This tutorial script will guide you to show how much user online on a specific period of time on your website, all is count to total user online since specific time. The idea is recording every request based on session id in php. Different session means different browser (visitor). Each different session count into total as total visitor. You can place this script at the first of your php script AFTER session_start() and connected to mysql database.

Table to store visitor request data
We need two mysql table to store visitor data from every request that visitor made such as, request page, IP, Proxy, and the request time.
Creating mysql table to store visitor data :

Table structure to store visitor data.

CREATE TABLE `member_online` (
 `SID` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
 `reqTime` int(50) default NULL,
 `visitorType` varchar(200) default NULL,
 `proxy` varchar(200) default NULL,
 `ip` varchar(200) default NULL,
 `reqURI` varchar(255) default NULL,
 PRIMARY KEY  (`SID`)
 );

We also need another table to store total visitor data.

CREATE TABLE `visitor_count` (
 `id` int(10) NOT NULL auto_increment,
 `start_date` int(20) default '0',
 `counter` bigint(25) default '0',
 `countmax` bigint(25) default NULL,
 `countmin` int(5) default NULL,
 `maxdate` datetime default NULL,
 `mindate` datetime default NULL,
 `aktif` varchar(20) default 'Active',
 PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
 );

Insert one record in visitor_count for initial data :

INSERT visitor_count VALUES ('',UNIX_TIMESTAMP(now()),0,0,0,now(),now(),'Active');

You can download all tutorial files

PHP Script to store visitor data
This script must be include on every php file on your web you wish to track.

Talking about visitors, there are human and robots. The robots or bot or crawler generally came from search engine browser such as Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc, but some also came from cracker to collecting specific information such as email, they use this to deliver spam content. As this case, we need to detect if the visitor is a bot or a human based on $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], if you like, you can read more on detecting search engine bot name .

Detecting browser user agent, this function will detect agent type, returning user agent type, or false if not included as bot.

/** spider robot detector return spider name, or else return false **/
function crawlerDetect($USER_AGENT) {
 $crawlers = array(
 array('Google', 'Google'),
 array('msnbot', 'MSN'),
 array('Rambler', 'Rambler'),
 array('Yahoo', 'Yahoo'),
 array('AbachoBOT', 'AbachoBOT'),
 array('accoona', 'Accoona'),
 array('AcoiRobot', 'AcoiRobot'),
 array('ASPSeek', 'ASPSeek'),
 array('CrocCrawler', 'CrocCrawler'),
 array('Dumbot', 'Dumbot'),
 array('FAST-WebCrawler', 'FAST-WebCrawler'),
 array('GeonaBot', 'GeonaBot'),
 array('Gigabot', 'Gigabot'),
 array('Lycos', 'Lycos spider'),
 array('MSRBOT', 'MSRBOT'),
 array('Scooter', 'Altavista robot'),
 array('AltaVista', 'Altavista robot'),
 array('IDBot', 'ID-Search Bot'),
 array('eStyle', 'eStyle Bot'),
 array('Scrubby', 'Scrubby robot')
 );

 foreach ($crawlers as $c) {
 if (stristr($USER_AGENT, $c[0])) {
 return($c[1]);
 }
 }

 return false;
}

Record what visitor was request based on $_SERVER variable IP, request URL, request time, etc. This init function checks if current session name is on the table, if not yet, all of this data will stored in a member_online table. If current session name was in the table, they will be updated with new time and new request URL. And last, will update (increase by one) of the total visitor at table visitor_count.

/** count number of online visitor based on session time  **/
function init_visitor_count () {

 # collecting necessary information such IP, proxy, useragent, etc
 $reqURI 		= strip_tags( htmlentities( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']));
 $proxy 			= $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
 $ip 			= $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
 $crawler 		= crawlerDetect($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
 $visitorType 	= '';
 if ($crawler){
 $visitorType = 'bot';
 }

 # check if current session already on table
 $query = mysql_query ("SELECT SID FROM member_online WHERE SID = '". session_id() ."'");

 if (mysql_num_rows($query) != 0) {
 #update / renew session timestamp on current session
 $query = mysql_query("UPDATE member_online SET reqTime = UNIX_TIMESTAMP(), reqURI='$reqURI' WHERE SID = '". session_id() ."'");
 }else  {
 # record Session ID on each request
 $query = mysql_query("INSERT member_online VALUES ('".session_id()."', UNIX_TIMESTAMP(), '$visitorType', '$proxy', '$ip', '$reqURI' )");

 # update total visitor count
 $queryUp = mysql_query("UPDATE visitor_count SET counter=counter+1 WHERE aktif='Active'");
 }
}

After all visitor data stored on a table, now we create the function to get the statistic how much user online in a specific period of time, in this case we use 900 seconds (15 minutes), and how much total user online since period of time from table visitor_count.
This function will query the count the number of human and bot request in table user_online, this is the visitor and bot online data. Next step is to select data from table visitor_count to get total visitor from a period of time. Returned value is array of current visitor human online; robot online; total visitor; date where statistic start.

/** get user online, return array of useronline, total, date count start **/
function get_user_online () {
 $lastTime = mktime() - 900; // last 15 minutes
 $num_bot = 0;
 $num_no_bot = 0;
 $visitor = 0;

 # count visitor
 # bot
 $queryA = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(SID) FROM member_online WHERE visitorType = 'bot' AND reqTime > $lastTime ");
 if (@mysql_num_rows($queryA) != 0) {
 $row = mysql_fetch_array($queryA);
 $num_bot = $row[0];
 }

 # not bot
 $queryB = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(SID) FROM member_online WHERE (visitorType = '' OR visitorType IS NULL)  AND reqTime > $lastTime ");
 if (@mysql_num_rows($queryB) != 0) {
 $row = mysql_fetch_array($queryB);
 $num_no_bot = $row[0];
 }

 # total visitor
 $visitor = 0;
 $query2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM visitor_count WHERE aktif='Active' LIMIT 1");
 if (mysql_num_rows($query2) != 0) {
 $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query2);

 $dateStart 	= date('d F Y',$row['start_date']);
 $visitor 	= number_format( $row['counter'],'','','.');
 }

 #delete last 1 hour  session (3600 sec);
 $pastTime = mktime() - 3600;
 $query = mysql_query("DELETE FROM member_online WHERE waktu <= $pastTime");

 return array($num_no_bot,$num_bot,$visitor,$dateStart);
}

Example call function to get a current visitor online.

list($visitor_online, $bot_online, $total_visitor, $date_statistic) = get_user_online();
$total_online = $visitor_online + $bot_online;
echo '
Visitor online : '. $total_online. '. Human : ' .$visitor_online.'. Robot : '.$bot_online
 .'.
Total visitor : '.$total_visitor.' since : '.$date_statistic.'
';

OK, that’s all, now you can try out your self.

Download example
Download PHP Script and SQL dump visitor online count example.

Reference http://home.att.net/~gobruen/con/ascii.html

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Scrum Process

Scrum Daily Meetings

Disadvantages of Scrum

From the article:

What is the Point of the Project?

I’m just guessing, but I think the point of most software development projects is software that works, and that has the most features possible per dollar of investment. I call that notion Running Tested [Features], and in fact it can be measured, to a degree.

Imagine the following definition of RTF:

1. The desired software is broken down into named features (requirements, stories) which are part of what it means to deliver the desired system.
2. For each named feature, there are one or more automated acceptance tests which, when they work, will show that the feature in question is implemented.
3. The RTF metric shows, at every moment in the project, how many features are passing all their acceptance tests.

How many customer-defined features are known, through independently-defined testing, to be working? Now there’s a metric I could live with.

From my perspective, for any metric to be useful, it needs to help the Project Manager make decisions. As this whitepaper states, all metrics should be actionable. If it’s not actionable, then it’s not useful.

Introduction
Today’s approach to metrics calls for automation over process and in-process adjustments over post-mortem analysis. Information should be made available to all stakeholders throughout the lifecycle.

To be effective, metrics must be properly planned, managed and acted upon. What is measured, how it’s collected and how it’s interpreted are the difference between brilliant insights and blind alleys on the path to metrics-driven software development.

The key is to ensure metrics are meaningful, up-to-date, unobtrusive, empirical and actionable.

#1 – MEANINGFUL
Emerging activity-based software development metrics solutions focus on a simple and fundamental unit of measure: Active Time. Understanding the actual time being applied to these activities across a portfolio of systems and projects can provide an important level of insight that enables organizations to understand project velocity, relative investment, sequencing of activities, and opportunities and risks. It also provides a uniform basis for comparison across projects and teams.

Select metrics that will enable you to steer your projects in a meaningful way.

#2 – UP-TO-DATE
It is important to look for metrics that can be captured automatically during the execution of the process itself. Activity-based metrics solutions are able to automatically capture metrics during the conduct of the software development process, ensuring that the metric is consistently based on up-to-date data.

#3 – UNOBTRUSIVE
The process of collecting data for your metrics program should be seamless and unobtrusive, not imposing new processes or asking developers to spend time collecting or reporting on data.

#4 – EMPIRICAL
Activity-based metrics solutions capture data as software development processes are executed, eliminating all of the issues that compromise the integrity and accuracy of data. Additionally, the use of the Active Time metric ensures data consistency; an Active Hour is the same in Boston, Bangalore, Mumbai and Beijing.

#5 – ACTIONABLE
It is critical that the metrics you gather inform specific decisions during the course of your software development projects. Avoid information that is nice to know, but doesn’t help you make decisions or solve problems.

The litmus test for any metric is asking the question, “What decision or decisions does this metric inform?” Be sure you select your metrics based on a clear understanding of how actionable they are and be sure they are tied to a question you feel strongly you need to answer to effect the outcome of your software development projects.

It is also critically important to ensure that you are able to act on and react to metrics during the course of a project.

Finally, be sure that metrics programs are inclusive and that data is available to all stakeholders within the software development lifecycle. Data that is widely available is empowering.

Burndown & Burnup

Use a burndown chart to track the remaining effort against plan. Use a burnup to track the % complete against plan. I color code the bars to indicate where we went off track. I also add call outs to explain large changes. I report the data in a small table (e.g., planned effort, actual effort remaining, difference).


Testing

There are several reports that you can create to provide visibility into testing. This example represents our defect trend by severity over the course of an iteration.

Attrition Rate
Most of our clients are concerned about turnover and losing key resources. We have introduced the following graphs to track our attrition rate per quarter. We also list the resources that left and the reasons for leaving.

Other Metrics Under Consideration

• Planned vs. actual features delivered by iteration
• Velocity (# of FPs delivered by iteration)
• Defect discovery rate
• Defect density (defects per FP)

Overall, we’ve ended up modifying our strictly RUP process to accomodate for some of the Scrum methodologies that we are comfortable with as an organization. Here is an update:

Potentially Releasable Software

• The team was having difficulty with this concept
• The team was killing themselves trying to get the defect counts within the acceptance criteria
• We came up with a compromise that is working well.
  (1) Iterations are now about 3 months long versus 5 weeks
  (2) We deliver an “in progress” build to the customer at the end of each month to get early feedback; this build always includes UCs that have been completed during that month and other in progress UCs.
  (3) We commit to meeting the quality criteria by the end of the iteration

Product Backlog

• We’ve altered the Product Backlog to be a combined Release Roadmap and Release Planning document
• It serves the same purpose, however it has made planning easier since we have added more columns to track builds, effort per build, contingencies, rework, etc.

Planning

• This was the biggest problem area and the area where we’ve seen the most improvement. It’s amazing how good planning improves morale!
• We now have one master Iteration Backlog for the team as a whole.
• Each of the teams manages their own Project Plan and these roll up into a Master Project Plan.
• From the Master Project Plan I can get the progress of the build and the progress of the iteration.
• We are using both burndown and burnup charts. This makes is very easy to see the progress and gives the customer visibility into the project.
• On the burndown charts, I track the remaining effort against the target.
• On the burnup charts, I track the percent complete against the target.
• The actual data that generates these charts changes to red if something is behind.

Sample Iteration and Build Burndowns

Sample Iteration and Build Burnups

posted by Andy @ 11:58 AM 3 comments

Monday, October 16, 2006

5 Reasons for Project Management Failure

Adapted from PM Network, October 2006

1. Organizations lack the resources, know-how and commitment to manage culture change.
2. Executives says they want good project management methologies, but their actions don’t back up their words.
3. The methodology isn’t scaled appropriately to the size of the project — making project management seem cumbersome and unfocused.
4. Organizations fail to plan up front.
5. Senior managers think project management is a software tool.

It’s take courage to initiate change. Managers need to be willing to take risks if they want projects to run better. SCRUM provides a framework for addressing these failures.

We have a global agile process group and everyone on the team is in complete agreement that our current RUP process would benefit by adapting some Agile/Scrum techniques. Here’s our current game plan:

1. How do we convince the organization of the benefits? How do we convince them that change is good?
2. Who do we get to sponsor the initiative at the executive level? We need someone with the courage to act differently, to find out if the environment will support us.
3. How do we incorporate Agile & Scrum best practices into our corporate culture and our projects sooner rather than later?

Any suggestions or experience with these questions would be greatly appreciated (both good and and comments welcome).

Commitment

• Be willing to commit to a goal
• Support & encourage commitment
• The team has the authority to decide how to do the work it has selected

Focus

• Do your job
• Focus all of your efforts and skills on doing the work that you’ve committed to doing
• Don’t worry about anything else
• Once you’re focused, all of your time is spent looking for and trying solutions to bring order to the problems

Openness

• Keep everything about the project visible to everyone
• Scrum removes the ability to dissemble
• Responsibilities are clear, authority is allocated, and everything is visible
• Scrum counters interference; No one is allowed to add work to a Sprint once it is underway
• It’s better to produce something than it is to pursue many alternatives, please everyone, and produce nothing

Respect

• Individuals are shaped by their background and their experiences
• Respect the different people who comprise a team
• The team adjusts and adapts to meet its commitments for a Sprint:
  (1) Who does what is up to the team
  (2) The team commits as a whole and sinks or swims together
• Do your best, remember everyone else is doing his/her best, and help your teammates

Courage

• Have the courage to commit, to act, to be open, and to expect respect
• It requires courage to act differently; Courage to see find out that the environment will support these values; Courage to be willing to find out that relying on one’s own judgment is acceptable – even admirable
• Courage is having the guts, the determination, to do the best you can
• Courage is the stubbornness not to give up, but to figure out how to meet commitment

I took the ScrumMaster to lunch and discussed with him the purpose and benefits of the 3 questions:

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. What is preventing you from accomplishing your goal?

He was very receptive and acknowledged that he needed to make a change. We held a daily scrum this morning and went through the 3 questions with each team member.

The difference was remarkable. The meeting turned into a conversation rather than a status meeting. Team members were offering help to each other. They finally get it that they are a team and that they are measured as a team.

If anyone is running a project without the daily scrum, they are really missing out on significant opportunities.