SSC SAN DIEGO POLICY FOR SOFTWARE PROJECT PLANNING

Version 1.1- 10/9/97

The purpose of Software Project Planning is to establish reasonable plans for performing the software engineering and for managing the software project.

Software Project Planning involves developing estimates for the work to be performed, establishing the necessary commitments, and defining the plan to perform the work.

SSC San Diego projects shall:

1. Document the software estimates for use in planning and tracking the software project.

2. Plan and document software project activities and commitments.

3. Have affected groups and individuals agree to their commitments related to the software project.

4. Designate a project software manager is to be responsible for negotiating commitments and developing the project's software development plan.

5. Ensure a documented and approved statement of work exists for the software project.

6. Assign responsibilities for developing the software development plan.

7. Provide adequate resources and funding for planning the software project.

8. Train the software managers, software engineers, and other individuals involved in the software project planning in the software estimating and planning procedures applicable to their areas of responsibility.

9. Have the software engineering group participate on the project proposal team.

10. Initiate software project planning in the early stages of, and in parallel with, the overall project planning.

11. Have the software engineering group participate with other affected groups in the overall project planning throughout the project's life.

12. Review software project commitments made to individuals and groups external to the organization with senior management according to a documented procedure.

13. Identify or define a software life cycle with predefined stages of manageable size.

14. Develop the project's software development plan according to a documented procedure.

15. Document the plan for the software project.

16. Identify software work products that are needed to establish and maintain control of the software project.

17. Derive estimates for the size of the software work products (or changes to the size of software work products) according to a documented procedure.

18. Derive estimates for the software project's effort and costs according to a documented procedure.

19. Derive estimates for the project's critical computer resources according to a documented procedure.

20. Derive the project's software schedule according to a documented procedure.

21. Identify, assess, and document the software risks associated with the cost, resource, schedule, and technical aspects of the project.

22. Prepare plans for the project's software engineering facilities and support tools.

23. Record software planning data.

24. Make and use measurements to determine the status of the software planning activities.

25. Review the activities for software project planning with senior management on a periodic basis.

26. Review the activities for software project planning with the project manager on both a periodic and event-driven basis.

27. Conduct reviews or audits by the software quality assurance group on the activities and work products for software project planning and reports the results.

Software Project Managers are responsible for implementing this policy.

The Software Engineering Process Office (SEPO) is responsible for maintaining this policy.