This chapter describes the Revolve Enterprise Edition Estimation Engine,
a general-purpose estimation spreadsheet that helps you get a quick, but
accurate, estimate of the cost and effort of a transformation project. You will
find it useful to have read the chapter
Using Worksheets before
using the Estimation Engine.
During the analysis phase of a Revolve Enterprise Edition project you
produce a worksheet that contains the points of interest (POIs) in the project,
each POI having a category assigned to it. You need to export the details of
your worksheet to an Access reports database from which you extract the
information needed by the Estimation Engine to produce an estimate of the cost
and effort involved in your project.
You should be aware that, although the Estimation Engine helps you to
derive estimates, it is not a substitute for rational thinking and coherent
argument, rather a framework within which such thinking can be channeled to
good effect and recorded. For example, the results of the Estimation Engine,
when applied to a particular application, need validating (sense-checking)
against the results of other tools and the cost of originally developing
similar applications (where known).
You may then need to change the values assigned for coding and unit
testing in the light of these comparisons.
The estimator workbook contains the data for calculating project
estimates. It is an Excel workbook (efforttemplate.xls) and is supplied
with the reports templates in the folder tps\config\enterprise\reports.
Some of the data are provided as default values, some you must import
from the project reports databases. The following data are held in the
estimator workbook:
-
The categories sheet
These details are imported from the project reports
database.
-
The settings sheet
This contains the default values supplied with your system.
- One or
more data file sheets
These are exported to the Access project reports databases and
imported to your estimator workbook. See the sections Exporting Project Data from Access and Importing Project Data to the Estimator Workbook.
- One or
more program sheets
These are exported to the Access project reports databases and
imported to your estimator workbook. See the sections Exporting Project Data from Access and Importing Project Data to the Estimator Workbook.
- A summary sheet
This is generated once all the program and file-level sheets have
been imported. See the section Creating the Project Summary
Sheet
- The number of points of interest assigned to each category in the
worksheet
Once you have completed your project worksheet, you need to export
the details to an Access reports database, then import them to the workbook.
The number of points of interest assigned to each category are split into two
parts:
This is an Excel sheet within the estimator workbook
efforttemplate.xls.
The category sheet contains the following, maintainable items:
- Category names and descriptions
These are imported from the project reports database. New category
names and descriptions can be imported from one or more projects, using the
Load Categories function and are merged into the category sheet.
-
Effort levels associated with each category
These are provided for the coding and unit testing of modules and
data files. Default initial values for new categories are taken from the Settings Sheet. You can change these in the categories
sheet.
In addition to effort levels associated with category assignments, the
workbook uses four values from the settings sheet (see the section
The Settings Sheet). These are:
- Fixed Program Overhead: Coding
- Fixed Program Overhead: Testing
- Fixed Data File Overhead:
- Fixed Data File Overhead: Testing
Figure 7-1 shows an example categories sheet once it has been
populated with default effort-level values.
Figure 7-1: Example Categories Sheet
Values are assigned for modules and data files, giving eight effort
levels in total. These are split into eight separate columns on your worksheet
(columns C through J). The following table summarizes the eight effort levels.
Column
|
Program/Data File
Category
|
Description
|
| C |
Fixed coding overhead per module |
The overhead incurred, on a per module basis, in
carrying out the programming effort required for a particular category before
you can begin to fix individual POIs in that category.
For example, you
might want to add common windowing routines to a program before fixing each
individual statement that requires date windowing logic to fix the year 2000
problem. Writing the windowing routines would be considered part of the fixed
overhead for that module. |
| D |
Per POI coding effort per module |
The programming effort involved, on a per module
basis, to fix one POI for a given POI category.
For example, the effort
required to add date windowing logic to fix the year 2000 problem to one
statement in a program. |
| E |
Fixed testing overhead per module |
The overhead incurred, on a per module basis, in
carrying out the testing effort required in a program for problems of a
particular type, regardless of how many specific POIs need to be addressed.
This effort is assessed once per category for a program, even if several POIs
exist for a particular category. |
| F |
Per POI testing effort per module |
The effort involved, on a per module basis, in
testing a single fix for one POI for a given POI category. |
| G |
Fixed coding overhead per file |
The overhead incurred, on a per file basis, in
carrying out the programming effort required for a particular category. |
| H |
Per POI coding effort per file |
The programming effort involved, on a per file basis,
to fix one POI for a given POI category. Typically this value would reflect the
amount of code required for each converted field. |
| I |
Fixed testing overhead per file |
The testing overhead effort for a file conversion
program, regardless of the number of specific POIs to be addressed. This effort
is assessed only once for a file, even if several categories of POI are
associated with that file. |
| J |
Per POI testing effort per file |
The effort involved in testing the new values for
each changed value in a converted file. |
The initial values allocated to these eight effort levels are
calculated using the default settings of various items found on the
Settings tab on the estimator workbook.
Note: The effort levels entered into the category sheet should
always be in man-hours. You can change the reporting units by selecting a new
item in the main Micro Focus form's listbox on the estimator workbook. The
reporting unit chosen affects how the totals are displayed on the file, program
and summary sheets.
This is an Excel sheet within the estimator workbook
efforttemplate.xls. You use the button labeled Show Form on this
sheet to open the main Micro Focus dialog box to import project data and reset
your reporting units.
The settings sheet comes supplied with the following, maintainable
defaults:
- Effort levels for newly added categories
There are two types of effort levels:
-
Fixed effort levels for programs and data files
These represent any overhead that is required before a first
fix, or test of this type can be applied, for example, the amount of time it
takes to check a program out of a source library. They are applied to each
program or data file only once in their import sheet, regardless of the number
category counts.
They are split into four types:
Fixed Effort Level
Type
|
Description
|
Effort Level Examples
|
| Fixed Program Overhead:
Coding |
The effort required
to change a program on a per program basis, regardless of the specific POIs to
be fixed. |
The time required to retrieve the
source code from an archive. |
| Fixed Program Overhead: Testing
|
The effort required to test a
changed program on a per program basis, regardless of the specific POIs that
were fixed. |
The time required to set up the
test environment |
| Fixed Data File Overhead:
Coding |
The effort required to change a
file on a per file basis, regardless of the specific POIs to be fixed. |
The time required to write a
conversion program. |
| Fixed Data File Overhead:
Testing |
The effort required to test a data
file on a per data file basis, regardless of the specific POIs that were fixed.
|
The time required to set up the
test environment. |
- Per POI effort levels
These represent the time it takes to fix or test one problem of
this type.
-
Reporting units
These are the values in man-hours for the available reporting units,
for example, 1 day = 8 man-hours, 1 week = 40 man-hours. You can change these
and add further values up to a total of 12 reporting units. Once you have added
new reporting units, you can select them by clicking Show Form and
selecting the appropriate unit from the listbox on the main Micro Focus dialog
box.
- Print
headings
The text in the print headings cell appears as the heading on the
report when you print the workbook using the Excel File > Print
option.
-
Life-cycle percentages
These are percentages of effort required for a full development life
cycle. The program and data file sheets are used to calculate effort levels for
the coding and unit test phases of the life cycle. The other life cycle phases
are calculated using standard percentages from the settings sheet. The
life-cycle totals appear on the summary sheet when you create it.
You can add or change life cycle phases, with the following
restrictions:
- The first life cycle entry must represent the phase for program
coding and unit testing
- The percentages for all life cycles must add up to 1.00
-
Effort for development phases
This is the percentage of effort required for each development
phase. The default values provided are:
Development Phase
|
Percentage of Effort
|
| Design |
10% |
| Analysis |
10% |
| Coding + Unit Testing |
40% |
| System Testing |
30% |
| Acceptance Testing |
10% |
You may need to change these to suit your particular environment.
Figure 7-2 shows part of a settings sheet:
Figure 7-2: Settings Sheet
To create an estimate for the cost of a transformation project using the
Estimation Engine you must:
- Create a project worksheet.
See the section Creating the Project
Worksheet.
- Export your project worksheet to a Microsoft Access reports
database.
See the section Exporting the Project Worksheet
to an Access Reports Database.
- Create the files containing your project details by exporting them
from the Access reports database you created in step 1. You only have to do
this once unless you add, remove or change information in your project.
See the section Exporting Project Data from
Access.
- Import the files created in step 3 to the estimator workbook in
Excel.
See the section Importing Project Data to the
Estimator Workbook.
- Create the project summary sheet.
See the section Creating the Project Summary
Sheet.
The first step in your analysis for your Enterprise Edition project is
to create a project worksheet, populating it with points of interest and
allocating categories to them as described in the chapter
Using Worksheets. All
items must be categorized with your high-level categories that you want to
appear in reports and in the estimator workbook.
To export details to Access:
- Click
Worksheet Reports and select Export worksheet details to Access
- Type the name of the report database to create or click
Browse to select an existing database to overwrite
- Ensure that Launch MS Access is checked and click OK
- When the reports database appears in Access, click Report
Categories
- You may not want all of your categories to appear the in Access
reports and categories sheet. To exclude any categories, uncheck Report
Option.
After exporting the project worksheet to an Access reports database,
this now contains your project details along with the categories that you need
for your final estimate.
Now you are ready to export the data files which will be imported into
the estimator workbook. For each project and each report database you must run
three queries in Access to export your project data. To run these queries:
- Click Export on the Micro Focus dialog box in your Access
reports database.
- Click Queries in the Select Reports to Export dialog box. The
dialog box's title changes to Select Queries to Export to reflect this.
- Select the three queries starting with Estimation:
EstimationCategories, EstimationFiles and
EstimationPrograms.
You can, of course, just export one query at a time.
- Click Export.
- In the Export Options dialog box click Excel Spreadsheet (*.xls)
and check Prompt for each output file name? and Launch
application?
- Type the name and location of each file, or accept the defaults,
after which Excel starts.
Note: You can enter any location for this file. However, we
recommend that you do not change the default file name assigned to this file.
Once created, you only need to update these sheets if, for example, you
want to remove an existing category, add a new category or change the default
value assigned to one of the existing categories.
To update a sheet, open it in Excel and make your edits.
Having created the categories, files and programs sheets, you can close
Access and import these details into the estimator workbook in Excel. To do
this:
- Open your estimator workbook (efforttemplate.xls) in Excel.
If you see a dialog box concerning macros, click on Enable
Macros.
- Import the categories sheet:
- Select the type of reporting unit you want the estimation engine
to use, for example, hours or days
- Click Load Categories
- Select the categories sheet, EstimationCategories.xls
- Click OK.
The details are automatically updated on the Categories
tab of the estimator workbook.
- Import the file sheet by following the instruction for loading
categories, clicking on Load File POI and selecting the file sheet.
This creates a new sheet in the workbook and applies the effort
levels for each file.
- Import the program sheet by following the instruction for loading
categories, clicking on Load Program POI and selecting the program
sheet.
This creates a new sheet in the workbook and applies the effort
levels for each program.
This completes the importing of data to the estimator workbook.
Notes:
- You can import queries from one or more projects by repeating the
steps in this section
- Each file or program sheet that you import creates a new sheet (tab)
in the workbook
- There is only ever one categories sheet and one settings sheet. When
you import categories for a second or subsequent time, any new categories are
added to the categories sheet in the workbook and the system assigns the
default effort-levels it finds in the settings sheet. You may need to change
these in the categories sheet to something more appropriate for the category.
See the section Changing the Default Effort-level
Values for further details.
To create a summary total that includes all the total lines from all
the worksheets that you have imported into the workbook:
- Open your estimator workbook (efforttemplate.xls) in Excel if
it is not already open.
If you see a dialog box concerning macros, click on Enable
Macros.
- Click the Settings tab.
- Click Show Form to display the Micro Focus Effort Estimation
dialog box.
- Click Create Summary.
This creates a Summary tab, a new sheet containing the
project summary effort estimation.
- Choose Save As to save your workbook with a different
name.
Figure 7-3 shows an example of a summary sheet in a saved workbook
efforttemp.xls.
Figure 7-3: Summary Sheet
If you want to change any of the factors used in calculating the various
effort level totals on either the files or programs sheets (or both), such as
the percentage of the whole project that one of the development phases should
take, you can select the Categories tab and make the alterations you
require.
As you make alterations the effort levels shown in the files and
programs sheets are automatically re-calculated, and their display changes
dynamically. Changes to the Categories tab do not affect your default
effort-level workbook.
You can also re-set the reporting units used in your worksheets by
selecting items in the Micro Focus dialog box reached by clicking Show
Form on the Settings tab in your workbook. All the values in the worksheets
will automatically be re-calculated and re-displayed in the new unit.
The table below lists error codes and gives tips to aid you in
troubleshooting any problems occurring while creating your estimates.
Error Message
|
Description
|
| #1 Error #NA appears in File or Program
cells |
If your Programs or Files worksheets show #NA in any
cells you've loaded a category in the POI list that does not have a
corresponding entry in theCategories worksheet.
You should re-import a categories file with all the correct
entries in it . |
| #2 Error #NAME appears in File or Program
cells |
If your Programs or Files worksheets show #NAME in any
cells, the name LookupCategory associated with the categories sheet is
not associated with the correct range. To adjust this range you should
re-import a categories file to reset the LookupCategory range. |
If any #NAME errors occur in any of the other worksheets you should
replace them with valid values once the LookupCategory name has been
assigned correctly.
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used herein are protected by international law.