Software Cost Estimation Models Research Articles

Evaluating urban mini plant factories: engineering and software cost perspectives for agriculture sustainability

Precision agriculture serves as a crucial solution to address the challenges of food security and agriculture sustainability. It provides significant benefits and enables effective monitoring of agriculture throughout the entire supply chain using a technology-driven approach that prioritizes internet connectivity and leverages big data. A noteworthy application of precision agriculture is the Mini Plant Factory, where plants are cultivated in closed systems with artificial lighting. The development of the Mini Plant Factory requires an economic feasibility analysis as a determinant of technology viability before widespread implementation, aiming to promote agriculture sustainability. The Software Cost Estimation Model (SCEM) assesses software development’s cost and time requirements. Engineering economics evaluates economic feasibility using metrics like NPV, BCR, IRR, PBP, and BEP methods. Function Point Analysis for UMPF software development estimates a cost of Rp 33,052,414, equivalent to 1,311 man-hours. Investment feasibility analysis considers the utilization of UMPF as viable, with an NPV of IDR 46,938,615, BCR of 1.08, IRR of 28%, and projected profitability within four years. Precision agriculture strategically addresses complex agricultural challenges, fostering sustainability with innovations such as the UMPF. The SCEM and engineering economics confirm the feasibility and rationale for implementing UMPF technology, providing essential insights for sustainable agricultural practices.

Evaluating Smart Greenhouse Viability Through Engineering Design and Software Cost Modelling

Introducing smart greenhouse technology in tropical agricultural in Indonesia has the potential to bring about substantial advantages, such as higher crop yields, decreased water consumption, and enhanced food security. Nevertheless, the feasibility of this technology must be evaluated before it can be widely adopted. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the viability of smart greenhouse technology in using the engineering economics and software cost estimation model (SCEM), consider the fixed and variable cost for operational, and effort for developing the supporting modules. The findings of this study suggest that the investment in Smart Greenhouse technology is economically viable and financially justified. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 11% exceeds the 10% discount rate, Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of 1.16 signifies that the discounted value of benefits surpasses costs over the project lifetime, with the economics return 16% higher than the break-even level. The Smart Greenhouse investment will become profitable after five years, with positive returns above the minimum threshold. The SCEM analysis shows that the software development workload is significant for some modules, such as Smart Agri Engrow and Smart Agri Nutrigrow. These software cost estimates can now be used for budgeting, planning, and assessing the feasibility of the Smart Greenhouse technology implementation.

Systematic literature review on global software development based software cost estimation models and cost drivers

<p>Global software development (GSD) is a well - established discipline of software engineering that focuses on the advantage of a global environment. Effective cost estimation is critical for the success of GSD projects. Cost estimation in a GSD environment is a challenging task. As a re sult, GSD must emphasize cost estimation. Findings show that a number of researchers over the past few decades have emphasized GSD - based cost estimation in GSD; to the best of our knowledge, however, existing cost estimation have not taken into account man y GSD - based cost drivers that must be considered when estimating costs. Motivated by all this, the purpose of this study is to review the existing GSD - based cost estimation models/techniques and cost drivers that influence the accuracy of cost estimation. To identify and compile relevant research papers, a systematic literature review was carried out. From twenty - seven selected studies, initially, 86 GSD - based cost drivers and 12 GSD - based cost estimation models/techniques were extracted. After filtration, 26 cost drivers were identified as significant and to be considered in GSD - based cost estimation. This study significantly identifies GSD - based cost drivers and existing cost estimation techniques.</p>

Data-driven agile software cost estimation models for DHS and DoD

Problem:Since the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, the cost analysis community has struggled to find the most appropriate size measures for developing accurate agile software development cost estimates at an early phase to establish baseline budgets and schedules, and for the selection of competitive bidders. At this time, common agile sizing measures such as Story Points are not practical since these are reported months after contract award in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense (DoD). The problem is compounded with the lack of data to build estimation models for informed decisions. Aims:The primary objective is to investigate how well two new size measures (Functional Story and Issues) accurately relate to total effort, and how these compare and rank against four popular software size measures (Story, Story Point, Unadjusted Function Points, and Simple Function Points). The second objective is to rank the six sizing measures based on how well each estimate software development effort at an early phase or after contract award. Method:The experimental framework relied on an analysis of variance and goodness-of-fit tests to examine and compare the accuracy of effort estimation models using six competing size measures. The analysis is based on data from 17 agile projects implemented between 2014 to 2021. Results:Our two new size measures (Functional Story, Issues) proved to be good predicters of total software development effort. Functional Story is better at predicting total effort at early phase than Function Points and Story. Functional Story and Function Points are better at predicting total effort after contract award than Story Point and Issues. Conclusion:The DHS and DoD cost community can choose one or more of these estimation models to evaluate agile software development cost proposals or track agile developer’s progress after contract award.

A new evolutionism based self‐adaptive multi‐objective optimization method to predict software cost estimation

AbstractOne of the major challenge that organizations face in the present environment is having an efficient model for software cost estimation (SCE). In this article, the significance of the meta‐heuristic algorithm in addressing various optimization challenges faced in mathematical models and software applications is discussed. The proposed method uses the new evolutionism‐based self‐adaptive mutation operator to solve the multi‐objective optimization problems. This approach addresses the issues that exist in multi‐objective differential evolution algorithms. To improve diversity among candidate solutions, the Pareto optimality principle is integrated with the evolutionism‐based self‐adaptive mutation operator in a multi‐objective DE algorithm. To reduce the time complexity of Pareto dominance, we have adopted the non‐dominated sorting algorithm. We used eight benchmark test functions to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, and it outperformed the most recent multi‐objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs). Furthermore, this article explores software engineering problems like SCE by using the proposed approach, where SCEs are accurately predicted by optimizing the tuning parameters of the multi‐objective constructive cost model. The proposed algorithm achieves better cost prediction as compared to the other standard benchmark algorithms for all objective problems in terms of prediction, mean absolute error, and root mean square error.

Software cost estimation model based on fuzzy C-means and improved self adaptive differential evolution algorithm

Software cost estimation model based on fuzzy C-means and improved self adaptive differential evolution algorithm

Optimization of software cost estimation model based on biogeography-based optimization algorithm

Estimation of software cost (ESC) is considered a crucial task in the software management life cycle as well as time and quality. Prior to the development of a software project, precise estimations are required in the form of person month and time. In the last few decades, various parametric and non-algorithmic or non-parametric approaches regarding the estimation of software costs have been developed. Among them, the constrictive cost model (COCOMO-II) is a commonly used method for estimating software cost. To further improve the accuracy of this model, researchers and practitioners have applied numerous computational intelligence algorithms to optimize their parameters. However, accuracy is still a big problem in this model to be addressed. In this paper, we proposed a biogeography-based optimization (BBO) method to optimize the current coefficients of COCOMO-II for better estimation of software project cost or effort. The experiments are conducted on two standard data sets: NASA-93 and Turkish Industry software projects. The performance of the proposed algorithm called BBO-COCOMO-II is evaluated by using performance indicators including the manhattan distance (MD) and the mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE). Simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm obtained high accuracy and significant error minimization compared to original COCOMO-II, particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm, flower pollination algorithm, and other various baseline cost estimation models.

Extended COCOMO: robust and interpretable neuro-fuzzy modelling

Prediction of software development efforts is one of the crucial activities in software project management. Still, search for the perfect model for software cost estimation has become most difficult task of the organisations dealing in software development. This paper presents the extended version of COCOMO, which is done with the help of two very popular methods, i.e., artificial neural networks (ANN) and fuzzy logic. Firstly, the expert judgement about model is used for validation, and overpowers the common software engineering 'black box' problem that arises widely in ANN-based solutions. Moreover, we choose the best combination of one of the three membership functions for continuous-rating values, which reduce the variance while estimating the cost of similar projects. The validation, using 93 NASA projects dataset, shows that the model significantly improves the estimation accuracy in terms of mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE) by 10.104% relative to other known estimation models.

Extended COCOMO: robust and interpretable neuro-fuzzy modelling

Prediction of software development efforts is one of the crucial activities in software project management. Still, search for the perfect model for software cost estimation has become most difficult task of the organisations dealing in software development. This paper presents the extended version of COCOMO, which is done with the help of two very popular methods, i.e., artificial neural networks (ANN) and fuzzy logic. Firstly, the expert judgement about model is used for validation, and overpowers the common software engineering 'black box' problem that arises widely in ANN-based solutions. Moreover, we choose the best combination of one of the three membership functions for continuous-rating values, which reduce the variance while estimating the cost of similar projects. The validation, using 93 NASA projects dataset, shows that the model significantly improves the estimation accuracy in terms of mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE) by 10.104% relative to other known estimation models.

A Study of Software Development Cost Estimation Techniques and Models

SDCE (Software Development Cost Estimation) has always been an interesting and budding field in Software Engineering. This study supports the SDCE by exploring its techniques and models and collecting them in one place. This contribution in the literature will assist future researchers to get maximum knowledge about SDCE techniques and models from one paper and to save their time. In this paper, we review numerous software development effort and cost estimation models and techniques, which are divided into different categories. These categories are parametric models, expertise-based techniques, learning-oriented techniques, dynamicsbased models, regression-based techniques, fuzzy logic-based methods, size-based estimation models, and composite techniques. Some other techniques which directly do not lie in any specific category are also briefly explained. We have concluded that no single technique is best for all situations; rather they are applicable in different nature of projects. All techniques have their own pros and cons and they are challenged by the rapidly changing software industry. Since no single technique gives a hundred percent accuracy, that is why one technique and model should not be preferred over all others. We recommend a hybrid approach for SDCE because in this way the limitations of one model and technique are complemented by the merits of the other model/technique. We also recommend a model calibration to obtain accurate results because if a model was developed in a different environment, we cannot expect reliable estimates from it in a completely new environment.

A Study of Software Development Cost Estimation Techniques and Models

SDCE (Software Development Cost Estimation) has always been an interesting and budding field in Software Engineering. This study supports the SDCE by exploring its techniques and models and collecting them in one place. This contribution in the literature will assist future researchers to get maximum knowledge about SDCE techniques and models from one paper and to save their time. In this paper, we review numerous software development effort and cost estimation models and techniques, which are divided into different categories. These categories are parametric models, expertise-based techniques, learning-oriented techniques, dynamicsbased models, regression-based techniques, fuzzy logic-based methods, size-based estimation models, and composite techniques. Some other techniques which directly do not lie in any specific category are also briefly explained. We have concluded that no single technique is best for all situations; rather they are applicable in different nature of projects. All techniques have their own pros and cons and they are challenged by the rapidly changing software industry. Since no single technique gives a hundred percent accuracy, that is why one technique and model should not be preferred over all others. We recommend a hybrid approach for SDCE because in this way the limitations of one model and technique are complemented by the merits of the other model/technique. We also recommend a model calibration to obtain accurate results because if a model was developed in a different environment, we cannot expect reliable estimates from it in a completely new environment.

Whale–crow optimization (WCO)-based Optimal Regression model for Software Cost Estimation

Software Cost Estimation (SCE) is the emerging concern of the software companies during the development phase of the software, as it requires effort and cost factors for modelling the software. These factors are modelled using the Artificial Intelligence models, which seem to be less accurate and non-reliable by increasing the risk factor of the software projects. Thus, for estimating the software cost, meta-heuristics are employed. This paper proposes an algorithm, termed as whale–crow optimization (WCO) algorithm, which is the integration of the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) and the crow search algorithm (CSA). The main function of the WCO algorithm is to determine the Optimal Regression coefficients for the regression models, such as the Linear Regression model and the Kernel Logistic Regression model, to develop an Optimal Regression model to estimate the software cost. The experimentation is carried out using four datasets taken from the Promise software engineering repository to perform effective performance analysis. Analysis is carried out regarding the mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE) that proves that the proposed method of SCE is effective, attaining the average MMRE at a rate of 0.2442 for the proposed Linear Regression model and 0.2692 for the proposed Kernel Regression model.

Improved Software Cost Estimation Model Using Cost Driver Reduction Based on Water Cycle Algorithm

Improved Software Cost Estimation Model Using Cost Driver Reduction Based on Water Cycle Algorithm

A Generic Data Mining Model for Software Cost Estimation Based on Novel Input Selection Procedure

It is always preferable for any estimation model to be inclusive as accuracy in estimation models inherently lie with their inclusiveness. Software cost estimation is the prediction of development effort and time required to develop a software project and being predictive in nature, it demands for inclusiveness, which will accordingly bring the accuracy in it. In this study, a generic model for software cost estimation using an input selection procedure is proposed. The proposed model brings inclusiveness into the already available data mining techniques of software cost estimation by sensitively choosing a subset of highly relevant project attributes and ignoring the less relevant ones. In this article, a diverse set of data mining techniques for software cost estimation are considered. All these techniques are experimented on five data sets before and after passed through the proposed procedure. The obtained results showed that newly generated techniques after being passed through the proposed procedure offer accurate results up in the way of efficiency in software cost estimation.

A new high performance empirical model for software cost estimation

A new high performance empirical model for software cost estimation

An improved particle swarm optimisation-based functional link artificial neural network model for software cost estimation

Software cost estimation is the forecast of development effort and time needed to develop a software project. Estimating software cost is endlessly proving to be a difficult problem and thus catches the attention of many researchers. Recently, the usage of meta-heuristic techniques for software cost estimation is increasingly growing. In this paper, we are proposing a technique consisting of functional link artificial neural network model and particle swarm optimisation algorithm as its training algorithm. Functional link artificial neural network is a high order feedforward artificial neural network consisting of an input layer and an output layer. It reduces the computational complexity and has got the fast learning ability. Particle swarm optimisation does optimisation by iteratively improving a candidate solution. The proposed model has been evaluated on promising datasets using magnitude of relative error and its median as a measure of performance index to simply weigh the obtained quality of estimation.

An improved particle swarm optimisation-based functional link artificial neural network model for software cost estimation

An improved particle swarm optimisation-based functional link artificial neural network model for software cost estimation

A new high performance empirical model for software cost estimation

A software project can be successful when it is delivered on time, within the budget and maintaining the required quality as per client requirement. But in today's software industry, cost estimation is a critical issue for modern software developers. To estimate the effort and cost is significantly difficult and a challenging task. Since last 20 years' more than 30 models are already developed to estimate the effort and cost for the betterment of software industry. But these algorithms cannot satisfy the modern software industry due to the dynamic behaviour of the software for all kind of environments. On this study an empirical high performance interpolation model is developed to estimate the effort of the software projects. This model compares with the COCOMO based equations and predicts its result analysing individually taking different cost factors. The equation consists one independent variable (KLOC) and two constants a, b which are chosen empirically taking different NASA projects historical data and the results viewed in this model are compared with COCOMO model with different scale factor values.

A Survey on Software Cost Estimation Techniques

The ability to accurately estimate the cost needed to complete a specific project has been a challenge over the past decades. For a successful software project, accurate prediction of the cost, time and effort is a very much essential task. This paper presents a systematic review of different models used for software cost estimation which includes algorithmic methods, non-algorithmic methods and learning-oriented methods. The models considered in this review include both the traditional and the recent approaches for software cost estimation. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of software cost estimation models and summarize their strengths, weakness, accuracy, amount of data needed, and validation techniques used. Our findings show, in general, neural network based models outperforms other cost estimation techniques. However, no one technique fits every problem and we recommend practitioners to search for the model that best fit their needs.

Improved software cost estimation models: A new perspective based on evolution in Dynamic Environment

Improved software cost estimation models: A new perspective based on evolution in Dynamic Environment