CS535 Project Performance Scores - Points Description

Overview

For the purposes of calculating the value of a task, each task will have an assigned Points value. The points for a particular task will be calculated based on three properties: Difficulty, Priority, and a bonus Modifier. The formula for points will be Points = (Difficulty * Priority) + Modifier.

Difficulty

The Difficulty property will be a representation of the level of effort required for the task. This will be a numeric value that will approximate the number of man-hours required to complete the task by its assigned deadline. One man-hour represents one hour of work by a single worker. The Difficulty value assigned to a task by the managers is unlikely to change over the life of the project.

Priority

The Priority property will represent the importance of the task to the project lifespan. Priority will be numeric, with the following possible values:

• Priority 1: Tasks assigned a priority of 1 will be 'nice-to-haves'. These are tasks that could be implemented in the project, but are not absolutely necessary to the completion of any milestone.
• Priority 2: Tasks assigned a priority of 2 will be tasks that are required for project completion, but have no significant dependencies on other tasks. These tasks must be completed, but can be completed any time during the assigned milestone.
• Priority 3: Tasks assigned a priority of 3 will have specific deadlines and dependencies during their assigned milestone, but are not misson critical to a majority of tasks for the milestone. Most tasks will probably fall in this category.
• Priority 4: Tasks assigned a priority of 4 have significant dependencies to other tasks within the milestone or within the project lifespan. These are tasks that may hold up further action by a large number of developers if not completed quickly.
• Priority 5: Tasks assigned a priority of 5 are mission critical to nearly all tasks for the assigned milestone. A task given a priority of 5 must be completed immediately, or project development may come to a standstill.

The Priority assigned to a given task may be raised if the task becomes more urgent to the project milestones (for example, a priority 3 task that has not been picked up and has now become a more immediate need due to dependencies may be escalated to a priority 4 to encourage volunteers for development).

Modifier

The Modifier property exists to give the managers some "wiggle room" in the number of points awarded for a task. This allows the managers to reward exceptional efforts with extra points, or to penalize incomplete efforts with less points. For example, if a student is for whatever reason unable to complete a task they have signed up for, they may ask a manager if partial credit can be applied; the manager can then decide what portion of the possible points for the task should be awarded if any.