Using the CASSE Framework to assess the business viability of potential software projects: an empirical study

The opportunity cost decision of selecting a software project is dependent, among other things, on how a given project best meets a company’s business goals and overall competitive strategy. Remaining competitive in the agile software market today requires selecting only those projects that position a business strategically in the market place and that render it competitive over time. Using an industrial case study, we demonstrate the role of the Complex Adaptive Systems Software Engineering (CASSE) framework in supporting value-based project selection. We apply Actor Object Dependencies (AOD) analysis and Functional Points (FP) sizing techniques to predict the overall project value before incurring any actual costs of implementing such a project. The overall contribution of this work therefore lies in demonstrating that alternative engineering approaches that analyze AODs can enhance how we select software projects and how we plan project schedules optimally so as to increase business value derived on projects.