get it right the first time: build an estimate within 90% accuracy

SLIM-Estimate

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Take the guesswork out of estimating.

In high-pressure deadline environments, project estimates with 90% accuracy are only a fantasy. But for teams using SLIM-Estimate these results are real. You can get your estimate right the first time and ensure a release that’s on-schedule, within budget, with minimal bugs and rave reviews.

Using time-tested industry metrics, SLIM-Estimate works with Agile and other work environments to:

  • Estimate your project scope, duration, cost, reliability and risk.
  • Provide macro-level and detailed estimates in days instead of weeks.
  • Tailor your estimate to any design process, from waterfall to Agile, package implementation, etc.
  • Provide a scope estimate in a time box, before task-level planning occurs.
  • Sanity-check your estimate using industry benchmarks.
  • Customize the model using your own data.
  • Integrate SLIM Tools with other industry tools like Microsoft Project, Primavera, IBM Rational and others, via the API interface.

Request a demo or meeting download SLIM-TOOLS brochure

 …………………….. Features & Benefits……………………….

To get your estimates right, SLIM-Estimate uses data from thousands of completed projects in your particular industry, whether or not you are Agile. We have the tools to evaluate and guide your process, so request a live demo or explore the options here.

Quick Start Wizards: SLIM-Estimate’s Quick Start Wizards provide answers to frequently asked business questions — quickly and efficiently. Ideal for early estimates when you don’t have lots of information.

Flexible Size Estimation: Rapidly respond to new technology or build custom solutions with spreadsheet models that integrate with the five sizing methods built into SLIM-Estimate.

Lifecycle Templates: Why reinvent the wheel? At your fingertips are the best-in-class, industry recognized lifecycle templates. This is a standard feature of QSM’s SLIM-Estimate.

Automatic Solution Generator: Enjoy the expertise of a senior consultant at your fingertips. Enter your project constraints and SLIM provides multiple “can-do” alternatives to solve the problem.

Leverage Your History: Customize estimates with the push of a button. Just select relevant projects from your own project history and their key characteristics (efficiency, staffing, reliability, phase customization, etc.) will be transferred to your estimate. Customize SLIM-Estimate to your environment and methods.

Industry Knowledge Bases: Sanity check your estimate against QSM industry trend lines and your history. SLIM-Estimate empowers you with credible historic data available only to QSM clients.  It’s the proven data you need, so tap in.

Smart Components: SLIM-Estimate eliminates double entry and laborious updating with dynamically linked objects. The tool updates your assumptions and solutions as you operate graphic cockpit controls.

Dynamic Solution Profiling: “What if?” is a question that often comes up. SLIM’s Dynamic Solution Profiling evaluates different options at the click of the mouse. Solutions change instantly on the screen, allowing you to explore alternatives quickly.

Integrated Reporting: When reports and graphs don’t show the entire picture, SLIM’s Smart Notes feature allows you to store relevant textual descriptions for use and reuse in an easy-to-find and intuitively linked manner. The next time you need a custom report or note it will be at your fingertips.

Interface to MS Office and the Web: SLIM applications are designed to work in your office environment.  When it’s time to create presentations or collaborate on the web, SLIM lets you easily export data to MS Project, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or HTML formats.

Built-in Value: With SLIM-Estimate, you also receive two other valuable tools.  SLIM-DataManager is a repository for your software project data. SLIM-MasterPlan rolls up multiple estimates into a comprehensive planning view for managing everything — from incremental deliveries of a single project to strategic planning for your entire software development portfolio.

Integration with SLIM Suite: QSM offers a complete suite of estimation, tracking, and benchmarking tools to assist you with every stage of software life cycle management. SLIM-Estimate is fully integrated with SLIM-DataManager, SLIM-Control, SLIM-Metrics and SLIM-MasterPlan.  Whatever your needs, QSM offers a solution that allows you to grow.

 

Create a Software Development Master Plan

SLIM-MasterPlan delivers a new level of sophistication to the SLIM tools suite. Our clients use SLIM-MasterPlan to aggregate project estimates developed in SLIM-Estimate and ongoing project plans from SLIM-Control into a comprehensive overall view suited for:

  • Incremental Delivery Planning: ideal for product managers who need to juggle resources over multiple releases of a single product line.
  • Enterprise Planning:  facilitates strategic planning for multiple software product lines or serial releases of a single product
  • Lifecycle Support Planning:  helps cost analysts price out support costs for major programs over an extended time horizon.
  • Integrated Project Planning:  helps project managers estimate individual subsystems as well as systems integration and testing effort for the entire system.
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Let QSMA’s Performance Tools Work for You

QSMA consultants are recognized experts in the field of software development planning and control. All licenses for SLIM Tools include documentation, responsive phone consultation and technical support.

Contact QSMA for more information on SLIM Tools and for a free demonstration CD, or call 413.499.0988 to speak with a QSMA representative.