Key output from I.T. department is software, either directly written or by third party.
Difficult measuring & monitoring software development productivity – no industry standard approach.
Approaches include:
- Algorithmic
- Model based on historical data e.g. Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO).
- Comparison
- Compare to a similiar sized past project.
- Bottom Up
- Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) – work broken down into smallest parts, estimated then added up to give estmite for whole development.
- Expert Based
- Estimate by software experts based on their experience.
- Function Points Based
- Elements of work have points allocated which provide the basis for estimation e.g. points for lines of code and complexity.
If estimate is provided by third party it is important to understand how this was derived.