SLIM-Control

Software Project Oversight and Predictive Forecasting

When software projects veer off track or change in scope, can you easily forecast new schedules and budgets? Are you frustrated by cost and schedule overruns on software projects your enterprise's PPM system rated "low risk"? Do you need a better, more quantitative way to manage your outsourced vendor-developed projects?

QSM’s SLIM-Control helps your software projects stay on course as a GPS navigation system does for your car. Using statistical process control techniques, SLIM-Control compares project plans against project actuals–then generates a forecast to completion based on actual productivity and features completed. It offers both built-in and user-defined metrics, as well as earned value charting and reporting.

Software project tracking and predictive forecasting

How It Fits in the SLIM Ecosystem

The best laid plans encounter reality! Something is going to change. SLIM-Control gives you a true picture of your software project health by tracking plan versus actual software features completed and productivity, in addition to effort, cost, staffing, and schedule metrics. Run multiple What-If forecasts to see the impact of changes in scope, team size, or software quality, and re-baseline your plan.

Monitoring the status of hundreds of tasks is not only challenging but also time-consuming. SLIM-Estimate provides the plan start date, end date, expected total value, and production pattern for four core metrics – size, time, effort, and defects. Entering actual data for a few metrics at regular reporting periods helps you establish a quick and consistent project management process.

Recording actual software project data while it’s underway makes project closeout a snap! Import SLIM-Control plan and actual core and custom metric data into SLIM-DataManager. Review cost and schedule overruns, scope growth/reduction, and record factors that had positive or negative effects on the outcomes.

Key Features

Software Project Status Overview

Go beyond task, effort, and schedule metrics to get an accurate picture of software project status based on actual software productivity and features completed.

Plan versus actual time series charts with customizable control bounds show when staff, cost, and other actual measures fall outside of tolerance ranges
Slide the "as-of" arrow to any date on the project timeline to get a report of the Plan, Actual, and Difference (positive or negative) values for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

software project status dashboard showing plan vs actual schedule, staffing, and software construction

Software Product Construction Metrics

Leverage multiple software product construction metrics to identify negative trends that will likely continue unless corrected.

Side-by-side charts of plan versus actual Capabilities, Features, Epics, User Stories, and Story Points show the relative progress of each and the rate of requirements decomposition
Features or Source Lines of Code (SLOC) complete alongside Integration Builds can expose product quality issues due to a lack of thorough testing

Plan versus actual software code and integration builds over time with control bounds

Software Project Predictive Forecasts

Software project plans are highly uncertain and often include overly optimistic assumptions, especially regarding productivity. Forecast realistic estimates to complete based on actual productivity and features completed.

Curve Fit regression forecasts predict project end dates for each plan metric profile
Enter forecast assumptions different from the plan to model the impact of changes to scope or other project success factors
Use QSM default metric weights, such as Features or Defects, or assign user-defined weights that favor the most trustworthy progress indicators
Generate Maintenance Forecasts based on planned versus actual defects to determine when the software quality is good enough to release

Software project plan, actual, and forecast over time for schedule, staffing, code construction, and cost

Compare Multiple Plans & Forecasts

SLIM gives you the power to quickly run and log multiple forecasts and turn forecasts into plans to determine the best course of action.

Bar charts comparing the baseline software plan versus multiple forecasts for duration, effort, cost, and productivity

SLIM-Control Benefits

Visualize in-progress project status

View in-progress software project status plan versus actual performance for core and custom metrics

Early warning system

See traffic light warnings when actuals deviate from the plan, based on customizable control bounds

Forecast estimates to complete

Compute project end dates for multiple metrics based on actual productivity calculations

Evaluate plan alternatives

Explore the impact of changes in scope, staffing, and product quality to choose the best course forward

Request a Demo

Register for a live demo of SLIM to see how data-driven software estimation and analytics can improve the way your organization plans and delivers software projects. During the session, you’ll see how SLIM uses proven models and industry benchmark data to help teams produce more accurate estimates, manage in-flight projects, and conduct post-project analysis.

SLIM-Control for Software Project Tracking