Practical 12

Title: Estimate the cost of the project using COCOMO/COCOMO II approach for
the assigned project.

Theory:
COCOMO if a regression model based on lOC, that is number of lines of code. It is procedural cost
estimation model for software project and often used as a process of reliably predicting the various
parameters associated with making a project such as size ,effort, cost, time and quality. It was developed
by Barry Boehm.
Different models of COCOMO have been proposed to predict the cost estimation at different levels based
on the amount of accuracy and correctness required. All of these models applied to variety of projects,
Whose characteristics determine the value of constant to be used in subsequent calculations. This
characteristic pertaining to different system types are -

1) Organic –
software project is said to be an organic type if the team size required is adequately small, the
problem is well understood and has been solved in the past and also the team members have a
nominal experience regarding the problem.

2) Semi-detached:
A software project is said to be semi detached type if the vital characteristics such as team size,
experience, knowledge of the various programming environment lie in between that of organic and
embedded. The project classified as semi-detached are comparatively less familiar and difficult to
develop compared to organic ones and require more experience.

3)Embedded :
A software project with requiring the highest level of complexity ,creativity and experience requirement
fall under this category.

 Types of models:
COCOMO consist of a hierarchy of three increasingly detailed and accurate forms. Any of the three
forms can be adopted according to our requirements.

These are the types of COCOMO model-

1) Basic COCOMO model-

 It estimates the software in a rough and quick manner. It is mostly useful for small and medium
sized software. In this, there are three modes of development.
1)Organic
2)Semi-detached
3)Embedded

Parameter Organic Semi-detached Embedded

Size 2 to 50 KLOC 50 to 300 KLOC 300 & above
Team Size Small Medium Large Team
Developer Experience Experienced Average Experience Very little previous
Developer Needed Needed experience
Environment Familiar Less familiar Significant
environment
changes(new
environment)
Innovation required Little Medium Large/Major
Deadline Not tight Medium Tight
Example Pay roll management Utility Management Air Traffic
Managemnet

 Equation for basic model:

1)Effort -> a(KLOC)b person.month
2) Development time -> c(Effort)d month
3) Average staff size  Effort/Development time person
4) Productivity  KLOC/Effort kloc/pm

Mode 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

 Example:-

Suppose that a project was estimated to be 400 KLOC. Calculate the efforts
and time for each of three modes of development.

i) Organic :
Effort = a(KLOC)b person.month
= 2.4(400)1.05 pm
= 1295p.m

Development Time= 2.5 (1295)0.38

=38 moths
ii) Semi – detached :
 Effort = a(KLOC)b person.month
1.12
= 3.0(400) pm
= 2462p.m

Development Time= 2.5 (2462)0.35

=38 moths

iii) Embedded :
Effort = a(KLOC)b person.month
= 3.6(400)1.20 pm
= 4772p.m

Development Time= 2.5 (4772)0.32

=38 moths

2) Intermediate COCOMO model:

The difference between intermediate model and basic model quick but inaccurate and face
insensitive. The intermediate model includes a set of 15 additional predictors which are called as
cost drivers . It also takes development environment into the account during cost estimation.

 Use of cost driver- cost drivers adjust nominal cost of project for actual project environment .ie.
it is used for increasing accuracy of estimation.

15 cost drivers-
1) Product attributes –
a) Required software reliability (RELY)
b) Database size (DATA)
c) Product complexity (CPLX)

2) Computer attributes-
a) Execution time (TIME)
b) Main storage constraint (STOP)
c) Virtual machine volatility (VIRT)
d) Computer Turn Around Time(TURN)

3) Personal attributes-
a) Analyst capability (ACAP)
b) Application experience (AEXP)
c) Programmer capability (PCAP)
d) Virtual machine experience (VEXP)
e) Programming language experience (LEXP)

4) Project attributes –
a) Modern programming practices (MODP)
b) Use of software tools (TOOL)
c) Required development schedule (SCED)

Cost Driver Very Low Nominal High Very Extra

Low High High
1)Product Attributes
RELY 0.75 0.88 1.00 1.15 1.40 -
DATA - 0.94 1.00 1.08 1.16 -
CPLX 0.70 0.85 1.00 1.15 1.30 1.65

2)Complex Attribute
TIME - - 1.00 1.11 1.3 1.66
STOR - - 1.00 1.06 1.2 1.56
VIRT - 0.87 1.00 1.15 1.30 -
TURN - 0.94 1.00 1.07 1.15 -

3)Personal Attribute
ACAP 1.46 1.19 1.00 0.86 0.71 -
AEXP 1.29 1.13 1.00 0.91 0.82 -
PCAP 1.42 1.17 1.00 0.86 0.70 -
VEXP 1.21 1.1 1.00 0.9 - -
LEXP 1.14 1.07 1.00 0.95 - -

4)Project Attribute
MODP 1.24 1.10 1.00 0.91 0.82 -
TOOL 1.24 1.10 1.00 0.91 0.83 -
SCED 1.23 1.08 1.00 1.04 1.10 -

● Effort adjustment factor-

It is calculated by multiplying all the value that have been obtained after categorizing each cost
driver. Equations for Intermediate COCOMO are –
b
Effort = ai(KLOC) i*EAF person.month
d
Development time = ci(Effort) i month

Mode a b c D
Organic 3.2 1.05 2.5 0.38
Semi-detached 3.0 1.12 2.5 0.35
Embedded 2.8 1.20 2.5 0.32
 Example: A new project with estimated 400 KLOC embedded system has to be developed.
Project manager has a choice of hiring from two pools of developer. With Very high Application
experience and with very little experience in programming language OR Developers of low
application experience but having lot of programming experience. Which is a better choice in
terms of two pools.?

case 1 :
LEXP = 1.4
AEXP= 0. 82
EAF= 0.82 *1.14= 0.984
Effort= 2.8(400)1.2 * 0.984
=3470
Development time= 2.5(3470)0.32
= 33 month

Case 2 :
LEXP=0.95
AEXP=1.13
EAF = 1.13* 0.95 =1.0735
Effort = 2.8(400)1.20 * 1.0735
=3985 pm

Development Time =2.5(3985)0.32

=35.4 month

Therefore Case 1 is more preferable in terms of pools.

3) Detailed COCOMO model:

Detailed model is phase sensitive. It calculated the detailed model in phase-sensitive. It calculates
the effect of cost drivers on each phase of SDLC. It uses phase- sensitive efforts multiplier for
each cost driver. This is to determine how much efforts or amount of effort required to complete
each phase of SDLC.
It established module- subsystem-system hierarchy. The rating of cost drivers is done at that
level only where cost driver is most susceptible to variable.
Adjustment Factor (A) = 0.4 (DD) + 0.3 (c) +0.3 I
Size equivalent = (S * A) /100

Mode and Code size Plan & System Detail Code & Integration
requirement Design Design Test Test
Life Cycle Phase value of µP(effort multiplier)
Organic Small S=2 0.06 0.16 0.26 0.42 0.16

Organic Medium 0.06 0.16 0.24 0.28 0.22

S=32

Semi Detached 0.07 0.17 0.25 0.33 0.25

medium S=32

Semi Detached Large 0.07 0.17 0.24 0.31 0.28

S=120

Embedded Large 0.08 0.18 0.25 0.26 0.31

S=128

Embedded XL 0.08 0.18 0.29 0.24 0.34

S=320

Mode and Code size Plan & System Detail Code & Integration
requirement Design Design Test Test
Development time multiplier τp
Organic Small s=2 0.10 0.19 0.24 0.39 0.18

Organic Medium 0.12 0.19 0.21 0.34 0.26

S=32

Semi Detached 0.20 0.26 0.21 0.27 0.26

medium S=32

Semi Detached Large 0.22 0.27 0.19 0.25 0.29

S=120

Embedded Large 0.36 0.36 0.18 0.18 0.28

S=128

Embedded XL 0.40 0.38 0.16 0.16 0.30

S=320

Effort = µP *Effort
Development Time = τp *development time
Example
Consider a project with following components –

1) Screen edit

2) CLI (Command Line Interface)

3) File I/O

4) Cursor movement

5) Screen movement

The sizes for this are estimated to be 4K, 2K, 1K, 2K, 3K LOC.

1) Overall cost and scheduled estimate (assume values for cost drivers with
atleast three different form 1.0)
2) Cost and schedule estimates for different phases.

1) software reliability (high) =1.15

Language experience (low) =1.07
Product complexity (high) =1.15
Analyst Capability (high) = 0.86

EAF = 1.15 * 1.07 *1.15 * 0.86

= 1.216

Effort = 3.2 (12) 1.05 *1.216

=52.87 person.month

Development Time = 2.5 (52.87) 0.38

= 11.29 months
2)Effort =µ * Effort
Plan and Requirement = 0.06 * 52.87 =3.17 p.m
System Design = 0.16 *52.87 = 8.45 p.m
Detail Design =0.26 *52.87 =13.74 p.m
Code & Test = 0.42 *52.87 =22.20 p.m
Integration Test = 0.16 * 52.87 =8.45 p.m
 Development Time = τp *development time

Plan and Requirement = 0.10 * 11.29 =1.129 months

System Design = 0.19 * 11.29 =2.145 months
Detail Design =0.24 * 11.29 = 2.70 months
Code & Test = 0.39 * 11.29 = 4.40 months
Integration Test = 0.18 * 11.29 =2.30 months

Conclusion:- thus, We have successfully estimated cost of the project using

cocomo approach for the assigned project.