Software cost estimation using the improved fuzzy logic framework

Software cost estimation is the process of predicting effort required to develop a software system. This effort may be in terms of number of hours of work or number of workers. Precise effort estimation with a high grade of reliability is an indispensable part of effectively software management. Software project costs include the cost incurred in all the expenses, i.e. the cost of project from initiation, development to test, software management, quality management and contingent rework, etc. The imprecision inculcated from the inputs utilized in algorithmic models like constructive cost model COCOMO results in imprecise outputs which leads to erroneous effort estimation. In this paper, a software cost estimation model has been proposed based on fuzzy logic. The fuzzy logic model fuzzifies the two parts of the COCOMO model i.e. nominal effort prediction and the effort adjustment factor. The analysis shows that the performance of the FIS enhanced by increasing the number of membership functions. Validation experiment was carried out on NASA 93 and COCOMO81 public database.