Software Productivity Research Launches Multi-Year Software-Project Planning Service.BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 1998-- Utilizing SPR's Industry-Leading Consultants and its Award-Winning Tool, Service Helps Companies Juggle Year 2000 Work and Other Mission-Critical Projects Software Productivity Research, Inc. announced today the launch of Plan Ahead(tm), a multi-year software project planning project planning - project management service. Plan Ahead will transform a large group of development ideas into a prioritized collection of project plans that will lead to timely completion of those that truly support business objectives. The service, which combines SPR's industry leading consultants and the company's award-winning software estimation tool, SPR spr Spring SPR Strategic Petroleum Reserve SPR Surface Plasmon Resonance SPR Suomen Punainen Risti SpR Specialist Registrar (UK doctor who supports a consultant) SPR Society for Psychical Research SPR Stop Prisoner Rape KnowledgePLAN, aims to help organizations plan all software projects that will be undertaken in the next 15 to 24 months. The Plan Ahead service provides invaluable support to an organization's annual or multi-year budgeting process. Plan Ahead: Prioritization Amidst Year 2000 Crunch, Mergers and Staff Shortages SPR identified the need for Plan Ahead through dealings with the Fortune 1,000 companies and international organizations that make up SPR's client roster. Many of these large corporations are juggling to prioritize business-critical year 2000 fixes, SAP implementations, platform changes and regulatory upgrades. At the same time, management might be mulling mulling (mul´ing), n the final step of mixing dental amalgam; a kneading of the triturated mass to complete the amalgamation. a new human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. system or reevaluating all projects in light of a recent merger or acquisition. "The Plan Ahead(tm) Service addresses a major challenge facing software executives: The process of transforming an unmanageable group of development ideas, representing 24-36 months of potential activity, into a prioritized list of detailed project plans." says SPR's vice president of consulting Bill Harmon. "Executives need to identify truly mission-critical projects and develop a roadmap that will lead these projects to completion within a given timeframe." SPR is uniquely positioned to help corporations with this crucial planning element -- to help them avoid the expense of canceled projects, make `build versus buy' decisions and ultimately make sure that mission-critical work gets done on time." Reliable Planning With Limited Project Data The service offers executives the ability to produce a reliable plan with limited project information by drawing on the extensive knowledge of SPR's industry-leading team of consultants. Plan Ahead consists of six separate stages: -0-
-- Project Selection: SPR's Plan Ahead team meets with senior-level
managers and identifies all projects and development ideas the
organization would like to accomplish within a given timeframe.
In a large organization, up to 50 projects may be identified in
this initial round.
-- Business Value and Resource Analysis: The Plan Ahead team and key
executives attach both a business value and estimate of
development cost to each project or idea. The purpose of this
stage is to make sure the organization's resources will be
allocated in harmony with its goals and objectives. The Plan
Ahead team uses SPR's cutting-edge estimation tool, SPR
KnowledgePLAN, to create the project plans. Winner of the 1997
Software Development Productivity Award, SPR KnowledgePLAN is an
easy-to-use estimation tool that is based on the results of 6,700
projects and allows for cradle-to-grave project estimation.
-- Net Projects Selection: Armed with the results of the business
value and resource analysis and information on the resource
limitations of the organization, the Plan Ahead team selects a
subgroup of projects for further consideration.
-- Costing and Estimation Effort: The Plan Ahead team again uses SPR
KnowledgePLAN, this time to build more detailed plans for each
project in the subgroup. To build these highly detailed estimates
that often come within five percent of actuals, the Plan Ahead
team will collect detailed information about the way the
organization creates software and feed that information to SPR
KnowledgePLAN. For example, plans generated by SPR KnowledgePLAN
take into account the skill level of each member of the would-be
development team, how much office space is assigned to each and
whether some team members would work remotely.
-- Business Value Analysis Revisited/Final Projects Selected: Based
on the Plan Ahead analysis , SPR and management make a final
selection of projects that can be successfully completed with
available organizational resources.
-- Enterprise View of Selected Projects: The Plan Ahead team creates
an organizational view of all definite projects so managers can
have an enterprise-wide picture of required effort, resources,
schedules and costs. The Plan Ahead team counsels the
organization on projects that may be outsourced. Additionally,
the team presents the organization with a prioritized list of
projects that meet business objectives and detailed project plans
for all definite projects.
-0- Pricing, Availability The Plan Ahead service is available immediately. A typical Plan Ahead analysis is completed in 30 to 40 business days. Pricing, which depends on project size and scope, starts at $50,000. For more information, visit www.spr.com, email info@spr.com or call 781-273-0140. About SPR Founded in 1984 by estimation BY ESTIMATION, contracts. In sales of land it not unfrequently occurs that the property is said to contain a certain number of acres, by estimation, or so many acres, more or less. guru Capers Jones Capers Jones is a specialist in software engineering methodologies, and is often associated with the function point model of cost estimation. His many computer science publications have been widely used by many organizations and educators. , Software Productivity Research is a leading software estimation, measurement, and assessment firm that offers consulting and educational services as well as turnkey software development tools. Representing all major software environments, SPR clients are Fortune 1,000 companies and international organizations, including Amdahl, Andersen Consulting See Accenture. , AT&T, Bellcore, British Air, Credit Suisse The Credit Suisse Group (SWX:CSGN, NYSE: CS) is a financial services company, headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. It is the second-largest Swiss bank, behind UBS AG. , Dun & Bradstreet, DuPont, Ford Motor Co., General Motors, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , LEXIS-NEXIS, McDonald's, Motorola, Software Publishing Corp., U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Treasury U.S. Treasury Created in 1798, the United States Department of the Treasury is the government (Cabinet) department responsible for issuing all Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Some of the government branches operating under the U.S. Treasury umbrella include the IRS, U.S. Department. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 22,876 at the 2000 census. History Burlington was first settled in 1641 and was officially incorporated on February 28, 1799. , SPR has satellite offices in Sacramento, Calif.; Lisle, Illinois Lisle is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 21,182 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 23,376 as of 2005. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. ; Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda is an urbanized, but unincorporated, area in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, just Northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a church located there, the Bethesda Presbyterian Church, built in 1820 and rebuilt in 1850, which in turn took its name from and the United Kingdom. About SPR KnowledgePLAN 2.0 Winner of the 1997 Software Development Productivity Award, SPR KnowledgePLAN is a ground-breaking, easy-to-use, knowledge-based software estimation tool. Lauded as essential software for managers and product groups looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a better way to estimate and plan, SPR KnowledgePLAN combines a state-of-the art user interface and the flexibility to customize the team's workflow while offering seamless integration An addition of a new application, routine or device that works smoothly with the existing system. It implies that the new feature or program can be installed and used without problems. Contrast with "transparent," which implies that there is no discernible change after installation. with Microsoft Project (product) Microsoft Project - A Microsoft Windows program offering various project management tools. http://microsoft.com/office/project/. . The latest version of the product includes additional features that make KnowledgePLAN even more essential to organizations looking for cradle-to-grave project estimation: a sizing wizard that walks users through the sizing process and addresses the thorny thorn·y adj. thorn·i·er, thorn·i·est 1. Full of or covered with thorns. 2. Spiny. 3. Painfully controversial; vexatious: a thorny situation; thorny issues. issue of how "scope creep The continual enhancement of the requirements of a project as the system is being constructed. Scope creep occurs frequently in information systems development and is often responsible for going way over budget when the changes occur in the coding and testing stages rather than in the " will likely impact the project, a goals wizard that helps users identify and achieve key project goals, and additional templates that allow the user to quick-start a project. CONTACT: Collaborative Communications, Inc. Christine Johansen-Hewitt, 617/520-9104 hewitt@collaborative.com or Susan Walsh, 617/520-9121 walsh@collaborative.com |
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