2008-SWHW06

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A Structured Framework for Estimating IT Projects and IT Support

Software/Hardware/Tools Track

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SWHW06

Abstract:

In today’s global economy, Information Technology is a critical component of many companies’ core business operations, impacting operational efficiency, customer relationship and the bottom line. These organizations need an agile and responsive IT organization with capability to support dynamic business goals. That means IT teams today must take on a much more diversified class of projects and initiatives and to be part of the business case evaluation team to determine feasibility and advisability of not only IT project development but the companies capability for deployment, implementation and support of these initiatives through the complete project life cycle. In order to quantitatively and qualitatively have the data to make these important judgments and compare projects competing for finite resources, management needs a framework for developing IT project estimates and plans. For CIO’s and line of business partners to make sound technical business decisions, this framework must provide objective, standardized and consistent information so projects can be compared equitably.

This presentation will introduce such a framework and will culminate with showing how an estimation and planning tool can focus on IT development, infrastructure acquisition, deployment, support, and ongoing business operations.

Author(s):

Karen McRitchie
As Vice President of Development, Karen McRitchie is responsible for the design, development, implementation and validation of the parametric estimation relationships found in the SEER™ estimation product line. In addition to existing SEER products, Ms. McRitchie oversees the development and implementation of new products and serves as principle investigator for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects.
Starting at Galorath in 1989, Ms. McRitchie has participated in numerous estimation, data collection, and calibration efforts to support Galorath clients. She also has trained hundreds of cost analysts in the use, application, and calibration of SEER-SEM and SEER-H. Ms. McRitchie has been active in the International Society of Parametric Analysts (ISPA) for over a decade, having presented numerous papers at the organization’s national conferences. She was awarded best paper at the 1993 conference, and in 2002, ISPA honored Ms. McRitchie with the Parametrician of the Year award.
Ms. McRitchie’s previous professional experience includes work in the area of hardware reliability, logistic modeling, and in software development. Ms. McRitchie earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and System Science at UCLA. Her master’s work is in Mathematics at California State University, Northridge

Ross Hunt
Ross Hunt is a 30+ year veteran in the software, systems and networking technology businesses. Since 2005 his focus has been in the IT Governance space with an emphasis in software and IT infrastructure project estimation and planning. Prior to that he spent over 10 years as an entrepreneur launching and securing investment capital for new enterprise software and communications companies. He begin his career as a sales representative in the Data Processing Division of IBM and invested 20 years in numerous senior sales and marketing leadership roles building Hewlett Packard’s systems and services businesses.