upfront
o Deliverables created for each phase are considered frozen – inhibits flexibility
o Can give a false impression of progress
o Does not reflect problem-solving nature of software development – iterations of phases
o Integration is one big bang at the end
o Little opportunity for customer to preview the system (until it may be too late)...