SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS AND ESTIMATION:

Software projects are subject to a multitude of problems that lead to schedule and cost overruns and poor quality of delivered software. Studies have repeatedly shown that a majority of failures in software projects are due to poor definition of requirements, uncontrolled changes to requirements and unreasonable estimates.

Software Requirements and Estimation provides software professionals the information they need to address requirements engineering and estimation. Both these activities are carried out at the start of the project and are the root cause for most of the problems that projects face. Requirements form the basis of the initial estimates and plans on which the software product is built and validated. Projects that are planned and executed using unrealistic estimates start-off on the wrong foot. The project manager and others who attempt to complete work within unrealistic cost budget, manpower budgets and schedules, either drive themselves crazy or take shortcuts that turn out very expensive later. Either way, things do not work out as satisfactorily as one would like them to.

The book contains:

The context of requirements engineering and software estimation

Activities of requirements engineering, including elicitation, analysis, documentation, change management and traceability

Description of various methodologies that can be used for requirements elicitation and analysis

Contents of the software requirements specification document

Functional and technical size estimation methods, including function point analysis, mark ii FPA, FEP, LOC, estimation by analogy and expert estimation

Effort and schedule estimation using methods like COCOMO and putnam

Detailed estimation based on work breakdown structure

An integrated framework to systematically improve the maturity of the organization’s requirements and estimation processes

Do’s and dont’s related to requirements and estimation

Tools and resources that can be used for requirements and estimation

Scenarios, examples, case studies and exercises.

Project managers and senior analysts can use this book to perform their tasks better. The book can be used by novice software professionals to learn the concepts related to requirements and estimation. Quality and Software Engineering Process Groups will find information in the book helpful in setting up processes in requirements and estimation areas. Senior managers can obtain perspective of the issues involved and the possible approaches.