Measuring software project complexity

Research works on the concept of complexity have been conducted for years. The term complexity stands for state of events or things, which have multiple interconnected links and highly complicated structures. Various approaches to measure software complexity have been proposed focusing on the software product complexity but without considering the complexity of. Simply put, a software metric is a measure that allows getting a quantitative value of software features or specifications.

A comprehensive guide to measuring software quality. Project complexity is ever growing and needs to be understood and measured better to assist modern project management. Using project complexity determinations to establish required. Long term benefits of software complexity analysis. However, quite often projects fail to satisfy their initial objectives. Below are some examples of test metrics and methods for measuring the important aspects of software quality. Software project complexity is a subject that has not received detailed attention. Measuring the complexity of software projects abstract. The objective of measuring the software quality is to use the received results for planning the budget and schedule, estimating costs, testing and qa, debugging, etc. The framework developed by gapps used a tool called crawfordishikura factor table for evaluating roles cifter. Utilization of function point method for measuring software project complexity. The main objective is then to build up a project complexity index so it can be used as an indicator, notably when facing the issue of project selection in multi project environments. Complex code usually means either the problem its solving is complicated, or that the code is of poor quality.

The selection of the experts was an important issue. The level of a project s complexity determines what level of project rigor is needed in order to effectively complete the project and meet necessary goals. Good management of software projects demands good methods for measuring the process. Code that is more complex is likely to be less maintainable. Measuring project complexity using the analytic hierarchy process. Measuring program complexity automatically measuring program complexity. Most studies measure complexity either by measuring the software project product based on its attributes such as size, quality.

Identifying and measuring project complexity sciencedirect. Each dimension has a set of attributes that can vary in number depending on the project. How to measure the complexity in practice in your large. In software programming, as the design of software is realized, the number of elements and their interconnections gradually emerge to be huge, which becomes too difficult to understand at once. Measures are needed for two main reasons to know about the actual. Software metrics is a standard of measure that contains many activities which involve some degree of measurement. The most important factor in measure project complexity is not accuracy, but consistency. Rationale accompanying the project complexity model the project complexity model presented here is extremely robust, encompassing the priorities emphasized in the standish groups recipe for project success. An understanding of project complexity and how it might be managed is of significant importance for project managers because of the differences associated with decisionmaking and goal attainment that are related to complexity.

There are numerous ideas one worse than another, though. Pdf measuring the complexity of software projects researchgate. The problem is an increasing complexity, thereupon no direct methods can be used. The fest step in evaluating the complexity of a project is to determine the project requirements. Measuring software complexity, cohesion and coupling there are also more detailed metrics that help measure things like software complexity, halstead, cohesion, and coupling.

Software metrics are important for many reasons, including measuring software performance, planning work items, measuring productivity, and many other uses. A twodimensional conceptual framework is proposed to define four distinct types of software project complexity. This proposal was validated with a survey fulfilled by experts. Table 2 project complexity model for business transformation projects. Aug, 2018 measuring aggregate complexity in software applications a variety of tools will let you measure the complexity of a given method in your. This tool was called complexity index tool because it will allow measuring the complexity level of a project at one point under a scenario of concrete project complexity. For some authors, the idea of complexity entails a subjective connotation. These are called software metrics and including simple metrics, such as counting the number of lines in a single file, the number of files in an application, the number of functions in a file, etc. The author discusses the process and implementation, benefits and value to the. As projects have become more and more complex, there has been an increasing concern about the concept of project complexity. Software complexity metrics there are several ways to measure how complex software is, such as cyclomatic complexity and nnode complexity. Mar 29, 2016 software metrics are the computer sciences attempt to make software measurable and complexity can be measured in a few different ways. Analysis of software project complexity factors proceedings of the. The chaos ten 5, as well as the best practices presented in the nine knowledge areas of the pmbok guide.

If you have a highend sku of visual studio, it will calculate code metrics for your application, one of which is cyclomatic complexity cc. Static analysis is done directly on the code without actually executing the software. Early profiling of project complexity helps in efficient allocation of resources. A robust software complexity measurement program provides an organization with the opportunity to. Evaluating construction project complexity christian brockmann, brockmann. Project complexity was described in terms of managing projects rather than project physical features to ensure the research results can be generalized across different industries. Measuring project complexity using the analytic hierarchy.

Catching complexity problems early in the game is important, because as more. Deciding on the appropriate project management tools to use or even if a project might be better outsourced depends on its complexity. What software quality really is and the metrics you can use. The determination of the appropriate complexity level for a given project is defined using example criteria that were established and proceduralized in my organization, which conducts a wide range of projects varying from software development, traditional engineering and construction type projects, environmental cleanup projects, unique testing and exercise events, as well as scientific research and development type projects. Software projects are affected of rapidly technological changes, are immaterial and supple. One of the most challenging of such features is the project s complexity. Project management is a well understood management method, widely adopted today, in order to give predictable results to complex problems. Ive noticed more unjustified complexity in projects that were handed off by a dev team for initial build than in those built and maintained by the same team. Here are the steps that can help in calculating project complexity. One way of measuring complexity is by analyzing the control flow. In this project post, you will learn how to effectively profile project complexity and make important project management decisions.

I need to add into the justification the complexity of each project but because i only have highlevel information, i am only estimating at best. Measuring software complexity, cohesion and coupling. This paper focuses on the use of technical competencies and skills to determine project complexity and establish the required levels of project rigor. The overall ambition of this paper is therefore to define a measure of project complexity in order to assist decisionmaking. Measuring the complexity of software projects ieee. The first standard measurement tool for complexity in project management was developed by the global alliance for project performance standards gapps whose approach characterises projects based on the management of their complexity. In assessing project complexity, imagine that the project has two dimensions. How to measure project complexity for improved decision making. The problem occurs when it comes to measuring a project, estimating a software or an application. On top of that, we also want to know how many ways a program can do its thing.

Measuring aggregate complexity in software applications ardalis. Measuring requirements complexity to increase the probability. Pdf analysis of software project complexity factors researchgate. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic way for studying and modeling software project complexity. Product metrics describe the characteristics of the product such as size, complexity, design features, performance, and quality level. Every project is driven by its own attributes of technical complexity, such as security needs, stability of hardware, and software, transaction volume, project team experience, and level of technology integration, among others. Complex projects require specific project management pm competences development. When measuring complexity, it is important to look holistically at coupling, cohesion, sql complexity, use of frameworks, and algorithmic complexity. If project is using a niche technology with low maturity of the technology itself, then there will be lot of learning curve involved for project people. Im not going to say these are the reasons for greater software complexity, but theyre two tractable reasons. For most authors, the complexity of a project can be measured in terms of its degree of novelty, its interdependencies, and the technologies involved, among other variables. The complexity of the project should be revalidated and profiled before commencement of the project.

But now in a big software project, when we want to make it faster, all we do is look at individual pieces a a few nested loops there that can be replaces by a faster hash table, a slow search here that can be sped up by a more fancy technique but we never compute the complexity of our whole pipeline. Various approaches to measure software complexity have been. Such measurements have become a common software development practice. Many studies on various types of software project have proven that their outcomes are far from the complete fulfilment of the initial requirements 2. Sep 16, 2017 a software metric is a measure of software characteristics which are quantifiable or countable. Efficient measuring and testing of your software for quality is the only way to maximize the chances of releasing highquality software in todays fastpaced development environments. Mar 07, 2011 deciding on the appropriate project management tools to use or even if a project might be better outsourced depends on its complexity. This project tackles the problem of knowing what programs will do.

Introduction due to changing demands and technological advancement, businesses respond by developing increasingly flexible infrastructures in order to remain. There are many factors that must be considered to conclude if project is complex. Project complexity is a term that is not well understood in the construction industry in relation to academia and practice. Current studies measure software project complexity by measuring either the software. Software project complexity is one of the main reasons for these failures. Project complexity often refers to a measurement of the number of project elements and interactions between project elements or a relative comparison of difficulty to what was previously accomplished. Within the software development process, there are many metrics that. Utilization of function point method for measuring software project. The projects have been chosen in a way that results can be easily compared.