Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Software Project Risk Assessment and Effort Contingency Model Based on Cost Factors

Luiz Fernando Capretz — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:50:10 PDT

In the early stages of a software development life cycle, effort estimation plays a critical role in helping project managers predict the demands with respect to the budgeting, scheduling, and the allocation of resources. In this situation, the ideal estimation calculation should provide an approximate value figure, which will consist of a base estimation value plus a contingency allowance value, which will cover the risks and assumptions necessary for particular estimation calculations.

However, most software effort estimation methodologies, which include the COCOMO model, provide a fixed effort estimate value instead of an approximate value, and consequently the existing effort estimation approach has failed to become a trusted reference for project manager due to the problem in estimation accuracy.

This paper introduces the Fuzzy-ExCOM Model, the Software Project Risk Assessment and Effort Contingency Model based on a COCOMO cost factors, which provides the project risk identification and contingency allowance to complement the effort estimation value based on identified project risk and software size. The proposed model also integrates the effort estimation and risk assessment activities because these activities are integral parts of the initial software project planning phase and the accuracy of the effort estimates depends heavily on the nature and level of the risks that are inherent in the software project.

A validation of this model using a project data sets shows that the new model provides a higher level of effort prediction performance compared to the existing COCOMO-II effort estimation approach.

Towards an Early Software Estimation Using Log-Linear Regression and a Multilayer Perceptron Model

Ali Bou Nassif et al. — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:45:11 PDT

Software estimation is a tedious and daunting task in project management and software development. Software estimators are notorious in predicting software effort and they have been struggling in the past decades to provide new models to enhance software estimation. The most critical and crucial part of software estimation is when estimation is required in the early stages of the software life cycle where the problem to be solved has not yet been completely revealed. This paper presents a novel log-linear regression model based on the use case point model (UCP) to calculate the software effort based on use case diagrams. A fuzzy logic approach is used to calibrate the productivity factor in the regression model. Moreover, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network model was developed to predict software effortbased on the software size and team productivity. Experiments show that the proposed approach outperforms the original UCP model. Furthermore, a comparison between the MLP and log-linear regression models was conducted based on the size of the projects. Results demonstrate that the MLP model can surpass the regression model when small projects are used, but the log-linear regression model gives better results when estimating larger projects.

Personality Types in Software Engineering

Luiz Fernando Capretz — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:00:25 PST

Making Sense of Software Development and Personality Types

Luiz Fernando Capretz et al. — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:55:08 PST

A Multicultural Comparison of Engineering Students: Implications to Teaching and Learning

Zaki Shkair Seddigi et al. — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:08:09 PST

Problem statement: Personality considerations have become increasingly important in recent years, but studies involving the personality characteristics of engineers have been scarcely reported. Engineers today are expected to have a broader range of skills than in the recent past because users are now equally concerned with the technical as well as the personal services provided by engineers. Approach: A multicultural personality profile of engineering students had been presented in this study. The MBTI was used as an instrument to sort personality types of engineering students at both King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia and University of Western Ontario in Canada. Results: The study had discussed the differences and similarities in the personality profile of Saudi and Canadian engineering students and its implications for engineering education in the light of the MBTI dimensions. Although there had been some teaching strategies useful to a whole class, the personality differences among engineering students made it necessary for instructors to diversify those teaching strategies. Conclusion/Recommendations: Adjusting instruction to accommodate the learning styles of different types of students had increased both achievement and enjoyment of learning. Hence, this study had improved the degree of understanding among teachers and engineering students.