Developing a design complexity measure

Abstract

The cost to develop and maintain software is increasing at a rapid rate. The majority of the total cost to develop software is spent in the post-deployment-maintenance phase of the software life-cycle. In order to reduce life-cycle costs, more effort needs to be spent in earlier phases of the software life-cycle. One characteristic that merits investigation is the complexity of a software design. Project performance metrics (i.e. effort, schedule, defect density, etc.) are driven by software complexity, and affect project costs. The Software Design Complexity Measure examines an organization's historical project performance metrics along with the complexity of a project's software design to estimate future project performance metrics. These estimates indicate costs that the evaluated software design will incur in the future. Equipped with future cost estimates, a project manager will be able to make more informed decisions concerning the future of the project.