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1. The management spectrum -
4P's
For properly building a product, there’s a very
important concept that we all should know in
software project planning while developing a
product. There are 4 critical components in
software project planning which are known as
the 4P’s namely:
•Product
•Process
•People
•Project

2. People
The most important component of a product and
its successful implementation is human
resources. In building a proper product, a well-
managed team with clear-cut roles defined for
each person/team will lead to the success of the
product. We need to have a good team in order
to save our time, cost, and effort. Some assigned
roles in software project planning are project
manager, team leaders, stakeholders,
analysts, and other IT professionals. Managing
people successfully is a tricky process which a
good project manager can do.

3. Product
As the name inferred, this is the deliverable or the
result of the project. The project manager should
clearly define the product scope to ensure a
successful result, control the team members, as well
technical hurdles that he or she may encounter
during the building of a product. The product can
consist of both tangible or intangible such as shifting
the company to a new place or getting a new
software in a company.

4. • Process
In every planning, a clearly defined process is
the key to the success of any product. It
regulates how the team will go about its
development in the respective time period.
The Process has several steps involved like,
documentation phase, implementation phase,
deployment phase, and interaction phase.

5. • Project
The last and final P in software project planning is
Project. In this phase, the project manager plays a
critical role. They are responsible to guide the
team members to achieve the project’s target
and objectives, helping & assisting them with
issues, checking on cost and budget, and making
sure that the project stays on track with the given
deadlines.

6. Metrics for Size Estimation: Line of
Code(LoC), Function Points(FP).
• 1. Lines of Code (LOC): As the name suggests, LOC
count the total number of lines of source code in a
project. The units of LOC are:
• KLOC- Thousand lines of code
• NLOC- Non-comment lines of code
• KDSI- Thousands of delivered source instruction
• The size is estimated by comparing it with the
existing systems of the same kind. The experts use it
to predict the required size of various components of
software and then add them to get the total size.

7. • It’s tough to estimate LOC by analysing the problem
definition. Only after the whole code has been
developed can accurate LOC be estimated. This statistic
is of little utility to project managers because project
planning must be completed before development
activity can begin.
• Two separate source files having a similar number of
lines may not require the same effort. A file with
complicated logic would take longer to create than one
with simple logic. Proper estimation may not be
attainable based on LOC.
• The length of time it takes to solve an issue is
measured in LOC. This statistic will differ greatly from
one programmer to the next. A seasoned programmer
can write the same logic in fewer lines than a newbie
coder.

8. • Advantages:
• Universally accepted and is used in many models like
COCOMO.
• Estimation is closer to the developer’s perspective.
• Simple to use.
• Disadvantages:
• Different programming languages contain a different
number of lines.
• No proper industry standard exists for this technique.
• It is difficult to estimate the size using this technique
in the early stages of the project.

9. • Function Point Analysis: In this method, the number and type of functions
supported by the software are utilized to find FPC(function point count). The steps
in function point analysis are:
• Count the number of functions of each proposed type.
• Compute the Unadjusted Function Points(UFP).
• Find Total Degree of Influence(TDI).
• Compute Value Adjustment Factor(VAF).
• Find the Function Point Count(FPC).
• The explanation of the above points is given below:
• Count the number of functions of each proposed type: Find the number of
functions belonging to the following types:
– External Inputs: Functions related to data entering the system.
– External outputs: Functions related to data exiting the system.
– External Inquiries: They lead to data retrieval from the system but don’t change the system.
– Internal Files: Logical files maintained within the system. Log files are not included here.
– External interface Files: These are logical files for other applications which are used by our
system.
• Compute the Unadjusted Function Points(UFP): Categories each of the five
function types like simple, average, or complex based on their complexity. Multiply
the count of each function type with its weighting factor and find the weighted
sum. The weighting factors for each type based on their complexity are as follows:

10. Function type Simple Average Complex
External Inputs 3 4 6
External Output 4 5 7
External Inquiries 3 4 6
Internal Logical Files 7 10 15
External Interface File 5 7 10

11. • Find Total Degree of Influence: Use the ’14 general
characteristics’ of a system to find the degree of
influence of each of them. The sum of all 14 degrees of
influence will give the TDI. The range of TDI is 0 to 70.
The 14 general characteristics are: Data
Communications, Distributed Data Processing,
Performance, Heavily Used Configuration, Transaction
Rate, On-Line Data Entry, End-user Efficiency, Online
Update, Complex Processing Reusability, Installation
Ease, Operational Ease, Multiple Sites and Facilitate
Change.
Each of the above characteristics is evaluated on a
scale of 0-5.

12. • Compute Value Adjustment Factor(VAF): Use the following formula
to calculate VAF
VAF = (TDI * 0.01) + 0.65
• Find the Function Point Count: Use the following formula to
calculate FPC
FPC = UFP * VAF
• Advantages:
• It can be easily used in the early stages of project planning.
• It is independent of the programming language.
• It can be used to compare different projects even if they use
different technologies(database, language, etc).
• Disadvantages:
• It is not good for real-time systems and embedded systems.
• Many cost estimation models like COCOMO uses LOC and hence
FPC must be converted to LOC.

13. Project Cost Estimation Approaches:
Overview of Heuristic, Analytical, and
Empirical Estimation.
• Cost estimation simply means a technique that is
used to find out the cost estimates. The cost
estimate is the financial spend that is done on the
efforts to develop and test software in Software
Engineering. Cost estimation models are some
mathematical algorithms or parametric equations
that are used to estimate the cost of a product or
a project.
• Various techniques or models are available for
cost estimation, also known as Cost Estimation
Models as shown below :

14. • Empirical Estimation Technique –
Empirical estimation is a technique or model in which empirically derived
formulas are used for predicting the data that are a required and essential
part of the software project planning step. These techniques are usually
based on the data that is collected previously from a project and also
based on some guesses, prior experience with the development of similar
types of projects, and assumptions. It uses the size of the software to
estimate the effort.In this technique, an educated guess of project
parameters is made. Hence, these models are based on common sense.
However, as there are many activities involved in empirical estimation
techniques, this technique is formalized. For example Delphi technique
and Expert Judgement technique.
• Heuristic Technique –
Heuristic word is derived from a Greek word that means “to discover”. The
heuristic technique is a technique or model that is used for solving
problems, learning, or discovery in the practical methods which are used
for achieving immediate goals. These techniques are flexible and simple
for taking quick decisions through shortcuts and good enough calculations,
most probably when working with complex data. But the decisions that
are made using this technique are necessary to be optimal.In this
technique, the relationship among different project parameters is
expressed using mathematical equations. The popular heuristic technique
is given by Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO). This technique is also
used to increase or speed up the analysis and investment decisions.

15. • Analytical Estimation Technique –
Analytical estimation is a type of technique that is used to
measure work. In this technique, firstly the task is divided
or broken down into its basic component operations or
elements for analyzing. Second, if the standard time is
available from some other source, then these sources are
applied to each element or component of work.Third, if
there is no such time available, then the work is estimated
based on the experience of the work. In this technique,
results are derived by making certain basic assumptions
about the project. Hence, the analytical estimation
technique has some scientific basis. Halstead’s software
science is based on an analytical estimation model.

16. COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model),
COCOMO II.
• Boehm proposed COCOMO (Constructive Cost
Estimation Model) in 1981.COCOMO is one of
the most generally used software estimation
models in the world. COCOMO predicts the
efforts and schedule of a software product
based on the size of the software.

17. • The necessary steps in this model are:
• Get an initial estimate of the development effort from
evaluation of thousands of delivered lines of source
code (KDLOC).
• Determine a set of 15 multiplying factors from various
attributes of the project.
• Calculate the effort estimate by multiplying the initial
estimate with all the multiplying factors i.e., multiply
the values in step1 and step2.
• The initial estimate (also called nominal estimate) is
determined by an equation of the form used in the
static single variable models, using KDLOC as the
measure of the size. To determine the initial effort Ei in
person-months the equation used is of the type is
shown below
• Ei=a*(KDLOC)b
• The value of the constant a and b are depends on the
project type.

18. • In COCOMO, projects are categorized into
three types:
• Organic
• Semidetached
• Embedded

19. • Organic: A software project is said to be an organic type if-
• Project is small and simple.
• Project team is small with prior experience.
• The problem is well understood and has been solved in the past.
• Requirements of projects are not rigid, such a mode example is
payroll processing system.
• Semi-Detached Mode: A software project is said to be a Semi-
Detached type if-
• Project has complexity.
• Project team requires more experience, better guidance and
creativity.
• The project has an intermediate size and has mixed rigid
requirements such a mode example is a transaction processing
system which has fixed requirements.
• It also includes the elements of organic mode and embedded
mode.
• Few such projects are- Database Management System(DBMS), new
unknown operating system, difficult inventory management system.

20. • Embedded Mode: A software project is said to
be an Embedded mode type if-
• A software project has fixed requirements of
resources .
• Product is developed within very tight
constraints.
• A software project requiring the highest level
of complexity, creativity, and experience
requirement fall under this category.
• Such mode software requires a larger team
size than the other two models.

21. Types of COCOMO Models
COCOMO consists of a hierarchy of three increasingly
detailed and accurate forms. Any of the three forms
can be adapted according to our requirements. These
are types of COCOMO model:
•Basic COCOMO Model
•Intermediate COCOMO Model
•Detailed COCOMO Model

22. • Basic COCOMO Model
• Basic COCOMO Model: The first level, Basic COCOMO
can be used for quick and slightly rough calculations of
Software Costs. This is because the model solely
considers based on lines of source code together with
constant values obtained from software project types
rather than other factors which have major influences
on the Software development process as a whole. It
requires to calculate the efforts which are required to
develop in three modes of development that are
organic mode, semi-detached mode, and embedded
mode.
The basic COCOMO estimation model is given by the
following expressions:
• E = ax (KLOC)b
D = c x (Effort)d
P = effort/time

23. • Where,
• E is effort applied in person-months.
D is development time in months.
P is the total no. of persons required to
accomplish the project.
• The constant values a,b,c, and d for the Basic
Model for the different categories of the
system
Software Project A B C D
Organic 2.4 1.05 2.5 0.38
Semi-Detached 3.0 1.12 2.5 0.35
Embedded 3.6 1.20 2.5 0.32

24. • Example – Consider a software project using
semi-detached mode with 300 Kloc .find out
effort estimation, development time, and
person estimation.
• Solution –
• Effort (E) = a*(KLOC)b = 3.0*(300)1.12 =
1784.42 PM
Development Time (D) = c(E)d =
2.5(1784.42)0.35 = 34.35 Months(M)
Person Required (P) = E/D = 1784.42/34.35 =
51.9481 Persons ~52 Persons

25. COCOMO II
• COCOMO-II is the revised version of
the original Cocomo (Constructive Cost
Model) and is developed at University of
Southern California. It is the model that allows
one to estimate the cost, effort and schedule
when planning a new software development
activity.

26. • It consists of three sub-models:
1. End User Programming:
Application generators are used in this sub-model. End user write the code
by using these application generators.
Example – Spreadsheets, report generator, etc.
2. Intermediate Sector:
• (a). Application Generators and Composition Aids –
This category will create largely prepackaged capabilities for user
programming. Their product will have many reusable components. Typical
firms operating in this sector are Microsoft, Lotus,
Oracle, IBM, Borland, Novell.
• (b). Application Composition Sector –
This category is too diversified and to be handled by prepackaged
solutions. It includes GUI, Databases, domain specific components such as
financial, medical or industrial process control packages.
• (c). System Integration –
This category deals with large scale and highly embedded systems.
3. Infrastructure Sector:
This category provides infrastructure for the software development like
Operating System, Database Management System, User Interface
Management System, Networking System, etc.

27. • Stages of COCOMO II:
• Stage-I:
It supports estimation of prototyping. For this it uses Application
Composition Estimation Model. This model is used for the
prototyping stage of application generator and system integration.
• Stage-II:
It supports estimation in the early design stage of the project, when
we less know about it. For this it uses Early Design Estimation
Model. This model is used in early design stage of application
generators, infrastructure, system integration.
• Stage-III:
It supports estimation in the post architecture stage of a project.
For this it uses Post Architecture Estimation Model. This model is
used after the completion of the detailed architecture of
application generator, infrastructure, system integration.

28. Risk Management: Risk Identification,
Risk Assessment, Risk Containment,
RMMM strategy.