Software Engineering

Assignment Amrith Krishna,

Submitted by: Roll No: 5, S5 CSE –A

COCOMO model was developed by Boehm. Its a top-down multi-variable model. The
model calculates the effort in terms of person-months. The steps:

1. Obtain an initial estimate of the development effort from the estimate of thousands
of delivered lines of source code (KDLOC).

2. Determine a set of 15 multiplying factors from different attributes of the project.

3. Adjust the effort estimate by multiplying the initial estimate with all the multiplying
factors.

1. Initial Estimate
We estimate the initial effort, Ei with a single static variable i.e. KDLOC and 2 constants
a – Multiplicative factor
b- exponential factor

Ei = a x KDLOCb.

Projects can be classified as 3 in COCOMO model, and their corresponding global values
for a and b are;
 2. Determining Cost driver attributes

There are 15 different attributes, called cost driver attributes that deter-
mine the multiplying factors. These factors depend on product, computer,
personnel, and technology attributes called project attributes.

Ratings
Very Very Extra
Cost Drivers Low Low Nominal High High High
Product attributes
Required software reliability 0.75 0.88 1.00 1.15 1.40
Size of application database 0.94 1.00 1.08 1.16
Complexity of the product 0.70 0.85 1.00 1.15 1.30 1.65
Hardware attributes
Run-time performance constraints 1.00 1.11 1.30 1.66
Memory constraints 1.00 1.06 1.21 1.56
Volatility of the virtual machine
0.87 1.00 1.15 1.30
environment
Required turnabout time 0.87 1.00 1.07 1.15
Personnel attributes
Analyst capability 1.46 1.19 1.00 0.86 0.71
Applications experience 1.29 1.13 1.00 0.91 0.82
Software engineer capability 1.42 1.17 1.00 0.86 0.70
Virtual machine experience 1.21 1.10 1.00 0.90
Programming language experience 1.14 1.07 1.00 0.95
Project attributes
Application of software engineering
1.24 1.10 1.00 0.91 0.82
methods
Use of software tools 1.24 1.10 1.00 0.91 0.83
Required development schedule 1.23 1.08 1.00 1.04 1.10

The multiplying factors for ah 15 cost drivers are multiplied to get the effort adjustment
factor (EAF).

EAF = product of all multiplication factors.

3. Final Effort
The final effort estimate, E, is obtained by multiplying the initial estimate by the EAF

E = EAF x Ei

By this method, the overall cost of the project can be estimated. For planning and
monitoring purposes, estimates of the effort required for the different phases is also
desirable. In COCOMO, effort for a phase is a defined percentage of the overall effort. The
percentage of total effort spent in a phase varies with the type and size of the project .

Example

The sizes for the different modules and the overall system are:
 Ei = 3.2 x 3^1.05
= 10.14 PM

EAF = 1.15 x 1.06 x 1.13 x 1.17

=1.61

E = 10.14 x 1.61
=16.3 PM

References:

1. An integrated approach to Software Engineering - Pankaj Jalote, Narosa

Publication

2. Software Engineering - Roger S. Pressman, Tata McGraw Hill