It has been rewarding working with the Computer Aid (CAI) people, the people who sponsor the ITMPI in tying together best practice approaches (SEER for Estimating, Planning and Control and Computer Aid’s Tracer for metrics, reporting and root level management). I am always inspired when I hear the CAI people explain their process and success in fixed price software development and maintenance. They do it by a number of methods and processes. But the one that always makes me the most excited is their Tracer software. Tracer allows root level tracking of tasks and progress, providing near real time feedback regarding project health and status and individual task performance. I think it is wonderful that they have made their solution available to the industry at large. It is much like the factory floor real time feedback in manufacturing, applied to software. From CAI’s web site is the following description which describes estimating effort, cost, and process tracking.:
The SEER Tracer alliance is a fusion of Galorath’s SEER for Software application suite – the world’s premier project estimation and planning application – and CAI’s Tracer application – the world’s premier operational IT control device. SEER optimizes project estimates and project planning while Tracer tracks real time effort and progress and feeds such operational data back into SEER for project tracking and forecasting.
About SEER:
SEER is a complete CMMI Project Management solution that establishes estimates and automatically generates project plans based on those estimates, monitors projects against the plan, and aligns measurement and analysis activities. SEER for Software uses a combination of sizing metrics and techniques, parametric algorithms, knowledge bases (industry data), simulation-based probability analysis techniques, and user supplied data to estimate and analyze the development and maintenance of software projects with respect to effort, cost, schedule, staffing, risk (probability of success), and reliability (defects).
SEER provides a systematic approach for estimating the resources and scheduling that software development requires, and an unparalleled capability for trade-off and risk analysis.
About Tracer:
Tracer was designed for use within the day-to-day IT operating work environment of IT Application Support personnel or Application Development teams with low administrative overhead. Tracer’s table driven design for all major components helps focus IT professionals on “work” not “data entry.” The flexibility of Tracer’s configuration tables allows easy adaptability to virtually any IT operating environment. The real-time customizable dashboards display all assigned work tasks to developers and support personnel, using color coding to highlight tasks approaching or exceeding service level goal thresholds. Resource/Task time tracking is integrated within all work processes and brings a dramatic increase in the accuracy of time and work related data reporting. Accurate and timely data collection and reporting are necessary to effectively manage the IT organizations work and resources.
Many IT software tools have some of the components, functions and features that are standard with Tracer. However, only Tracer has all these critical IT process management and work tracking components built-in:
- Defined process templates for application support and development
- Process enforcement based on configurable process rules
- Work, resource and time tracking
- Managing by Metrics – SLA based metrics graphs, trends and work / resource status reporting
About SEER / Tracer
- SEER / Tracer helps you estimate the effort and cost of IT and/or Software projects and their ongoing support
- SEER / Tracer helps you build realistic project plans, increasing the probability of project success
- SEER / Tracer drives a standardized and repeatable process, from initial requirements through development and maintenance
- SEER / Tracer functions seamlessly within a single integrated operating environment and historical data repository
- SEER / Tracer provides a comprehensive framework for planning, monitoring, control, and compliance and a comprehensive system for IT project governance
The SEER Tracer Alliance represents a unique end to end solution that institutionalizes best practices throughout the entire IT project lifecycle, from requirements gathering, through estimation, project planning, measurement and analysis, development, monitoring/control, and maintenance.
The SEER Tracer alliance is a fusion of Galorath’s SEER for Software application suite – the world’s premier project estimation and planning application – and CAI’s Tracer application – the world’s premier operational IT control device. SEER optimizes project estimates and project planning while Tracer tracks real time effort and progress and feeds such operational data back into SEER for project tracking and forecasting.
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page, call us at +1 310 414-3222 or click a button below to ask sales questions, sign up for our free library or schedule a demo.
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