Cost Estimation for Distributed Systems Using Synthesized Use Case Point Model

Abstract

Cost Estimation for distributed systems is a major challenge nowadays. Estimating the cost of development for distributed systems is based on a prediction of the size for future systems. A lot of cost estimation models were reported in the literature but many of these models became obsolete because of the rapid changes in technology. Reliable estimations are difficult to obtain because of the lack of detailed information about the future system at an early stage as well as due to the distributed location of various components of the developed software. Cost models like COCOMO(COnstructive COst MOdel)[5,6] and sizing methods like Function Point analysis are well known and in widespread use in Software Engineering. These models were applicable only to procedural paradigm, and are not directly applicable to software products developed using the object oriented methodology or distributed systems. It is this idea that gave birth to the creation of Use Case Point (UCP) metrics, originally developed by Gustav Karner[3]. UCP uses use cases as the primary factor, use case model is the first model developed in an object-oriented design process using UML. In this paper we extend the UCP to estimate the cost of development for distributed systems. We propose a novel approach to map the distributed systems from their function points and converting use case point counts on the basis of actor interaction with the actors present at other locations to the software and to estimate cost of development by using Distributed Synthesized UCP (ds-UCP) model with additional information obtained from distributed synthesized use case attributes.