Estimation

Software estimation
Estimation is an attempt to
determine how much money, how
much effort, how many resources, and
how much time it will take to build a
specific software-based system or
product.

Fundamental estimation
questions
How much effort is required to complete
an activity?
How much calendar time is needed to
complete an activity?
What is the total cost of an activity?
Project estimation and scheduling are
interleaved management activities.

Estimation techniques :LOC

FP
COCOMO

Line of code(LOC)
LOC is the simplest among all metrics
available to estimate project size.
Using this metric, the project size is
estimated by counting the number of
source instructions in the developed
program.
Avoid counting the comment lines.

Function point (FP)

One of the important advantages of
using the function point metric is that it
can be used to easily estimate the size
of a software product directly from the
problem specification.
This is in contrast to the LOC metric,
where the size can be accurately
determined only after the product has
fully been developed.

The idea behind the function point

metric is that the size of a software
product is directly dependent on the
number of different functions
Basically there are five functions we
used to estimate cost.

Number of external inputs(EIs): Each

data item input by the user is counted.
Data inputs should be distinguished from
user inquiries. Inquiries are user
commands such as print-account-balance.
Inquiries are counted separately.
Number of external outputs(EOs): The
outputs considered refer to reports
printed, screen outputs, error messages
produced, etc.
Number of external inquiries(EQs):

Number of logical files(ILFs): Each

logical file is counted. A logical file means
groups of logically related data. Thus,
logical files can be data structures or
physical files.
Number of external interface
files(EIFs): Here the interfaces
considered are the interfaces used to
exchange information with other systems.
Examples of such interfaces are data files

COCOMO
COCOMO (CONSTRUCTIVE COST MODEL)

Interactive cost estimation software

package that models the cost, effort and
schedule for a new software
development activity.
Derived from statistical regression of
data from a base of 63 past projects
(2000 - 512,000 DSIs)

COCOMO Mode & Model

Three development environments
(modes)
Organic Mode
Semidetached Mode
Embedded Mode

Three increasingly complex models

Basic Model
Intermediate Model
Detailed Model

COCOMO modes

Organic
Organic: A development project can be
considered of organic type, if the project
deals with developing a well understood
application program, the size of the
development team is reasonably small,
and the team members are experienced
in developing similar types of projects.

Semidetached
Semidetached: A development project
can be considered of semidetached type,
if the development consists of a mixture
of experienced and inexperienced staff.
Team members may have limited
experience on related systems but may
be unfamiliar with some aspects of the
system being developed.

Embedded
Embedded: A development project is
considered to be of embedded type, if
the software being developed is strongly
coupled to complex hardware, or if the
stringent regulations on the operational
procedures exist.

COCOMO models

Basic COCOMO Model

The basic COCOMO model gives an approximate
estimate of the project parameters. The basic
COCOMO estimation model is given by the
following expressions:
Effort = a1 (KLOC)a2 PM
Tdev = b1 x (Effort)b2 Months

Where

KLOC is the estimated size of the software

product expressed in Kilo Lines of Code,

 a1, a2, b1, b2 are constants for each category of

software products,
Tdev is the estimated time to develop the
software, expressed in months,
Effort is the total effort required to develop the
software product, expressed in person months
(PMs).

Estimation of development
effort
For the three classes of software
products, the formulas for estimating the
effort based on the code size are shown
below:
Organic : Effort = 2.4(KLOC)1.05 PM
Semi-detached : Effort = 3.0(KLOC)1.12
PM
Embedded : Effort = 3.6(KLOC)1.20 PM

Estimation of development
time
For the three classes of software
products, the formulas for estimating the
development time based on the effort
are given below:
Organic : Tdev = 2.5(Effort)0.38
Months
Semi-detached : Tdev = 2.5(Effort)0.35
Months
Embedded : Tdev = 2.5(Effort)0.32
Months

Intermediate COCOMO
model
The basic COCOMO model assumes that
effort and development time are
functions of the product size alone.
However, a host of other project
parameters besides the product size
affect the effort required to develop the
product as well as the development
time.

Cost drivers:Product attributes

1.Required software reliability
2.Size of application database
3.Complexity of the product
Hardware attributes
1.Run-time performance constraints
2.Memory constraints
3.Volatility of the virtual machine
environment

Personnel attributes
1.Analyst capability
2.Software engineering capability
3.Applications experience
4.Virtual machine experience
5.Programming language experience
Project attributes
1.Use of software tools
2.Application of software engineering
methods

Intermediate COCOMO formula

E=ai(KLoC)(bi).EAF
Softwareproject
Organic
Semi-detached
Embedded

ai bi
3.2

1.05
3.0
2.8

1.12
1.20

Complete COCOMO model

A major shortcoming of both the basic
and intermediate COCOMO models is
that they consider a software product as
a single homogeneous entity.
However, most large systems are made
up several smaller sub-systems. These
sub-systems may have different
characteristics. For example, some subsystems may be considered as organic
type, semidetached, and embedded.

The intermediate COCOMO model

recognizes this fact and refines the initial
estimate obtained using the basic
COCOMO expressions .

The complete COCOMO model considers

these differences in characteristics of the
subsystems and estimates the effort and
development time as the sum of the
estimates for the individual subsystems.
Database part
Graphical User Interface (GUI) part
Communication part