Software development cost estimation using similarity difference between software attributes

Although software industry has seen a tremendous growth and expansion since its birth, it is continuously facing problems in its evolution. The major challenge for this industry is to produce quality software which is timely designed and build with proper cost estimates. Thus the techniques for controlling the quality and predicting cost of software are in the center of attention for many software firms. In this paper, we have tried to propose a cost estimation model based on Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO) to tune the parameters of the famous COstructive COst MOdel (COCOMO). This cost estimation model is integrated with Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology to assist decision making in software designing and development processes for improving the quality. This unique combination will help the project managers to efficiently plan the overall software development life cycle of the software product.