Event based simulation of software development project planning

Abstract

Planning (as well as controlling) of software development is an essential feature of every software project management system. From the viewpoint of the project. manager, the software development process is composed of a set of hierarchically ordered, partially logical interdependent and timely interlocked executing tasks, which can be started only in the case of availability of qualified resources. Moreover, external modifications performed by the decision making project management, for instance the refinement of the current work breakdown structure, often imply changes of the project flow and are therefore also to be taken into consideration. To master all these dynamic proceedings, we propose a special event based mechanism to describe the underlying abstract model, the socalled DEVS (Discrete Event Specification) formalism. Based on it, a simulation system is built, which generates in real time optimized project plans with regard to available human resources, whenever needed.