Software Project Cost Estimation: Issues, Problems and Possible Solutions

Software project managers have expressed concern over their inability to estimate accurately the costs associated with software development. Various cost estimation methods are available for use in software development process but concern lies in selecting better software cost estimation model to arrive at accurate cost estimation. This paper gave an overview of software cost estimation and answered the following questions: (1) what have people already done in area of cost estimation; (2) what are the types of software cost estimation model available; (3) how is the contingency allowance accounted for in software projects? Since none of the existing software cost estimation model can work accurately on its own, we proposed a hybrid model to bridge the gap and arrive at accurate and acceptable estimates.