Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes

Preface

Software-intensive systems include the following:

•   In-house systems for accounting, production control, and e-business

•   Applications sold commercially in the mass market (“shrink-wrapped products”)

•   Large, complex, “one-of-a-kind” military, industrial, and commercial systems

Projects to develop and maintain software-intensive systems can involve the following:

•   Designing, building, testing, and distributing software components

•   Selecting and purchasing commercial software and hardware components

•   Configuring and, in some cases, designing hardware

•   Training and supporting users

Practitioners who develop, manage, procure, or operate software-intensive systems need to estimate and measure the resources needed to perform ...