A powerful decision-support software tool reliably estimates cost, staffing, schedule, reliability, and risk associated with all types of software development and/or maintenance projects.

Galorath International, leading provider of advanced modeling tools for project estimation, planning and project control, has released SEER-SEM Version 7.2. a powerful decision-support tool that reliably estimates cost, staffing, schedule, reliability, and risk associated with all types of software development and/or maintenance projects. Version 7.2 incorporates enhancements that make the software easier to customise.

Flexible Activities and Labor Allocations (FALA) allows users to rename software phases and labour categories and apply user-created custom naming schemes.

'The addition of FALA to the SEER-SEM software model is a huge milestone for us,' said managing director Carl Dalton.

'By giving users the ability to use their own naming schemes, it allows SEER-SEM to lay out the estimates according to a software development shop's terminology and culture.

It can also be configured to align with any software development lifecycle methodology.' Also included in Version 7.2 are new and updated Knowledge Bases.

These allow users to apply the experience of past projects in an industry database in order to build more objective, reliable, repeatable and traceable estimates.

Three new Acquisition Method Knowledge Bases that describe the scope and type of project being developed or maintained, have been added: Reverse Engineering, Data Conversion and Average Modification.

The Platform Knowledge Bases that calibrate the basic framework of the software project, have been updated to include 2006 labour rates.

Version 7.2 includes updates to SEER Parametric Project Monitoring and Control (SEER-PPMC), available in the SEER-SEM Project Manager and Studio Editions.

The enhanced SEER-PPMC includes the following features.

* New and enhanced forecasting methods to improve the Estimate at Complete - the projected final outcome of the project based on the initial estimate assumptions and the progress to date.

Its calculations now incorporate size growth, a critical factor for many organisations that struggle with increases in project scope.

There is also an option to base Estimate At Complete on either Recent Performance or on Cumulative Performance.

* The new Time Now enhancement shows the progress or Estimate At Complete - based on a previous snapshot, giving users the ability to review past progress as compared to current results.

* Users can now send PPMC reports and snapshots views to the clipboard, to a disk file or to a SEER-SEM Customer Presort.

* About Galorath - for more than 25 years, engineers, project managers and cost estimators throughout the world have turned to Galorath for the industry's most comprehensive set of decision-support and process management tools.

Combined with extensive consulting and support services, Galorath's SEER estimation and analysis tools derive cost, schedule and staffing estimates by assessing the interaction and impact of product, organisational and even operational variables.

This parametric methodology, coupled with the industry's most comprehensive knowledge bases, creates a rapid and powerful view of the critical factors driving program decisions and success from early concepts through upgrade and maintenance phases.

The international headquarters, Galorath International, is located in Farnham, Surrey, UK.