USE CASE METHOD IN IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT BASED ON AGILE METHODOLOGY

Abstract

Context. The article considers the role and process of forming user requirements based on the Use Case method in assessing the complexity of an Agile project at the stage of preliminary assessment by the company’s management. Since the mid-70s, it has been known that errors in requirements are the most numerous, expensive, and time-consuming to correct in projects. In this regard, the importance of requirements management in IT projects using modern technologies and methods for their formation and evaluation is increasing.
Objective. Formation and evaluation of user requirements in IT project management based on the Use Case method and their impact on one of the project performance indicators at the planning stage, particularly labor intensity.
Method. The article proposes a new author’s approach to the formation and evaluation of user requirements in Agile projects, taking into account the impact of risks and system complexity assessment based on the Use Case method, and as a result of the study and proposals to achieve this goal, a mathematical model for estimating project complexity is proposed.
The mathematical template of the model allows us to consider additional variables that may affect the project, such as the number of user levels, available functionality, and technical and organizational risks. It is flexible and can be adapted to the different needs of a particular project, which aligns with the principles of the Agile methodology. The number of components in the formula can be changed to take into account the importance of different variables or expanded to take into account additional variables that may affect the project.
Results. A mathematical model for estimating project complexity based on the use case method has been developed and tested using the example of a mobile application, which contains a set of initial data for product development and constraints on changing user requirements and organizational and technical risks. The proposed mathematical model allows you to quickly, accurately, and efficiently determine scenarios of project labor intensity of various types and levels of complexity and can serve as an effective tool for making management decisions. A mathematical model for estimating project complexity based on the use case method has been developed and tested using the example of a mobile application, which contains a set of initial data for product development and constraints on changing user requirements and organizational and technical risks.
The proposed mathematical model allows you to quickly, accurately, and efficiently determine scenarios of project labor intensity of various types and levels of complexity and can serve as an effective tool for making management decisions.
Conclusions. The general findings obtained after analyzing the methods of forming and evaluating user requirements in Agile management are as follows. At the work planning stage, based on an expert assessment of each functional requirement, the primary project evaluation model has been replaced by a more modern and complex one based on the use case method and considering changes in user requirements and other product development risks. The new model uses graphical, analytical, and mathematical tools, including a use case diagram, adjustment factors considering the complexity of the actor and use case, and factors considering organizational and technical risks. As a result, we get a mathematical format for calculating the project’s complexity. This approach allows us to adapt to different types of projects quickly. With the correct initial data definition, the model will enable us to obtain reasonably accurate estimates early in project planning. The practical results of the study demonstrate the potential of the proposed mathematical model, which can be logically continued by verifying the model on a larger sample and assessing its resilience to different types of projects and risks.