Data Conversion Rules of Thumb: If you don’t know and can’t find out specifics, the following data conversion rules of thumb are helpful (see the Practical Estimator column for definitions):
Convert-Database: Assume 1 database.
Convert-Table: Assume between 10 and 150 tables, selecting the appropriate number in this range based on the size of the application from very small to very large.
Convert-Field: Assume 10 fields per table.
Convert-MREC: Assume between 1 and 30, selecting the appropriate number in this range based on the size of the application from very small to very large. |
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| Level 4 signed a three year contract to provide estimation tools and services to the U.S. Department of Interior. |
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Estimating with ExcelerPlan
6/11, 11 AM-12:30 PST
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Three Day Estimation Training
We’ll be offering a 3 day estimation training class taught by William Roetzheim via Webex on 8/4, 8/5, and 8/6. Class runs from 9 AM – 1 PM Pacific Time each day. Training is free and includes a 30 day trial license for new customers.
To inquire about registration email:
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Pay it Forward
Hopefully you’re finding ITCN a useful newsletter providing estimation related value added each month, along with a bit of humor and minimal selling. If so, please use the link below to Forward to a Friend, or if this copy was forwarded to you, to subscribe yourself.
Edward
Director of Sales and Marketing
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| Sign up for a 3 day live Webex class, taught by William Roetzheim, to be conducted on 8/4-8/6 and receive a 30 day trial copy of ExcelerPlan. |
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 Some Causes of Poor Estimates: Last month we discussed five types of non-estimates. This month we’ll explore other causes of poor estimates.
1. Estimator Bias: When estimating the time required for you, or people closely affiliated with you, to do a job there is a psychological tendency to underestimate. This bias averages -27%, and it applies to all types of estimates. Estimating the time for unaffiliated strangers to do the work removes the bias, which is one reason to use independent estimation teams.
2. Poor Understanding of the Definition of an Estimate: The default definition is used by most IT professionals is, “The most optimistic prediction that has a non-zero probability of coming true.” The correct definition is, “A prediction that is equally likely to be above or below the actual result.”
3. Political Problems: If estimates are used to establish performance goals, they will be biased. What we want is estimation free motivations, and motivation free estimates.
4. History Repeats Itself: Unless you gather actual data, compare the actuals to estimates, and provide this feedback to the estimators; there is no opportunities for estimators to improve over time.
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William@portal.level4ventures.com
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ExcelerSize: This month we continue our discussion of ExcelerSize, a Level 4 proprietary high level object (HLO) catalog set designed to size IT projects excluding purchased other direct charges (ODCs) such as hardware and software licenses (which are covered using separate models). You’ll recall that the catalog elements are grouped into five major categories:
- Project level sizing components that apply to the entire project.
- Application software sizing components.
- Data conversion sizing components.
- Data warehouse sizing components.
- Application support sizing components.
This month we’ll discuss data conversion sizing components. The data conversion catalog estimates effort for: Conversion planning; Data mapping; Data validation; Electronic data clean-up and modification; Data import (typically multiple iterations); and Import validation. Effort associated with data extraction, manual data clean-up, and legacy data archival must be estimated separately using the application sizing components. The following sizing components are used to estimate conversion effort:
- Convert-Database: The number of databases to convert. Database instances (e.g., production, training) are not counted separately.
- Convert-Table: Tables to be converted, not counting views and code lookup tables.
- Convert-Field: The number of fields to be converted.
- Convert-MREC: The number of customer master records to be converted, in millions. Do not count transaction detail records. Do not count records in supporting tables.Customers are loosely defined as what you care about. They may be people, places, or things. They may be internal or external.
Next month we’ll continue this discussion, talking about data warehouse sizing components.
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[This guest column reprinted with permission from: “MINIMIZING THE RISK OF LITIGATION: PROBLEMS NOTED IN BREACH OF CONTRACT LITIGATION,” Capers Jones, July 2014. Full article available on http://Namcookanalytics.com]
[Editor: This column continues the discussion of litigation risk factors from last month’s edition.]
Problem 6: Flawed Outsource Agreements that Omit Key Topics
In several of the cases where the author has been an expert witness, the contracts themselves seemed flawed and omitted key topics that should have been included. Worse some contracts included topics that probably should have been omitted. Here are samples:
- In one case the contract required that the software delivered by the vendor should have “zero defects.” Since the application approached 10,000 function points in size zero-defect software is beyond the current state of the art. The software as delivered did not have very many defects and in fact was much better than average, but it was not zero-defect software and hence the vendor was sued.
- A fixed-price contract had clauses for “out of scope” requirements changes. In this case the client unilaterally added 82 major changes totaling about 3,000 new function points. But the contract did not define the phrase “out of scope” and the client asserted that the changes were merely elaborations to existing requirements and did not want to pay for them.
- In several contracts where the plaintiff alleged poor quality on the part of the vendor, the contracts did not have any clauses that specified acceptable quality, such as defect removal efficiency (DRE) or maximum numbers of bugs found during acceptance test. In the absence of any contractual definitions of “poor quality” such charges are difficult to prove.
The bottom line is that clients, vendor, and their attorneys should be sure that all outsource contracts include clauses dealing with requirements changes, quality, delivered defects, and also penalties for schedule delays caused by vendor actions.
Capers
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 Dear Tabby:
My girlfriend thinks that when a project dies it is reincarnated, but I think it either goes to heaven or hell. Who’s right?
signed, Saved in Seattle
Dear Saved:
The entire business organization is filled with an invisible Force that represents business need. In some projects the Force is strong, and they will be reincarnated. In other projects the Force is weak, or an evil manager has distorted the Force for their own personal ends. In that situation, the project will not be reincarnated. Instead, it will follow the predictable life stages of enthusiasm, disillusionment, panic, search for the guilty, punishment of the innocent, and praise and honor for non-participants.
signed, Tabby
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Sneak Peak: Export to MS Project and Clarity
Version 7.2’s export capability allows you to quickly create a project plan in MS Project or Clarity that shows the activities and resources required for a project. But the biggest value comes from the week by week labor loading data that is exported, clearly defining how many hours you need from each resource, for each time period, working on each task. This level of precision is difficult to achieve through manual entry, but with ExcelerPlan’s new export capability, it can be created in a matter of seconds.
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