Object-Oriented Software Development Effort Prediction Using Design Patterns from Object Interaction Analysis

Software project management is arguably the most important activity in modern software development projects. In the absence of realistic and objective management, the software development process cannot be managed in an effective way. The authors propose a holistic approach, SysML Point Model, which is based on a common, structured and comprehensive systems engineering modeling language (OMG SysML). Critical to the SysML Point estimation is the Pattern Point Model, a Function Point-like methodology, that produces an estimate of the size of OO (Object-Oriented) development projects using the design patterns found in object interaction modeling from the late OO analysis phase. Two measures are defined (PP1 and PP2) and an initial empirical validation is performed to assess the usefulness and effectiveness of the measures in predicting the development effort of object-oriented systems. The experimental results show that the Pattern Point measure can be effectively used during the OO analysis phase to predict the effort values with a high degree of confidence. The PP2 metric yielded the best results with an aggregate PRED (0.25) = 0.874.