SOFTWARE PROJECT ESTIMATION MODEL USING FUNCTION POINT ANALYSIS WITH CBR SUPPORT
Khaled Mahar, Ahmed El-Deraa · 2006
This paper addresses the problem of software cost estimation (SCE) by providing an overview to the most important researches that have been done in this area. Also, it presents a new proposed model with the aim of effectively specifying estimates for size, effort, duration, and cost of software to be developed. The main concern of the proposed model is to create a general model that can be fitted onto any software independent of the methodology and technology utilized for the development. The model provides an approach linking the function point analysis (FPA) technique with a case-based reasoning (CBR) system in order to predict estimates for effort, schedule and cost of future development projects. FPA technique has been chosen because it measures the functionality delivered by a software without being influenced by the technology or the language being used. Also, a CBR system is used to help effectively in establishing the relationship between the criteria and the metrics based upon experience gained from past similar software projects. The proposed model avoids some of the limitations of the CBR systems that can arise, if no matchs are found with the stored projects, by dividing the project into tasks and trying to find a match with similar tasks.