A survey on software estimation in the Norwegian industry
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We provide an overview of the estimation methods that software companies apply to estimate their projects, why those methods are chosen, and how accurate they are. In order to improve estimation accuracy, such knowledge is essential. We conducted an in-depth survey, where information was collected through structured interviews with senior managers from 18 different companies and project managers of 52 different projects. We analyzed information about estimation approach, effort estimation accuracy and bias, schedule estimation accuracy and bias, delivered functionality and other estimation related information. Our results suggest, for example, that average effort overruns are 41%, that the estimation performance has not changed much the last 10-20 years, that expert estimation is the dominating estimation method, that estimation accuracy is not much impacted by use of formal estimation models, and that software managers tend to believe that the estimation accuracy of their company is better than it actually is.Keywords:
Norwegian
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Software effort and time estimation has always been one of the biggest challenges for the software project managers around the world. Accurate effort estimation plays a significant role in the success of a project. The aim of this study is to identify the best software effort estimation technique among the popular software estimation techniques being used in Pakistani software houses employing agile methodologies. An online survey performed in this study has shown that the two most widely-used effort estimation techniques in Pakistan are Expert Judgment and Planning Poker. To determine which of these two effort estimation techniques gives better estimates, a controlled experiment involving two groups of professionals was performed. In one group, individual estimators used Expert Judgment while in the other group a team of estimators used Planning Poker to estimate the effort of real-life projects. Results of the comparison of these effort estimates with actual effort values have shown that the estimates obtained through Planning Poker appear to be more accurate than the estimates obtained through Expert Judgement. This finding is expected to be beneficial for professionals involved in managing software projects.
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This chapter provides an overview of what must be verified at each phase of a software estimation process, including the direct inputs used to build an estimation process, the use of the productivity model itself, the adjustment phase, the budgeting phase and the re-estimation process. Software engineers and managers use an estimation process to make commitments that are financially significant for their organization and professionally important for their own career. The chapter verifies the direct inputs to the estimation process. The first verification step consists of identifying the inputs to the estimation process and documenting the quality of those inputs when estimating a specific project for a specific context. The productivity model is not verified each time an estimate is made for a project. Typically, it is verified only once, when the productivity model is first built, or when an estimation tool is selected from external sources.
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Successful management of a software project, besides a well-defined project development process, requires an early estimate of project complexity. In a prevailing practice, software development costs usually have been determined a posteriori i.e. after software project implementation. It is essential however, to know this estimate a priori, i.e., before commencement of works. This paper presents an attempt to construct a methodology that would enable an early estimate of software development cost and its refinements during subsequent development phases. The methodology assumes an object-oriented approach based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Unified Software Development Process (USDP). It outlines an Use Case Driven Architecture-Centric, Iterative and Incremental estimate process that could significantly improve and simplify early cost estimates. The presented methodology is illustrated on example of the POST software development project.
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Software Development Effort and Cost Estimation are carried out by Software Size Estimation. The recent trend of Software Cost Estimation method is focused on the user's value. Function Point (FP) is one of the most frequently cited measures which are based on the economic value of the focus of user. Function Point Analysis (FPA) measures software size decided by the factors of information process size and technical complexity. It is independent of language and tool to be used for project development. It is possible for Software Size to be estimated at the early stage of development life cycle. This paper estimates Software Size Estimation by using FPA. We estimates the development cost based on the criterion of software measurement. In this study, we compare the estimated development cost with actual development cost. It analyze the cause occurred by the difference between two development cost and propose new way to reduce their gap.
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We provide an overview of the estimation methods that software companies apply to estimate their projects, why those methods are chosen, and how accurate they are. In order to improve estimation accuracy, such knowledge is essential. We conducted an in-depth survey, where information was collected through structured interviews with senior managers from 18 different companies and project managers of 52 different projects. We analyzed information about estimation approach, effort estimation accuracy and bias, schedule estimation accuracy and bias, delivered functionality and other estimation related information. Our results suggest, for example, that average effort overruns are 41%, that the estimation performance has not changed much the last 10-20 years, that expert estimation is the dominating estimation method, that estimation accuracy is not much impacted by use of formal estimation models, and that software managers tend to believe that the estimation accuracy of their company is better than it actually is.
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Accurate software size estimation determines whether the project can be developed and application successfully.Different estimation methodoloies have their respective advantages and disadvantages,so it is very important to choose suitable estimation methodology.This paper reviews some main software estimation methodologies at present,then these methodologies are compared and analyzed,which can help to estimate software size accurately.
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Mission critical and complex software projects habitually exceed budget expectations significantly. Dependable cost estimates are often required by customers long before detailed analysis and design activities would produce this information during a project. A number of estimation methodologies have evolved to produce reliable cost information at an early stage in the software life-cycle, however estimation continues to be a contributor to budget blowouts. Contemporary techniques for costing requirements described as use cases are increasingly challenged as the size and complexity of the system expands. In addition, use case representations of requirements fail to directly map into structures used by project managers, leading to ongoing comparisons of individual costs that are subjective and often unrepresentative of final project expenditure. A large and complex system development project is described to demonstrate some of these problems and a potential solution is proposed to improve use case estimation.
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In this paper, the author compares the common estimation method with UCP estimation method, summarizes the estimation methods of software development in software industry, and use UCP estimation method applied to Software Industry to estimate the workload. We expound how to apply UCP estimation method to the estimation process improvement of the companies in Software system industry, which has been proved significantly improve the accuracy of calculate workload.
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