Trends (and trend groups) are sets of stored regression
trend lines and statistics calculated from a sample (group) of projects that
share one or more characteristics. So, for example, the QSM Business
trends are calculated from a large sample of recently completed IT projects
submitted to the QSM database. The QSM Business Agile trends come from a
subset of IT projects developed using Agile methods. SLIM-Collaborate uses
trends to perform several important tasks:
•To create trend-based (Balanced Risk and Trend Based Solution method) estimates that reflect average schedule and effort performance, relative to the project’s chosen trend group.
•To provide trend-based inputs for estimates (PI and size bins, phase tuning).
•To calculate risk assessments for various metrics, relative to the project’s chosen trend group.
•To provide visual benchmarks and five-star assessments on project or portfolio dashboards.
Like templates and configuration sets, trends are maintained on a separate page accessed via the Back Office menu (Back Office | Trend Management). This page is accessible only by users with full access to the Back Office service in their default role.