Early stage software effort estimation using random forest technique based on use case points

Shashank Mouli Satapathy; Barada Prasanna Acharya; Santanu Kumar Rath

Early stage software effort estimation using random forest technique based on use case points

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Author(s): Shashank Mouli Satapathy ¹ ; Barada Prasanna Acharya ¹ ; Santanu Kumar Rath ¹
- Affiliations: 1: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha, India
Source: Volume 10, Issue 1, February 2016, p. 10 – 17
DOI: 10.1049/iet-sen.2014.0122 , Print ISSN 1751-8806, Online ISSN 1751-8814

Received 19/06/2014, Accepted 24/09/2015, Revised 14/05/2015, Published 01/02/2016

Due to the increasing complexity of software development activities, the need for effective effort estimation techniques has arisen. Underestimation leads to disruption in the project's estimated cost and delivery. On the other hand, overestimation causes outbidding and financial losses in business. Effective software effort estimation techniques enable project managers to schedule the software life cycle activities appropriately. Correctly assessing the effort needed to develop a software product is a major concern in software industries. Random forest (RF) technique is a popularly used machine learning technique that helps in improving the prediction values. The main objective of this study is to precisely assess the software projects development effort by utilising the use case point approach. The effort parameters are optimised utilising the RF technique to acquire higher prediction accuracy. Moreover, the results acquired applying the RF technique is compared with the multi-layer perceptron, radial basis function network, stochastic gradient boosting and log-linear regression techniques to highlight the performance attained by each technique.

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