[Processdash-announce] Version 1.6 is now available

[<pro...@li...>]

The  development  team for  the  Software Process  Dashboard
Initiative  is  pleased  to  announce  the  availability  of
version 1.6 of the  Process Dashboard!  Version 1.6 includes
these significant new features:

* The earned  value tool in the dashboard  can now calculate
  estimated  prediction  intervals  for forecast  completion
  date  and  forecast cost.   These  intervals compare  your
  planned progress  to your actual  progress using numerical
  methods  and approximate  pivotal statistics,  computing a
  range  of dates  within which  your project  is  likely to
  finish.  The dashboard can calculate these ranges both for
  individual earned  value schedules and  for rolled-up team
  schedules.

* Traditional PSP(SM)  earned value planning  addresses only
  "direct time," omitting time spent on recurring activities
  (such as weekly meetings)  and ongoing activities (such as
  communicating   with    customers   and   management,   or
  participating  on   committees).   Unfortunately,  "direct
  time"  is  an unfamiliar  metric  for many  organizations,
  which are  accustomed to tracking  "project time" instead.
  As a  result, senior  managers in some  organizations take
  issue  with earned  value  plans that  reflect only  15-20
  direct hours per week.

      To  help   development  teams  avoid   this  potential
  misunderstanding, the dashboard now provides an innovative
  new  feature: "level  of  effort" tasks  can  be added  to
  earned  value  task  lists.   Although these  tasks  don't
  affect the earned value calculations, they do allow you to
  create a  schedule that accounts for all  of your "project
  time"  - and  this  can  help when  you  present plans  to
  management for  approval.  To add "level  of effort" tasks
  to an earned value  plan, just enter percentages for these
  tasks in  the "planned time" column  instead of durations.
  (Planned direct  time for the  periods in the  schedule is
  then  calculated  automatically  by reducing  the  planned
  total time  by the  appropriate percentage.)  To  help you
  enhance  the accuracy of  future estimates,  "actual time"
  for  "level  of  effort"  tasks  is also  displayed  as  a
  percentage.

* Earned value task lists  in the dashboard have always been
  hierarchically organized.   When the  list of tasks  for a
  particular  project  differs from  the  structure of  your
  dashboard hierarchy, new features in the earned value tool
  allow you to "prune"  and reorder tasks to better describe
  the work that needs to be done.

* At times in  the middle of a project,  you may decide that
  you wish to "re-plan" the remaining tasks and start with a
  fresh earned value schedule.  The dashboard now makes this
  simple: just change the starting date on your earned value
  schedule to  the current date.  All  work performed before
  the starting date of the  schedule will be factored out of
  earned value calculations automatically.

* The  "Data Analysis"  center  now allows  you to  generate
  custom  charts and  reports, simply  by  selecting options
  from drop-down lists.  The data in these custom charts and
  reports can  also be exported to Excel  for further custom
  analysis.

* The  time log  now  includes  a column  for  the entry  of
  optional comments.

* It is now  possible to create and edit  custom defect type
  standards.

To download the new  version of the Process Dashboard, visit
our website:
    http://processdash.sourceforge.net

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PSP(SM)  is a  registered  service mark  of Carnegie  Mellon
University.  The  Process Dashboard development  team is not
affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University.