Challenges for Software Project Management
Description
Challenges for Software Project Management document sample
Document Sample


Welcome to the Scrum and agile tools RFP guide
This guide allows you to compare Scrum and agile tooling companies. For your convience, the section for Danube's ScrumWorks® Pro has already been filled out.
The matrix is organized in two groups: Vendor and Product (each recorded on their respective sheet).
The Scoring Dashboard sheet automatically aggregates all scores into a single table to provide an at-a-glance view of the total score and help you facilitate your final decision (no data
entry needed on this sheet).
When you are ready to begin, simply follow the 3-step process:
Step 1: Replace the "Other Vendor" column with a vendor of your choice and rate them based on the Rating & Usage Tips key below.
Step 2: On the Vendor and Product sheets, rate each vendor in column E, using the scale listed on the Rating & Usage Tips key below.
Step 3: Turn to the Scoring Dashboard sheet to compare the results for Danube's ScrumWorks Pro and the other vendor's tool.
Rating Tips Key
Rating Criteria
3 Exceeds the defined capability
2 Meets the defined capability
1 Has limited capability
0 Does not meet any of the defined capability
Importance Criteria
3 Must have
2 Important
1 Would be nice to have
0 Does not provide any value
Page 2 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
Vendor - Viability and Market Leadership (3 = Highest)
Financial viability Danube is privately held and has
3 experienced steady growth
throughout the past decade.
Years in business 3 Founded in 2000
Are you profitable on a GAAP accrual basis? 3 Yes
Size of company 2 30+ employees
Is code escrow available? Yes, although customer must pay
3
the fees.
Recognized firsts First commercial Scrum product on
the market, launched in August
2004.
3
Industry awards and independent recognition Many Awards including SBA
Young Entrepreneurs of the Year,
2004; Puget Sound Fastest
Growing Company, 2004, 2005,
and 2007; Inc. 5000 Fastest
3 Growing Company, 2008 and
2009; Jolt Productivity Award in
the project management category,
2008
Extensive customer reference list and testimonials across different ScrumWorks is currently used by
industry more than half of the Fortune 100.
To see testimonials and case
studies with Sun Microsystems,
3 Intel, Microsoft, and more, head
here: http://danube.com/customers
Customer references of large agile deployments Detailed testimonials and case
studies with Sun Microsystems,
Intel, and Idaho State Government
3
are available here:
http://danube.com/customers
Customer longevity Danube has experienced a high
rate of customer retention over the
3
past decade. In fact, most
customers find the tool so valuable
Proof of an active user community Danube's suite of ScrumWorks
products are used by more than
2
125,000 software professionals
worldwide, making it the most
Weighted Score popular agile tool on the market.
2.82
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Page 3 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
Vendor - Scrum Expertise & Coaching Services
Comprehensive curriculum of agile training courses Danube's ScrumCORE™ training
team includes five Certified Scrum
Trainers, who host dozens of
3
training courses around the world
each year, including ScrumMaster
and Product Owner Certification
Onsite training courses. For more information,
Danube's ScrumCORE™ training
team is also available for private,
on-site coaching engagements.
Many organizations find these
3 sessions are more valuable, as
they allow the CST to address
challenges unique to the
organization.
Public training As previously stated, Danube's
ScrumCORE team hosts regularly
scheduled courses each year in
North America, Europe, and Asia.
For more information on Danube's
3 public course offerings, please
visit:
http://www.danube.com/courses
Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Trainers on staff (W2 not 1099 Danube's ScrumCORE team
contractors) includes five Certified Scrum
3 Trainers.
Respected source of agile knowledge and expertise The five Certified Scrum Trainers
who make up Danube's
ScrumCORE team play an
important role in advancing
thought leadership in the Scrum
community. Through blogs, white
3 papers, and conference
presentations, the team
demonstrates a commitment to
improved development processes
through Scrum.
Proof of expertise in successful Scrum Transformation Danube has deep experience
leading organizations through the
challenges of a Scrum
transformation. For an in-depth
example, please contact Danube
3 directly at (503) 248-0800 or view
a case study of our work with Intel
here:
http://danube.com/docs/case_studi
es/Intel_case_study.pdf
Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
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Product Criteria 4 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
A B C D E
1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
2 Product - Platform and Deployment (3 = Highest)
For security purposes, is your tool provided as an on-premise install? ScrumWorks Pro deploys on-premise.
3
3
What operating systems do you support on the server-side? ScrumWorks Pro officially supports the following server-side
3 platforms: Windows XP, Vista, 2003 Server, 2008 Server; Mac OS X
4 10.4.2+; Linux.
What operating systems do you support on the client-side? o The ScrumWorks Pro Desktop Client is compatible with Windows
XP/Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.2+, and Linux KDE windows manager. The
3 ScrumWorks Pro Web Client is compatible with Internet Explorer 6+,
Mozilla/Firefox 1.5+, and Safari 2.0+.
5
Please list any prerequisite software packages your tool relies on. o The ScrumWorks Pro Desktop Client requires Java 1.5 or 1.6
installed on each client computer. To run the ScrumWorks Server on
3 Mac OS X and Linux, The Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.5 must first
be installed.
6
For an on-premise deployment, what server-side software prerequisites are Server-side: The ScrumWorks Pro Server requires Java 1.5.
needed to run your tool? Optionally, the ScrumWorks Pro Server may be configured to use the
3 MySQL database, in which case it becomes a prerequisite.
7
What database platforms do you support? ScrumWorks Pro uses the popular, open-source MySQL RDBMS.
3 Optionally, ScrumWorks Pro can be installed using Hypersonic, an in-
8 memory RDBMS.
9 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
10
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Product Criteria 5 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
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1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
11 Licensing and Cost
Please describe the licensing models you offer (subscription, perpetual, ScrumWorks Pro can be licensed in a number of ways to best suit
concurrent/floating). your organization’s needs and policies. ScrumWorks Pro is offered
through both perpetual and subscription license terms with an
optional per annum support contract for perpetual licensees. There
are currently two license models offered:
3 registered users in the system, although there are no limits on
concurrent use by registered users.
registered users that may concurrently use the software, although
there are no limits on the number of registered users in the system.
12
Are the license fees different for an on-premise vs. hosted deployment? All pricing is for on-premise deployment.
3
13
What are the licensing fees? o Per-Seat, perpetual: US $500 per user
o Per-Seat, subscription: US $289 per user per year
3
o Concurrent User, perpetual: US $1,750 per user
14
What volume licensing discounts are available? Call 503.248.0800 to get the ScrumWorks Volume Discount Price
3 guide.
15
If you offer a perpetual license model, describe your support/maintenance An Optional Support Contract is offered at 20 percent of license fees
contracts. 3 per annum. Includes access to upgrades and email-based support.
16
Do you charge extra for certain components, modules or add-ons? Please o There are no extra license fees for certain components, modules,
3
17 detail any fees for add-ons. and features; all are included in the license fees detailed above.
Please break down the total cost of ownership (including support contracts, if o Example scenario: 10 users, per-seat perpetual licensing
applicable) at year one, three, and five.
$6,000
3
contract = $8,000
contract = $10,000
18
19 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
20
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Product Criteria 6 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
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1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
21 Product Evaluation
Is a time-limited free trial of your product available? Are there limits on the A 35-day free trial is available. Unlimited number of users, unlimited
number of users I can trial with? 3 number of products.
22
Can I try your tool with my data or do I need to use sample data you provide? Users can create or import data. Optionally, a sample product with
3
23 fictional data is also available.
For security reasons, is your trial available as an on-premise install? Trials are available for on-premise installation.
3
24
In addition to your commercial tool, is there a freeware edition of your tool? Is ScrumWorks Basic edition has been available as freeware since
the freeware edition limited in some way (e.g., number of users, projects, 2004. It is not limited by the number of users, projects, teams, or in
teams, etc.)? 3 any other way. However, the Pro edition contains significantly better
25 features and scalability.
Can data from a freeware or trial edition be preserved and transferred to a All data can be migrated from ScrumWorks Basic to ScrumWorks
3
26 commercial upgrade of the tool if we decide to buy it? Pro.
27 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
28
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Product Criteria 7 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
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1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
29 Agile and Scrum Compatibility
Is your tool designed exclusively for the Scrum method or is it an all-in-one The tool is designed for Scrum teams, but is nonetheless flexible
3
30 tool? enough to work with a variety of agile processes.
Is the tool capable of capturing requirements as User Stories/Backlog Items? Requirements are captured as Product Backlog Items (or User
3 Stories) and are prioritized in the Product Backlog. Metrics and
31 reports are primarily based upon Backlog Items.
Can Product Backlog Items be easily prioritized (e.g., with drag-and-drop)? Product Backlog Items can be prioritized with a drag-and-drop
interface for purposes of release planning, sprint planning, and
general item-by-item prioritization. The tool also includes a
3 “filter/highlight” feature for convenient sorting and searching. Users
may also open more than one instance of the product to reprioritize or
better view large backlogs.
32
Does the tool enforce a strict priority ordering for Product Backlog Items? ScrumWorks Pro requires that each Product Backlog Item have a
unique priority to enforce the “strict prioritization” paradigm espoused
by Scrum. The process concern in having priority classes (e.g., low,
3 medium, high) is that there is no clear distinction between individual
items if and when a release needs to be decomposed.
33
Is there a way to capture and expose impediments blocking the Impediments are prominently featured throughout the ScrumWorks
team/organization? Pro application. Users can log issues that block productivity and the
3 issues will be visible throughout the Desktop and Web clients.
34
Are your metrics based on the User Story/Backlog Item level as opposed to ScrumWorks Pro’s metrics focus at the Backlog Item level as
the task level? opposed to the task level to reinforce the concept of empirical “macro
metrics.”
35
Can effort units for User Stories/Backlog Items be customized? The estimation units for Backlog Items can be customized/specified
3 on a Product-by-Product basis.
36
Is there a clearly separated Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog? Are both of ScrumWorks Pro uses a two-column product paradigm. The
3 “uncommitted” Product Backlog is listed on the right-hand side, while
37 these aspects visible from the same screen?
Can Product Backlog Items be moved into the Sprint Backlog using drag-and- Committing Backlog Items Team appear on the drag-and-drop
a list of Sprints grouped by to Sprints is a simple left side. Both sides
drop? 3 operation between the right and left sides of the application. Items
may also be dragged in bulk by selecting multiple items.
38
Does the tool offer a way to print requirements and tasks to cards for use on ScrumWorks Pro does not preclude the use of physical cards on task
physical task boards? boards or as manual reference aides. Physical cards may be
3 generated by selecting any group of Backlog Items and/or Tasks and
use the “Print to Cards” feature
39
How does the tool function as an information radiator to users and non-users ScrumWorks Pro includes a powerful feature called “Web Reports.”
alike? Can you publish data out to URLs for consumption by anyone on the Data and graphical reports can be built in a WYSIWYG editor and
network? then published to a web link. The web link may then be disseminated
to users and non-users alike. These Web Reports are non-
3 authenticated, meaning non-users such as stakeholders can get
continuous access to data inside ScrumWorks Pro without ever
logging in. Web Reports update in real-time to reflect recent
40 changes.
How does your tool handle scaled agile scenarios with multiple teams In the two-pane paradigm discussed above, the Sprint side is capable
working against a single release or backlog? of housing sprints for multiple teams. Each team is represented as a
3 tab by default. If side-by-side comparison is required, each tab can
be docked or floated independently. This allows a single Product
Backlog to feed multiple teams.
41
Does your firm demonstrate a clear understanding of Scrum principles? Do In addition to authoring ScrumWorks Pro, Danube is the leading
you have in-house expertise (not including partners) to provide service provider of Scrum and agile training and coaching services. We have
offerings around Scrum and agile such as Certified ScrumMaster training? five Certified Scrum Trainers on staff and hold over 150 public
3 Certified ScrumMaster courses each year in addition to dozens of
private courses. ScrumWorks Pro is built using real-world feedback
from the thousands of organizations we train and coach each year.
42
43 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
44
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Product Criteria 8 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
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1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
45 Release Planning and Tracking
Is the tool capable of creating custom releases and release dates? Can The Product Backlog can be divided into custom releases, each with
reports be filtered and customized by release? an optional date field to create sub-milestones for the Product
3 Backlog. All Product Backlog Item-focused reports, including the
Product Burndown Charts, can be filtered by release.
46
Can releases be prioritized amongst other releases? ScrumWorks Pro supports the re-organization or prioritization of
releases by importance/relevance. Visually, this assists users in
3
discerning those releases that are immediately relevant from those
47 that are more distantly scheduled.
Does the tool contain a release forecasting capability based on empirical ScrumWorks Pro offers Mike Cohn’s “Alternative Burndown Chart” as
metrics like Mike Cohn’s “Alternative Burndown Chart”? a way to forecast release completion based on empirical progress
and change to date. This burndown chart presents a far more realistic
view of a product because, in addition to tracking the amount of work
completed, it tracks the change in the project’s scope. Given that
3
software projects seldom proceed without scope revisions, this chart
is an important aid in accurately promoting trend lines and forecasting
release dates.
48
How does your tool handle the categorization of work? Do you use In contrast to competitors, ScrumWorks Pro has applied the concept
tags/themes or a nested hierarchy and why? of “tagging” to categorization and organization of requirements in the
Product Backlog. Each Product Backlog Item can be tagged with
one or many “Themes.” Views and reports can then be filtered by
Themes, or a combination of Themes, to express relationships
between items in a multi-faceted manner.
Traditional hierarchies are limiting and flawed because a single item
can only exist in one place in the hierarchy. This limits the expression
of relationships to the static hierarchical view. In complex projects, it
3
is often valuable to view work items from multiple perspectives,
something ScrumWorks Pro’s concept of Themes supports.
In addition, the hierarchical organization of Product Backlog Items
creates a problem for Scrum projects: prioritization relies on the fact
that all items exist on the same, flat level. Nested items cannot be
prioritized in a strict priority.
49
Does the tool track progress for high-level requirements (Epics)? High-level requirements (or Epics) can be expressed as “Themes” in
ScrumWorks Pro. Reports can be generated that are filtered for
3 particular Themes to gauge the progress of just one Epic.
50
Does the tool permit release reporting across multiple teams? There are a number of reports that cross teams, the most prominent
being the Product Burndown Charts. These charts will take into
3 account the progress achieved by all teams in aggregate when
forecasting a release schedule so that it provides the “big picture”
51 across all products.
Does the tool permit release reporting across multiple products? The Product Progress Report provides a way to demonstrate release
progress across multiple products at once. This report presents all
3 releases across multiple products in a particular date range.
Progress indicators show the health of each release that falls into that
time frame.
52
Is it possible to filter your release backlog to isolate a specific feature or set of The Product Backlog can be filtered or highlighted by Theme. This
features for a more focused prioritization or feature decomposition? allows for focused analysis and prioritization. Drag-and-drop
3
prioritization is possible in a filtered context.
53
Does the tool allow users to assign business valuations to User ScrumWorks Pro has a “business value” capability that allows users
Stories/Backlog Items to better inform release planning? to assign a business weight to individual work items scheduled for
work in a release. Combined with effort estimates, the business
3 valuations are used to generate an “ROI Index.” By comparing the
ROI of prospective work items, managers can better make critical
prioritization decisions and always keep their teams producing high
54 value work.
55 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
56
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Product Criteria 9 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
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1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
57 Useability
Please describe how the interface utilizes drag-and-drop. ScrumWorks Pro was designed from the ground up with a drag-and-
drop interface in mind. In an effort to mimic manual agile
approaches, ScrumWorks Pro uses a unique drag-and-drop
prioritization system. Release management and sprint planning is
3 also handled through drag-and-drop. Further, task management is
largely a function of drag actions. In the web reports feature, drag-
and-drop is used in laying out and customizing reports.
58
Please describe the tool’s time-saving interface features such as keyboard The ScrumWorks Pro Desktop client boasts a number of keyboard
shortcuts. shortcuts to streamline workflow. Keyboard shortcuts exist for
creating new items and tasks, navigation between items in a list,
3 scrolling inside an editor, copy/pasting of entities, and even splitting
off new work items from inside an editor. A complete list of keyboard
shortcuts has been assembled into a printable tri-fold for convenient
reference.
59
How are “bulk” operations performed? ScrumWorks Pro lets users select multiple work items and tasks and
perform bulk actions. Bulk actions include prioritization moves,
parent-child relationship changes, application of categories/Themes,
3 deletions, and drag operations between product containers. Multiple
items can even be copied and pasted.
60
How do I copy and paste commonly recurring tasks? o In ScrumWorks Pro, one or more tasks can be right-clicked and
copied. A task can then be pasted into one or more destinations.
This saves considerable time when creating common or frequently
3 recurring tasks.
61
How does the interface allow for customized screen layouts? ScrumWorks Pro is built on a dockable windows framework. This
means that sections of windows (frames) can be rearranged using a
3 “docking” concept similar to the Eclipse IDE. Editors and frames can
be docked, popped-out and floated, or realigned in side-by-side
62 configurations.
Does the tool include a “search” feature? ScrumWorks Pro includes a find feature that searches work items
3 and tasks by keyword.
63
Does the tool offer in-line editing? ScrumWorks Pro has several interfaces that allow users to click and
3 type immediately without working in editors. This saves time and
effort and decreases data entry frustration.
64
How does the tool support printing? Scrum team members often prefer using paper cards in planning and
analysis discussions. ScrumWorks Pro therefore has a “print to
cards” feature that enables teams to quickly generate a set of physical
3 cards based on data in the ScrumWorks Pro system. Web reports
can also be used to generate printable reports, allowing users to
identify the data to be represented and customize its presentation.
65
Can users attach files to User Stories/Backlog Items? Is it restricted to Files can be attached to work items without any restrictions or limits.
specific file types?
3
66
67
68 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
69
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70 Team Communication and Collaboration
Does your tool provide for Sprint Burndown charts? The Sprint burndown chart is a pivotal tool for intra-team
communication and can be found in both the Desktop and Web
Client. Sprint burndown charts can be configured to skip holidays,
3
weekends, and non-work days to produce a more accurate burndown.
71
Does your tool provide teams a way to load balance work amongst team The Team Member Load Report allows team members to see load
members? distribution in the current iteration as well as across all iterations. This
3
way users have a sense for who is doing what and how loaded they
72 are in their various iterations.
Do you provide a software equivalent to a physical task board? ScrumWorks Pro pioneered the virtual task board concept by offering
a drag-and-drop interface that mimics moving task cards on a
physical wall. The Web Client leverages a task board design for the
primary interface. Users can instantly see who is working on what,
tasks that are unassigned, and the progress of all work items in a
given iteration. Coupled with the Sprint Burndown Chart and an
3 impediments list, the task board is a critical element allowing
distributed teams to share a “team room” experience. Tasks can be
created, edited, deleted, and moved between status columns.
Highlighting allows teams to focus on particular individuals as
needed.
73
Does the tool contain a personalized/customizable view of each individual’s The “My Tasks” screen in the Web Client gives users a personalized
tasks across multiple products? view of all current work across the multiple projects. My Tasks is
critical for people working on multiple teams across multiple projects
because it summarizes all relevant information on a single screen.
Work can be filtered by sprint or project to allow developers to focus
3 on one thing at a time. Likewise, the summary table can be used to
keep track of how many days remain in each iteration, as well as how
many total task hours remain outstanding across each sprint.
74
Does the tool enable customizable notifications? ScrumWorks Pro allows users to create email notifications covering
all manner of work item and task changes. Users can limit the scope
3 of notification by teams as well. Notifications are sent either
75 immediately upon event or as part of a daily digest.
76 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
77
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78 Reporting
Are reports based on User Stories and Velocity, or by summing task-level Being an agile-focused solution, ScrumWorks Pro provides tools for
detail? estimation, tracking and forecasting based on User Story/Product
Backlog Item level effort estimates. This “velocity”-based approach
3 enables “empirical” metrics, such as release forecasting, based on
work actually completed in the past, changes to scope, etc.
79
How are release dates forecasted? In an agile process, releases are forecasted based on the empirical
conditions to date such as the team(s’) rate of progress, the rate of
changing requirements, and estimation changes affecting the release
backlog. ScrumWorks Pro is the only commercial product that
features release forecasting and takes all of these variables into
3 account when extrapolating a release date. This report, based on
Mike Cohn’s Alternative Burndown Chart concept, can be filtered and
customized in a number of ways to fine-tune reporting needs.
80
Does the tool provide an exhaustive audit/change log? All work item and task-level modifications are logged in the “Change
Log.” This includes creations, edits, deletions, Theme changes,
business valuation, estimation, sprint and release associations, and
much more. All changes log the user name and time of event. The
3 Change Log interface may be sorted and filtered by a number of
criteria to pinpoint exactly those changes that are relevant. When
viewing a change event, the previous state is listed side-by-side with
the changed state for comparison purposes.
81
Does the tool contain an easily accessible executive/stakeholder “traffic light”- The Product Progress report presents a high-level, cross-product
style progress indicator? 3 status indication that uses colored graphical charts to indicate the
82 health of releases/milestones.
How can reports be delivered to managers and stakeholders (external of the Designed just for this purpose, ScrumWorks Pro’s Web Reports offer
tool)? users the ability to publish ScrumWorks Pro data and charts to a
URL/web link, so that any stakeholder or manager has convenient
access to data in a web browser. Web Reports do not require
passwords to be accessed for any individual connected to the server;
3 instead, access is controlled solely by distributing the link. To save
even more time, Web Reports are updated in real-time with every
page refresh, so stakeholders can bookmark a single link and come
back as desired to obtain progress updates.
83
Does the tool have the capacity to report specific changes within a sprint? The Sprint Change report gives users a detailed breakdown of work
item changes during a given sprint. Items completed by a team,
3 added to the backlog, and re-estimated are all represented in this
report to provide a full explanation of release forecast effects.
84
Does the tool include an overview of a team’s tasks, divided by individual? The Sprint Detail View can be accessed by double-clicking a sprint
row in a product. This view allows ScrumMasters to oversee sprint
3 progress and drill down on particular individuals by using the column-
filtering capabilities. Estimation history can be enabled to see day-by-
day estimation trends.
85
Does the tool include non-agile metrics, such as individual burndown charts ScrumWorks Pro does not include metrics that have been shown to
or gantt charts? undermine agile principles, such as individual burndown charts or
3 ideal trend lines in burndown charts.
86
87 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
88
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89 Administration and Installation
Describe the installation/deployment process. On Windows, server-side installation is governed by an installation
wizard typically employed by most desktop applications. Installation
3 takes a few minutes after which the server is automatically started.
On Mac and Linux, server-side installation happens via interactive
shell script.
90
Are there any hardware specification recommendations? ScrumWorks Pro has published hardware recommendations here:
http://danube.com/docs/scrumworks/pro/latest/ScrumWorks_Server_
3 Hardware_Recommendations.pdf
91
Does the tool offer support for multiple user types? ScrumWorks Pro has two levels of administration as well as a robust
3 role-based permissions system.
92
Can I define multiple administrators to spread the administrative load? ScrumWorks Pro comes with a default “global administrator” user and
3 the administrative load can further be distributed by assigning global
93 administrator rights to individual users.
Can projects/products have local administrators? o Aside from global administrator status (over all projects), it is often
desirable to provide administrative access for a single project and
3 ScrumWorks Pro provides just such an option. Individual users can
be granted administrative control over individual projects.
94
Does the tool offer role-based permissions? How granular are the role ScrumWorks Pro offers a robust role-based permissions system.
permissions? There are default roles corresponding to the major Scrum roles, with
sensible default permissions.
Administrator users can override the default roles as well as create
3 brand new roles on a project by project basis. Roles are therefore
project-specific and can be customized as desired at the project level.
Individual permissions are granular to the point of allowing most
substantive functions and data with the system to be access-
controlled.
95
Does the tool offer role templates that apply to multiple products/projects? Role templates offer a way to propagate a particular set of roles out to
all projects in the ScrumWorks Pro system by default. Just like
3 project level roles, role templates can be customized and
administrators can override defaults as needed.
96
97 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
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98
99 Training
Do you recommend product training for new users? Historically, ScrumWorks Pro users have been able to get up and
running with ScrumWorks without extensive training. Danube
provides public webinars to cover the basics and private online
3 demonstrations to answer questions. This, in combination with the
product documentation, is typically sufficient for most organizations.
100
Is training available for updates? As new updates become available, webinars are scheduled to inform
3 users of new features and to provide training.
101
Can we look to your organization for training on agile and Scrum in general? Danube, author of ScrumWorks Pro, is the leading provider Certified
ScrumMaster training, as well as other agile topics. Danube offers
3 hundreds of public courses yearly and is available to schedule
private, on-premise engagements world-wide.
102
103 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
104
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Product Criteria 14 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
A B C D E
1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
105 Enterprise Scalability
Is your tool an industry standard? How many users use your tool? ScrumWorks is the leading agile project management platform in
terms of sheer users with more than 110,000 users. More than half of
the Fortune 100 use ScrumWorks for agile project management.
3
106
Can users be managed via enterprise directory authentication such as Active Users can be added and removed via Active Directory and LDAP.
Directory and LDAP? Authentication is completely handled by the directory system, making
3 ScrumWorks Pro ideal where enterprise security is centralized.
107
Are integrations with common bug-tracking applications available? Bugzilla and JIRA are currently supported out of the box.
Defects/issues can be imported into ScrumWorks Pro, prioritized
therein and kept synchronized with the bug tracker repository. The
3 ScrumWorks Pro web services API can be used to create integrations
with other defect tracking systems as necessary
108
Does the tool have the ability to support distributed teams? ScrumWorks Pro was designed to simulate the benefits of a “small
team agile” approach across large organizations with distributed
teams and team members. From the virtual task board to features
3 like email notifications, ScrumWorks Pro supports distributed
development.
109
• Has your tool been deployed for 500+ users on a single instance at a single ScrumWorks Pro has been deployed to more than 1,000 users on a
customer site? 1,000+ users? single instance. Product development focuses on scalability and
3 availability to satisfy enterprise deployment needs.
110
Can you provide three large-customer references? Please list three multi- o James Jay, GE Healthcare
hundred user installations, approximate number of users, and primary o Randy Ashton, Idaho Dept. of Health and Welfare
contact. 3 o Dan Butzer, Sun Microsystems
Call Danube at 503.248.0800 for email and phone number contacts.
111
112 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
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1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
113
114 Data and Security
Do you support automated and manual backups? o Both automated and manual backups are possible, although the
technique varies depending on database platform used. Using
Hypersonic (the default, embedded database), backups can be
3 created manually by an administrator, while automated backups can
be scheduled in a number of ways including programmatically. Other
databases can be backed up per the vendor’s guidelines.
115
Are client-server communications encrypted with SSL? ScrumWorks Pro can be configured to use SSL.
3
116
Do you support encrypted enterprise directory authentication such as ScrumWorks Pro can be configured to support encrypted directory
3
117 LDAPS? authentication such as LDAPS.
Do you offer a technology escrow option in case adversity befalls your Danube offers an option to join our Iron Mountain technology escrow
organization? as a third party beneficiary.
3
118
How is programmatic access to the data provided in your tool? ScrumWorks Pro comes with an extensive and documented Web
3
119 Services API.
Does the tool have a web services API for data access and integration The ScrumWorks Pro Web Services API uses the SOAP protocol. All
purposes? Please describe the scope of the API. data access is encouraged through the SOAP API. All common
3 functions are available through the SOAP API and integration with
external tools or databases is possible via the SOAP API. All API
120 methods are documented.
If your tool is remotely hosted, please provide a detailed outage history. Not Applicable. ScrumWorks Pro installs on-premise.
3
121
If your tool is remotely hosted, please provide uptime SLA. Not Applicable. ScrumWorks Pro installs on-premise.
3
122
If your tool is remotely hosted, how often do you have scheduled maintenance Not Applicable. ScrumWorks Pro installs on-premise.
3
123 downtimes?
124 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
125
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1 ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor ScrumWorks Pro Comments Other Vendor Comments
126
127 Support
Describe your technical support options. Technical support is offered via email and forums during normal
business hours. Currently, Danube does not offer on-call telephone
3 support. However, if necessary, Danube will escalate support to
include scheduled telephone support.
128
How many times per year do you release? Historically, Danube has averaged three major features releases per
3 year with minor updates and patches only issued as necessary.
129
Can customers choose when to upgrade? Because ScrumWorks Pro is an on-premise, local installation,
3 customers have total control over upgrades to new releases.
130 Upgrades are never forced.
Does the tool offer an in-depth, online product manual? ScrumWorks Pro comes with extensive product documentation
covering everything from installation and upgrades, product use, and
3
even process tips and suggestions.
131
Is documentation built into the tool? Documentation is bundled with the software so there is no need to
3
132 visit an external web site to obtain information.
Can technical support be accessed directly through the tool? The Help > Contact Support menu option allows users to submit
3 critical debugging information with support requests automatically.
133
What percentage of features released were originally requested by users? ScrumWorks is entirely feedback-driven. While certain features
3 originated with Danube, enhancements and changes are entirely
134 customer-driven.
What is the process for requesting features? Danube offers a public forum for requesting features as well as
commenting on existing requests. Danube takes user feedback
3 seriously and develops new features according to request popularity.
135
136 Weighted Score 3.00 #DIV/0!
137
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Page 17 Scrum and agile tooling RFP guide
ScrumWorks Pro Other Vendor
Vendor criteria
Vendor Viability and Market Leadership 2.8 0.0
Agile Expertise & Coaching Services 3.0 #DIV/0!
Total Vendor Score 5.8 #DIV/0!
Product criteria
Platform and Deployment 3.0 #DIV/0!
Licensing and Cost 3.0 #DIV/0!
Product Evaluation 3.0 #DIV/0!
Agile and Scrum Compatibility 3.0 #DIV/0!
Release Planning and Tracking 3.0 #DIV/0!
Usability 3.0 #DIV/0!
Team Communication and Collaboration 3.0 #DIV/0!
Reporting 3.0 #DIV/0!
Installation/Administration 3.0 #DIV/0!
Training 3.0 #DIV/0!
Enterprise Scalability 3.0 #DIV/0!
Data and Security 3.0 #DIV/0!
Support 3.0 #DIV/0!
Total Product Score 39.0 #DIV/0!
Total Score 44.8 #DIV/0!
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