Modelling the Software Development Process Using an Expert Simulation System Having Fuzzy Logic

This paper describes an intelligent computerized tool designed to aid managers of software development projects in planning, managing and controlling the development process of mediumto large-scale software projects. Systems dynamics is used to model and simulate the dynamic process of software development. The software development process is affected by some imprecise and vague variables that are treated as fuzzy variables. The simulation model is integrated with two expert systems. The fuzzy input variables to the system dynamics simulation model are handled by an input expert system having fuzzy logic. This expert system is designed to check the consistency of input variables. The simulation results are analysed by an output expert system having fuzzy logic. This expert system is designed to make recommendations based on experimentation with the simulation model.