Effort and time estimation for building an app in ServiceNow
How to estimate the effort and time required to build a scoped application from scratch in ServiceNow
To estimate the effort and time required to build a scoped application from scratch, you need to consider several factors, such as:
The complexity and scope of the application requirements
The availability and skill level of the development resources
The dependencies and integrations with other systems or applications
The testing and quality assurance processes
The deployment and maintenance plans
One possible approach to make an estimation is to use the agile methodology, which involves breaking down the application into smaller and manageable units of work, called user stories. Each user story describes a specific functionality or feature that the application should provide to the end user. You can then assign a relative value to each user story, based on its size, difficulty, and importance, using a unit of measure called story points. Story points are not equivalent to hours or days, but rather a way to compare the effort of different user stories.
To estimate the story points for each user story, you can use various techniques, such as planning poker, t-shirt sizing, or Fibonacci sequence. These techniques involve the participation of the development team and other stakeholders, who provide their input and reach a consensus on the estimation. You can also use historical data from previous projects or similar applications to calibrate your estimation.
Once you have estimated the story points for each user story, you can group them into sprints, which are fixed periods of time (usually two to four weeks) during which the development team works on delivering a set of user stories. The number of story points that a team can complete in a sprint is called the velocity, which can vary depending on the team’s capacity, experience, and productivity. You can use the average velocity of the team to estimate how many sprints it will take to complete the entire application.
To make a plan for building an application in ServiceNow, you can use the ServiceNow Studio IDE, which is a web-based integrated development environment that allows you to create, deploy, and manage your scoped applications. You can access the Studio IDE from the ServiceNow platform by navigating to System Applications > Studio.
The Studio IDE provides you with a hierarchy of your application files, as well as tabbed browsing between records. You can also use the Application Explorer to view and edit the components of your application, such as tables, forms, scripts, workflows, and UI elements. You can also use the Source Control feature to manage the versions of your application and collaborate with other developers*.
The Studio IDE also allows you to create native mobile experiences for your application, using the Mobile Designer. You can design and configure mobile screens, actions, and menus for your application, and preview them on different devices.
To build your application, you can follow these general steps:
Define the requirements and scope of your application, and create the corresponding user stories and story points.
Create a new application record in the Studio IDE, and specify the name, scope, description, and roles of your application.
Create the data model of your application, by defining the tables and fields that store the information of your application. You can also define the relationships between tables, and the access controls and business rules that govern the data.
Create the user interface of your application, by designing the forms, lists, views, and dashboards that display the data and allow the user to interact with the application. You can also create UI policies, UI actions, and UI scripts to customize the behavior and appearance of the UI elements.
Create the business logic of your application, by writing the scripts and workflows that implement the functionality and logic of your application. You can also use the Script Debugger and the Background Scripts tools to test and debug your scripts.
Create the integrations of your application, by using the REST API Explorer, the Scripted REST APIs, and the Scripted SOAP APIs tools to connect your application with external systems or third-party applications.
Test your application, by using the Automated Test Framework to perform functional testing of your application and simplify platform upgrades. You can also use the Performance Analytics and the Instance Scan tools to monitor and optimize the performance of your application.
Deploy your application, by using the Update Sets and the Application Repository tools to move your application from one instance to another, such as from development to test, or from test to production. You can also use the ServiceNow Store to publish your application to the ServiceNow community or customers.
Source: ChatGPT (bing)
* https://www.qualityclouds.com/advantages-of-scoped-applications-in-servicenow/
A rough time estimation
Here is a rough order of magnitude to keep you relatively safe with built-in breathing room. Remember you are not a robot. Mileage varies.
1 day for every data field, this includes the layout
1 day per flow, sub-flow, or action
3 days for every logic decision; if this then that kind of stuff (it's the failure handling logic that takes the longest to properly handle)
3 days per unique role w/ ACL
3 days per business rule
5 days per widget
5 days per presentation
5 to 15 days per integration
30 days for requirement gathering
I have seen so many bad and poorly designed ServiceNow applications with low code, it's just sad. So if your boss/manager expects a 3-5 day turnaround, you need to help them change their expectations.
Source: Reddit
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