Project Estimation Workshop in IBA

Press Release

From March 9 to March 10, a workshop on Project Estimation was held in IBA. The course was conducted by RUSSEE, the center for Russian software engineering education, and the curriculum was developed by RUSSEE in cooperation with Carnegie Mellon University, the world's leading academic institution in the area of computer science and software engineering.

Mel Rosso–Llopart, Associate Director of the Masters of Software Engineering Program and Director for the Distance Education Program at Carnegie Mellon, School of Computer Science, conducted the Project Estimation workshop

Accurate project estimation is one of the most challenging and critical tasks that software development companies face today. Inaccurate estimating results in poor quality software, budget overruns, and loss of credibility, while a reliable estimate sets pace for the entire project, limits risks, and brings about the project's successful completion.

This workshop aimed to teach IBA employees to prepare accurate project estimations at the initial stage, before work, and during project implementation. Accordingly, the course included lectures and practical exercises on the following four topics:

• Estimation during the Bid
• Estimation for Planning
• Re–Planning the Estimate
• Estimation Metrics

As a result, the students learned how to use estimation to improve their working with customers, recognize critical “time costs” that influence their estimates, increase the confidence factor of their estimates with reliable and scientific calculations, and improve their generation of estimates. All Project Estimation Workshop graduates received Carnegie Mellon certificates.

About IBA

International Business Alliance (IBA) headquartered in Minsk, Belarus, is a powerful offshore IT service provider that offers a wide range of services including consulting, development, migration, maintenance, and 24X7 support with major specializations in mainframe systems and applications, Internet technologies and e–business solutions, SAP solutions and other ERP systems, and Lotus technologies. IBA holds ISO 9001:2000 Certificate and is at SEI CMMI Level 4 for Systems Engineering and Software Engineering. The IBA's more than 1,000–strong staff is composed of leading industry professionals who combine creative resourcefulness, strategic business thinking, and technical expertise. IBA serves clients in more than 30 countries across diverse markets and industries, including banking, railway, telecommunication, manufacturing, healthcare, trade, and public sectors. With its unmatched expertise, up–to–date infrastructure, and a decade of experience in outsourcing, IBA provides its customers with high quality and cost–effective solutions that enhance their business opportunities.

About RUSSEE

RUSSEE, the center for Russian Software Engineering Education, was founded in 2001 by a group of Carnegie Mellon University graduates with help from several global IT industry executives. The company develops and organizes educational programs in the area of Software Engineering project management.  Trainings' curriculum is developed in association with Carnegie Mellon University, world's leading academic institution in the fields of Computer Science and Software Engineering.

RUSSEE is aligned with major Russian IT industry associations: Russoft, Sirius, and Silicon Taiga. RUSSEE clients are leading Russian R&D centers, system integrators, software producers and exporters, and IT departments of major Russian corporations.

About Carnegie Mellon

Carnegie Mellon is a US national research university of about 7,500 students and 3,000 faculty, research and administrative staff. The institution was founded in 1900 in Pittsburgh by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and is renowned for its Fine Arts and Engineering programs. In a recently released Wall Street Journal ranking of US business schools, Carnegie Mellon's Graduate School of Industrial Administration is at #2 ahead of Harvard and Yale. According to US News and World Report, Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science is ranked 1–4 together with Berkeley, Stanford and MIT. The university is particularly strong in the fields of robotics, distributed computing and software engineering (home to the standard–setting Software Engineering Institute). The School of Computer Science faculty has won the annual ACM Turing award — the most prestigious award in computer science, 6 times since its inception.