

It is crucial for the accuracy of the estimate that the size is measured accurately. The size of the software to be developed is the main input parameter for the project estimate. licenses, workplaces, infrastructure, et cetera, but these costs are not driven by the software size and can also be calculated in an easier way.Ī (simplified) estimation model is displayed in the following figure. Of course there are other costs involved, e.g. The reason for this is that the effort hours usually drive the total costs of the project. In software project cost estimation, the focus is usually on estimating the effort hours of the people in the team. 'Effort/Complexity combination' in Story points ‘Effort/Size combination’ in Usecase pointsįunctional user requirements and configuration sizeīacklog items, functional and non-functional Usecases, technical project characteristics, environmental project characteristics Part of the non-functional user requirements In the following table the software size measurement methods are displayed that are covered in this blog. Also the advantages and disadvantages of these methods as well as recommendations of which methods to use for which types of software project estimates are given. In this blog, an overview is given of the most widely used methods for software sizing available to the industry. For cost estimators that are no experts on software sizing however, it may be difficult to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the methods available and therefore they might find it difficult to select the best method for their purpose. However, there are a number of methods available in the industry that can be used to measure software size. While a painter who needs to estimate the cost of painting a wall usually would measure the size of this wall in square feet or square meters as an input for his estimate, the measurement of software size is hard because of the fact that it has no real physical shape. Unlike many physical objects however, there are no universal measurement standards to measure software size.
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Software size is widely recognized as an important cost driver for the effort and cost needed for software projects. Software size is the main driver for project cost estimationīy far most cost estimation models for software development, enhancement or maintenance projects use the software size as the main input parameter.
