Software requirement change effort estimation model for software development phase

Abstract

Software requirement changes are a typical phenomenon in any software development project. Software requirement changes occur at all stages of software development life cycle. Allowing too many changes might cause delay in project delivery. Therefore, this study aims to improve the accuracy of software requirement change effort estimation (SRCEE) model for software requirement change in software development phase (SDP). It proposed a new algorithmic-based SRCEE model which could be used to improve the accuracy of the change effort estimation in SDP. This study analysed the existing SRCEE models and change impact analysis techniques for software development phase. Then, proposed a new SRCEE model by combining change impact analysis technique with effort estimation model. In addition, a prototype tool was developed to automate the implementation of SRCEE model. Next, the applicability and accuracy of the new SRCEE model was evaluated by selecting four small size software projects as case selections in applying experimental approch. The estimation results produced from the new proposed SRCEE model were compared with the existing effort estimation models. The finding showed that the new proposed SRCEE model has given more accurate results in te1ms of applicability and accuracy in estimating the amount of effoti for software requirement changes implementation as compared to the existing models. Hence, it can be concluded that the proposed SRCEE model has improved the accuracy rate of effort estimation for software requirement changes during software development phase.