An Efficient Approach to Develop Software Cost Estimation Model Using Case-based Reasoning and Agent Technology

One of the most important tasks for IT professionals is software development cost estimation. This critical task affects the firm's software investment decisions before bidding for a contract or committing required resources to that project. Under-estimation may lead to unexpected increase in budget, delay of project completion or its low quality, while over-estimation may lead to losing business opportunities. In this work authors investigate possibility of building a software cost estimation model by using multi-agent system to collect software cost data from distributed predefined project cost databases. The developed model implements Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) to find similar projects in historical data retrieved from measured software projects developed by different organizations, which will assist the project managers to perform an appropriate cost estimation of a software project.