Is this cost estimate reliable? - the relationship between homogeneity of analogues and estimation reliability

Naoki Ohsugi, Akito Monden, Nahomi Kikuchi, Michael D. Barker, Masateru Tsunoda, Takeshi Kakimoto, Ken Ichi Matsumoto

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Analogy-based cost estimation provides a useful and intuitive means to support decision making in software project management. It derives a cost estimate required for completing a project from information about similar past projects, namely the analogues. While on average this method provides a relatively accurate cost estimate there remains a possibility of large estimation errors. In this paper, we empirically tested the hypothesis that "using more homogeneous analogues produces a more reliable cost estimate" using a software engineering data repository established by the Software Engineering Center (SEC), Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan. This testing showed that low and high homogeneity projects had a large variation in estimation reliability. For instance, the difference was 22.9% (p = 0.021) in terms of percentage to get accurate estimates (better than Median of Magnitude of Relative Error).

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 1st International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, ESEM 2007
Pages384-392
Number of pages9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 1 2007
Externally publishedYes
Event1st International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, ESEM 2007 - Madrid, Spain
Duration: Sept 20 2007Sept 21 2007

Publication series

NameProceedings - 1st International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, ESEM 2007

Other

Other1st International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, ESEM 2007
Country/TerritorySpain
CityMadrid
Period9/20/079/21/07

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science(all)
  • Software

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