MODIFICATION OF SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTIVE COST MODEL II (COCOMO II) TO SUITE NIGERIAN DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Constructive Cost Model II (COCOMO II) by Barry Boehm is a model that allows one to estimate the cost, effort, and duration, when planning a new software development activity. COCOMO II is the latest major extension to the original COCOMO model calibrated in 1981. It consists of three sub models called which are the applications composition, early design, and post-architecture design. One of the findings made was that 90% of software developers in Nigeria use non-parametric methods for software development estimation, which usually lead to under-budgeting or over-budgeting. The Visual Basic programming language was used to code the modified model, because of its graphical interfaces. Sample results show a minimal difference between what was obtained in COCOMO II and the new model in order to ascertain the accuracy of the derived model. The comparison shows that the new model is environmentally friendly and can be adopted in any environment with little modification.