Software Cost Estimation Program (SCEP) ------------------------- Program Features

1. Project cost estimation as a management requirement.
2. SCEP program features?
3. SCEP change history.

1. Planning:
   • Define Tasks
   • Schedule Tasks
   • Cost Tasks
   • Identify and Request Needed Resources
   • Document the Plan

2. Monitoring:
   • Cost Progress (expenditures vs. plan)
   • Schedule Progress (task completions vs. plan)
   • Quality
   • Technical Performance

3. Reporting:
   • Status (progress, accomplishments, problems, etc.)
   • Funds (allocated staff-hours)
   • Cost/Schedule Performance (indexed against plan)

Of these planning is arguably both the most important and most difficult, and especially for software development projects.

By definition, the scope of a project establishes a boundary around the work to be performed in accordance with the terms of the contract (or other project authorization). The manager must account for all in-scope work in the project's cost and schedule plans. This means that the manager must be able to accurately project schedule and cost requirements for all in-scope work.

Normally, the overwhelming cost and schedule driver for a software development project consists of the activities associated with designing, coding, and testing the software itself. There is also a direct (but non-linear) correlation between the amount of software to be written and the effort and schedule needed to produce it. This relationship is also affected by such factors as the complexity of the software to be developed, the reliability required of it in operation, the capabilities of the participating analysts and programmers, etc.

In 1981, Dr. Barry Boehm published the first extensive study of the the economics of software engineering (Software Engineering Economics Prentice Hall, 1981, ISBN 0-13-822122-7]), in which he introduced the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO). COCOMO allows the user to describe a system in terms of a number of parameters. The model then applies a set of equations that use these parameters to predict the effort (in Man-Months) and schedule (in months) required to develop the system. The relationships defined by the COCOMO equations were derived from 63 software development projects at TRW in the 1960s and 1970s, covering a wide range of project types: business, control, Human/Computer Interface, scientific, support, and systems software. See the SCEP help page on "What is COCOMO?" for a more detailed description of COCOMO.

Dr. Boehm is currently the director of the University of Southern California (USC) Center for Software Engineering (CSE), where he and his students are continuing research in COCOMO and derivative systems. The USC CSE is currently implementing a follow-on to the original COCOMO (calling it COCOMO II), which reflects recent changes in software engineering practices. To distinguish the original version of COCOMO from the current work, the original version is commonly called COCOMO 81.

Dr. Boehm long ago placed COCOMO 81 in the public domain. Although it is 20 years old, it is still used extensively in the software industry today. Several automated implementations of COCOMO 81 are available, such as the freely distributed Pascal-based, DOS-environment Wang Institute Cost Model (WICOMO). Most modern commercial program cost estimation programs include COCOMO 81 as one of a set of models that may be used.

While commercial programs offer a number of cost models, they are also expensive to the individual or small company software developer. The retiSoft Software Cost Estimation Program (SCEP) is a low cost 'shareware' alternative that can serve the needs for many small-scale developers.

• Multiple Project Databases: Allows the user to maintain a permanent record of cost estimation data for multiple projects in a single database.

• Project-Specific Parameter Files: Allows a set of COCOMO 81 and costing parameters to be associated with each project. This increased flexibility means that results can be reliably recreated at any time, even when parameters need to be changed to meet project-specific needs (such as pay scale changes over time).

• Increased Flexibility In Defining a Project's Structure: Instead of COCOMO 81's limit of three layers of program hierarchy (system, subsystem, and component), SCEP allows up to 16 levels with up to 26 elements below any single element. This allows you to more accurately represent the decomposition of the more complex projects typical today, including the object-oriented architectural structures.

• Project Data Export/Import: Allows the user to "export" project data from a specified project to files that can be "imported" to other retiSoft SCEP installations. This allows project data to be shared by several managers and/or engineers.

• Annotation: Allows the user to add arbitrary descriptive notes to the 'Project' and each of the project's 'Components'.

• Cost Estimates: Adds algorithms that allow the user to convert the effort estimates from the COCOMO 81 model into estimated cost (in dollars) through user-define labor grade distributions by development phase and user-defined pay scales.

• Estimates for Modified Existing Code: Implements the often forgotten COCOMO 81 feature that allows you to estimate effort for incorporation of modified existing code into the project, in addition to newly developed components.

• Report Generation: The retiSoft SCEP generates output reports to standard Windows^® printer services and therefore can output to any printer or pseudo-printer installed on your system. This includes fax programs and Adobe^® Acrobat^® (to create PDF files for electronic archives or distribution).

• Built-In Parameter Editor: Allows you to edit the COCOMO 81 parameters and the labor grade distribution and pay scale from within the main program.

retiSoft SCEP is a management tool that provides fairly good costing and scheduling data that can be used as the basis for a software development project's management plan.

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