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Chapter 8: Estimating Implementation Effort

In this session, you create and modify an estimation workbook using the Revolve Enterprise Edition Estimation Engine. The workbook consists of a general-purpose estimation spreadsheet that helps you come up with a fast, accurate, and customizable estimate of the cost and effort involved in a transformation project.


Please see the Tutorials Map to check that you have run all necessary previous sessions.


8.1 Overview

During the analysis phase of a Revolve Enterprise Edition project you produce a worksheet that contains the points of interest (POIs) in the project. You assign each POI a category based on what kind of POI or what kind of remediation it requires - for example, "B - BMS Field". By setting up a template that contains estimates of the effort involved to implement each category of remediation, you control the total estimates assigned to each program or file in the estimation workbook.

To use the Estimation Engine, you need to export the details of your project worksheet to an Access reports database. From this database, Revolve Enterprise Edition extracts the information needed by the Estimation Engine and creates Excel worksheets. These worksheets are brought together to create the final estimation workbook that you use to 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 the analysis and detailed knowledge of your particular code that you need to obtain excellent results. It does provide a very useful framework within which you can sharpen your estimates and run what-if analyses. You should always validate the results of the Estimation Engine against your experience, the results of other tools and the cost of originally developing similar applications (where known).

8.2 Preparation

This session uses the project you created in the chapter Finding Points of Interest, and the Access database that you created in the chapter Refining the Worksheet.

In addition to Microsoft Access 97 or a later version, you need Microsoft Excel 97 or a later version to complete this session.

8.3 Exporting Project Data from Access

The Access reports database that you created in the chapter Refining the Worksheet contains your project details along with the categories that you need for your final estimates.

Now you are ready to export the data files which will be used to create the estimation workbook. For each project and each report database you must run three queries in Access to export your project data. To run these queries:

  1. Open the database you exported in Refining the Worksheet (final.mdb) in Microsoft Access.

    The Enterprise Edition Reports Menu dialog box opens.

  2. Click Export.

  3. Click Queries on the Export Reports dialog box. The title of the dialog box changes to Export Queries.

  4. Select the three queries starting with Estimation: EstimationCategories, EstimationFiles and EstimationPrograms by Ctrl-clicking them in the list.

  5. Click Export.

  6. In the Export Options dialog box click Excel Spreadsheet (*.xls) and check Prompt for each output file name? and Launch application?

  7. Click OK.

  8. Navigate to the \projects\order folder and click Open to save the worksheets using the default names.

  9. Click Cancel to close the Export Options dialog box.

  10. Click Cancel to close the Export Queries dialog box.

  11. Click Exit MS Access on the Enterprise Edition Reports Menu dialog box.

8.4 Importing Project Data to the Estimator Workbook

Now that you have created the categories, files and programs worksheets, you can import these into the estimator workbook in Excel. To do this:

  1. Open your estimator workbook (efforttemplate.xls) in Excel. The workbook is stored in the \config\enterprise\reports folder.

    If you see a dialog box concerning macros, click on Enable Macros.

  2. Import the categories sheet:
    1. Select Days in the Reporting Unit list.

    2. Click Load Categories.

    3. Select the categories sheet, EstimationCategories.xls

    4. Click Open.

      The details are automatically updated on the Categories tab of the estimator workbook.

  3. Import the file worksheet 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 - shown by the addition of a new tab at the bottom - and applies the effort levels for each file.

  4. Import the program worksheet 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.

    Your estimation workbook now has four tabs: Categories, Settings, Files4 and Programs5. This completes the importing of data to the estimator workbook.

8.5 Creating the Project Summary Sheet

To create a summary worksheet that includes all the total lines from all the worksheets you imported:

  1. Click the Settings tab.

  2. If the Effort Estimation dialog box is not already open, click Show Form to display it.

  3. Click Create Summary.

    This creates a Summary tab, a new sheet containing the project summary effort estimation.

  4. Click OK on the Effort Estimation dialog box to close it.

  5. Click File > Save As to save your workbook in the \projects\order folder using the name effort.xls.

Summary sheet

Figure 8-1: Summary Sheet

8.6 Changing the Effort-level Values

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.

Try changing some of the settings as follows:

  1. Click the Summary tab. The total shown under "POI Coding Effort" for Programs is 90.25 days.

  2. Click the Categories tab.

  3. Look at the row for the category "A - Poss". Change the figure in the column headed "Program Category: Effort per POI" from 1 to 0.3 and press Enter.

  4. Click the Summary tab.

    The total shown under "POI Coding Effort" for Programs has reduced to 58.23 days, showing that the project would be completed 32.02 person days earlier if your estimate of 0.3 days per POI for this category is accurate.

  5. Click the Settings tab.

  6. Click Show Form.

  7. Select Weeks in the list instead of Days, then click OK.

  8. Click the Summary tab. The totals are now listed in weeks instead of in days.

    You can specify the definitions of the time units (for example, how many hours there are in a week) by changing fields on the Settings tab of your estimation workbook.

Note that the effort level changes you make here are local to this project only. They do not affect the default effort-level workbook template in \config\enterprise\reports\efforttemplate.xls. If you want to make changes to the default effort levels in all your projects, you can make them in the template. We recommend that you make a backup copy of the template before making any changes.

8.7 Adding Project Data from other Projects

You can import data from as many projects as you like into a single effort workbook. Just repeat the steps in the sections Exporting Project Data From Access and Importing Project Data to the Estimator Workbook for each Revolve Enterprise Edition project you want to include in your estimate. Each project's File and Program worksheet will appear as a separate tab in the effort workbook. When you have completed importing the project data, click on the Create summary button to create a summary page for the entire workbook.

8.8 Summary

In this session you:

8.9 Before Continuing

The estimator workbook is not used in any other sessions. Save it if you want, otherwise just close it without saving

Return to the Tutorials Map and choose which session to go on to next.


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