ISBN : 978-81-963532-2-3 (E-Book) INTERMEDIATECOCOMOMODEL The basic COCOMO model assumes that effort and development time are functions of theproductsize alone. However, a hostof other projectparameters besides the productsize affectthe effort required to develop the product as well as the development time. Therefore, in order toobtainanaccurateestimationoftheeffortandprojectduration,theeffectofallrelevantparameters must be taken into account. The intermediate COCOMO model recognizes this factand refines the initial estimate obtained using the basic COCOMO expressions by using a set of15 cost drivers (multipliers) based on various attributes of software development. For example, ifmodernprogrammingpracticesareused,theinitialestimatesarescaleddownwardbymultiplication with a cost driver having a value less than 1. If there are stringent reliabilityrequirements on the software product, this initial estimate is scaled upward. Boehm requires theproject manager to rate these 15 different parameters for a particular project on a scale of one tothree. Then, depending on these ratings, he suggests appropriate cost driver values which shouldbe multiplied with the initial estimate obtained using the basic COCOMO. In general, the costdriverscan beclassifiedas beingattributes of the followingitems: Product: The characteristics of the product thatare considered include the inherentcomplexityofthe product, reliabilityrequirements of theproduct, etc. Computer: Characteristics of the computer that are considered include the execution speedrequired,storagespace required etc. Personnel: The attributes of development personnel that are considered include the experiencelevelof personnel, programmingcapability,analysis capability, etc. DevelopmentEnvironment:Developmentenvironmentattributescapturethedevelopmentfacilitiesa vailabletothedevelopers.Animportantparameterthatisconsideredisthesophisticationofthe automation (CASE) toolsusedforsoftwaredevelopment. 169 Software Engineering Keerthana P, Manasa KN, Ganga D Bengal
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