I’d like my MTTD forecasts to reflect the number of test hours for each reporting period. How do I do this in SLIM-Control?

The Weighted MTTD option allows you to account for the actual hours spent testing each reporting period. Often the number of test hours fluctuates from month to month, causing large swings or "find and fix cycles" as test effort is directed to finding defects one period, then drops off as effort goes into fixing newly discovered defects during the next period. Using the Weighted MTTD option will smooth out these "find and fix" cycles, giving you a smoother defect curve.  Be sure to click the box at the top of the Metric Definitions dialog box in order to display both active and inactive metrics.

To use the Weighted MTTD metric, you must activate it by choosing Tools | Customize Metric Definitions from the menu. Locate the active defect metrics folder (Hint: the folder title will be bolded). If you don't see the metric, make sure you are displaying all active and inactive metrics. Scroll down and select the Weighted MTTD metric, then click the Edit Metric button:

Activate the metric by checking the “Active” checkbox and click OK to exit.

Next, activate the QSM Test folder. Note the lack of bold type – this category is inactive by default. Select the folder title and activate the category using the Edit Category button:

Click OK to save your changes and exit the Metrics Definitions dialogs.

The number of testing hours per reporting period should now appear on the Metrics tab of the Actual Data screen (select Control | Actual Data from the menu). As with all custom metrics, the testing hours field is appended to the list of standard metrics so you will need to scroll down to the bottom of the metric list to see the Test Hours field. This is where you will enter the actual hours spent testing for each reporting period.