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Experiment No 12

Estimate cost of the project using COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model) / COCOMO II approach for the
assigned project.

I Practical Significance

COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model) is a regression model based on LOC, i.e number of Lines
of Code. It is a procedural cost estimate model for software projects and often used as a process of
reliably predicting the various parameters associated with making a project such as size, effort, cost,
time and quality. It was proposed by Barry Boehm in 1970 and is based on the study of 63 projects,
which make it one of the best-documented models.

According to Boehm, software cost estimation should be done through three stages: Basic
COCOMO, Intermediate COCOMO, and Complete COCOMO. Each of the models initially estimates
efforts based on the total estimated KLOC.

II Relevant Program Outcomes

All POs are listed.

III Relevant Course Outcomes

Calculate the size of the project using COCOMO approach for the assigned project.

IV Practical Learning Outcomes

Detailed descriptions of all aspects of the project to be understand.

V Practical Skills
Deeper understanding of various measures is used in project size estimation.

VI Minimum Theoretical Background

There are also different "flavors" of COCOMO in use for business estimates. For example, in a model
known as "detailed COCOMO," a step-by-step process includes attention to planning and requirements,
system design, detail design, module code and testing, integration and testing, and estimation. In
general, COCOMO provides a helpful framework to try to determine the cost and scope of a software
project.

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The key parameters which define the quality of any software products, which are also an
outcome of the Cocomo are primarily Effort & Schedule:

Effort: Amount of labor that will be required to complete a task. It is measured in person-months units.

Schedule: Simply means the amount of time required for the completion of the job, which is, of course,
proportional to the effort put. It is measured in the units of time such as weeks, months.

COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model) was proposed by Boehm. According to him, there could be three
categories of software projects: organic, semidetached, and embedded. The classification is done
considering the characteristics of the software, the development team and environment. These product
classes typically correspond to application, utility and system programs, respectively. Data processing
programs could be considered as application programs. Compilers, linkers, are examples of utility
programs. Operating systems, real-time system programs are examples of system programs. One could
easily apprehend that it would take much more time and effort to develop an OS than an attendance
management system.

The concept of organic, semidetached, and embedded systems are described below.

Organic: A development project is said to be of organic type, if The project deals with developing a well
understood application The development team is small. The team members have prior experience in
working with similar types of projects.

Semidetached: A development project can be categorized as semidetached type, if The team consists of
some experienced as well as inexperienced staff Team members may have some experience on the type
of system to be developed.

Embedded: Embedded type of development project are those, which Aims to develop a software
strongly related to machine hardware Team size is usually large.

Boehm suggested that estimation of project parameters should be done through three stages: Basic
COCOMO, Intermediate COCOMO, and Complete COCOMO.

VII Resources required

Sr No Instrument Specification Quantity Remarks

Any Desktop PC
1 Computer System with attached 10 No. Whichever is available
HardDisk

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http://csse.usc.edu/tools/cocomoii.php or
http://csse.usc.edu/csse/research/COCOMOII/cocomo2000.0/CII2000.exe use for COCOMO II -
Constructive Cost Model.

VIII Procedure

a. Read the exercise enclosed scenario. This scenario describes the software product you are
estimating, your work setting and much of the pertinent information required for
establishing the model parameters.

b. You should initially set the parameters based solely on the information provided in the
scenario. In cases where the scenario description provides no direct information regarding a
particular factor, you should assume that the nominal setting is appropriate. However, after
you have completed the exercise described below, you are encouraged to adjust other
factors based on your experience or curiosity. You will then be in a position to observe their
impact on effort and schedule.

IX Precautions

1. Change the requirement carefully.

2. Save changes if required under the guidance of teacher.

X Description

Estimation of Effort: Calculations –

Basic Model –

E = a * (KLOC)b

D= c*(E)d

P=E/D

Where,

E- Effort applied in person-months

D – Development time in duration-in-month
P- Total number of persons required to accomplish the project
KLOC ... kilo lines of code
a, b, c, d depend on the project type

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The above formula is used for the cost estimation of for the basic COCOMO model, and also is used in
the subsequent models. The constant values a and b for the Basic Model for the different categories of
system:

Intermediate Model –

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The effort calculation:

E = a * (KLOC)b * EAF (person-months)

D= c*(E)d

P=E/D

Where,

E- Effort applied in person-months

D – Development time in duration-in-month (use c and d coefficient from basic model)

P- Total number of persons required to accomplish the project

KLOC ... kilo lines of code

a, b, c, d depend on the project type

Detailed Model –

Detailed COCOMO incorporates all characteristics of the intermediate version with an assessment of the
cost driver’s impact on each step of the software engineering process.

The Four phases of detailed COCOMO are:

1. Requirements Planning and Product Design
2. Detailed design
3. Code and unit test
4. Integration and test

Effort(E) = ab * (KLOC)bb(in Person-months)

DevelopmentTime(D) = cb * (E) db (in month)

Average staff size(SS) = E/D (in Person)

Productivity(P) = KLOC / E (in KLOC/Person-month)

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XI Practical related Questions

1. Use COCOMO model to calculate

1. Effort

2. Development Time

3. Average Staff Size

4. Productivity

If estimated size of project is 400 KLOC using embedded mode.

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2. Use COCOMO Model for organic, Semidetached, embedded mode to calculate effort and
development time for size of project 600 KLOC.

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3. Using COCOMO ,estimate time required for the following:

1. A semi-detached model of software project of 2000 lines.
2. An embedded model of software of 30,000 lines.
3. An organic model of software of one lakh lines.
4. An organic model of software of 10 lakh lines.

Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s Polytechnic,Thergaon.

Software Engineering (22413)

Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s Polytechnic,Thergaon.

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List Of Student Team Members:

1. …………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………
3. …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Marks Obtained Signature Of
Teacher
Process Product Total (25)
Related(15) Related(10)

Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s Polytechnic,Thergaon.