Fine-Grained Work Element Standardization for Project Effort Estimation

Peraphon Sophatsathit

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

DOI: 10.4236/jsea.2014.78060                

Abstract

Traditional project effort estimation utilizes development models that span the entire project life cycle and thus culminates estimation errors. This exploratory research is the first attempt to break each project activity down to smaller work elements. There are eight work elements, each of which is being defined and symbolized with visually distinct shape. The purpose is to standardize the operations associated with the development process in the form of a visual symbolic flow map. Hence, developers can streamline their work systematically. Project effort estimation can be determined based on these standard work elements that not only help identify essential cost drivers for estimation, but also reduce latency cost to enhance estimation efficiency. Benefits of the proposed work element scheme are project visibility, better control for immediate pay-off and, in long term management, standardization for software process automation.

Keywords

Project Effort Estimation, Work Element, Symbolic Flow Map, Latency Cost, Software Process Automation

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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