|
|
|
|
 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
A White
Paper on IV&V Cost
|
|
|
|
Philip W. Ching
Aplix Research, Inc.
April 1, 2010
|
1. SUMMARY
IV&V stands for Independent Verification and
Validation. It is “the” method of operation for
project development and management. A large
government project usually has three teams: The
government-team which is the program office
responsible for the project, the contractor-team
which actually builds the system, and the IV&V-team
which has the responsibility of Independent
Verification and validation (IV&V) to ensure the
project progresses smoothly and meets all the
contractual requirements.
IV&V scope of work can include workflow management
across the life cycle of a project. In particular it
includes the process of building Requirement
Traceability Matrix (RTM). It also includes
conducting audits and reviews like FCA (Functional
Configuration Audit) and PCA (Physical Configuration
Audit), data collection and compiles many reviews
and reports.
Many companies, big or small, are doing IV&V
contracts. It is a labor intensive process.
Therefore the real difference is the cost.
Traditional approach is labor intensive that can
incur great cost but are acceptable by default.
Modern approach costs less because they can harness
more on the power of computers and communication.
The most cost effective approach is using web based
dynamic matrices (like Aplix Research, Inc does).
Because it is web based it creates a single global
view open to all member of the project. Its IV&V
process is thorough, complete, and efficient.
This white paper is a case study on the IV&V effort
based on 1000 contractual requirements and its
associated Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM). It
is estimated that under old approach the effort will
be about 46 man-weeks. Under the current approach
the effort will be about 23 man-weeks. Using our
(i.e., Aplix Research, Inc) approach the effort will
be about 7 man-weeks.
2. STATE OF BUSINESS TEN
YEARS AGO
The FAA communication system project called VSCS
(Voice System and Control System) in the late 80s
and early 90’s was a $2 billion project in two
phases (prototype phase and production phase). It is
an en-route air traffic control system that is still
in use in nation’s en-route air traffic control
centers. The project has approximately 5000
requirements based on its original requirement
specification. Its prototype phase took about four
years to complete. I was a software (technical) lead
during the prototype phase. I was heavily involved
with IV&V process during the prototype phase to
ensure that all software requirements are met. The
following was one of the scenarios of doing the
IV&V:
The method of operation used was largely manual
effort and independent verification was only able to
be done by statistical sampling. When it comes to
requirement audit the IV&V tasks can include
activities like FCA (Functional Configuration Audit
and PCA (Physical Configuration Audit). A group of
10 staff members (one from the government-team, four
from the IV&V-team and five from the
contractor-team) can stay in a hotel for a full week
with numerous hard copy documents spreading the
entire room. The group was physically chasing
documents to trace the requirements statements.
To build a Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) the
core of the work is each “shall sentence” (i.e., the
requirement statement) has to be extracted from the
requirement specification and be synchronized with
statements in other project documents. The following
formula uses five typical such documents: The SOW
(Statement of Work), the System Level Specification,
the Hardware Design Document, the Software Design
Document, and the Testing Documents. It is estimated
that for each requirement it could take at least 20
minutes to process (e.g., locate, copy, paste, and
synchronize). Note this does not include the effort
from the contractor-team.
RTM build-effort:
20 minutes X 5 documents X 1000 requirements
=
100000 minutes = 1666.6 man-hours = 41.6
man-week
Other support-effort: 4.16 man-weeks
Total effort:
45.76 man-weeks
Note: There were many meetings, traveling,
tiger-team activities to resolve requirement issues
and yet the process still could not conduct a full
tracing during the audit. With that much effort, the
program manager could not see the real actions of
the IV&V activities. He or she could only see
reports from the IV&V-team.
3. CURRENT STATE OF BUSINESS
The current approach is using spread sheets
extensively and heavily relied on PC to do the
processing. IV&V tools like DOORS (Dynamic Object
Oriented Requirement System) are very difficult to
use. Their training is restricted to technical
people and the cost of training is high.
At current state of business the improvement appears
to be the IV&V-team is able to conduct a full
tracing of all the requirements. It is estimated
that it will take 10 minutes to extract and process
one shall statement when building the RTM.
RTM build-effort:
10 minutes X 5 documents X 1000 requirements
=
50000 minutes = 833.3 man-hours = 20.8
man-week
Other support-effort: 2.08 man-weeks
Total effort:
22.88 man-weeks
The program manager must depend on technical people
to sense the progress of the project. Mostly, he or
she still relies on report from the IV&V-team.
4. Aplix Research, Inc.
APPROACH
Aplix Research uses web based dynamic matrices
using its search engine technology in “search,
compare and contrast” of documents. Aplix Research
owns two US patents to protect its business
operations. This technology allows Aplix Research to
synchronize multiple documents and to map large
number of multiple documents to the RTM efficiently.
It is estimated that Aplix Research can process one
“shall statement” in about 3 minutes when building a
RTM. Since the RTM is web based there is a minimal
training cost for members of the project.
RTM build-effort:
3 minutes X 5 documents X 1000 requirements =
15000 minutes = 250 man-hours = 6.3 man-week
Other support-effort: 0.63 man-weeks
Total effort:
6.93 man-weeks
A web based dynamic matrix which is openly
accessible to all members of the project team. This
includes the program manager who can view the
details of project status at any time. The tracing
can be full and complete. |
|
|
|
|
A White
Paper on DYNAMIC PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AID (DPMA)
|
|
|
|
Philip W. Ching
Aplix Research, Inc.
January, 2000
|
1. SUMMARY
The Dynamic Program Management Aid (DPMA) is a Web
based system developed by Aplix Research, Inc. to
improve productivity through automation of various
program management tasks. Large projects present
a managerial challenge to control and coordinate
a wide variety of program documentation. DPMA provides
a simple and intuitive tool to aid project management,
and configuration management while providing simultaneous,
convenient, on-line access to all necessary documentation.
Aplix Research, Inc. specializes in Web based information
services to help customers simplify complex documentation
tasks. Aplix Research will provide DPMA with supporting
services to help customers replace time - consuming
manual tasks with automated electronic processing.
2. CAPABILITIES AND APPLICATIONS
2.1 Dynamic Tracking Center
The DPMA system provides a "Dynamic Tracking
Center" which is a centralized matrix to manage
and track issues. By clicking on any data item in
the matrix, the system will display specific information
related to that item.
Applications
a. CDRL Tracking Matrix -
User can establish a centralized matrix to monitor
CDRL (Contract Data Requirements List) delivery
status. For example, by clicking on a section number
of the SOW (Statement Of Work) the system will display
the paragraph in the SOW that states the requirement,
or, by clicking on a CDRL comment number, the system
will display a specific government CDRL comment
and the status of its resolution.
b. Cost Tracking Matrix -
User can establish a centralized matrix to manage
the cost of a project. For example, by clicking
on a CLIN (Contract Line Item Number) the system
will display the specific CLIN and view any Cost
Breakdown Structure associated with the CLIN. Note:
DPMA is not an accounting system. Rather, it dynamically
links relevant documents to aid the validation of
the accounting data.
c. Security Requirements Tracking Matrix
-
User can establish a centralized matrix to track
information systems security requirements. For example,
by clicking on a test number the DPMA will display
its test procedure and test result of that security
requirement.
2.2 Side-By-Side Cross Referencing of Multiple
Documents
The DPMA system allows users to do side-by-side
cross-referencing of multiple documents. User can
enter a phrase and the system will display a list
of section numbers from multiple documents that
contain the user's phrase. Multiple documents can
include engineering specifications, SOW (Statement
Of Work), FAT (Factory Acceptance Test), proposals,
PTRs (Problem Trouble Reports), PMRs (Program Monthly
Reports), memos, contract letters, or even e-mails.
Applications
a. Tracking Correspondence -
A large program always has hundreds of memos and
e-mails between the vendors and the program office.
To understand what had been said or agreed upon
can be a formidable task. Side-by-side cross-referencing
is a time saving way to isolate relevant information
and to track specific issues across multiple documents.
b. Multiple Proposal Evaluation -
This formidable task usually takes several staff
members to do the job. When evaluating multiple
proposals, the DPMA can locate specific paragraphs
from proposal A, proposal B, proposal C ... and
display them side-by-side against the requirement
document, for example, the RFP (Request For Proposal).
c. Technical Audits -
Technical audits, such as a Functional Configuration
Audit (FCA) or a Physical Configuration Audit (PCA),
require the validation of all contractor (and sub-contractors)
provided documents (e.g., System and subsystems
specification, Top level design document, Hardware
design document, Software design document, Interface
design document, Test plans and Factory Acceptance
Test, etc.) against all government requirements.
This can be an extremely time consuming process.
The DPMA system can automate the technical audit
process by allowing user to conduct dynamic requirements
tracing. DPMA allows the user to easily accomplish
the audit process.
2.3 Intelligent Library
DPMA provides an Intelligent Library that allows
users to quickly and accurately identify specific
pieces of information that contain specific words.
"Specific pieces of information" can be sections
or paragraphs from a large document. "specific words"
can be a phrase supplied by the user.
Applications
a. Training Aid -
Since DPMA can find specific information swiftly
and accurately, it can be used by the user to learn
complex program requirements, definitions, acronyms,
and relevant information that is usually buried
in documents. In particular, the DPMA will be a
good facility for new employees to learn a complex
system.
b. Problem Analysis -
By using the advanced search capability in the "Analysis
mode", DPMA can help the user analyze problems and
identify correlations among different technical
terms or concepts. For example, suppose you are
faced with hundreds of reports, memos, and large
documents. You want to find all reports, memos,
or paragraphs that contain Word A and Word B - let's
say you found 95 of them. Second time you want to
add one more conceptual word in your search. That
is you want to identify them as long as they contain
Word A, Word B, and Word C - let's say you get 25
of them this time. You can add another conceptual
word and filter down to just a few of them. Now
you have a better view of the problem because you
are able to see all those reports, memos, or paragraphs
that contain these conceptual words.
c. Archival Storage -
All documents are stored on-line in an Electronic
Library for review by any user (via username and
password) at any time. This reduces the need to
carry hard copies of the documents, which is especially
convenient when attending meetings.
2.4 Side-By-Side Comparison of Documents
The DPMA system allows users to view the changes
made to documents by using the side-by-side comparison
of documents.
Applications
a. Contract Modifications -
Contractually, it is important to know exactly where
changes are made to a contract. Many times it can
be difficult for a human being to catch precisely
the changes, for example, when "system" becomes
"systems". DPMA can be used to view and validate
changes made to a contract in a side-by-side and
user friendly display.
b. Large Engineering Specifications -
A large engineering specification (e.g. with 1000
pages) usually has many changes over a period of
time. To view exactly where the changes were made
is beyond the capability of a word processor on
a user's desktop machine. DPMA can provide the user
with a hierarchical side-by-side display of differences
between two documents. For example, DPMA can identify
differences based on sub-volumes of the document,
or based on sections from the document, or based
on sentences from the document and its individual
words. Since DPMA is Web based its side-by-side
display can be viewed by different users in different
locations at the same time.
3. OPERATION
3.1 Configuration Options
DPMA is flexible and can be configured to use on:
the Internet, the Intranet, or on a standalone Notebook
computer.
a. Internet option -
DPMA can be configured on the Internet, where users
in different locations of the country can access
and use the DPMA. In this case the DPMA system will
be put under tight security control.
b. Intranet option -
DPMA can be configured on the Intranet, and users
from different offices that are connected by the
LAN can use the DPMA capabilities. Users will be
authenticated by username and password.
c. Notebook computer option -
DPMA can be configured on a Notebook computer as
a standalone system. The DPMA capability can be
carried with the user while traveling. In addition,
the Notebook computer can also be configured as
"network ready". This means at any time the Notebook
computer can be plugged into the LAN and the DPMA
can be accessed by other users on the LAN.
3.2 User Community
Users access the DPMA system via a standard web
browser. There are two types of users: regular users
or special users.
a. Regular users -
A regular user can be any one authorized by the
system. For example, the user can be technical staff,
administrative support, or a manager. To access
the DPMA, the user must have a username and password.
b. Special users -
A special user is the same as a regular user except
that user will have the additional privilege of
modifying or updating files that are under the control
of the DPMA system. For example, updating the status
of a test requirement from "pending" to "completed".
3.3 System Setup and Maintenance Support
Aplix will provide initial setup of the DPMA system
and the subsequent processing of the documents.
Customers who choose to do their own document loading
and processing should go through separate training
on DPMA "System Administration."
Aplix Research will provide training to the end-user
on how to use the system. Aplix Research will also
provide regular maintenance support to ensure the
smooth operation of the DPMA system.
4. BENEFITS
4.1 High Productivity
What used to be hours or days of manual work can now
be accomplished in few seconds or minutes. For example,
the FCA (Functional Configuration Audit) or PCA
(Physical Configuration Audit) process usually takes
a dozen staff and more than a week to perform the
audit. By using the DPMA facility the FCA audit
process can now be accomplished within a few days
with a lot less people. DPMA enables the entire
project to be much more visible for project management.
It helps synchronize the project team, providing
a substantial increase in team productivity.
4.2 Low Cost
Currently, for FAA users Aplix Research, Inc. imposes
no per-seat or per-user license on the usage of
the DPMA. There is no hardware or software per-user
cost, and there is no hardware and software installation
or maintenance cost for the users' desktop machines.
Aplix Research will charge a fee for document processing
and a nominal fee to ensure smooth operation of
the system.
4.3 Easy to Use
There is no technical training necessary for the
end-user to use the DPMA system other than how to
use a standard Web browser. Of course, it is assumed
that user has a Web browser on his/her desktop machine.
4.4 Flexibility in Operation
The DPMA system can be configured on a notebook
computer, or for access via the Intranet or Internet.
A web based design allows users to access the DPMA
from anywhere in the country. Arrangements can be
made for the DPMA to be setup for hands-on user
evaluation.
5. CONCLUSION
The DPMA system takes advantage of latest Web based
technology to achieve cost effective services providing
high productivity in many areas of work that are
document driven. It is user friendly and easy to
use. Please contact Aplix Research, Inc. for more
information or a demonstration: 13820 Appaloosa
Court, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878, U.S.A. (Phone)
301-762-8552, (Fax) 301-762-0793. |
|
|
|
|
Managing
A Large Complex Program Made Easier
|
|
|
| Title: |
Managing A Large Complex Program Made Easier
|
| Time and Date: |
11:00am Monday September 27th, 2004 |
| Place: |
En Route Program, FAA ATO Independence Ave,
Washington DC |
|
1. Introduction
Speaker: Philip W. Ching Ph.D., president of Aplix
Research, Inc. and adjunct faculty in computer science
(epp) at Johns Hopkins University.
2. Electronic File Cabinet
User can swiftly isolate and get specific paragraphs
(or sentences) from a large document. This capability
has many advantages. For example, learning a large
complex system can become a lot easier since user
can quickly retrieve relevant paragraphs (or sentences)
on a particular subject from a mountain of documents
within seconds.
3. Dynamic Tracking Matrix
(DTM)
A Dynamic Tracking Matrix can provide a bird's eye
view of all the requirements starting from the original
Requirement Document to System Level Specification,
to the Design Document, and so on. User can find
out the status of a requirement by clicking an appropriate
entry in the DTM. User can see the original requirement
statement and where it leads to a paragraph
in the Design Document, and which test procedure is
associated with the requirement in the Test Document
and some associated PTRs. All these can indeed be
accomplished within minutes of time.
For example, conducting FCA (Functional Configuration
Audit) can be made a lot easier. We can generate
a Dynamic Tracking Matrix quickly, and FCA activities
will become simple tasks. What used to be several
weeks of effort can indeed be accomplished in a
few days with a lot less supporting staff.
4. Side-by-Side Cross-Referencing
(of multiple documents)
Giving a particular term (i.e., keywords) user can
view those (and only those) sentences from multiple
documents. User can display them side-by-side to
view any consistence, duplications, or dependency
among multiple documents.
This capability can be very useful for evaluating
multiple proposals, government standards, systems
specifications and contract documents. What used
to be days or hours of manual work can indeed be
accomplished in minutes.
5. Side-by-Side Comparison
(of different baseline documents)
User can compare two documents side-by-side. User
can see what add, delete, or change has been made
to the documents. For example, if some letter was
changed from upper case to lower case, user can
see an underline at the words.
This capability can be very useful when comparing
two different versions of the same document. For
example, contract modification or ECP (Engineering
Change Proposal) verification.
6. PTRs (Problem Trouble Reports)
Scrubbing
User can conduct side-by-side cross-reference of
different PTRs against system level specification
and design documents. PTRs (or review comments)
scrub meetings can be conducted in a much more efficient
way. Different parties at different locations can
simultaneously and precisely review multiple PTRs
for their redundancy and consistency without requiring
the participants to travel. A tremendous saving
in the time and the cost.
7. How Does It Work?
There will be no disturbance to your existing computer
environment. This means there shall be no hardware
or software installation on any of your existing
computers. Since the tool is browser based it is
easy to use. We shall deliver a plug&play computer
for the Program Office as an add-on capability.
Initial Phase: We shall deliver a plug&play
laptop computer (with your documents setup) for
the Program Office to use. The laptop computer can
be shared simultaneously among different users on
your office LAN. You can also bring the laptop computer
to the contractor site for PMR meetings, Critical
Design Reviews, etc.
8. Questions and Discussion
|
|
|
|
|
Evaluating
Government Policies and Regulations Made Easier
|
|
|
| Title: |
Evaluating Government Policies and Regulations
Made Easier |
| Date and Time: |
10:00am Tuesday August 31st, 2004 |
| Place: |
APO-300, FAA Headquarter, 800 Independence
Ave, Washington DC |
|
1. Introduction
Speaker: Philip W. Ching Ph.D., president of Aplix
Research, Inc. and adjunct faculty in computer science
(epp) at Johns Hopkins University.
2. Electronic File Cabinet
User can swiftly isolate and get specific paragraphs
(or sentences) from a large document. This can be
very useful if you try to understand a particular
term from a large regulatory document.
3. Side-by-Side Cross-Referencing
Giving a particular term (i.e., keywords) user can
view those (and only those) sentences from multiple
documents. User can display them side-by-side to
view any consistence, duplications, or dependency
among multiple documents. This can be very useful
for evaluating multiple government policies and
regulations. What used to be days or hours of manual
work can indeed be accomplished in minutes.
4. Side-by-Side Comparison
User can compare two documents side-by-side. User
can see what add, delete, or change has been made
to the documents. For example, if some letter was
changed from upper case to lower case, user can
see an underline at the words. This can be very
useful when comparing two versions of the same Policy
document.
5. How Does It Work?
There shall be no disturbance to your existing environment.
This means there shall be no hardware or software
installation on any of your existing computers.
Since the tool is browser based, it is very easy
to use. Therefore no heavy user training is necessary.
We shall deliver a plug & play laptop computer
(with your documents setup) for your evaluation.
6. Questions and Discussion
|
|
|
|
|
Managing
Procurements and Contracts Made Easier
|
|
|
| Title: |
Managing Procurements and Contracts Made
Easier |
| Time and Date: |
10:00am Wednesday October 13th, 2004 |
| Place: |
Maryland Judicial Center, Annapolis, Maryland
|
|
1. Introduction
Speaker: Philip W. Ching Ph.D., President of Aplix
Research Inc. (a Maryland MBE company) and adjunct
faculty in computer science (epp), Johns Hopkins
University.
2. Summary
This presentation is about a set of capabilities
(or tools) that can be used in managing procurements
and enforcing contract compliance. The goal is to
demonstrate that tremendous amount of paper work
can be reduced.
3. Electronic File Cabinets
We can organize all your documents (or records)
into Electronic File Cabinets. You can swiftly isolate
and get specific paragraphs (or sentences) from
large documents.
This capability has many advantages. For example,
you can extract all pieces of descriptions of a
particular State Code (e.g., for building construction)
from a mountain of state-regulatory documents within
seconds.
4. Side-by-Side Cross-Referencing
(of multiple documents)
Giving a particular term (i.e., keywords) you can
view those (and only those) sentences from multiple
documents. You can display them side-by-side to
view any consistence, duplications, or dependency
among multiple documents.
This capability can be very useful for evaluating
multiple proposals, government policy and regulations,
and contract documents. It can also be used effectively
for enforcing contract compliance. What used to
be days or hours of manual work can indeed be accomplished
in minutes.
5. Side-by-Side Comparison
(of different versions of a document)
You can compare two documents side-by-side. You
can see what add, delete, or change has been made
to the documents. For example, if some letter was
changed from upper case to lower case, user can
see an underline at the words.
This capability can be very useful when comparing
two different versions of the same document. For
example, it can be used for validating contract
modifications.
6. Manage Contractual Issues
There are usually many contractual (or procurement)
issues that must be resolved in time. We can electronically
setup a centralized database so you can manage all
your contractual issues effectively. For example,
you can sort these contractual issues by dates,
priority, assignees, and status, etc. You can also
conduct side-by-side cross-reference of different
issues against the Statement Of Work or system requirements
document. You can review all these contractual issues
in a much more efficient way. Different parties
at different locations can simultaneously and precisely
review multiple issues for their redundancy, consistency,
and compliancy without requiring the participants
to travel. This can be a tremendous saving in the
time and cost for your department.
7. Dynamic Tracking Matrix
(DTM)
A Dynamic Tracking Matrix can provide a bird's eye
view of all contractual requirements starting from
the Statement of Work to System Level Specification,
to the Design Document, and so on. You can find
out the status of a contractual requirement by clicking
an appropriate entry in the DTM. User can see the
original requirement statement and where it
leads to a paragraph in the Design Document, and
which test procedure is associated with the requirement
in the Test Document, and some associated contractual
issues. All these can indeed be accomplished within
minutes of time.
8. How Does It Work?
These capabilities are easy to use. They are web
based so all the user needs is a standard web browser
on her desktop PC. There will be no disturbance
to your existing computer environment. This means
there will be no hardware or software installation
on any of your existing computers. We can deliver
a plug&play computer (e.g., a laptop) with your
documents setup as an add-on capability in your
office environment. This computer can be shared
simultaneously among different users in the office.
We will provide follow up service. The cost will
primarily be driven by the amount of your documents
that need to be imported into the system.
Other option: We can also host your documents at
a dedicated Internet site (to be setup by the Aplix
Research, Inc.) so you can access the Internet and
use these capabilities via a standard browser.
9. Questions and Discussion
|
|
|
|
|
Fixing
Software Problems Made Easier - A Case Study
|
|
|
|
Philip W. Ching Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University and Aplix Research, Inc.
Presented on August 5, 2004 to Harris Corporation
at Melbourne, Florida
|
1. Summary
A major cost for any systems vendor is the cost
of fixing software problems. A software problem
can be either a software malfunction or a requirement
compliance issue. This seminar will demonstrate
that fixing software problems can be made a lot
easier than it used to be. We shall focus on the
following scenario:
Let's say there is a software problem. Before we
can provide a solution (or a fix), we need to understand
its requirement and its design. In other words we
need to perform the following tasks:
1) We need to find out the original requirement
and its traceability among available documentation
(e.g., engineering specification, design document,
test document, etc.).
2) We need to identify if there were any changes
to the requirement by comparing different versions
of the documents.
3) We need to validate the requirement for its consistency
and dependency on other requirements.
4) We also need to find out what code changes were
made to this program that we plan to modify.
5) AND, we would like to accomplish each task in
few minutes of time.
Benefits: All these tasks can be accomplished in
a fast, accurate and cost effective manner. User
will have the benefit of understanding (or learning)
a complex system easier and sooner in order to resolve
a software problem.
2. Assumptions
Let's assume that we are working in a large system
development and maintenance environment, and the
system has reasonable amount of documentations.
For example we have Requirements Document, Design
Document, Test Procedures, User Manuals, Program
Source Code, etc. Let's also assume that the electronic
copies of these documents are available and they
are organized in Electronic File Cabinets. This
is because when tracing a requirement, we need some
level of electronic form available to be searched,
compared, and cross-referenced.
In the following discussion, a requirement statement
is a shall statement (commonly used in a DOD or
FAA environment). In other words, it is a sentence
that contains a "shall" as its auxiliary verb in
a contractual document. A requirement document consists
of many requirement statements. For example, a contractual
document like Statement of Work (SOW) can be viewed
as a requirement document.
3. Understand the Requirement
Status
For a large and complex project, a Requirements
Document is often among the first few documents
to be established. Other important documents (e.g.,
System Level Specification, Interface Design Document,
Software Design Document, and Test Procedures) will
become mature as the project progresses. After the
system is deployed, there will be Problem Trouble
Reports (PTRs) that must be tracked and managed.
Each requirement is a shall statement that can be
traced upward the chain of these documents and also
down the chain of these documents. A requirement
is traceable if its chain is validated and continuous.
We can use a Dynamic Tracking Matrix to provide
a bird's eye view of all the requirements starting
from the original Requirement Document to System
Level Document, to the Design document, and so on.
You can find out the status of a requirement by
clicking an appropriate entry in this Dynamic Tracking
Matrix. You can see the original requirement statement
and where it leads to a paragraph in the Design
Document, and which test procedure is associated with
the requirement in the Test Document. All these
can indeed be accomplished within minutes of time.
4. Find out any Design Changes
or Requirement Changes
In a large system development and maintenance environment,
requirements were often changed without good documentation.
This can generate frustrations for managers and
software engineers when they received a Problem
Trouble Report (PTR) from the customer. If a requirement
is not clear enough, we cannot provide a solution
to the problem as reported from the field.
However, for baseline documents we can use a side-by-side
comparison to track design changes or requirement
changes easily. We can compare different versions
of the Requirements Document side by side to view
precisely which words were added, deleted, or modified.
This can be accomplished within minutes of time.
5. Validate the Requirements
An engineering requirement in a large system can
be quite complex. For example, it is possible that
the original allocation of a requirement to the
Design Document is not adequate. Also, there are
dependencies between different requirements and
inconsistencies between different software modules.
These inconsistencies are difficult to spot because
they are buried in multiple and large documents.
They will eventually show up as problems in the
field.
To help ease the problem, we can use side-by-side
cross reference of multiple documents to isolate
relevant paragraphs (or sentences) from multiple
documents. We can then validate consistency between
relevant requirement statements. We can also use
side-by-side cross reference to understand dependency
or redundancy among different but related requirements.
This task can be accomplished in few minutes.
6. Identify any changes made
to the Source Code
Another scenario in a large system maintenance environment
is that many patches (i.e., code changes) had been made
to the software. A programmer cannot provide a good
solution if she does not understand what were the
changes made to the same piece of code that she
tries to fix.
We can use side-by-side comparison to view different
versions of the same program. We can see precisely
what add, delete, and modifications were made to
a particular piece of code. A side-by-side comparison
will pinpoint to a change even if it is a difference
of punctuation, or a change of upper case to the
lower case. This task can also be accomplished within
minutes of time.
7. Benefits to the End User
The method and tools that we described above can
be collectively called DPMA (Dynamic Project Management
Aid). Its benefits are numerous. DPMA can help user
gain productivity with high quality in many areas
of work that are document-driven. What used to be
days or hours of manual work can indeed be accomplished
in few minutes.
DPMA allows technical documents to be easily visible
to a large group of community rather than restrict
access only to a few people with special training.
For example, there is no need to ask for help from
specially trained staff to access the on-line requirements
documents. Since DPMA is browser based user can
access the documents any time and anywhere. User
does not need special training to access the system
other than using a browser. Also, there is no software
or hardware installation necessary on user's desktop
computer. In other words, DPMA allows project documents
to be compared and discussed simultaneously by participants
in different geographical locations.
8. Other Applications (made
easier)
There are other applications that can be made easier
by using the DPMA. The following are a few examples:
1) FCA audit -
Conduct of FCA (Functional Configuration Audit) can
be made a lot easier. For example, if Dynamic Tracking
Matrix can be generated quickly and accurately,
then FCA activities are simple tasks. It is estimated
that what used to be several weeks of FCA work can
now be accomplished in few days with man power reduction
from 12 people to about 4 people.
2) PTRs scrubbing -
PTRs scrubbing (or review comments scrubbing) meetings
can be conducted in a much more efficient and cost
effective manner. Different parties at different
locations can simultaneously and precisely review
multiple PTRs for their redundancy and consistency
without requiring the participants to travel.
3) Training -
Learning a large complex system can become a lot
easier since user can quickly retrieve relevant
paragraphs (or sentences) of a particular subject
from a mountain of documents. For example, any acronyms
(or compounded acronyms) can be explained quickly
by isolating and retrieving only those paragraphs
that contain the description of the acronym.
4) Trouble Shooting and Decision Support
-
DPMA can be used to help for trouble shooting after
a system failure. It can support a quick decision
by isolating relevant information swiftly from a
large number of user manuals or diagnostic manuals.
5) FAA-iCMM Implementation -
Using DPMA allows an organization to implement the
iCMM requirements effectively without incurring
substantial cost. This is because DPMA can perform
many of the BP (Base Practice) list of work as required
by the FAA-iCMM (see an attached table for more
details). |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
 |
|
© 2006 Copyright, Aplix Research, Inc.
All rights reserved.
|
|
|
