67,801 research outputs found
COSTMODL: An automated software development cost estimation tool
The cost of developing computer software continues to consume an increasing portion of many organizations' total budgets, both in the public and private sector. As this trend develops, the capability to produce reliable estimates of the effort and schedule required to develop a candidate software product takes on increasing importance. The COSTMODL program was developed to provide an in-house capability to perform development cost estimates for NASA software projects. COSTMODL is an automated software development cost estimation tool which incorporates five cost estimation algorithms including the latest models for the Ada language and incrementally developed products. The principal characteristic which sets COSTMODL apart from other software cost estimation programs is its capacity to be completely customized to a particular environment. The estimation equations can be recalibrated to reflect the programmer productivity characteristics demonstrated by the user's organization, and the set of significant factors which effect software development costs can be customized to reflect any unique properties of the user's development environment. Careful use of a capability such as COSTMODL can significantly reduce the risk of cost overruns and failed projects
Integrating Distributed Sources of Information for Construction Cost Estimating using Semantic Web and Semantic Web Service technologies
A construction project requires collaboration of several organizations such as owner, designer, contractor, and material supplier organizations. These organizations need to exchange information to enhance their teamwork. Understanding the information received from other organizations requires specialized human resources. Construction cost estimating is one of the processes that requires information from several sources including a building information model (BIM) created by designers, estimating assembly and work item information maintained by contractors, and construction material cost data provided by material suppliers. Currently, it is not easy to integrate the information necessary for cost estimating over the Internet. This paper discusses a new approach to construction cost estimating that uses Semantic Web technology. Semantic Web technology provides an infrastructure and a data modeling format that enables accessing, combining, and sharing information over the Internet in a machine processable format. The estimating approach presented in this paper relies on BIM, estimating knowledge, and construction material cost data expressed in a web ontology language. The approach presented in this paper makes the various sources of estimating data accessible as Simple Protocol and Resource Description Framework Query Language (SPARQL) endpoints or Semantic Web Services. We present an estimating application that integrates distributed information provided by project designers, contractors, and material suppliers for preparing cost estimates. The purpose of this paper is not to fully automate the estimating process but to streamline it by reducing human involvement in repetitive cost estimating activities
Reasons behind ERP package adoption: a diffusion of innovations perspective
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages have been widely adopted and it is becoming clear that
this is driven by multiple rationales that may be simultaneously at odds and complimentary. In this
paper, we aim to develop a greater understanding of these rationales by taking ERP packages to be
innovations and analysing their adoption with reference to the theory of diffusion of innovations. In
particular, we consider the attributes of ERP packages that may affect their adoption such as relative
advantage, compatibility, complexiblity, trialability and observability. We argue that users’
perceptions of these attributes are not always accurate and these ’misconceptions’ can further explain
reasons for ERP adoption or rejection. Although our analysis aims to provide rich insights into the
adoption of ERP packages, the results of the study are arguably of further interest to the more general
study of packaged software and the more established literature on custom development
Learning Motion Predictors for Smart Wheelchair using Autoregressive Sparse Gaussian Process
Constructing a smart wheelchair on a commercially available powered
wheelchair (PWC) platform avoids a host of seating, mechanical design and
reliability issues but requires methods of predicting and controlling the
motion of a device never intended for robotics. Analog joystick inputs are
subject to black-box transformations which may produce intuitive and adaptable
motion control for human operators, but complicate robotic control approaches;
furthermore, installation of standard axle mounted odometers on a commercial
PWC is difficult. In this work, we present an integrated hardware and software
system for predicting the motion of a commercial PWC platform that does not
require any physical or electronic modification of the chair beyond plugging
into an industry standard auxiliary input port. This system uses an RGB-D
camera and an Arduino interface board to capture motion data, including visual
odometry and joystick signals, via ROS communication. Future motion is
predicted using an autoregressive sparse Gaussian process model. We evaluate
the proposed system on real-world short-term path prediction experiments.
Experimental results demonstrate the system's efficacy when compared to a
baseline neural network model.Comment: The paper has been accepted to the International Conference on
Robotics and Automation (ICRA2018
Исследование стоимости и трудоёмкости разработки программного обеспечения для решения задачи управления запасами предприятия
The article describes the process of estimating the cost and complexity of software development for the task of inventory management of a commercial enterprise to improve the decision-making process at the stage of formation of requirements for similar software products. There are different approaches to inventory management of a commercial enterprise. The algorithms implemented in the system are based on the constraint theory tool –dynamic inventory buffer management. Inventory management according to the theory of restrictions allows to provide a high level of availability of
goods with minimal inventory in the system. After analyzing the subject area of inventory management and the methodology of dynamic inventory buffer management, a list of functional and non-functional software requirements was formed, and a data model was designed. The information obtained was used to compile a list of logical files and transactions specific to a particular requirement. From the resulting list of files and transactions, it is determined which elementary data, elementary records and links to files they consist of. The information obtained was used to estimate the size of
the software at non-aligned functional points. To take into account the impact of non-functional requirements on the complexity of software development, the VAF alignment factor was calculated, for which it is necessary to give a qualitative assessment of the impact of system-wide requirements on the complexity of the software. The estimation of the complexity of the development was obtained using the COCOMO II methodology, namely, using seven multipliers of the complexity for the case of the initial assessment at the stage of approval of requirements. The calculations were obtained for teams with different professional level and equipment, in the conditions of a significant tightening of the development process, a high level of certainty of risks, without a rigid schedule of work. The cost of development was calculated for several common programming
languages: J2EE, C#, C++.В статье описывается процесс оценки стоимости и трудоемкости разработки программного обеспечения задачи управления запасами торгового предприятия для улучшения процесса принятия решений на этапе формирования требований к аналогичным программным продуктам. Существуют различные подходы к управлению запасами торгового предприятия. Алгоритмы, реализованные в системе основаны на инструменте теории ограничений – динамическом управлении буфером запасов. Управление запасами по теории ограничений позволяет обеспечить высокий уровень наличия товара при минимальных запасах в системе. Проанализировав предметную область управления запасами и методологию динамического управления буфером товарных запасов был сформирован список функциональных и нефункциональных требований к программного обеспечения, а также спроектирована модель данных. Полученная информация была использована для составления
перечня логических файлов и транзакций, характерных для конкретного требования. Из полученного списка файлов и транзакций определено, из каких элементарных данных, элементарных записей и ссылок на файлы они состоят. Полученная информация была использована для оценки размера программного обеспечения в не выровненных функциональных точках. Для учета влияния нефункциональных требований на трудоемкость разработки программного обеспечения был посчитан фактор выравнивания VAF, для чего необходимо дать качественную оценку влияния общесистемных требований на трудоемкость программного обеспечения. Оценка трудоемкости разработки была получена с использованием методологии COCOMO II, а именно с использованием семи множителей трудоемкости для случая первичной оценки на этапе утверждения требований. Расчеты были получены для команд с разным профессиональным уровнем и оборудованием, в условиях значительного ужесточения процесса разработки, высоким уровнем определенности рисков, без жесткого графика работ. Стоимость разработки была рассчитана для нескольких распространенных языков программирования: J2EE, C#, C++
Estimating, planning and managing Agile Web development projects under a value-based perspective
Context: The processes of estimating, planning and managing are crucial for software development projects,
since the results must be related to several business strategies. The broad expansion of the Internet
and the global and interconnected economy make Web development projects be often characterized by
expressions like delivering as soon as possible, reducing time to market and adapting to undefined
requirements. In this kind of environment, traditional methodologies based on predictive techniques
sometimes do not offer very satisfactory results. The rise of Agile methodologies and practices has
provided some useful tools that, combined with Web Engineering techniques, can help to establish a
framework to estimate, manage and plan Web development projects.
Objective: This paper presents a proposal for estimating, planning and managing Web projects, by
combining some existing Agile techniques with Web Engineering principles, presenting them as an
unified framework which uses the business value to guide the delivery of features.
Method: The proposal is analyzed by means of a case study, including a real-life project, in order to obtain
relevant conclusions.
Results: The results achieved after using the framework in a development project are presented, including
interesting results on project planning and estimation, as well as on team productivity throughout the
project.
Conclusion: It is concluded that the framework can be useful in order to better manage Web-based
projects, through a continuous value-based estimation and management process.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-
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