CSCI 510 FAQ
1. What is EC and EP?
EC stands for electronic charts, they can be found at here. EP stands for electronic papers, they can be found at here.
2. Where is the homework policy?
It's here, at the bottom of the page.
3. If I get some homework questions, whom I should talk to FIRST, the TA or the professor?
The TA.
4. How DEN Students submit the Questionnaires?
Please submit the Questionnaires as a normal homework. Click here for further details
5. On HW#2, EP-12 is Mastering RD and SAIV process, and it does not talk about SMB project, is this the correct EP?
It should be EP-14. Thanks for asking, the homework description has been updated from previous EP-12 to current EP-14..
6. I'm not sure about the question: "Identify at least 2 SMB-0 project failuresto satisfy each of the four success conditions in the Enterprise Success Realization Theorem". The SMB-0 has lots of failures that does not satisfy the success conditions, are we supposed to identify 2 that does not satisfy all four conditions or any one of the four? Could you please elaborate.
Identify at least 2 failures ** for each ** of the four success conditions, (totally at least 8+2). For further background info, see EP-2, section 14.2..
7. I take it that “Enterprise Success Realization Theorem” is “4+1 Theory of VBSE”?
Not exactly. “Enterprise Success Realization Theorem” is the core of“4+1 Theory of VBSE", but these two are not identical. Please read EP3, section 14.2 carefully for further details.
8. Are the four success conditions of the Enterprise Success Realization Theorem the same as the four requirements listed in the shaded box of section 14.2.2? (Win-Win Achievement Theorem)?
Yes.
9. So we are supposed to find two failures for conditions 1, 2, and 4 - and four failures for condition 3?
Yes.
10. Format of HW2 (Recommended, but not required)
Generally, we are looking for concise and well organized writings. Bullets are OK.
Condition 1
- Broken communications (for example). blablabla...
- Item. blablabla...
Condition 2
- Item. blablabla...
- Item. blablabla...
...
11. What is the password to password-protected class readings?
cs510
12. I do remember reading the 7 steps and the example tied to the
sierra case study. But how do the 7 steps relate to the 4 sucess conditions?
Are they related like this?
success condition 1 = Steps 1 and 2
success condition 2 = Steps 3 and 4
success condition 3 = Steps 5
success condition 4 = Steps 6 and 7
>It does get more complicated once one looks at the other
>arrows between the steps and theories. Thus, when proposing and
>discussing options in negotiating win-win solutions in order to
>support decisions in step 5, one is also clarifying and refining
>stakeholders' utility functions with respect to the new options
>(revisiting steps 3 and 4), and analyzing how the new options affect
>costs, schedules, performance, etc. using other (product and
>process) aspects of dependency theory (revisiting steps 2 and 3).
>
>Barry
13. How can we indentify failures for each of the 4 success conditions, if no examples are provided on how to identify. I have read EP-2 many times and I feel this doesn't explain this sufficiently to answer the homework.
You may be looking for more than you need. In steps 1 and 2, did the protagonist (the organization wanting the new system) identify all the stakeholders that were critical to success? In steps 3 and 4, did the protagonist identify how these success-critical stakeholders (SCS's) wanted to win? In step 5, did the protagonists's decisions in organizing and negotiating the source selection try to make all the SCS's winners and account for the dependence of desired costs and schedules on the amount of software desired? In steps 6 and 7, did the developer make thorough plans and control the project with respect to the plans?
14. An DEN student's email
> I feel that there is a lack of cummincation with DEN students. The
> lectures and discussions so far have been incomplete (8-22 and
> 8-24). The papers that I have been reading are confusing and are not
> explained well in lecture.
Thanks for the feedback. We'll try to do better.
>- I still do not know the definition of a SCS: are these peoples?
They are success-critical whatevers. If you are depending on a person for
success in something, the SCS is a person. If you are depending on an
organization for success, the SCS is an organization. If you are depending
on a class of people (users) for success, the SCS is that class of people.
>- To answer the homework 2, I need more information about the 4
>theories. Instead of talking about the theory at a general overview,
>examples would be more helpful!
There are examples in the 7 steps in EP-2 with respect to the successful
Sierra case study
>- (in regards to Homework 2) How can we indentify failures for each of the
>4 success conditions, if no examples are provided on how to identify. I
>have read EP-2 many times and I feel this doesn't explain this
>sufficiently to answer the homework.
You may be looking for more than you need. In steps 1 and 2, did the
protagonist (the organization wanting the new system) identify all the
stakeholders that were critical to success? In steps 3 and 4, did the
protagonist identify how these success-critical stakeholders (SCS's) wanted
to win? In step 5, did the protagonists's decisions in organizing and
negotiating the source selection try to make all the SCS's winners and
account for the dependence of desired costs and schedules on the amount of
software desired? In steps 6 and 7, did the developer make thorough plans
and control the project with respect to the plans?
>- EP 20, 21 are locked, they require a password.
Yue, Danni-- please fix this.
>- I feel DEN students need more direction and guidance, there is a lack of
>communication. I am not sure what I am suppose to read (the webpage does
>not provide a forum for questions and answers), There seems to be a
>disjoint in what is lectured and what is suppose to be read. In short, in
>two weeks I have been trying to comprehend everything but I feel lost.
Again, with feedback like this, we can try to make things better. You are
a success-critical stakeholder in our teaching enterprise.
> - Because of this, how is the grading in this class? What are the
> grade distributions? I feel that this would be a very interesting and
> benefitial class, but for DEN students I feel that the lack of
> cummincation will result in a semester of being "lost", I feel DEN
> students are at a disadvantage. And the result would be lower grades
> then students that are taking the class at USC
The average grade is usually around 3.6, slightly below an A-. The average
grade for DEN students is generally higher, because they have a better feel
for management and economics from their work. However, they have a higher
standard deviation, because some of them get swamped with work pressures.
> - I have taken two classes so far over DEN, I have received an A-, and
> an A. I do not want this class to tarnish the hardwork that I have
> placed in my DEN career.
We want this to depend on you and not on us. I would expect that you would
agree with this.
>Thank you for listening to my concerns and thank you for your time!
You're welcome. Feel free to provide more feedback as we go along.
Barry
15. I am not able to understand the question about the pentagons in the homework: does it mean that we have to draw two pentagons - one for agile and other for plan-driven methods using the risks of each given in the homework.What does it mean by "range of ratings"? (Updated with Professor's answer to this question)
You are rating the project and product to be developed with respect to the 5 criteria, not the methods. But parts of the the product may be more dynamic or critical than others, or if more than one organization is participating in development, their skills distributions and cultures may not be the same. This would mean that parts of the project and product would have ratings closer to the agile center and parts closer to the plan-driven periphery. These real-world ranges of ratings
are important things to represent and deal with when planning, organizing, and architecting the project and product.
Read chapter 2 in the book again, especially from page 54 to page 57, may help you with it.
16. Can u explain part 4b of the homework a little more....Are we supposed to draw the complete project strategy diagram for sierra mountainbikes?
No, the strategy diagram is already given in Figure 5-4. You need to use the risk-based approach based on the knowledge from Figure 5-4 as well as risk assessment findings given in HW 4 to answer question b.
17. What do we take into account from the SMB case study? In other words do we just work off of the information on the homework handout and the descriptionof the project before it takes place? Or do we take into account information in figures 2-6 from EP 14? I guess we are acting like the project has not started yet, so an analysisnot outlined in the homework does not exist.
The EP-14 only provides some background infromation of this supply chain project. You do not need to look into those numbers in figures in EP-14 for this HW.
You should be able to answer all the questions only by looking the risk assessment findings in HW4.
18. I noted in the SMB report that the software development was outsourced which made me think that SMB had an internal development team, but if you look at the organ chart for SMB there is no indication that they have one. Also if there is one, they must be experienced with SMB's operations which is a supply chain business, so how could they not be experienced with Supply Chain Applications?
We assume SMB report you are referring to is EP-14.
In EP-14, it says that "Sierra entered into a strategic partnership with eServices Inc. for JOINT development..." So it is not an pure internal development team. Furthermore, HW4 specifies that the development team can have a peak of 15 people, majority (10) are from eServices, only 5 from SMB and they are primarily responsible for post-delivery revolution requirement, which means 5 SMB people's first responsibilities are not the developing the system.
19. Can you please give me a little bit background on question 4 of the homework. For part a) Is section 2.4 of the cocomo book relevant? For part b) is it based on part a)
For 4a., general guideline is to make assumptions on size and all cost drivers except for the SCED. Then you could plot how the effort change when SCED changes.
For 4b. we are hoping you can make your points, and support with a breifly written example. Bullets are recommended.
SCED is introduced on page 50, 30 and 13 in COCOMO book. Section 2.3.2.1 is most relevant. For question4, part b) is relevant to part a)
20. What are cocomoII discreet points?
COCOMO II discreet points are the rating values at VL, L, N, H, VH. They are discreet.
21. Is question 2 based on question 1?
NO. Question 2 is independent to question 1.
22. I had a doubt regarding HW 6. I did the HW using both the EXPERT COCOMO tool and manually (using calculator). The answers I am getting are not exaclty the same, there is a slight difference in both the answers. So is it fine or should I submit the results which I got using the tool?
Different tools might have slightly output because of the calculation accuracy settings. We will not be strictly grade your homework on exact numbers, instead, we will look for if the correct formulas are used; if the parameter values are right, if the equivalent size is calculated correctly, and so forth.
The number calculation counts for very little to your final grades.
23. In question 1 a), when converting equivalent SLOC, what is the value for REVL (Page CII 25) ?
Assume REVL here is 0 because it was not mentioned in the question.
24. On 11.7, it seems that you can only calculate where “invest period” turns into “high payoff” when you know the value of the performance.?I am incorrect??It seems that any other way would be subjective unless you consider any time before the first data point as the “investment period”.
Not exactly. The question is asking you to plot the production function. Please refer to Figure 11-5 on page 193.
25. What is KDSI (e.g. thousands of deliverable source instructions)??Are KDSI equivalent to KSLOCs?
Yes
26. Where are the weights for question SEE 15.7?
• Assign arbitrary weight by yourself. We recommend you give equal weights to each attribute to make graders' job easier.
• Use the figure 15-2 (a) or (b) for ratings. We recommend using 15-2 (a) to make graders' job easier.
27. Does every bullet needs a reference?
Yes, we are hoping you find references to support your bullets. Each bullet should have at least 1 (but not limited to 1) reference.
28. Where can we find more references?
Please look into the reference of related EP papers, especially those written by Dr. Boehm.
29. How many bullets are enough?
We are hoping you to do a ** exhaustive ** searching of as many sources as you can. The more the better. The grading criteria of how many bullets is a "secret" for now.
30 What is the format of reference?
[1] authors, titile of the paper/book, publication, date.
For example,
B. Boehm, A. Egyed, J. Kwan, D. Port, A. Shah, R. Madachy, “Using the WinWin Spiral Model: A Case Study”, Computer, July 1998
31. How much elabration would be enough?
Please keep things brief and to the point. Long elaboration to each bulluet is not required.