Control flow points based software size and effort estimation

• US 9,823,923 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2016
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Solutions Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Solutions Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Gurav, Vijay Ashok
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US15/084,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20170286105A1
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• Field of Search: 717101-108, 717120-123
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/77 Software metrics

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for size and effort estimation of software-based projects. The software-based project includes functional requirements and computer-implemented programing language code. The method includes that for each functional requirement, identifying one or more controls flows associated with the functional requirement, each control flow including one or more components; accessing one or more reference tables; determining, for each component of the one or more components, a complexity of the component based on a comparison with the one or more reference tables; and estimating an effort of the software-based project based on the complexity of each component of the one or more control flows associated with the one or more functional requirements.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying a software-based project including one or more functional requirements, the software-based project including computer-implemented programing language code;

for each functional requirement, identifying one or more controls flows associated with the functional requirement, each control flow including one or more components;

accessing one or more first reference tables that indicate, for a value of a parameter of a respective component of the one or more components, a complexity of the respective component;

determining, for each component of the one or more components, the complexity of the component based on a comparison with the one or more first reference tables;

accessing a second reference table that indicates, for the complexity of a respective component of the one or more components, an analyze value, a design value, a build value, and a test value of the respective component;

based on the second reference table, determining, for each component of the one or more components, the analyze value, the design value, the build value, and the test value of the respective component;

determining, for each component of the one or more components, an analyze-design-build-test (ADBT) effort of the component based on respective analyze, design, build, and test values; and

estimating a total effort of the software-based project based on the ADBT effort of each component of the one or more control flows associated with the one or more functional requirements to provide a component summation.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more components include an external trigger (ET) component, a control flow with rules and validations (CFRV) component, and an external integration/data operation (EI/DO) component.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

identifying a type of one or more ET components of the one or more components;

for each of the ET components, determining a complexity of the ET component based on a comparison of the identified type of the ET component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each of the ET components, determining the effort of the ET component based on the respective determined complexity.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

identifying a type of one or more EI/DO components of the one or more components;

for each of the EI/DO components, determining a complexity of the EI/DO component based on a comparison of the identified type of the EI/DO component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each of the EI/DO components, determining the effort of the EI/DO component based on the respective determined complexity.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

identifying a quantity of rules and validations associated with each CFRV component of the one or more components,

for each CFRV component, determining a complexity of the CFRV component based on a comparison of the identify quantity of rules and validation associated with the CFRV component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each CFRV component, determining the effort of the CFRV component based on the respective determined complexity.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein estimating the effort of the software-based project further comprises:

for each component, summing the effort of the component of each of the one or more control flows associated with the one or more functional requirements to provide the component summation; and

summing each of the component summations to provide the effort.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising estimating the size of the software-based project, the size of the software-based projected based on one or more of an estimated total project size of the software-based project in control flow points, an estimated total project effort of the software-based project in hours, an estimated total number of test cases of the software-based project, and an estimated total number of integration test cases of the software-based project.

8. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

identifying a software-based project including one or more functional requirements, the software-based project including computer-implemented programing language code;

for each functional requirement, identifying one or more controls flows associated with the functional requirement, each control flow including one or more components;

accessing one or more first reference tables that indicate, for a value of a parameter of a respective component of the one or more components, a complexity of the respective component;

determining, for each component of the one or more components, the complexity of the component based on a comparison with the one or more first reference tables;

accessing a second reference table that indicates, for the complexity of a respective component of the one or more components, an analyze value, a design value, a build value, and a test value of the respective component;

based on the second reference table, determining, for each component of the one or more components, the analyze value, the design value, the build value, and the test value of the respective component;

determining, for each component of the one or more components, an analyze-design-build-test (ADBT) effort of the component based on respective analyze, design, build, and test values; and

estimating a total effort of the software-based project based on the ADBT effort of each component of the one or more control flows associated with the one or more functional requirements to provide a component summation.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more components include an external trigger (ET) component, a control flow with rules and validations (CFRV) component, and an external integration/data operation (EI/DO) component.

10. The system of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

identifying a type of one or more ET components of the one or more components;

for each of the ET components, determining a complexity of the ET component based on a comparison of the identified type of the ET component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each of the ET components, determining the effort of the ET component based on the respective determined complexity.

11. The system of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

identifying a type of one or more EI/DO components of the one or more components;

for each of the EI/DO components, determining a complexity of the EI/DO component based on a comparison of the identified type of the EI/DO component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each of the EI/DO components, determining the effort of the EI/DO component based on the respective determined complexity.

12. The system of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

identifying a quantity of rules and validations associated with each CFRV component of the one or more components,

for each CFRV component, determining a complexity of the CFRV component based on a comparison of the identify quantity of rules and validation associated with the CFRV component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each CFRV component, determining the effort of the CFRV component based on the respective determined complexity.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein estimating the effort of the software-based project further comprises:

for each component, summing the effort of the component of each of the one or more control flows associated with the one or more functional requirements to provide the component summation; and

summing each of the component summations to provide the effort.

14. The system of claim 8, the operations further comprising estimating the size of the software-based project, the size of the software-based projected based on one or more of an estimated total project size of the software-based project in control flow points, an estimated total project effort of the software-based project in hours, an estimated total number of test cases of the software-based project, and an estimated total number of integration test cases of the software-based project.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

identifying a software-based project including one or more functional requirements, the software-based project including computer-implemented programing language code;

for each functional requirement, identifying one or more controls flows associated with the functional requirement, each control flow including one or more components;

accessing one or more first reference tables that indicate, for a value of a parameter of a respective component of the one or more components, a complexity of the respective component;

determining, for each component of the one or more components, the complexity of the component based on a comparison with the one or more first reference tables;

accessing a second reference table that indicates, for the complexity of a respective component of the one or more components, an analyze value, a design value, a build value, and a test value of the respective component;

based on the second reference table, determining, for each component of the one or more components, the analyze value, the design value, the build value, and the test value of the respective component;

determining, for each component of the one or more components, an analyze-design-build-test (ADBT) effort of the component based on respective analyze, design, build, and test values; and

estimating a total effort of the software-based project based on the ADBT effort of each component of the one or more control flows associated with the one or more functional requirements to provide a component summation.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more components include an external trigger (ET) component, a control flow with rules and validations (CFRV) component, and an external integration/data operation (EI/DO) component.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising:

identifying a type of one or more ET components of the one or more components;

for each of the ET components, determining a complexity of the ET component based on a comparison of the identified type of the ET component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each of the ET components, determining the effort of the ET component based on the respective determined complexity.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising:

identifying a type of one or more EI/DO components of the one or more components;

for each of the EI/DO components, determining a complexity of the EI/DO component based on a comparison of the identified type of the EI/DO component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each of the EI/DO components, determining the effort of the EI/DO component based on the respective determined complexity.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising:

identifying a quantity of rules and validations associated with each CFRV component of the one or more components,

for each CFRV component, determining a complexity of the CFRV component based on a comparison of the identify quantity of rules and validation associated with the CFRV component and a respective first reference table of the one or more first reference tables; and

for each CFRV component, determining the effort of the CFRV component based on the respective determined complexity.