METHODS AND MODELS FOR ESTIMATING A SOFTWARE PROJECT: An Analytical Approach

Software engineering was been around for many years. The industry has not matured as fast as it grew. Software engineering accounts for 12 million jobs and one trillion dollars of sales in the US alone. One of the many lacking qualities in software engineering is the ability to estimate the size of software projects. Software estimation techniques have also been around for quite a few years. However, the quality of these techniques and models were low. It is the purpose of this paper to provide insight into the newest estimation techniques that can improve quality and productivity of software projects. It takes more the an estimation technique to improve the quality and productivity of software. It requires a formal change in the existing process and a change in the existing though process. As a last topic, some existing CASE tools that assist in code estimation are examined.