Software Cost Estimation With

Use Case Points Introduction

February 12, 2007Business Analysis, Product Management, Project
Management,Requirements, Requirements Models, Use Cases

[Update: Welcome carnival readers, thanks for the visit, we hope you like this and
the other articles here and stick around to share with the community! Scott]
Estimating the amount of work required to deliver software is hard. Estimating the
amount of work in the very early stages of a project is even harder. A method was
developed to estimate the amount of work required by analyzing what the system will
allow its users to do. That method is called Estimating With Use Case Points. This
article is an introduction to the concept.
Why Is Estimation Hard?
Predicting the amount of work required to complete a job requires an understanding
of the job. At the beginning of a software project, people dont have a detailed
understanding of what the job actually entails. Imagine that your job is to create a
website that allows people to create, manage and share their family trees (details of
their ancestry). With that little amount of information, you cant reliably predict how
much work is involved. You need to know a lot more.
How Do I Start The Estimation Process?
One way you can approach the work is to start by defining all the things the software
will do. You can list out the functionality, and then estimate the amount of effort
required to create that functionality. With experienced team members you can get
good estimates of how much effort is required to create the functionality. The
problem is that you dont know what the functionality needs to be at least not at the
beginning of a project.
The functionality you need derives directly from what the software needs to do. What
the software needs to do is meet the goals of the users. OK, so the first step is to
define therelevant goals of the users. Wait the first step is to define who the
primary users are.

1. Define the primary users of the software.

Back to our example genealogy example. The primary users you are targeting are
30-50 year olds who have aging parents and who realize that they are about to lose
a lot of knowledge about their ancestry. The secondary users are other family
members and other software applications (you want to expose an API that helps
integrate this site with other social networking sites). Now you can identify their
goals.
2. Define the goals of the users.
OK, now you have users and goals. But goals cant be estimated either. How much
effort does it take to help someone bring their extended family close together? How
much money must be spent to help someone get a sense of identity?
Addressing the personal goals of users is critical to creating great software. The next
step is to identify the things that your users will do in order to achieve their goals. In
astructured requirements world, use cases support goals. This is why you write use
cases.

When your approach is user-centric (like this one), you can incorporate some of the
ideas from the interaction design camp.

In this case, you use a persons practical goals to identify the use cases that support
the goals of your primary users and secondary users. You can narrow down that list
of use cases to only include those that involve your software.
3. Define the use cases.
You can use any of a number of formats for documenting the use cases.

You can document usage scenarios.

You can document formal use cases.

You can document informal use cases (free informal use case template for
MS Word).

You can create UML 2.0 use case diagrams.

For the purpose of software cost estimation, informal use cases are the fastest to
define.Formal use cases provide a way to capture additional detail that will help to
validate the complexity of the use cases. The additional detail available in the formal
use case document is not, however, needed to create a project cost estimate using

use case points.

4. Calculate the effort to implement the use cases.
You can use the use case points methodology to determine the relative size of the
project, and then convert that to predicted man-hours.
Use Case Points
Use case points is a measurement of how much effort is required to write software
based on how much work the software is intended to do. The use case point method
was created by Gustav Karner of Rational Software Corporation in the mid 1990s.
This method was based on a study of about 200 projects with an average size of 5
man-years of effort. The use case point method of estimation was found to be within
10% of the actual results for over 95% of the projects. This method has since been
incorporated into the RUP methodology.
The cost estimation technique of use case points evaluates the following factors to
determine an estimate of cost:
1. Technical Factors of the Implementation. Primarily non-functional
requirementsof the system.
2. Environmental Factors. Mostly characterizing the implementation team, but
touching on process as well.
3. Use Case Quantity and Complexity. The number of use cases and the
number of steps within the use cases.
4. Actor Quantity and Complexity. The number and type of actors and
interface.
5. Effort Estimation. The previously collected data is converted into man-hours.
6. Free Excel Spreadsheet for Calculating UCP. Download it today. Its free.
In this series of articles we will discuss what is involved in each step.
Summary
The earlier in the cycle you can develop reliable cost estimates for software, the
greater the chance that you will achieve software product success.

Software Cost Estimation With

Use Case Points Free Excel
Spreadsheet
February 20, 2007Business Analysis, Product Management, Project
Management,Requirements, Requirements Models, Use Cases

We just completed a series of articles detailing how to use Use Case Points for
software cost estimation. In this article we have a free MS Excel Spreadsheet for
calculating use case points. Download it today to make it easier to do your project
cost estimations.
Free Excel Spreadsheet Download
Download the use case point spreadsheet (zipped) for free today from Tyner Blain.
Background
This is the seventh article in a series on applying use case points to create reliable
software cost estimates. What makes use case points different is that they allow the
project cost estimation to happen much earlier in the process. This cost estimation
technique was developed by Gustav Karner for Rational Software Corporation in the
mid 1990s.
The introduction to software cost estimation is the right place to start if you came to
this article first. In the previous articles we discussed:
1. Technical Factors of the Implementation. Characterizing (non-functional)
requirements of the software.
2. Environmental Factors. Describing the team and the process.
3. Use Case Quantity and Complexity. Representing what the software is
asked to accomplish.
4. Actor Quantity and Complexity. Enumerating the users of the software.
5. Final Calculations. Doing the math.

The free excel spreadsheet in this article will do the math for you. It provides an easy
way to organize (and edit) your estimates, and presents the final calculation results
for you.
Using the Use Case Points Spreadsheet
The spreadsheet has five tabs, one for each area of data collection and processing.
The tabs map directly to the individual articles in the series (linked above). Each tab
also includes links back to the articles for future review.

To calculate the use case points, you only have to fill in the highlighted (yellow) cells
in each tab of the spreadsheet. All of the math is done for you.
UCP Technical Complexity Factors
Enter the relative magnitude of each technical factor. Brief descriptions of each factor
are included for quick reference.

UCP Environment Factors

Enter the relative weightings of the environmental factors for the project. Brief
descriptions are included for reference.

UCP Use Case Analysis

Enter the names and complexity of each use case.

Note that the complexity values are selected from a drop-down instead of being
typed in. This allows for automatic calculation, just from listing the use cases.

UCP Actor Analysis

Enter the names and types of all actors that will use the system.

The actor analysis section also uses a drop-down to select the type of actor.
UCP Final Calculation
Return to the final calculation tab at the front of the spreadsheet.

All of the work has been done for you. If you want to use a different ratio for
converting from use case points to hours of effort, just change the highlighted value.
Conclusion
This concludes our series on software cost estimation with use case points. With this
free excel spreadsheet, you dont have an excuse for not calculating the use case
points on your project. The time you will invest is minimal. The value may be
substantial.