A systematic review of software development cost estimation studies

This paper aims to provide a basis for the improvement of software estimation research through a systematic review of previous work. The review identifies 304 software cost estimation papers in 76 journals and classifies the papers according to research topic, estimation approach, research approach, study context and data set. A web-based library of these cost estimation papers is provided to ease the identification of relevant estimation research results. The review results combined with other knowledge provide support for recommendations for future software cost estimation research, including: 1) Increase the breadth of the search for relevant studies, 2) Search manually for relevant papers within a carefully selected set of journals when completeness is essential, 3) Conduct more studies on estimation methods commonly used by the software industry, and, 4) Increase the awareness of how properties of the data sets impact the results when evaluating estimation methods

Estimación del mantenimiento de programas SQL

Los entornos de cuarta generación sustituyen cada vez más a los lenguajes de tercera generación como plataforma de desarrollo habitual de sistemas informáticos, por lo que se hace imprescindible controlar su complejidad y facilidad de mantenimiento. Un aspecto importante al desarrollar aplicaciones software es poder estimar el tiempo de mantenimiento de estas aplicaciones. Una forma de realizar este control es mediante la utilización de métricas específicas para estos entornos, campo que ha recibido poca atención dentro de la ingeniería del software. En este trabajo se desarrolla, utilizando el método de análisis de regresión lineal, un modelo de predicción para estimar el tiempo de mantenimiento de aplicaciones basadas en el lenguaje SQL. Para construir este modelo se ha utilizado una aplicación compuesta de 143 programas, que utilizan predominantemente el lenguaje SQL en modo consulta. El modelo desarrollado tiene una exactitud de MMRE=23,687% y PRED(0,25) = 0,825Área: Ingeniería de Software - Bases de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Function Point: A Quality Loom for the Effort Assessment of Software Systems

Summary Accurate estimation of software development effort is critical in software engineering. Underestimates lead to time pressures that may compromise full functional development and thorough testing of software. In the existing systems, the effort and cost estimation are more concentrated only on the development of software systems alone and not on the quality coverage. Hence the quality assurance for the effort estimation is proposed in this paper. To assure this quality, the ISO 9126 quality factors are used. For weighing the factors, the function point metric is used as an estimation approach. The classification of software system for which the effort estimation is to be calculated based on the COCOMO model classes. An exhaustive literature survey reveals that attention is not paid to the following for estimating the effort: 1. Function point, 2. COCOMO classes of systems, and 3. ISO9126 quality factors. Thus by combining all the three parts, a new effort estimation method is developed as a research approach

A Review on Major UI Design Guidelines

Abstract: Efficient programs are characterized by several parameters including the User Interface Design (UID). From the end-user's point of view, the user interface is the representative of the program. Therefore, friendlier software with limited capabilities is viewed to be more useable than a comprehensive software; in other words, the UI has a great impact on the software to choose. There has been a great amount of work on UID guidelines. In this paper, we introduce the fundamental guidelines that a designer should consider to increase usability. We consider new aspects including user access, language selection and other technical options in the forms. The subjects are studied independently from the application and are applicable to all kinds of environments such as web based, desktop, and embedded software. Following these guidelines results in a software which is friendlier, easier to understand and use, more reusable and less tedious

Software maintenance cost estimation with fourth generation languages

This thesis addresses the problem of allocation of software maintenance resources in a commercial environment using fourth generation language systems. The activity of maintaining software has a poor image amongst software managers, as it often appears that there is no end product. This image will only improve when software maintenance can be discussed in business terms, one of the main reasons being that the maintenance costs can then be compared to the costs of not maintaining the system. Software maintenance will continue to exist in the fourth generation environment, as systems will still be required to evolve. Cost estimation is an imprecise science, as there are many variables such as human, technical, environmental and political which can effect the ultimate costs of software and the resources required to maintain it. Some of the factors appear more obvious than others, for example an experienced programmer can achieve a specific task in less time than an inexperienced one. To fully estimate software maintenance costs these factors need to be identified and weights assigned to them. This thesis examines a means to identify these factors and their weights, and produces the first cut of an equation which will enable the software maintenance resources in a fourth generation language to be estimated

Schätzwerterfüllung in Softwareentwicklungsprojekten

Effort estimates are of utmost economic importance in software development projects. Estimates bridge the gap between managers and the invisible and almost artistic domain of developers. They give a means to managers to track and control projects. Consequently, numerous estimation approaches have been developed over the past decades, starting with Allan Albrecht's Function Point Analysis in the late 1970s. However, this work neither tries to develop just another estimation approach, nor focuses on improving accuracy of existing techniques. Instead of characterizing software development as a technological problem, this work understands software development as a sociological challenge. Consequently, this work focuses on the question, what happens when developers are confronted with estimates representing the major instrument of management control? Do estimates influence developers, or are they unaffected? Is it irrational to expect that developers start to communicate and discuss estimates, conform to them, work strategically, hide progress or delay? This study shows that it is inappropriate to assume an independency of estimated and actual development effort. A theory is developed and tested, that explains how developers and managers influence the relationship between estimated and actual development effort. The theory therefore elaborates the phenomenon of estimation fulfillment.Schätzwerte in Softwareentwicklungsprojekten sind von besonderer ökonomischer Wichtigkeit. Sie überbrücken die Lücke zwischen Projektleitern und der unsichtbaren und beinahe künstlerischen Domäne der Entwickler. Sie stellen ein Instrument dar, welches erlaubt, Projekte zu verfolgen und zu kontrollieren. Daher wurden in den vergangenen vier Jahrzehnten diverse Schätzverfahren entwickelt, beginnend mit der "Function Point" Analyse von Allan Albrecht. Diese Arbeit versucht allerdings weder ein neues Schätzverfahren zu entwickeln noch bestehende Verfahren zu verbessern. Anstatt Softwareentwicklung als technologisches Problem zu charakterisieren, wird in dieser Arbeit eine soziologische Perspektive genutzt. Dementsprechend fokussiert diese Arbeit die Frage, was passiert, wenn Entwickler mit Schätzwerten konfrontiert werden, die das wichtigste Kontrollinstrument des Managements darstellen? Lassen sich Entwickler von diesen Werten beeinflussen oder bleiben sie davon unberührt? Wäre es irrational, zu erwarten, dass Entwickler Schätzwerte kommunizieren, diese diskutieren, sich diesen anpassen, strategisch arbeiten sowie Verzögerungen verschleiern? Die vorliegende Studie zeigt, dass die Unabhängigkeitsannahme von Schätzwerten und tatsächlichem Entwicklungsaufwand unbegründet ist. Es wird eine Theorie entwickelt, welche erklärt, wie Entwickler und Projektleiter die Beziehung von Schätzungen und Aufwand beeinflussen und dass das Phänomen der Schätzwerterfüllung auftreten kann

Quantitative functional complexity analysis of commercial software systems

Digitisation of this thesis was sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Measurement of database systems: an empirical study

There is comparatively little work, other than function points, that tackles the problem of building prediction systems for software that is dominated by data considerations, in particular systems developed using 4GLs. We describe an empirical investigation of 70 such systems. Various easily obtainable counts were extracted from data models (e.g. number of entities) and from specifications (e.g. number of screens). Using simple regression analysis, prediction systems of implementation size with accuracy of MMRE=21% were constructed. Our work shows that it is possible to develop simple and effective prediction systems based upon metrics easily derived from functional specifications and data models.Unpublished1. Albrecht, A.J. and Gaffney, J.R. Software function, source lines of code, and development effort prediction: a software science validation. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 9, 6 (1983), 639-648. 2. Boehm, B.W., Software Engineering Economics. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1981. 3. Bourque, P. and Côté, V. An experiment in software sizing with structured analysis metrics. Journal of Systems and Software 15 (1991), 159-172. 4. Coupal, D. and Robillard, P.N. Factor analysis of source code metrics. Journal of Systems and Software 12 (1990), 263-269. 5. DeMarco, T. Controlling Software Projects. Yourdon Inc., New York NY, 1982. 6. Gray, R.H.M., Carey, B.N., McGlynn, N.A. and Pengelly, A.D. Design metrics for database systems. BT Technology Journal 9, 4 (1991), 69-79. 7. Ince, D.C., Shepperd, M.J., Pengelly, A. and Benwood, H. The metrification of data designs, in Proc 3rd Annual Oregon Workshop on Software Metrics, March 17-19, 1991, (Also reprinted in Data Resource Management, Summer 1992). 8. Kemerer, C.F. Reliability of function point measurements: A field experiment. Communications of the ACM 36, 2 (1993), 85-97. 9. Kitchenham, B.A. and Kansala, K. Inter-item correlations among function points, in Proc. 1st Intl. Symposium on Software Metrics. Baltimore, MD: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1993. 10. Kitchenham, B.A. and Pickard, L.M. Towards a constructive quality model. Part II: Statistical techniques for modelling software in the ESPRIT REQUEST project. Software Engineering Journal (July 1987), 114-126. 11. Low, G.C. and Jeffery, D.R. Function points in the estimation and evaluation of the software process. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 16, 1 (1990), 64-71. 12. MacDonell, S.G. Comparative review of functional complexity assessment methods for effort estimation. Software Engineering Journal (May 1994), 107-116. 13. Neter, J., Wasserman, W. and Kutner, M.H. Applied Linear Regression Models. Irwin: Homewood IL, 1983. 14. Symons, C.R. Software sizing and estimating: Mk II FPA (function point analysis). John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester, UK, 1991. 15. Verner, J. and Tate, G. Estimating size and effort in fourth-generation development. IEEE Software 5 (1988), 15-22. 16. Wittig, G.E. and Finnie, G.R. Using artificial neural networks and function points to estimate 4GL software development effort. Australian Journal of Information Systems (May 1994), 87-94

Measurement of database systems: an empirical study

There is comparatively little work, other than function points, that tackles the problem of building prediction systems for software that is dominated by data considerations, in particular systems developed using 4GLs. We describe an empirical investigation of 70 such systems. Various easily obtainable counts were extracted from data models (e.g. number of entities) and from specifications (e.g. number of screens). Using simple regression analysis, prediction systems of implementation size with accuracy of MMRE=21% were constructed. Our work shows that it is possible to develop simple and effective prediction systems based upon metrics easily derived from functional specifications and data models.Unpublished1. Albrecht, A.J. and Gaffney, J.R. Software function, source lines of code, and development effort prediction: a software science validation. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 9, 6 (1983), 639-648. 2. Boehm, B.W., Software Engineering Economics. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1981. 3. Bourque, P. and Côté, V. An experiment in software sizing with structured analysis metrics. Journal of Systems and Software 15 (1991), 159-172. 4. Coupal, D. and Robillard, P.N. Factor analysis of source code metrics. Journal of Systems and Software 12 (1990), 263-269. 5. DeMarco, T. Controlling Software Projects. Yourdon Inc., New York NY, 1982. 6. Gray, R.H.M., Carey, B.N., McGlynn, N.A. and Pengelly, A.D. Design metrics for database systems. BT Technology Journal 9, 4 (1991), 69-79. 7. Ince, D.C., Shepperd, M.J., Pengelly, A. and Benwood, H. The metrification of data designs, in Proc 3rd Annual Oregon Workshop on Software Metrics, March 17-19, 1991, (Also reprinted in Data Resource Management, Summer 1992). 8. Kemerer, C.F. Reliability of function point measurements: A field experiment. Communications of the ACM 36, 2 (1993), 85-97. 9. Kitchenham, B.A. and Kansala, K. Inter-item correlations among function points, in Proc. 1st Intl. Symposium on Software Metrics. Baltimore, MD: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1993. 10. Kitchenham, B.A. and Pickard, L.M. Towards a constructive quality model. Part II: Statistical techniques for modelling software in the ESPRIT REQUEST project. Software Engineering Journal (July 1987), 114-126. 11. Low, G.C. and Jeffery, D.R. Function points in the estimation and evaluation of the software process. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 16, 1 (1990), 64-71. 12. MacDonell, S.G. Comparative review of functional complexity assessment methods for effort estimation. Software Engineering Journal (May 1994), 107-116. 13. Neter, J., Wasserman, W. and Kutner, M.H. Applied Linear Regression Models. Irwin: Homewood IL, 1983. 14. Symons, C.R. Software sizing and estimating: Mk II FPA (function point analysis). John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester, UK, 1991. 15. Verner, J. and Tate, G. Estimating size and effort in fourth-generation development. IEEE Software 5 (1988), 15-22. 16. Wittig, G.E. and Finnie, G.R. Using artificial neural networks and function points to estimate 4GL software development effort. Australian Journal of Information Systems (May 1994), 87-94