The new V-Modell XT Project Assistant

The German standard V-Modell XT supports project teams in the optimal implementation of IT projects. As a process model, V-Modell XT defines roles, products, and activities for successful project implementation and thus serves as a blueprint for your own project. Project managers benefit from the free “Project Assistant” tool, which supports them in adapting V-Modell XT to the individual needs of their project. The Project Assistant has been completely redesigned and is presented below.

Basics

The V-Modell XT is a flexible model that must be adapted to the requirements of each IT project – this process is called tailoring. The Project Assistant guides project managers through this process by walking them through the essential content and organizational aspects with a structured questionnaire.

The answers identify the roles, products, and activities relevant to the project. This results in a tailor-made process model as a basis for project implementation. For example, while the V-Modell XT has 38 roles, a small client project often only needs 15. The Project Assistant hides unnecessary roles and delivers a focused, needs-based model.

The Project Assistant is open-source software developed by WEIT e.V. and available free of charge at https://pa.dipa.online/. It is web-based, requires only a current browser, does not require registration, and does not store any personal or project-specific data.

Tailoring

On the start page of the project wizard (see Figure 1), the project manager first selects the underlying model: V-Modell XT or V-Modell XT Bund, each in versions 2.3 or 2.4. One of the six available project type variants is then selected to provide initial guidance on the relevant aspects.

In the next step, the project manager is guided through a questionnaire (see Figure 2). The questions are formulated in such a way that they cover the essential aspects of a project. Both content-related and organizational aspects are taken into account. The selection of questions matches the selected project type variant. The questions are answered by selecting from a list of predefined answers.

Once the questionnaire has been completed, the tailoring process is finished. Clicking the “Generate documentation” button creates a customized version of the V-Modell XT (see Figure 3). This contains only content that is relevant to the project based on the answers entered. What’s new is that instead of a PDF file, the documentation is now output as a web page. Since all tailoring information is encoded in the URL, it can be easily shared with project participants.

Product Templates

Based on the documentation, the project manager decides which results are actually needed for the project. Customized templates can be created for these via the Product Templates menu item (see Figure 4).

The tool displays a hierarchical overview of all product types and allows individual types to be selected for export. In addition, the chapter structures that are affected by the tailoring can be viewed. Each chapter contains a brief description of the expected content; these can be displayed at any time via a question mark icon. Some chapters also contain sample texts that serve as inspiration. The project manager decides whether these sample texts and topic descriptions are to be included in the templates. By clicking on “Generate templates,” the selected document templates are downloaded and are ready for further processing.

Conclusion

The project assistant makes it much easier to get started with the V-Modell XT application. The guided questionnaire quickly generates project-specific process models that reduce effort and increase relevance. The new product templates offer clear structures and helpful content that simplify the start of project implementation.

The free tool increases the quality and efficiency of IT projects and can also be run on your own servers if required.