Possible approach to efforts estimation of BPM implementation project

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1 Introduction

Often on consulting projects need to quickly perform an efforts estimation for consulting services in the implementation of BPM development tasks. In this blog I want to show my approach for the efforts estimation for the implementation of BPM development tasks (bpm processes, services, applications, configuration tasks) for projects where you plan to use the SAP BPM functionality.

1.1 Key requirements

To estimate the efforts for the implementation of BPM functionality we need detail on the following key requirements:

List of requirements

Requirement	Comments
General requirements
Number of bpm-processes (system-centric, human-centric)	Number of all bpm-processes which included in the scope of project.
Number of additional custom BPM related utilities (applications/services)	Applications/services that are used to run processes (via BPM API, web-service), display  process data reports, UWL customization, etc.
Process specific requirements
Process type	System-centric/human-centric
Number of steps in bpm-process (workflow)
Number of human activities	only for human-centric processes
Complexity of UI for human activities	To determine the complexity level of the user interface you can use the special table in paragraph 3.
Number of standard or  already developed web-services/BAPI for automated activities in bpm-process	Services on BPM Java Application server side and all backend systems.
Number of web-services/bapi that need to be developed or extended for automatic activities of bpm-process	Services on all sides (BPM Java Application server, any backend system).
Number of backend systems used in process	Using for estimate efforts of system configure tasks.

1.1 Calculation scheme for efforts estimation

To develop bpm-processes uses the following project roles:

Roles in the development of BPM processes

Role	Responsibility area
Workflow developer	Documentation development Workflow development Adding and configuring user and system steps Testing of workflow
UI developer	Documentation development Application development (using WDJava, Visual Composer, WDABAP, HTML5). Testing of application
Web service/BAPI developer	Investigation of standard ws/bapi Customization of existing ws/bapi Development of new ws/bapi Documentation development (only for created or customized ws/bapi) Testing of services

Efforts estimation is performed in several estimation steps:

1. 1. Installation and configuration of BPM environment.
2. 2. Workflow development.
3. 3. UI development for human activities of BPM process and additional portal applications for BPM project (for example - monitoring of BPM processes/data, custom Universal Worklist, applications for starting BPM processes, etc.).
4. 4. Development of services which using in UI applications and automated activities of BPM process.

Calculation of efforts estimation based on following details about BPM project:

1. 1. List of BPM processes
2. 2. List of additional applications
3. 3. Detailed description of each BPM process (complexity level of workflow, number of UI and system steps).
4. 4. Detailed description of additional applications (assignment of application, complexity level of UI, number of used services (WS, BAPI, etc.)).

The general scheme of calculation is as follows:

2 Efforts estimation of installation/configuration tasks for BPM components

In calculating efforts estimation of BPM-project necessary to consider the possible installation / configuration of application servers: development, testing and production server.

If the project implementation is carried out for the first time, you should consider the setting of the following components:

1. Backend system connection: one of the purpose of the BPM functionality is exchange data between the systems and provision of the consolidated data to the end user. Therefore, relative to all backend systems involved in the BPM processes, the necessary settings must be made.
2. Security: if the implementation of BPM project is carried out for the first time, required to perform security settings for the application server BPM.
3. Buffer data storage: sometimes in BPM projects it is necessary to save the data in a separate data storage (requests data, description of bpm process route, a list of potential owners, etc.). Therefore, the configuration and additional development of the buffer data storage must be considered in calculation of efforts estimation.
4. BPM-BW connectivity: Reporting is very often used in bpm-projects.
5. Configuring the transport system and development environment (NWDI).

The resulting table for efforts estimation of each Java application server as follows:

Table 1. Efforts estimation of installation/configuration tasks for BPM environment

№	Task type	Optional	Efforts estimation (w.days)
1.1	Installation of BPM components	optional	2
1.2	BPM components configuration	optional	2
1.3	Security configuration	optional	1
1.4	BPM-BW connectivity	optional	1
1.5	Connecting to a federated network	optional	1
1.6	Development environment configuration (NWDI)	optional	1
1.7	Transport system configuration	optional	1
1.8	Install/configuration of buffer data storage	optional	2

3 Efforts estimation of process development

Efforts estimation of BPM process development includes the following steps:

1. Estimation of workflow development.
2. Estimation of UI development for human activities.
3. Estimation of service (WS, BAPI) development.

All objects (workflow, applications and services) must be classified for the correct estimation. In the proposed approach for efforts estimation the following classification is used:

WORKFLOW, UI AND SERVICES CLASSIFICATION BY COMPLEXITY LEVEL
Complexity level	Workflow complexity level description	UI complexity level description	Service (WS/BAPI) complexity level description
Low	Number of used steps in workflow: 1 - 3		Number of new fields for development: 1–20
Medium	Number of used steps in workflow: 4 – 6		Number of new fields for development: 20–40
High	Number of used steps in workflow: 6 – 10		Number of new fields for development: 40–60

3.1 Efforts estimation of workflow development

Workflow development included the following tasks:

1. Documentation development
2. Design workflow
3. Assigning UI in human activities and configuring (mapping, roles, deadlines etc.)
4. Assigning services in automated activities and configuring (mapping)
5. Testing workflow

We using table№2 «Workflow development», to estimate efforts for documentation development, design workflow and testing (tasks№1,2,5).

Table 2. Efforts estimation of workflow development

2 - WORKFLOW DEVELOPMENT
№	Workflow complexity level	Doc. dev (w. days)	Workflow design (w. days)	Testing	Total
2.1	Low	1	0,5	0,5	2
2.2	Medium	2	1	1	4
2.3	High	3	1,5	2	6,5

Next step is estimation of assigning and configuration UI and system steps in the process workflow, based on table№3 «Connection and configuration human and automated activities».

Table 3. Efforts estimation of connecting task for human activities and services for automated activities

3 – CONNECTION CONFIGURATION OF HUMAN AND AUTOMATED ACTIVITIES
№	Complexity of process step (UI/Service)	Add and config. of one sys. Step (w. days)	Add and config. of one user step (w. days)
3.1	Low	0,06	0,06
3.2	Medium	0,12	0,12
3.3	High	0,18	0,18

3.2 Efforts estimation of UI for human activities

The second part is efforts estimation of development applications with user interface.

All applications used for bpm project are divided into two following groups:

1. Applications for human activities in bpm processes.
2. Additional applications (starting of bpm processes, UWL customization, monitoring of processes, data reports etc.)

We can use table №4 for estimation of applications development.

Table 4. Efforts estimation of application development for Human activities

4 – UI DEVELOPMENT FOR HUMAN ACTIVITIES (Classification by complexity level)
№	Complexity level	Doc. dev (w. days)	UI dvelopment (w.days)	Testing	Total
4.1	Low	0,5	0,5	0,5	1,5
4.2	Medium	1	2	1	4
4.3	High	2	4	1,5	7,5

Often UI applications using services (WS/BAPI) for access to data in backend-systems (CRUD operations from UI applications). Therefore, we need to estimate service development tasks and we using table№ 5 for this estimation.

Table 5. Efforts estimation for service development

5 – SERVICE (WS/BAPI) DEVELOPMENT
№	Service (ws/bapi) type		Doc. Dev. (w. days)	Development/ investigation (w. days)	Testing	Total
5.1	Low	Standard/ existed	0,5	0,5	1	2
5.2		New service	0,5	1	1	2,5
5.3	Medium	Standard/ existed	1	1,5	1	3,5
5.4		New service	1	2	1	4
5.5	High	Standard/ existed	2	2	2	6
5.6		New service	2	2,5	2	6,5

We can also use this table for efforts estimation of Java development which using in mapping configuration tasks.

Next step is to estimate efforts for connection (new or existed) and configuration of services into application.

Table 6. Efforts estimation of connecting services in applications with UI or automated activity

6 – CONNECTING AND CONFIGURING OF SERVICES
№	Complexity level	Doc. dev (w. days)	Connecting and configuring one service  (w. days)	Testing	Total	Note
6.1	Low	0,25	0,125	0,125	0,5	Configuring for 1-20 fields
6.2	Medium	0,5	0,5	0,5	1,5	Configuring for 20-40 fields
6.3	High	1	1	1	3	Configuring for 40-60 fields

Also we can use Table 6 for efforts estimation of Notification, Reporting and Mapping steps configuration.

Now, if we have a description of human activity or some portal application for users, we can estimate efforts for development of this application using table №4,5,6. You can see example of efforts estimation for application development with high level complexity of UI and used two services. One of this services is new, then we need to estimate efforts for development and connection. Another one service is already existed and no changes for this service need for our application.

Example of Efforts estimation of UI development task for human activity

Task type	Complexity level	Efforts estimation	Reference table
UI development	High	7,5	4.3
Existed service connecting	Low	0,5	6.1
New service development	Low	2,5	5.1
New service connecting	Low	0,5	6.1
Total		11

3.3 Total efforts estimation of BPM process development

Using tables №2,3,4,5,6 we can estimate efforts for each BPM process development task.

Efforts estimation of BPM process development task

EFFORTS ESTIMATION FOR PROCESS DEVELOPMENT TASKS
Development task			Complexity level	Efforts estimation	Table reference
Development of BPM Process <Process name>
	Design and configuring of workflow		Low/Med./High	x	2.1
	Development of human activity №1
		UI development	Low/Med./High	x	4.1
		Existing service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	6.1
		…	Low/Med./High	x	6.1
		Existing service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	6.1
		New service development 1	Low/Med./High	x	5.1
		…	Low/Med./High	x	5.1
		New service development n	Low/Med./High	x	5.1
		New service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	3.1
		…	Low/Med./High	x	3.1
		New service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	3.1
		Connecting task to hum. activity	Low/Med./High	x	3.1
	Development of automated activity №1-n
		New/existed service development	Low/Med./High	x	5.2
		Connecting service to automated activity	Low/Med./High	x	3.1
Total				x

Example of efforts estimation of BPM process development task

Development task			Complexity level	Efforts estimation	Table reference
Development of BPM Process 1
	Design and configuring of workflow		Low	2	2.1
	Human activity №1
		UI development	Low	1,5	4.1
		Existing service connecting 1	Low	0,5	6.1
		Connecting task to hum. activity	Low	0,06	3.1
	Human activity №2
		UI development	Med.	4	4.2
		Existing service connecting 1	Med.	1,5	6.2
		Existing service connecting 2	High	3	6.3
		Connecting task to hum. activity	Med.	0,12	3.2
	Automated activity №1
		New service development 1	Low	2,5	5.2
		Connecting service to automated activity	Low	0,06	3.1
Total				15

4 Efforts estimation of Additional development tasks

Often there is a need to develop additional applications and services for BPM project based on special requirements from customer side. These applications can perform the following functions:

1. Starting BPM processes.
2. Customize list of BPM tasks.
3. Buffer data storage with access with CRUD operations.
4. Restart BPM processes based on Buffer data storage.
5. Configuration of user groups as potential owners, before BPM process start.
6. Monitoring of BPM processes data, based on special requirements from customer.

You can also use table №3,4,5 for efforts estimation of additional application of BPM project.

Example of Efforts estimation of UI development task for human activity

Task type	Complexity level	Efforts estimation	Reference table
UI development	Low	1,5	4.3
Existed service connecting	Low	0,5	6.1
Existed service connecting	Med.	1,5	6.2
Total		10,75

5 Total efforts estimation

The resulting table includes the estimation of all basic BPM development tasks.

EFFORTS ESTIMATION FOR BPM PROJECT TASKS
Development task			Complexity level	Efforts estimation	Table reference
Install/configuration BPM environment
	Installation of BPM components (optional)		-	x	1.1
	BPM components configuration (optional)		-	x	1.2
	Security configuration (optional)		-	x	1.3
	BPM-BW connectivity (optional)		-	x	1.4
	Connecting to a federated network (optional)		-	x	1.5
	Development environment configuration (NWDI)		-	x	1.6
	Transport system configuration (optional)		-	x	1.7
	Install/configuration of buffer data storage (optional)		-	x	1.8
Development of BPM Process №1 <Process name>
	Design and configuring of workflow		Low/Med./High	x	2.x
	Development of human activity №1-n
		UI development	Low/Med./High	x	4.x
		Existing service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		Existing service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		New service development 1	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		New service development n	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		New service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		New service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		Connecting task to hum. activity	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
	Development of automated activity №1-n
		New/existed service development	Low/Med./High	x	4.x
		Connecting service to automated activity	Low/Med./High	x	2.x
Development of BPM Process №n <Process name>
	Design and configuring of workflow		Low/Med./High	x	2.x
	Development of human activity №1-n
		UI development	Low/Med./High	x	4.x
		Existing service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		Existing service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		New service development 1	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		New service development n	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		New service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		New service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		Connecting task to hum. activity	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
	Development of automated activity №1-n
		New/existed service development	Low/Med./High	x	4.x
		Connecting service to automated activity	Low/Med./High	x	2.x
Additional development
	Additional application №1
		UI development	Low/Med./High	x	4.x
		Existing service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		Existing service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	5.x
		New service development 1	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		New service development n	Low/Med./High	x	6.x
		New service connecting 1	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		…	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
		New service connecting n	Low/Med./High	x	3.x
	Additional application №n
		New/existed service development	Low/Med./High	x	4.x
		Connecting service to automated activity	Low/Med./High	x	2.x
Total				x