A Case Study on the Utilization of Problem and Solution Domain Measures for Software Size Estimation

Abstract

Detailed requirements is the primary input of software size measurement and effort estimation methodologies and a significant amount of time and expertise is needed for size measurement. In order to streamline size measurement and effort estimation, this study exploits the correlations between the problem domain measures such as the number of distinct nouns and distinct verbs in the requirements artifacts and the solution domain measures such as the number of software classes and methods in the corresponding object oriented software. In this case study, 12 commercial software projects are analyzed and multiple regression analysis is carried out to develop an estimation model for the solution domain metrics in terms of problem domain metrics. The results suggest that, for the projects examined, it is possible to use problem domain measures to make plausible predictions for the solution domain metrics.