DashView: A project-status visualisation tool for software development managers

This work has sought to visualise the software project management activity underpinning the development of software, in an attempt to demonstrate the efficacy of visually describing the status and progress of software development to promote higher-quality management.

Based on supporting research, the approach chosen was that of creating a visualisation solution in the form of a dashboard to embody the status of any project in development through one unified view [1] and location for a manager to access and use when needed ‒ as opposed to querying different data sources [2].

The proposed dashboard contains graphs that change according to the user’s needs and other forms of indicators. The dashboard also has the ability to visualise previous states of a software project being undertaken. Therefore, this would provide a level of traceability and customisability within the dashboard that would further enhance its usability and applicability.

The proposed dashboard should support and facilitate the daily routines of a software project manager, which would include such activities as report compilation and data comparison. Additionally, the dashboard could be accessed through an online portal, thus adding a level of access flexibility. React, Firebase Hosting, and Firebase Firestore were the chosen technologies used in the development of the proposed visual solution.

Figure 1. Screenshot of dashboard, displaying all data related to
project progress
Figure 2. The structure used for the database created for this artefact

References/Bibliography:

‌[1] H. Kerzner, Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards : a guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2017.
[2] R. W. Selby, “Analytics-Driven Dashboards Enable Leading Indicators for Requirements and Designs of Large-Scale Systems,” IEEE Software, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 41–49, Jan. 2009, doi:
10.1109/ms.2009.4.

Student: Nina Maria Musumeci
Course: B.Sc. IT (Hons.) Software Development
Supervisor: Prof. Ernest Cachia