Software project management tools

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly dealing with international projects and distributed (sometimes even virtual) teams. Consequently, they are looking for project management (PM) tools which fit their respective needs regarding communication and collaboration. Unfortunately, the majority of the PM software available in the market seems to be oversized for this purpose. Instead most project managers are requesting smart solutions that allow quick implementation without any significant organisational or technical change.
 Within the research project InterComp SME 2.0 we combine theoretical research and real business to develop hands-on solutions for SMEs. This paper describes an effective approach for a â??PM Toolboxâ? that allows finding the right project tool for a specific project need. The toolbox has been developed in due consideration of user stories gained from business practice, a more detailed SME business survey, a theoretical PM meta model and a market of PM tools.
 Since the business survey revealed that the readiness to use and test a â??toolboxâ? is highly dependent on the type of user and his or her technical background, we designed the system based on use cases and user typology. As a result, we suggest a framework of open, freely available, easy-to-install, single and multi purpose PM software tools which can be selected solely on a need basis. With this free platform we want to guide practitioners through the tool jungle with the potential to grow into a lively community.

The increasing adoption of agile software development methodologies is amplifying the message that people are a first-order success factor of software projects. In this paper we describe a means to make certain people characteristics a first-class concern in software development projects. In particular, we present a systematic way of capturing, making explicit and effectively communicating human attitudes, beliefs and ways of thinking that influence individual and team work in software projects. Moreover, we provide an organised way to supplement and enhance software development methods, processes and project practice in order to explicitly take into account such human factors.

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Favorable planed management is the base of software project succeed. In this piece aim at the present situation of software project management, comprehensive use the thought of software engineering and project management, explore process and method of project schedule planning control. On the base of analysis software project schedule planning control difficulties, research based on PSP method. PSP follow adjustment, practice, measurement, comparison result and readjustment such a circulation and the continuous improvement of process, it is a process step by step for a long time. This paper studies the successful application of content; it can change insufficient plan in software project management process, the phenomenon of control adverse, improve comprehensive management ability and competitive power of project, creating Value for software company, improve high quality service for user.

Context: In software project management, the decision-making process is a complex set of tasks largely based on human relations and individual knowledge and cultural background. The factors that affect the decisions of the software project managers (SPMs) as well as their potential consequences require attention because project delays and failures might be related to a series of poor decisions. Goals: To understand how SPMs make decisions based on how they interpret their experiences in the workplace. Further, to identify antecedents and consequences of those decisions in order to increase the effectiveness of project management. We also aim to refine the research design for future investigations. Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with SPMs within a Brazilian large governmental organization and a Brazilian large private organization. Results: We found that decision-making in software project management is based on knowledge sharing in which the SPM acts as a facilitator. This phenomenon is influenced by individual factors, such as experience, knowledge, personality, organizational ability, communication, negotiation, interpersonal relationship and systemic vision of the project and by situational factors such as the autonomy of the SPM, constant feedback and team members' technical competence. Conclusions: Due to the uncertainty and dynamism inherent to software projects, the SPMs focus on making, monitoring and adjusting decisions in an argument-driven way. From the initial relationships among the identified factors, the research design was refined.

Software Requirements Changes is a typical phenomenon in any software development project. Restricting incoming changes might cause user dissatisfaction and allowing too many changes might cause delay in project delivery. Moreover, the acceptance or rejection of the change requests become challenging for software project managers when these changes are occurred in Software Development Phase. Where in Software Development Phase software artifacts are not in consistent state such as: some of the class artifacts are Fully Developed, some are Half Developed, some are Major Developed, some are Minor Developed and some are Not Developed yet. However, software effort estimation and change impact analysis are the two most common techniques which might help software project managers in accepting or rejecting change requests during Software Development Phase. The aim of this research is to develop a new software change effort estimation model which helps software project manager in estimating the effort for software Requirement Changes during Software Development Phase. Thus, this research has analyzed the existing effort estimation models and change impact analysis techniques for Softwrae Development Phase from the literature and proposed a new software change effort estimation model by combining change impact analysis technique with effort estimation model. Later, the new proposed model has been evaluated by selecting four small size software projects as case selections in applying experimental approch. The experiment results show that the overall Mean Magnitude Relative Error value produced by the new proposed model is under 25%. Hence it is concluded that the new proposed model is applicable in estimating the amount of effort for requirement changes during SDP.

Project organization and management software development project management model is the best form of software development enterprises in China's understanding of software development project management has been greatly improved. Traditional software development projects have different characteristics, therefore how flexible application for software project management theory and strategies of the main research objectives of domestic software development project management. Our software in enterprise application software development project management, general shortcomings in implementation, this article on software research and development analysis and project management of implementation strategies.

Organisations in Africa face constant challenges on account of internal operational issues, and the economic and political situation on the continent. Hence, organisations in Africa and indeed all over the world are expected to be continuously efficient and effective in the use of scarce resources in order to survive. Accordingly, studies conducted all over the world, including in Africa, have established that high employee engagement is beneficial to organisations, because engaged employees exhibit discretionary behaviour that achieves superior business results. However, some studies suggest that organisations are also faced with the undesirable situation in which highly engaged employees experience high levels of work-family conflict. This relationship has implications for both productivity and ethical aspects, and past empirical studies have been unable to suggest a way out. This study proposes that, on the basis of the conservation of resources model and job demand and resources model, organisational and personal resources could play a major role in resolving the dilemma. Hierarchical regression analysis confirmed that organisational resources, servant leadership and personal resources were able to provide a solution, so that individuals with high values of these resources experienced less work-family conflict. The study also discussed the practical implications of the results for HRM and sustainability HRM.

Due to globalisation, advances in computing technologies, as well as the deployment of software projects in distributed, collaborative and virtual environments, the software project management environment has changed. Traditional project management methods fail to address these added complexities. As a result, numerous software development projects either do not live up to expectations or they fail outright. The authors proposed the software project management model, entitled software project management supported by software agents (SPMSA) that aims to enhance software project management by taking the unique nature and changing environment of software projects into account. The SPMSA model supports the entire spectrum of software project management functionality, supporting and enhancing each key function with a team of software agents. In this extended paper, the authors adapt the SPMSA model to incorporate PMBOK2004 guidelines. The SPMSA model makes a fresh contribution to enhance software project management by utilising software agent technology.

Effective project management is a cornerstone of non-profit efficiency and accountability. This Teaching Paper presents three essential tools—the Project Planning Checklist, the Budget Tracking Spreadsheet, and the Risk Assessment Matrix—designed to enhance planning, financial monitoring, and proactive risk management. Each tool is explained in terms of structure, purpose, and application, supported by a real-world case study from a youth empowerment program in East Africa. By integrating these tools, non-profits can improve coordination, prevent overspending, anticipate risks, and ensure timely delivery of outcomes. The paper bridges theory and practice by transforming project management principles into accessible, actionable resources for mission-driven organizations.

Providing stimulating and real-life experiences is a key component in teaching software project management in Computer Science or Software Engineering programs. The diversity of topics that need to be addressed and restrictions that should be considered in university courses make a challenging task of it. This paper presents a serious game, called “White Crow PM” whose objective is to make students aware of the risks they might face during software development projects. The paper describes the game design steps and provides results of its validation in Computer Science programs in two Mexican universities. The collected data showed that the participants had fun playing the game and its content is relevant for software project management courses. Although the game needs to be validated in other settings with more participants, we conclude that it fulfills the goal of motivating discussion and increasing awareness of project management concerns among students.

The Project Management in the area of IT is becoming hot topic now. The risk problems in IT Projects, especially in software projects become more and more concentration in software project management in China. This paper analyze systematically the characteristics of project management for software itself, then the paper analyses the risk of software development project in following two aspects: one for owners another for contractors. To owners the paper identify and analyze the risk in software development projects according to life cycle of a project. To contractors the paper identifies and assess the risk of project management in software development, and on the bases of investigating of software development project in the IT enterprises of China some conclusions are obtained with the method of AHP.

Research Using New Technologies: Software and Web-Based Tools for Analysis, Communication and Project Management

Project management is never easy, but an abundance of sophisticated Project Management (PM) software tools have certainly made the job of project managers easier than it was in the recent past. Project management software can manage, schedule, and monitor tasks, resources, and costs. However, with the plethora of features, the selection of the “right” features for inclusion in project management software becomes a dilemma for developers and vendors.This study provides a methodology for selecting the most profitable features for project management. Developers can include these features in contemplated future PM product lines. Filtered task lists and links to mainframe packages are the highest ranked profitable PM features. In contrast, On-line help is the lowest ranked among PM features.It is important to discover which features contribute the most to the segment margin. It reflects the profitability to the vendor and should guide the product designer. If the PM software contains these highest margin features, then most likely, it would command the highest possible profits.

Researchers in the field of software process seem to have an interesting relationship with managers and the management of software projects. Clearly managers make many of the decisions on the project. These decisions deal directly with the planning, execution, and control of development activities which have a significant impact on the process. Yet, how much research in the process area is focused on management, or management decisions and their impact? In this special journal issue, we have selected three papers which deal with software project management at different levels and from different perspectives. In the first paper titled, “Benefits of Global Software Development: Exploring the Unexplored”, the authors, Conchúir et al. address the increasingly common paradigm of globally distributed software development (GSD) projects. This paper takes a managerial view of the costs and benefits associated with GSD projects and provides insight into less commonly recognized benefits and costs. The paper makes distinctions among these costs and benefits as “referred” or “inferred” and categorizes them into (1) organizational, (2) team and (3) process/task related issues. The insights are based on qualitative case study information. The second paper titled, “Accurate Estimates Without Local Data?” continues the theme of addressing management level issues by dealing with the important topic of project cost estimation. Providing good cost estimates is a key software project management responsibility that is critical not only to support bids made to external customers, but also to justify resource requirements to internal project sponsors. This work by Menzies et al. continues the quest to obtain better quantitative cost estimates faster. The authors use machine learning tools to show that in many cases, tuning COCOMO models using detailed, hard-to-collect “internal tuning data” does not substantially reduce variation in cost estimation results. Project managers are better off using “project tuning data” to reduce estimate variance in most cases. The authors have based their findings on 10 case studies. In the final paper titled, “Quantitative Defects Management in Iterative Development with BiDefect”, authors Gou et al. also address an important management function which is to manage and control project quality and defects. The authors present a quantitative approach for managing defects when an iterative development methodology is used. The authors site three major challenges associated with managing defects quantitatively with the iterative development paradigm. The challenges are (1) identifying appropriate “control points” in each iteration, (2) selecting appropriate measures and corresponding measurement methods, and (3) determining the optimal amount of effort for performing testing and defect fixing activities. The authors show how the BiDefect approach and models correct these problems. The approach has been applied at a leading Chinese telecommunication firm. Results from the case study are reported. The three articles presented in this issue were based on papers that were selected as being among the best papers of the 2008 International Conference on Software Process (ICSP) held in Leipzig, Germany in May of 2008. All of the papers went through an additional reviewing process and were significantly expanded from their original conference versions. The acceptance rate for these papers was under 8%.