CS 485/585 SOFTWARE PROCESS MANAGEMENT

Spring 96-97

Tentative Information

Lasted updated December 7, 1997

Quick links to additional course material:

Instructor: William S. Junk, Computer Science Dept., University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1010
Telephone: 208-885-7530 / 800-824-2889
Fax: 208-885-6165 (alternate: 208-885-9052)
E-Mail: billjunk@cs.uidaho.edu Video Tapes Are Available: The Spring 94-95 offering of the course is available for purchase or rental. The contents of that course are very similar to that described here. Contact Engineering Video Outreach at 1-208-885-6373 for more information.

Course Description

This course will view software engineering activities from a management perspective centering around a study of the software development process. We will view the process in terms of its constituent tasks, focusing on the flow of information and interconnection between tasks. We will highlight interdependencies created by work products. Our approach is in contrast to the traditional software engineering course (such as the prerequisite for this course) which focuses on the techniques employed to accomplish technical activities.

Topics to be covered include:

Although we will study several management topics, this is not a course in software project management. We will not cover how to manage people and resources. Project management will be discussed only as a constituent tasks in the overall context of producing a software product. Participation in class activities, some individual activities, a term project, and a final exam will be required. Some additional effort will be required for graduate credit.

Prerequisites

University of Idaho course CS 381 or CS 581 Software Engineering or instructor's permission. For NTU students something equivalent to SE-710 or substantial work experience will be considered equivalent. Knowledge of modern software engineering techniques will be assumed.

Computer Access

Programming assignments will not be given in this course. However, access to and use of the Internet will be required in order to obtain some course material. Use of electronic mail will be required for course participation.

Goals

The goal of this course is to provide a systematic study of the software development process with an emphasis on how to define and manage it. This course will expose participants to several possible approaches to software development, identify the tasks that are essential for successful projects, discuss how tasks interact with each other, and discuss how an organization can develop and mature its software development process. The course will not advocate a particular development approach, but rather will take a critical look at the most popular and most talked about strategies.

After successfully completing this course participants will:

Texts

Mark Paulk, et al., The Capability Maturity Model: Guidelines for Improving the Software Process, Addison Wesley, 1995. Journal articles of historical or current importance and other material may be provided by the instructor.

Alternate Resources

If you are interested in additional information on this subject, the following list presents some that you may find useful. For this course you are not required to have access to these resources and a student without access to them will not be at a disadvantage in this course.

Grading

			      CS 485  CS 585
Participation			10%	10%
Outside reading (book)		N/A	15%
Assignments                     35%     30%
Individual Project		35%	30%
Final Exam			20% 	15%

Undergraduate and graduate sections of the course are graded separately. Due to slightly different schedules, off-campus and on-campus sections are graded separately.

Participation

All students are expected to make a regular contribution to the class. On-campus students should be prepared to offer their comments regarding material presented, ask interesting questions during class, and respond with good answers to questions asked in class. Calling to my attention a high quality article (not included in the course readings package) on a topic discussed in class is encouraged. Off campus students should communicate with me on a regular basis using telephone, fax, or e-mail to comment on material presented in class, to provide feedback on industry/practitioner perspectives regarding topics studied, relate personal experiences relevant to class discussions, and of course, to ask questions. On-campus students may also make contribution via e-mail. A significant contribution about every other week is considered the minimum satisfactory participation level. All students are expected to submit a minimum of ten comments or questions via e-mail during the semester. A portion of some class session will be devoted to discussion and feedback based on questions and comments supplied via e-mail.

Assignments

Assignments will be made during the semester. Here are some that have been assigned in past course offerings:

Outside Reading

Students enrolled for graduate credit (CS 585) will be required to read one book that is related to development life cycles, organizational maturity, or process improvement. A list of acceptable books will be provided. You will be expected to make a written evaluation of the book you read.

Term Project

The course also requires an approved term project which should be a practical application of some concept(s) studied in the course. The project is expected to be more extensive for graduate students than for undergraduates. For the project you might prepare a Software Management Plan following IEEE standards, develop a software process simulation model of your organization, or study software process metrics from your organization. You are expected to propose a topic and receive my approval before starting. Additional guidelines will be provided on each of these activities.

All assignment, projects, etc. should be sent directly to me, not to the Video Outreach Office. The address listed above will work for both US Mail, Federal Express, and UPS. The final exam must be sent by your examination coordinator to the Video Outreach Office. You will probably want to keep a copy of all work that you submit just in case something gets lost in the mail. Unfortunately this does happen.

Course Outline (approximate)

http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~billjunk
billjunk@cs.uidaho.edu