1-7. (canceled)
8. A method of dissecting tissue, comprising: providing a surgical fastener applying apparatus having an end effector; attaching to the end effector a flexible introducer member having an elongate profile, a proximal end of the introducer member including branches configured to receive a portion of the end effector; and atraumatically advancing the introducer member through tissue.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the introducer member has first and second branches and including advancing the first and second branches toward the end effector.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the end effector has a surgical stapling anvil and including attaching the introducer member to the anvil.
11. The method of claim 8, including using attachment structure to facilitate releasable connection of the introducer member to the end effector.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein a first branch of the introducer member includes a first attachment structure, and a second branch of the introducer member includes a second attachment structure.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first attachment structure has a first protrusion and the second attachment structure has a second protrusion.
14. The method of claim 13, including connecting at least one of the first protrusion and the second protrusion in a first recess of the end effector.
15. The method of claim 8, wherein the end effector includes a first jaw movably coupled with respect to a second jaw such that target tissue is positionable therebetween.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein one of the first jaw and the second jaws terminate in a dissector tip
17. The method of claim 16, including connecting the proximal end of the introducer member to the dissector tip.
18. The method of claim 8, further comprising separating a target tissue.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising stapling the target tissue.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method, implemented at least in part by a computing device, for determining an implementation size of a software package implementation project using a sizing framework, the method comprising:
determining implementation sizes for one or more modules of the software package;
determining one or more tasks to be implemented for the software package implementation project;
determining a complexity factor for the software package implementation project; and
calculating the implementation size of the software package implementation project based at least on the implementation sizes of the one or more modules, the one or more tasks to be implemented, and the complexity factor.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
outputting the size of the software package implementation project.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining one or more tasks to be implemented for the software package implementation project comprises:
receiving, from a user, a selection of the one or more tasks from a standard task album, wherein the standard task album contains a pre-defined plurality of tasks available for selection for the software package implementation project.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the one or more tasks comprises:
a fixed portion of the task that remains the same regardless of the implementation sizes of the one or more modules; and
a variable portion of the task that changes depending on the implementation sizes of the one or more modules.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the complexity factor for the software package implementation project comprises:
receiving, from a user, a selection of one or more values for one or more complexity parameters from which the complexity factor is determined.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the implementation sizes for the one or more modules is in terms of a pre-defined standard module.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the calculating the implementation size of the software package implementation project comprises multiplying the implementation sizes of the one or more modules by the complexity factor and summing the results of the multiplication.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the calculating the implementation size of the software package implementation project comprises calculating the implementation size of the software package implementation project using one or more task equations.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the implementation size of the software package implementation project is in terms of package points, wherein one package point refers to an implementation size of a pre-defined standard software package implementation project.
10. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for causing the computing device to perform the method of claim 1.
11. A sizing framework, implemented at least in part by a computing device, for determining an implementation size of a software package implementation project, the sizing framework comprising:
a repository of one or more modules of the software package and functionality provided by each of the one or more modules, wherein an implementation size of the one or more modules is determined via selection of functionality to be implemented for the one or more modules;
a repository of a standard album of tasks of the software project, wherein one or more tasks are selected from the standard album of tasks;
a repository of effort information for each task of the standard album of tasks, wherein the effort information comprises fixed effort information for each of a plurality of complexity factors and variable effort information for each of the plurality of complexity factors; and
a repository of complexity values for corresponding complexity parameters, wherein one or more complexity factors are determined based on a selection of one or more complexity values for one or more corresponding complexity parameters.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the implementation size of the software package implementation project is calculated based at least on the implementation size of the one or more modules, the selected one or more tasks, the effort information, and the one or more complexity factors.
13. The method of claim 11 wherein the fixed effort information remains the same regardless of the implementation size of the one or more modules, and wherein the variable effort information changes depending on the implementation size of the one or more modules.
14. A sizing tool, implemented at least in part by a computing device, for determining an implementation size of a software package implementation project, the sizing tool comprising:
one or more user-interface pages for receiving a selection of one or more modules to be implemented for the software package;
one or more user-interface pages for receiving a selection of functionality of the one or more selected modules;
one or more user-interface pages for receiving a selection of one or more tasks to be implemented for the software package; and
one or more user-interface pages for receiving a selection of one or more complexity values for one or more complexity factor parameters;
wherein the sizing tool calculates the implementation size of the software package implementation project based at least on the one or more selected modules, the selected functionality of the one or more selected modules, the one or more selected tasks, and the one or more selected complexity values.
15. The sizing tool of claim 14 wherein the one or more tasks have a fixed portion and a variable portion, wherein the fixed portion remains the same regardless of the one or more selected modules, and wherein the variable portion changes depending on the one or more selected modules.
16. The sizing tool of claim 14 wherein the one or more user-interface pages for receiving a selection of one or more modules display modules from a standard album of modules from which the selection of one or modules is made.
17. The sizing tool of claim 14 wherein the receiving the selection of functionality of the one or more selected modules comprises:
receiving a number of modules points for each of the one or more selected modules.
18. The sizing tool of claim 14 wherein the sizing tool calculates a complexity factor for the software package implementation project based on the selected one or more complexity values.
19. The sizing tool of claim 18 wherein the implementation size of the software package implementation project increases with the square of the complexity factor.
20. The sizing tool of claim 14 wherein the one or more tasks are selected from a pre-defined standard album of tasks.
21. A method, implemented at least in part by a computing device, for determining effort required to implement a software package implementation project, the method comprising:
determining functionality to be implemented for one or more modules of the software package, wherein the determining functionality comprises selecting a plurality of parameter values for a corresponding plurality of level parameters;
determining one or more tasks to be implemented for the software package implementation project, wherein the determining the one or more tasks comprises selecting the one or more tasks from a plurality of project phases;
determining a complexity factor for the software package implementation project, wherein the determining the complexity factor comprises selecting a plurality of complexity factor values for a corresponding plurality of complexity factor parameters; and
calculating the effort required to implement the software package implementation project based at least on the functionality to be implemented for one or more modules, the one or more tasks to be implemented, the complexity factor, and historical productivity data.