FW Editor: Hello, please tell us something about yourself because I am sure that our readers are very interesting in finding more about the developer of the amazing PMPal.
Murali Chemuturi: I am an Industrial Engineer with an MBA and a PG Diploma in Computers. I have about 30 years of experience in professional organizations like ECIL, TCS, Satyam and Metamor and an additional 10 years experience offering consultancy in software engineering, software quality and software project management. I have been also offering consultancy in software process definition and improvement leading to success in attaining CMM/CMMI rating and ISO certification. I am an author of two books published by J.Ross Publishing, Inc. of USA, titled "Software Estimation Best Practices, Tools and TEchniques for Software Project Estimators" and "Mastering Software Quality Assurance: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques for Software Developers". I have co-authored a book titled "Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques" with Thomas M. Cagley Jr. which was published by J.Ross Publishing, Inc. I contributed chapters in boots titled "Software Quality: The Road Ahead" (published by Tata McGraw Hill) and "Cost of Poor Quality" (published by ICFAI Press). I Conducted a number of training programs on these topics. I have worked / consulted with firms in India and USA.

FW Editor: How did you come with the idea for developing a program of this kind? Many others just decide to build a program that has many instances already on the market, but this is kind of original.
Murali Chemuturi: When I was a software project manager, I found a dearth of tools that really aid the project manager. Therefore, I developed a tool that looks at software project management from the viewpoint of a software project manager and save at least one day in every week for the project manager. Additionally, there was also a dearth of tools that produce software metrics automatically. CMMI needs about 60 metrics and project manager has to supply them. I developed my tool PMPal to do just that - produce all the needed metrics automatically. This was my motivation - save time for the project manager and give valuable and accurate information to the organization

FW Editor: How much time have you spent developing this program? Are you constantly updating it or you are happy with the way the program looks right now?
Murali Chemuturi: I have spent a life time mastering the art and science of software project management and then spent one full year on developing the code along with my team to develop PMPal. It was thoroughly tested and works in a very stable manner. I update the tool whenever there is a new requirement that comes up.

FW Editor: At the moment PMPal was developed only for Windows operating systems. Are you planning to change that in the future and make it work on other operating systems as well?
Murali Chemuturi: No, I do not plan to develop PMPal on other platforms. But I do have plans to upgrade the platform to be web based.

FW Editor: The program that you developed has many interesting features. Can you please tell us how the Software Metrics work?
Murali Chemuturi: The metrics module takes all the data indirectly from the modules of software estimation, work breakdown structure, defect manager, change manager and time sheet. It intelligently deciphers and sifts data to generate all the needed metrics namely productivity metrics, quality metrics (defect metrics, defect origin, defect density, defect injection rate), change metrics, effort metrics (effort spent on any activity / phase, time sheet for a project/individual, effort spent on fixing defects, effort spent on implementing changes, effort spent on re-work, estimation efficiency), and schedule metrics (schedule metrics for a project, schedule meeting capability for an SPM, schedule meeting capability for a team member) and so on. PMPal gives about 65 metrics in all. PMPal also depicts metrics graphically using such charts a pie chart, bar graph and line graph.

FW Editor: Is this the first program that you have developed? How long have you been a programmer? Please tell us more about the software that you made because if the quality is the same as PMPal many people will want to see those as well.
Murali Chemuturi: I have been in software development field for over 25 years. I had been a programmer, project leader and project manager. I still code software. 70% of the PMPal code was developed by me. I am offering freely NSA, tools such as PET (personal effectiveness tool) SSUPAL (software estimation tool using software size units) TPPal (software test effort estimation tool using software test units), and Testingpal (a tool that assists testers in designing test cases and logging test results and generating necessary reports needed for software testing activity). These can be downloaded by anybody from my web site. I also have products offered for sale, namely EstimatorPal (a comprehensive software estimation tool), MRPPal ( a comprehensive material planning and management tool for small and medium manufacturing organizations).

FW Editor: Thanks for developing such a nice program. Do you have some final words for our readers?
Murali Chemuturi: I assure you of full support so that you can use the tool effectively and realize benefits. I am sure that the ROI generated by it will offset its cost within one year of use. Feel free to download the user manual from my web site and take a look at the functionality offered by PMPal. I look forward to being associated with you.