[Processdash-announce] Process Dashboard 1.11 is Now Available

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The Process Dashboard development team is pleased to announce the
availability of version 1.11 of the Process Dashboard.  To download version
1.11, visit:
http://www.processdash.com/

Version 1.11 includes these significant new features:

   - External URLs can now be attached to any component or task in the
   dashboard. Teams can have quick, one-click access to collaborative team
   websites, organizational defect/issue trackers, and other corporate intranet
   web pages that are relevant to the task at hand.
   - A Preferences dialog is now available on the "C > Tools" menu,
   providing easy access to the most common configuration settings.
   - Several enhancements were made to the usability of the WBS Editor:
      - Pressing the Enter key in the WBS Editor typically inserts a new
      task. A new toolbar button is provided to toggle this behavior on and off.
      - The WBS Editor now uses a strikethrough font to highlight tasks that
      are 100% complete.
      - A "New Tab" button is now displayed, providing one-click access to
      the functionality on the WBS Editor "Tabs" menu.
   - When you create a team project, the dashboard prompts you for the
   directory where team data should be stored. Later in the project, if you
   discover that you need to move these files to a different location on the
   network, a tool is provided to relocate team data.
   - Significant enhancements have been made to the PSP(SM) materials in the
   Process Dashboard:
      - The PSP scripts and forms in the Process Dashboard have been updated
      to match the materials in the 2005 book, *PSP: A Self-Improvement
      Process for Software Engineers*. (Up to now, they have been based upon
      the 1995 book, *A Discipline for Software Engineering*.) With this
      change, the scripts, forms, and wizards now match the materials and
      terminology used in the most recent PSP courses from the SEI.
(Note: the PSP
      materials are now released as a separate download from the Process
      Dashboard.)
      - On the Size Estimating Template, the estimated size of an "added
      part" will be computed automatically after an engineer estimates
its type,
      relative size, and number of items. Engineers can enter their own
      size-per-item lookup tables in support of this functionality.
      - On the Size Estimating Template, an interactive chart now appears to
      help engineers visualize the relationship between estimated base, added,
      deleted, and modified size. Engineers can drag handles on a slider to
      visually estimate base additions, modifications, and deletions as a
      percentage of base program size.
      - The Project Plan Summary forms are now tailorable in support of
      personal process improvement goals.
   - Significant changes have been made in support of the PSP training
   courses:
      - A new "Grading Helper" has been created for PSP Instructors. After
      installing a special "PSP Instructor" add-on, this grading helper will
      appear in the script menu for PSP course assignments. The grading helper
      automates many of the data analysis tasks and consistency checks that are
      part of the grading process. Instructors can customize the
helper to match
      their grading preferences.
      - Error messages now appear on the Project Plan Summary form to warn
      engineers about common mistakes (e.g. forgetting to enter actual size,
      negative size values, etc)
      - It is now much easier for students to create the quality plan for
      their first PSP2 assignment.
      - The dashboard traditionally baselines "Planned" and "To Date"
      project data at specific points during a project. Although this
strategy is
      very helpful for the planning and tracking of real-world project work, it
      becomes an impediment to the quick-turnaround learning
objectives of the PSP
      course, because the "frozen" values prevent students from
correcting errors
      in earlier assignments. To address this problem, this "freezing"
mechanism
      has now been disabled for the assignments in the PSP course.
   - The dashboard has always included advanced earned value features to
   support iterative project planning. Unfortunately, some teams would
   inadvertently trigger these advanced features by choosing a start date in
   the future (for example, the week after their project launch). To avoid this
   confusion, the iterative planning feature must now be explicitly enabled in
   the "Tools > Schedule Options" dialog of the Task & Schedule window.
   - Geographically diverse teams - such as teams split between India and
   the United States - would sometimes see inconsistent data in the earned
   value reports. New time-zone awareness logic has been added to address these
   problems.
   - The defect log now includes an "Import from Code Collaborator" button.
   Teams that use Code Collaborator <http://smartbear.com/> can take
   advantage of this new import feature to reduce double-entry of defect data.

Upgrade Considerations

   - This version of the dashboard changes the way data files are stored on
   Unix/Linux platforms.  After Linux/Unix users upgrade to this version of the
   dashboard, they should not downgrade to a previous version.
   - Teams are encouraged to upgrade together. Some features may not work
   properly until all team members have upgraded, and exported their data at
   least once.
   - Teams using the built-in metrics collection framework will enjoy this
   functionality simply by upgrading. Teams that have defined their own custom
   metrics collection framework will need to refresh the
definition<http://www.tuma-solutions.com/metricsFrameworkEditor.html#upgrading>of
that framework.

Download

For more information, or to download the Process Dashboard, visit:
http://www.processdash.com/


PSP(SM) is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University. The open source
team that writes the Process Dashboard is not affiliated with Carnegie
Mellon University. Neither Carnegie Mellon University nor the Software
Engineering Institute have reviewed or endorsed the Process Dashboard.