Project risk/investment app

Overview

The app allows the user to enter the most important quantities about a software project (cost, time, utility), along with uncertainty factors for each.

It then displays a version of the Sharpe Ratio customized for this purpose. This ratio can be used to directly compare multiple projects to pick the best investment.

Additionally, it performs a sensitivity analysis on each parameter, informing the user which parameters have the most impact, and therefore which improvements might best affect how good of an investment it is.

The app includes context-sensitive help.

Technical details

The version of the Sharpe Ratio is my own derivation designed specifically for this purpose.

The app includes Javascript in the front-end, an API written in Python, and the mathematical model running in R.

The sensitivity analysis was originally by Monte Carlo simulation, but I later rewrote that to by evaluating the symbolic partial derivatives of the Sharpe Ratio.