In addition to function points, what factors influence an estimate?
The effort and schedule required to develop or enhance a software product are influenced by a number of factors in addition to product size. Many of these factors are discussed by Barry Boehm in conjunction with his new COCOMO2 model. They can be summarized into the following four categories: • Other Product Factors – There can be a big difference between two 1,000 function point applications. There are product factors that are not reflected in the size. These can impact the cost of developing a product. They also alter the value of the product. • Precedentedness is a measure of the organizations experience with similar systems. Flexibility measures the organizations ability to relax requirements in order to ease software development effort. Jobs are harder when an application is novel and requirements are unchangeable. • Required reliability is related to the impact of system failure. Data base size increases product complexity. There are other product complexity factors as well.
The effort and schedule required to develop or enhance a software product are influenced by a number of factors in addition to product size. Many of these factors are discussed by Barry Boehm in conjunction with his new COCOMO2 model. They can be summarized into the following four categories: • Other Product Factors – There can be a big difference between two 1,000 function point applications. There are product factors that are not reflected in the size. These can impact the cost of developing a product. They also alter the value of the product. • Precedentedness is a measure of the organizations experience with similar systems. • Flexibility measures the organizations ability to relax requirements in order to ease software development effort. Jobs are harder when an application is novel and requirements are unchangeable. • Required reliability is related to the impact of system failure. Data base size increases product complexity. There are other product complexity factors as well. •
