Analysis of Software Development and Enhancement Projects Work Effort per Unit Based on the COSMIC Method with Regard to Technological Factors—Case Study

Beata Czarnacka-Chrobot

doi:10.4236/jsea.2013.611072

Abstract

This paper aims to present a case study that consists in the analysis of work effort per unit of software systems Development and Enhancement Projects (D&EP) depending on technological factors. That analysis was commissioned by one of the largest public institutions in Poland. This is the COSMIC (Common Software Measurement International Consortium) function points method that is chosen by this institution as a point of reference for size of software systems developed/enhanced for supporting its functions and therefore this method is the base for the analysis of D&EP work effort per unit with regard to technological factors.

Highlights

Software systems, like any other product, especially of engineering character, are characterised by certain attributes that should be subject to measurement
This paper aims to present a case study that consists in the analysis of work effort per unit of software systems Development and Enhancement Projects (D&EP) depending on technological factors that is commissioned by one of the largest public institutions in Poland
Applications/modules for which the Project Delivery Rate (PDR) median is a very approximate value in case of development, and this being due to possibility of including differentiated programming languages only

Summary

Introduction

Like any other product, especially of engineering character, are characterised by certain attributes that should be subject to measurement. Basic attribute of each and every product is its size. Cannot boast about being as mature in terms of units designed for size measurement (here: of software) as other engineering disciplines (e.g. construction engineering). This constitutes fundamental cause of the problems in reliable and objective estimation of such basic attributes of projects aimed at development, enhancement and maintenance of software systems as: total work effort and total cost, work effort per unit and cost per unit, project execution duration and project productivity. Among three measures of the software products size being used in practice, that is (for more details see e.g. [1]): 1) programming units (e.g. source lines of code); 2) construction complexity units (e.g. object points); 3)

Objectives

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Conclusion