Guideline for Test Effort

Estimation Using Use Case

Points (UCP)
Version No 1.00
January 2006

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Test Effort Estimation Using Use Case Points

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Test Effort Estimation Using Use Case Points

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
1.1. PURPOSE...................................................................................................................................................4
2. GENERAL ESTIMATION........................................................................................................................4
3. UCP APPROACH TO ESTIMATION.....................................................................................................4
3.1. DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF ACTORS IN THE SYSTEM (UAW)...........................................................................4
3.2. DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF USE CASES IN THE SYSTEM (UUCW)....................................................................4
3.3. CALCULATING UUCP................................................................................................................................4
3.4. COMPUTE TECHNICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS....................................................................................5
3.5. COMPUTE ADJUSTED UCP...........................................................................................................................5
3.6. FINAL EFFORT............................................................................................................................................5
4. EXAMPLE...................................................................................................................................................5
4.1. UAW CALCULATION..................................................................................................................................5
4.2. UUCW CALCULATION...............................................................................................................................5
4.3. UUCP CALCULATION................................................................................................................................6
4.4. TECHNICAL FACTOR COMPUTATION...............................................................................................................6
4.5. AUCP CALCULATION.................................................................................................................................6
4.6. FINAL EFFORT............................................................................................................................................6
5. GLOSSARY.................................................................................................................................................6

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Test Effort Estimation Using Use Case Points

1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose
Purpose of this document is to provide the guidelines for test effort estimation using usecase point
(UCP) as a fundamental project estimation measure.

2. General estimation
Estimation is basically a four-step approach:
1. Estimate the size of the development product. This is either in LOC (Lines of Code) or FP
(Function Points) and using UCP (Use Case Points).
2. Estimate the effort in person-months or person-hours.
3. Estimate the schedule in calendar months.
4. Estimate the cost in currency.

3. UCP Approach to Estimation

Estimation using UCP (Use Case Points) is rapidly gaining a faithful following. The approach for
estimation using UCP only needs slight modification in order to be useful to estimate test efforts.

3.1. Determine the number of actors in the system (UAW)

This will give us the UAW the unadjusted actor weights. Actors are external to the system and
interface with it. Examples are end-users, other programs, data stores etc. Actors come in three types:
simple, average and complex. Actor classification for test effort estimation differs from that of
development estimation. End users are simple actors. In the context of testing, end-user actions can be
captured easily using automated tool scripts. Average actors interact with the system through some
protocols etc. or they could be Data stores. They qualify as average since the results of test case runs
would need to be verified manually by running SQL statements on the store etc. Complex users are
separate systems that interact with the SUT through an API.
The test cases for these users can only be written at the unit level and involves a significant amount of
internal system behavioral knowledge.
Actor Type
Simple
Average

Description
Factor
GUI
1
Interactive or Protocol Driver
2
Interface
Complex
API/ Low level interaction
3
Table 1. Actor Weights
The sum of these products gives the total unadjusted actor weights. (UAW)

3.2. Determine the number of use cases in the System (UUCW)

The use cases are assigned weights depending on the number of transactions /scenarios.
Usecase Type
Simple
Average
Complex

Description
<=3
4-7
>7
Table 2. Usecase Weights

Factor
1
2
3

The sum of these products gives the total unadjusted usecase weights. (UAW)

3.3. Calculating UUCP

Adding the unadjusted actor weight and the unadjusted use case weights determined in the previous
steps does the calculation of the unadjusted UCP
UUCP = UAW + UUCW

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Test Effort Estimation Using Use Case Points

3.4. Compute Technical and Environmental Factors

The technical and environmental factors for a test project are listed in the table below. To calculate
one needs to assign weights and multiply them with the assigned values to give the final values. The
products are all added up to give the TEF multiplier. The TEF multiplier is then used in the next step
Factor

Description

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

Test Tools
Documented inputs
Development environment
Test environment
Test-ware reuse
Distributed system
Performance objectives
Security features
Complex interfacing
Table 3. Technical Complexity Factor

Assigned
Value
5
5
2
3
4
4
2
4
5

3.5. Compute adjusted UCP

Use the same formula as in the UCP method for development.
AUCP =UUCP *[0.65+(0.01*TEF)]

3.6. Final effort

Now have to simply multiply the adjusted UCP with a conversion factor. This conversion factor
denotes the man-hours in test effort required for a language/technology combination. The
organization will have to determine the conversion factors for various such combinations.
E.g. Final Effort = AUCP * 20
Where 20 man-hours are required to plan, write and execute tests on one UCP when using EJB.

4. Example
The project under study is a product support web site for a large North American software company.
The estimation was done from the business level use cases made available at the time of signing the
requirements. The actors at this time were the different types of users identified in those use cases.

4.1. UAW Calculation

Actor
B2C User
Subscriber
Admin user

Number of Usecases
15
13
4
Total UAW

Factor
2
2
2

UAW
30
26
8
64

4.2. UUCW Calculation

Legend: Simple S, Average A, Complex C, Very Complex VC
Usecase
Login
Support Request
User Creation

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Type
C
VC
A

Factor
15
20
10

Reason
Server integration
External Sys Query
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Test Effort Estimation Using Use Case Points

Support Resource Mgt
Fix notifications
Total UUCW

S
S

5
5
55

Code Reuse
Trivial

4.3. UUCP Calculation

Calculation of the UUCP - Unadjusted Use Case Points
UUCP = UAW + UUCW = 64 + 55 = 119

4.4. Technical factor computation

Factor
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

Description

Assigned
Value

Weight

Extended
value

5
5
2
3
3
4
2
4
5

3
5
1
1
2
4
1
2
2

15
25
2
3
6
16
2
8
10
87

Test Tools
Documented inputs
Development environment
Test environment
Test-ware reuse
Distributed system
Performance objectives
Security features
Complex interfacing
Total

4.5. AUCP calculation

AUCP =UUCP *[0.65+(0.01*TEF)] = 119 * [0.65+0.01*87] = 180.88

4.6. Final Effort

Effort = AUCP * Conversion Factor for COM / DCOM testing
Effort = 180.88 * 13 = 2351.44
Project Complexity needs 15% of the estimated effort to be added. 10% is spent in co-ordination and
management activity.
Total Effort = 2351.44 + 352.72 + 235.144 = 2939.304 man-hours = 367 man-days
Actual Effort = 390 man-days (Project End)

5. Glossary
Acronyms

Description

UCP
UAW
UUCW
UUCP
AUCP

Use Case Points

Unadjusted Actor Weight
Unadjusted Use Case Weight
Unadjusted Use Case Point
Adjusted Use Case Point

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